The Sustainable Cities Blog

Hello followers of the Sustainable Cities blog. We have moved to a new location. Thanks for your support up until now...and a pre-emptive thank you for checking us out in our new home in the blogosphere:

http://blog.cunysustainablecities.org/

Thanks,

The Green Queen Bee, Thor, and Mike

By Michael Brady, Contributing Writer

Soon after being passed to the Senate on May 21, 2009, the American Clean Energy and Security Act took back seat with health care debates assuming center stage. New energy and climate legislation in the U.S. would set a good tone for the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference at Copenhagen in December, making it more likely that there will be agreement on international emission standards.

Democrats will need 60 votes in the Senate to approve the legislation. With that said, proponents of the energy and climate bill need to help secure these votes by pressing the Senate.

Repower America: Help send 100,000 letters to the Senate.Repower America has set a goal to send 100,000 letters expressing support for the bill to the Senate. They are 30,000 letters shy from reaching their goal. Take two minutes to fill-in a couple of boxes and hit the submit button to send the letter and help get the votes.

Posted by Carina

Hunter College and a host of other universities are sponsors of the Black Rock Forest Consortium. I unfortunately have never made it up there but many of our students and plenty of others from the NY/NJ/CT metropolitan area have used the space as a learning laboratory to understand the ecosystems of the forested area. It is a 4000 acre area, equipped with classrooms, scientific instrumentation, housing, green buildings, and of course, a forest. Sponsoring organizations range from K-12 to leading research institutions, so the science education and learning ranges from basic to...things I can't even imagine.

One of my favorite programs at Black Rock is the School in the Forest Project that offers curicula and other educational resources to underserved students in New York City Public Schools. Currently, PS 220, in Mott Haven and PS/IS 311, located in Inwood, are involved in the program. Want to help grow this project? Don't have plans for Columbus Day weekend? Love your bike? If you answered yes to any or all of these, than check out the Forest Ride, a fundraiser for the environmental education, research, and conservation programs of Black Rock Forest. Participants have the option of doing the full 3 day ride or a scaled back version of just 1 day. Perks include hikes, organic meals, scenic rides, full support staff, and a finale at an organic vineyard. I'm not quite sure I am in shape for a full 3 days, but am thinking seriously about this one day affair...Viva la Black Rock!

Posted by Thor Ritz, Contributing Writer

The good people over at Streetsblog posted a nice piece yesterday on a new poll which suggests that the public favors congestion tolling as a means to pay for new transportation infrastructure.  The article yeilds plenty of useful insights, but I am left wondering about who exactly was polled in this study.  As a reader commented, it's pretty clear that the majority of respondents are not public transit riders.  It is certainly signficant that 33% were unwilling to pay anything and that an additional 30% favor raising public transit fares.  Sure, the study might help to jumpstart a broader conversation about tolling, but it seems to indicate that we've still got a lot of work to do if we want to convince the general public that this is the best direction to head in. 

The puzzle of how to pay for new federal investments in transportation is the single greatest stumbling block facing members of Congress -- should a gas tax increase be combined with a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax? How about a national infrastructure bank that leverages private capital?

A poll released today by the engineering firm HNTB suggests that higher gas taxes could continue to face political headwinds from both sides of the aisle, even after the recession begins to ease.

A 10-cent gas tax increase that would be imposed only after two straight quarters of economic growth faced opposition from 64 percent of respondents, and just 16 percent said gas taxes should be raised to pay for "roads and bridges."

But the poll found strikingly strong support for tolling, particularly congestion tolling through HOT (high-occupancy toll) lanes. One-third of respondents said HOT lanes should be used for future transportation revenue, with 35 percent supporting the use of public tolling and 20 percent backing private tolls.

Read more here.

Posted by the Green Queen Bee...back in action.

It has been quite a few weeks since I have had the opportunity to share in the production of the Sustainable Cities Blog. I have been in hives of the southern hemisphere, doing research and finishing up the last six credits of my Masters degree. So, you might notice a higher than usual number of posts on Rio de Janeiro in the next few weeks, but that was home for the summer. Not to mention, that place is brimming with environmental issues...and solutions of course. Photo Courtesy of windowfarms.org                                                               But today, a short piece on a neat project I got a close look at this weekend. Eybeam | Art and Technology Center in Chelsea has their very own Window Farm for the time being. Part art, part research and development, 100% excellent, this project seeks to provide people with the tools they need to bring technology into their own homes, to grow some veggies. It is a closed, hydroponic system that drips gravity fed water (that first gets pumped to the top) into old plastic bottles. As you can see, lights adorn the installation, since most of us do not live on the top floor of buildings with massive southern exposure. But if you do, contact the window farmers at: britta [at] windowfarms [dot] org so you can get one going!