Bio Fuels or Bio-Fools?
Bio Fuels or Bio-Fools?
The agrarian arms race to turn larger swaths of farmland over for the production of biofuels recently reached rhetorical heights as Jean Ziegler, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, argued that it would be a crime against ...
Satellites for Sustainability
Satellites for Sustainability
Using satellites to map pollution. Photo by kennethg from Flickr. With the help of satellites, scientists are now measuring and mapping concentrations and global movements of air-pollution and, through a cool new project known as TEMIS, have made near-real time ...
The Green Car Issue
The Green Car Issue
Are car companies thinking about more than one type of green? Photo by makeshiftlove from Flickr. The New York Times latest automobile issue takes a dramatic departure from the past and includes several articles on how environmental concerns are shaping ...
Does Leaded Gasoline Cause Violent Crime?
Does Leaded Gasoline Cause Violent Crime?
Photo by x-eyedblonde from Flickr. A few years ago, the celebrated economist Steven D. Levitt argued in Freakonomics that the legalization of abortion in 1973 was one of the primary reasons for the drop in crime in the 1990’s, a ...
Will Technology Save Us?
Will Technology Save Us?
A cut away shot of Lexus’ new hybrid. Photo by Mike Babcock of Flickr. To date, much of the debate swirling around global warming has focused on how new and improved technologies will save us from the dire consequences of ...
Hot Wheels for Rwandan Coffee Workers!
Hot Wheels for Rwandan Coffee Workers!
One of the primary causes of urbanization is what demographers call “rural to urban migration.” Migrants leave their homes in rural areas for a confluence of reasons — degraded farm land, drought, confiscated land, etc. — and move to cities, ...
How Walkable Is Your Neighborhood?
How Walkable Is Your Neighborhood?
If you live in a suburb like this one in Las Vegas, it might be hard to walk to the grocery store. Photo by ulybug of Flickr. While surfing the web I found this very interesting website, Walk Score, that ...
Weirded Out by Public Transit
Weirded Out by Public Transit
GM thinks you’re a creep and a weirdo if you ride the bus. As the automotive industry ramps up its marketing efforts to target the emerging middle class in places like India, China and Brazil, it helps to crack open ...
What Do Cheap Cars Mean for India's Cities?
What Do Cheap Cars Mean for India's Cities?
An Indian street scene. Photo by Satbir from Flickr. Last week the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune ran a story on the new Tata Car priced at $2,500 coming out in India in 2008. Some time ago ...
In New York City There's a New Way to Cruise the Streets
In New York City There's a New Way to Cruise the Streets
A picture I shot while cruising New York’s innovative bike lane. Over the weekend I rode down to Chelsea to check out New York City’s newest experiment in sustainable transport: the separated bike lane. At less than 10 blocks (Manhattan ...
The Hidden Costs of Personal Mobility
The Hidden Costs of Personal Mobility
A biker struck by a car in Beijing. Courtesy of pmorgan of Flickr. It’s helpful to think about traffic safety with the following thought experiment: What would happen in a democratic forum, if the world’s population, represented by elected officials, ...
Bangkok's Train Market
Bangkok's Train Market
This video is amazing! It shows a market in Bangkok, Thailand that operates literally on top of the train tracks.
Demystifying TranSantiago
Demystifying TranSantiago
TranSantiago in action. Photo by Cobalito. “It is not common for a president to stand before the nation and say ‘Things haven’t gone well,” Michele Bachelet, Chile’s President, said in March of this year. “But that is exactly what I ...
Boston's Revolutionary Transport Festival
Boston's Revolutionary Transport Festival
This weekend EMBARQ participated in the 5th Annual AltWheels Festival , which is the largest alternative transportation and energy festival on the east coast of the U.S. Held on Boston’s City Hall Plaza, this year’s AltWheels was a flurry of ...
What's Worse: Production or Use?
What's Worse: Production or Use?
Photo by Stephane Foulon. From Road and Track. This week’s addition of BusinessWeek includes an article about Gordon Murray, a celebrated race car designer, who is switching gear and working to create “a compact, fuel-efficient urban vehicle for the masses,” ...
Right Menu Icon