Culture

Where do the greenest commuters live? Not Portland

New Yorkers on the evening commute.Photo: Mo RizaQuick: Who are the loneliest commuters in the nation? That would be the residents of Southgate, Mich., where 91.6 percent of workers drive alone. The city with the most pedestrian commuters? That’s Ithaca, N.Y., where 41.8 percent of commuters walk to work (particularly impressive given upstate New York’s […]

Todd Woody Culture

James Howard Kunstler: The old American dream is a nightmare

Photo: Charlie SamuelsThe Great Depression gave rise to hobos and Hoovervilles. The Roaring Nineties brought us what New York Times columnist David Brooks termed “bobos in paradise.” Now our current round of layoffs and foreclosures has unceremoniously transferred millions of folks from the “affluent” to the “afflicted” category, exiling them from Brooks’s mythical exurban Eden. […]

Kerry Trueman Culture

Rep. Anthony Weiner tweets that he was ‘joking’ about ripping out NYC bike lanes

Rep. Anthony WeinerPhoto: Nadia ChaudhurySo Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) says he was just kidding around about ripping out those New York City bike lanes. Here’s how The New York Times reported Weiner’s remarks in a recent piece about New York City’s transportation commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan: “When I become mayor, you know what I’m going to […]

Sarah Goodyear Culture

Biodegradable shoes go from footwear to fertilizer

Photo: OAT ShoesAre your shoes on their last legs? If they were OAT shoes (which they aren’t, because you can’t buy them in the States yet), you’d be able to just shuck ’em off and bury them in the yard. Kicks from this new line biodegrade completely, a neat trick that just netted them an […]

Jess Zimmerman Culture

Seven ways to live in a small space with kids and not go crazy

Whee! Living small is fun!Photo: Anna MSo you want to raise your family in a city but can’t afford much square footage? Never fear. Despite the challenges, it’s possible to live in a small space — with kids — without sacrificing your sanity. First, let’s define small, since our idea of an acceptable amount of […]

Carla Saulter Culture

Yogis go from lotus position to lobbying

They’re turning D.C. lobbying culture upside-down.Photo: Lululemon Athletica“Yoga” and “angry” go together like taffy and dentures … or at least they used to. But maybe D.C. politicians should start looking out for flying vials of essential oil. L.A.-based organization “Off the Mat and Into the World” is turning yogis into activists next week, following International […]

Holly Richmond Culture

Traffic-snarled LA goes bike-wild with 1,600 miles of lanes

The Backbone Bikeway Network proposed by the L.A. Bike Working Group was incorporated into the city’s master plan for 1,680 miles of new bike lanes.Graphic: LA Bike Working GroupThe cab driver who cut off Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa when the mayor was riding his bicycle last year may have done the city a huge […]

Sarah Goodyear Culture

Are rich Americans having more kids?

“Soon we’ll have our own lacrosse team!”In Tina Fey’s recent piece in The New Yorker, she writes that elite Manhattanites seem to be trying to outpopulate the rest of us: I thought that raising an only child would be the norm in New York, but I’m pretty sure my daughter is the only child in […]

Lisa Hymas Culture

TreeShagger: Finding love on public transportation

Public transit is an aphrodisiac.Photo: Martin StroblWelcome to TreeShagger, our column on green dating. If you’ve got green dating questions, send ’em our way! Did you hear about Patrick Moberg, that dude who found the girl of his dreams on the New York subway? Like a twee Wes Anderson hipster-man, he drew a picture of […]