Climate Cities
All Stories
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Iceland Iceland Baby
Iceland is gunning to be the world’s first carbon-free economy. The country is in something of a bind, as it now has very low carbon-dioxide emissions and the Kyoto treaty on climate change gives it little room to expand its economy in a way that would increase its emissions. Already, 67 percent of Iceland’s energy […]
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Fright Train
Sometime this summer, the feds are planning to transport nuclear waste from power plants via train from New York to a U.S. Energy Department reservation in southeastern Idaho. Dubbing the shipment a “mobile Chernobyl,” anti-nuke advocates plan to raise a ruckus when the freight train comes through. Although the shipment across the country will be […]
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Species to be bred in captivity and released back to the wild
In the latest initiative by developers to go green, a consortium of builders has created the “Condo Restoration Fund.” Condos, which once ranged freely over the California landscape, are now being displaced by red-legged frogs, pocket mice, giant kangaroo rats, and other ridiculous creatures, said Diggem Fast, the president of the fund. Can these condos […]
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Pavement is replacing the world's croplands
As the new century begins, the competition between cars and crops for cropland is intensifying. Until now, the paving over of cropland has occurred largely in industrial countries, home to four-fifths of the world’s 520 million automobiles. But now, more and more farmland is being sacrificed in developing countries with hungry populations, calling into question […]
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Pounding the Pavement
3 million — number of acres of open space developed each year in the U.S. 40 — percentage increase in acreage of developed land in the U.S. between 1982 and 1997 1891 — year in which the first road was paved in the U.S. 2.4 million — number of miles of paved public roads in […]
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Development runs wild in the upper Midwest
In an arm-wrestling contest, you’d probably pick Paul Bunyan over John Lawlis. Bunyan, after all, wielded his mighty ax with mythic strength and endurance, leveling the great forests of the upper Midwest. John Lawlis merely works the phones, selling vacation lots in what’s left of these woods. “I think Paul would definitely win,” laughs Lawlis. […]
