• August 24, 2010

• The hanging gardens of Detroit

  
  
  
• On May 21, Team Detroit joined the University Cultural Center Association and Greening of Detroit to create the city’s first vertical garden
  
  
• They claim that Detroit has the world’s finest collection of abandoned architecture. Buildings that are called blight, eyesores, beautiful, dilapidated, tragic, dangerous or worth saving. The first site to experiment on was the Forest Arms, a historic and handsome building that stands at the intersection of Forest and 2nd in Midtown.
  
  It’s a fact that empty buildings like this can impact the psychology of a neighborhood. They cast a shadow that’s hard to shake off. The Forest Arms is one example of a fairly large building – standing four stories tall - whose history of fire damage in 2008 stands visible to hundreds of people each day. We don’t know whether flowers can grow bright enough to change the impression of the Forest Arms, or to help lift the shadow for a season. But that’s something we’d like to find out.
  
  

• links

• -images of forgotten detroit
• -the vertical garden project

• September 11, 2010

• All about sustainable fishery

  
  
  
• The unsustainable harvest of the world’s oceans has led to the depletion, and in some cases collapse, of many of the world’s major fish stocks. While the outlook for many threatened marine ecosystems remains bleak in the face of unsustainable fishing practices, those involved in the seafood industry are realising that by changing the way they conduct business now the long-term viability of their industry can be ensured.
  
  
• The Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative (SASSI) was initiated by WWF South Africa in collaboration with other networking partners in November 2004 in order to inform and educate all participants in the seafood trade, from wholesalers to restaurateurs through to seafood lovers.
  
  The initiative builds on an earlier project started in the KwaZulu-Natal Province which sought to educate restaurant dealers about the Marine Living Resources Act and other marine conservation issues.
  
  
• In recognition of the fact that developing a sustainable seafood industry requires a holistic approach, one which addresses all aspects along the chain of custody from the fisherman’s hook all the way to the final product delivered to the consumer at their local fish shop or restaurant, the WWF Sustainable Fisheries Programme was created in 2007. This new programme brought together both Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative (SASSI) and theResponsible Fisheries Programme (RFP), effectively closing the loop from boat to plate...
  
  
• Lessons to learn
  
  What’s so interesting is the fact that this initiative approaches everyone regardless his or her role in the seafood chain, supplier or consumer. From fishermen right through restauranteurs and retailers and all consumers. We all can play a part! Look for the recently updated STASSI-card which lists the do’s and don’ts of fish comsumption. Note that the SASSI list is also available on your mobile phone.
  
  

• links

• -the stassi website
• -responsable fisheries programme

• Even mobile access
  
  
• For that the SASSI seafood database can be reached from anywhere, also from any cell phone which has the ability to browse the internet. The SASSI mobi site offers a wide range of information, such as some information about SASSI, our Green, Orange and Red lists (with the ability to search the lists), the restaurants which are part of the Restaurant Praticipation Scheme (RPS), the rules and regulations for recreational angling and information on how to get hold of us.
  
  
• The direct address which you would type into your address bar on your phone is "wwfsassi.mobi", do it now, save it as a favourite and make sure you use it when you are out for dinner. Not just because it will make you look like you are a well read individual in front of your friends and family, but also making the right, sustainable choices today WILL make a difference in the future.

• July 8, 2010

• The Electric Highway

  
  
  
• Commerce and WSDOT (Washington State Department of Transportation) are teaming up to implement the nation’s first “electric highway,” a basic network of public access electric vehicle (EV) recharging locations along Interstate 5.
  
  Once implemented, Washington will have the first border to border highway to offer fast charge technology.
  
  
• Through the Electric Highway Project, the state will partner with private companies to install fast charging infrastructure in critical charging zones in unserved locations along major interstates. Electric vehicle charging every 40 - 60 miles will provide a safety net for EV drivers traveling long distances.
• The first charging sites will be placed along I-5 north of Everett and south of Centralia. Additional charging infrastructure will be added along I-90 reaching central Washington.
• Ultimately the infrastructure will enable electric vehicle drivers to travel the length of the state along the 276 miles of I-5 between Washington’s borders with Oregon and Canada
  
  
• The electric highway will support mass-produced plug-in electric vehicles such as the Nissan Leaf, Ford Focus, and Chevrolet Volt soon rolling off the assembly lines.
• With the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf on the way, a new crop of electric cars is just about ready for America. But is America ready for them? We'll need places to charge them, right? Well, residents of the Pacific Northwest will be in good shape. Washington state is planning to line a long stretch of Interstate 5 with seven-to-ten Level-3 fast-charging stations, which can juice up a Leaf in as little as 15 minutes. Early adopters will be able to travel from the Canadian border to the Oregon state line without depleting their batteries. It's being touted as America's first "electric highway."
  
  
• The Seattle area for instance is getting 2,500 charging stations as part of the $230 million EV Project. More than half of them will be public. Altogether, 4,700 electric vehicles and nearly 15,000 charge stations will be introduced in four states -- Washington, California, Arizona and Tennessee -- and the District of Columbia.
  
  

• links

• -the EV-project
• -Electric Highway Project

• July 25, 2010

• Urban food deserts

  
  
  
• A food desert is a district with little or no access to foods needed to maintain a healthy diet, but often served by plenty of fast food restaurants.
  
  
• The concept of 'access' may be interpreted in three separate ways.
  
  'Physical access' to shops can be difficult if the shops are distant, the shopper is elderly or infirm, the area has many hills, public transport links are poor, and the consumer has no car. Also, the shop may be across a busy road, difficult to cross with children or with underpasses that some fear to use because of a crime risk. For some, such as the disabled, the inside of the shop may be hard to access physically if there are steps up, or the interior is cramped with no room for walking aids. Carrying fresh food home may also be hard for some.
  'Financial access' is difficult if the consumer lacks the money to buy healthy foods (generally more expensive, calorie for calorie, than less healthy, sugary, and fatty 'junk foods') or if the shopper cannot afford the bus fare to remote shops selling fresh foods and instead uses local fast food outlets. Other forms of financial access barriers may be inability to afford storage space for food, or for the very poor, living in temporary accommodation that does not offer good cooking facilities.
  Thirdly, the mental attitude or food knowledge of the consumer may prevent them accessing fresh vegetables. They may lack cooking knowledge, or have the idea that eating a healthy diet isn't important.
  
  
• In some urban areas, grocery stores have withdrawn alongside residents that have fled to the suburbs (see urban sprawl). Low income earners and senior citizens who remain find healthy foods either unavailable or inaccessible as a result of high prices and/or unreachable locations.
  
  

• links

• -A "selfstore" in Chicago Westside
• -Time: Can our urban fooddeserts bloom?
• -Hiphop caucus: Low income blacks stranded

• June 10, 2010

• How to introduce the 350 mission to the world?

  
  
  
• 350.org is an international campaign that's building a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis--the solutions that science and justice demand.
  
  
• Their mission is to inspire the world to rise to the challenge of the climate crisis—to create a new sense of urgency and of possibility for our planet.
• 350.org focuses is on the number 350--as in parts per million CO2. If we can't get below that, scientists say, the damage we're already seeing from global warming will continue and accelerate. But 350 is more than a number--it's a symbol of where we need to head as a planet.
  
  
• They work hard to organize in a new way--everywhere at once. In October of 2009 they coordinated 5200 simultaneous rallies and demonstrations in 181 countries, what CNN called the 'most widespread day of political action in the planet's history.' This October 350.org organizes a 'global work party' all over the world. People will put up solar panels, dig community gardens--and send a strong message to our leaders: 'If we can get to work on solutions to the climate crisis, so can you.'
  
  
• Their theory of change is simple: if an international grassroots movement holds our leaders accountable to the latest climate science, we can start the global transformation we so desperately need.
  
  

• links

• -350.org
• -October 2009 demonstrations on Flickr

• July 8, 2010

• The bottled-water boycot

  
  
  
• When the small town of Bundanoon, Australia, two hours south of Sydney, decided almost unanimously this summer to prohibit the sale of bottled water, it was the first ban of its kind in the world.
  
  
• Residents of Bundy, as it is affectionately called, were motivated by environmental concerns, sure, but they also wanted to block a bottled-water company from taking local tap water, bottling it in Sydney, then shipping it back to Bundy to sell.To keep people hydrated, local businesses now refill water bottles for free, and the city plans to install public water fountains throughout the town. Bundy’s ban won’t destroy the entire bottled-water industry, but it will reduce plastic trash, mobilize the city to develop its public-water resources, and—perhaps most important—spark communities around the world to follow suit.
  
  

• Venice!

• Great news coming out of the country that drinks more delicious bottled water than any other in the world: Venice is finally encouraging its residents to take from the tap and stop clogging the city with bottles.
  
  
• The New York Times states that Italians drink 40 gallons of bottled water per person, per year, while Americans drink a not-so-paltry 29. That's a lot of bottles, plastic or glass, to have to get rid of by foot, since Venice doesn't have roads. So the mayor launched a campaign (see the hilarious poster) to get people to start drinking tap water, which, it turns out, is very delicious.
• To boost the campaign, the mayor's office even leaked the juicy fact that "Venice’s tap water comes from deep underground in the same region as one of Italy’s most popular bottled waters, San Benedetto."
  
  

• links

• -Bundanoon in the New York Times
• -Acqua veritas Venezia

Huw Kingston, the owner of Ye Olde Bicycle Shoppe and a leader of the "Bundy on Tap" campaign, said the ban did not begin as an environmental crusade. It started when a Sydney-based bottling company sought permission to extract millions of liters from the local aquifer

• Dec 8, 2010

• The green awards 2010

  
  
  
• The China Environmental Protection Foundation developed an outdoor campaign, displayed on the street, to creatively promote this message. They decided to leverage a busy pedestrian crossing; a place where both pedestrians and drivers meet.
  
  
• The campaign involved laying a canvas 12.6 metres long by 7 metres wide on the ground, thus covering the pedestrian crossing with a large leafless tree. On either side of the road, beneath the traffic lights, were placed sponge cushions soaked in green, environmentally friendly, washable paint. As pedestrians walked towards the crossing, they stepped on the green sponge, thus leaving green foot imprints on the canvas of the tree. Each ‘green’ footprint on the canvas looked like leaves growing on a bare tree, which made people feel that by walking they could create a greener environment.
  
  
• The ‘Green Pedestrian Crossing’ was carried out across 7 thoroughfares in Shanghai. The campaign was then extended to 132 roads across 15 cities in China, with a participation exceeding 3,920,000 people.




• links

• -Green awards 2010
• -Pedestrian crossing Shanghai
    op Youku (de Chinese Youtube)