Climate Cities
All Stories
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An electrified transit advocate tries soothsaying
Maybe too optimistic, but very little untried technology in here, so it's at least a possible future.
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On politics, ponyshoes, and PBR
All good things must come to an end, and the Gristissippi Road Trip is one of them. Sarah and I wrapped up our enlightening week of interviews and explorations with a visit to Beale Street (fried pie, yum!) and a beer with a Gristmill fan. As we recuperate from the trip in our respective cities, […]
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Memphians hope river can bridge racial divide
I mentioned in my last post that there are a lot of complicating factors involved in decisions about what to do with the riverfront in Memphis, Tenn. Yet another complex issue here, though, is the undeniable racial tension. Following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1968, Memphis went through a major decline, with […]
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In which we get a glimpse of reality
“You girls want a chance at a free dinner cruise?” The question rang out from behind us, all twangy like, as we walked down the ramp toward shore after a 1.5-hour riverboat tour. The day was wet and cold, so the last thing I wanted to do was get back on that boat. But free […]
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Memphis debates what to do with its riverfront
After arriving in Memphis, Tenn., birthplace of rock ‘n’ roll, Katharine and I headed straight out to Mud Island for a Smashing Pumpkins concert. (Work related, I swear!) The concert was held at the Mud Island Amphitheater, an open-air venue on the long, narrow peninsula created to shelter a small harbor and keep a meandering […]
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Berkeley, Calif., suggests innovative solar scheme
The Berkeley, Calif., city council will soon vote on an innovative scheme to front the cost of solar panels to homeowners, who would pay the city back over 20 years as a property tax add-on. The amount to be paid back would be roughly what homeowners would save on electric bills by being sun-powered. “This […]
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Not the coal and gas kind, though we’ve seen lots of that
I’m going to keep this short and sweet, because it’s been a long day. We headed out of St. Louis in the mid-afternoon, but before we did, we spent some time with Laura Cohen, who heads up the Confluence Greenway Project — an incredibly complex (we’re talking Venn diagram here) conglomeration of agencies, nonprofits, and […]
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St. Louis’ City Museum is a treasure
I apologize if the image at left is a bit hard to make out, but if it looks like a bunch of junk to you, then you’re seeing it clearly. This is the outdoor portion of the City Museum in downtown St. Louis. It’s absolutely the most unique place I’ve ever seen, and it’s completely […]
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What’s up with that gated ‘community’ in Montana?
Alice Waters, long-time champion of food as a tool for building community, has done something quite un-Alice Water-like: sold her name to promote a high-dollar gated development "community" in Montana. Over on Ethicurean, there’s a great post by the novelist Charlotte McQuinn Freeman, who lives in Livingston, Montana — near the site of the quote-unquote […]
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In which I say a little prayer for the Sox
Oh, one more thing: today we went to the top of the Gateway Arch, and I got to peer into Busch Stadium, where my Red Sox beat the Cardinals in their still-gives-me-goosebumps 2004 World Series victory. And as I write this, they are handily beating the Colorado Rockies (13-1, bottom of the 8th) in the […]
