Climate Cities
All Stories
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Stockholm-ward Bound
Stockholm is second Euro capital to charge for driving into the city All the cool cities are doing it! (Wait, is Stockholm cool?) This week, Sweden’s capital began a trial run of a new system that will charge for the privilege of driving into the city, and officials have declared it a success so far. […]
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Two new books on nature reveal three writers’ ways of seeing
“It was on Cape Cod during fall a few years back, after the century fell but before the towers did, that I began paying a series of visits to the writer John Hay.” With this opening line in The Prophet of Dry Hill, David Gessner sets the tone for a quest that is both personal […]
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Enviros need to get social, says activist-turned-sociologist Marshall Ganz
Most of us can probably name a grandfather or great-aunt who was active in a chapter of a national association. My own uncle was a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Yet how many of us can say the same about ourselves? Marshall Ganz. Photo: Harvard University/Justin Ide. As voluntary associations fade […]
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Small Wonder
Sales of some big SUVs drop by half It’s an early Christmahanukwanzakah present for the planet, and a chunk of coal in the stocking of Detroit’s Big Three automakers: The American love affair with huge SUVs seems finally to be on the wane. Really this time! Sales of once-hot vehicles like the Ford Explorer and […]
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Character Building
Sierra Club celebrates eco-friendly building projects in new report The Sierra Club has often gone to court to stop bad development schemes, but now the venerable green group is trying the carrot instead of the stick. The group has released its first “Guide to America’s Best New Development Projects,” which gives kudos to builders putting […]
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I Wish They All Could Be California Copycats
New York, Massachusetts to adopt tougher auto-emissions standards The New York State Environmental Board voted unanimously this month to adopt California’s toughest-in-the-nation rules for cutting automotive greenhouse-gassiness. The new rules, which will be phased in with 2009 model-year cars, aim to cut carbon dioxide emissions about 30 percent by 2016 — effectively improving auto fuel […]
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Beep Beep, Beep Beep, Yeah!
Car mileage testing will catch up with reality, EPA declares After years of criticism from greens and independent testing groups, the U.S. EPA announced on Friday that its rules for testing automobile fuel economy will finally be updated and revised. New standards should be in place for testing 2008 model year cars. It’s a move […]
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A Bottle of Red, a Gas Tank of White
France’s wine glut turned into biofuel It was the best of times for French drivers; it was the worst of times for French oenophiles. Beset by fierce international competition and flattened domestic sales, France’s vintners this year will distill about 133 million bottles’ worth of surplus wine into ethanol, which will be added to gasoline […]
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The End of the End of the Affair
SUV sales regaining strength in the U.S. Showing characteristic signs of short-term memory loss, the American public is apparently renewing its love affair with the SUV. When gas prices spiked to over $3 a gallon following Hurricane Katrina, demand for hybrids was in the headlines and chatter about fuel-efficiency standards was all the rage. Now […]
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Start Spreading the Dues
Charging cars to enter city could loosen New York’s traffic jams Charging drivers a fee to enter the city center succeeded in ameliorating traffic woes in London — but can the concept make it on the mean streets of New York, N.Y.? ‘Cause if you can make it there … oh, never mind. The Partnership […]