Articles tagged “Urban Planning”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

How Many People in the World Live in Urban Areas? By Brian Merchant IN Go For The Green May 1 2009 Around 50% of the world's population lives in cities, according to Millennium Development Goals Report 2007. And as you're likely aware, the global trend is continuing towards a migration towards urban populations. Now, on a conceptual level, this is good... + READ MORE

Arm Yourself with Subversive Environmental Weapons: Seed Balls By Brian Merchant IN Travel & Outdoors Apr 21 2009 The history of environmentalism is rich with innovation?revolutionary environmental journalism from Rachel Carson, guerrilla gardening in the '70s, the bold organizing and activism of early Greenpeace, up to the prescient "green jobs" advocating of Van Jones are all fine examples of those dedicated to green causes finding new ways to bring unobserved issues to light. And we've always relied on an ever-growing arsenal of green 'weapons', if you will, to help us in the good fight: from the hoe and rake to seeds to the protest banner, the peaceful tools of the environmentalist have well served the cause over the years. + READ MORE

You Can Grow 100 Lbs of Potatoes in a 4 Ft Box By Brian Merchant IN Home & Garden Apr 15 2009 Who says you need a huge garden to grow a whole lot of potatoes? The most innovative thing about this project is how you build the box while the potatoes grow, to maximize yield while minimizing space. Basically, you start by laying the foundation?four wooden pillars at the corner of your box-to-be and one layer of wood... + READ MORE

Green Glossary: Urban Farm By Mickey Z. IN Food & Health Apr 10 2009 In our excitement to spread the green word, it's easy to forget that many Americans don't have the opportunity to engage. "Forget organic and locally grown food?in America's poorest urban neighborhoods, it's hard to find any affordable fruits and vegetables at all," writes Tracie McMillan in Mother Jones Magazine. "Six grocery stores serve South Los Angeles' population of 688,000. West Oakland has no supermarkets, but close to 60 liquor stores. + READ MORE

Join The Livable Streets Initiative and Green Your City By David DeFranza IN Tech & Transport Apr 9 2009 What are the streets in your neighborhood like? Are the sidewalks wide and accessible? Do speed bumps help curb heavy-footed drivers? Are they well-lit, full of vendors, and friendly to cyclists? If not, do these questions sound like foolish fantasies? Well, with a little work, all of these things can become a reality in even the most car-centric cities. The Livable Streets Initiative is making it happen, but they need your help. + READ MORE

How to Deal with Unwanted Wildlife in Urban Areas By Josh Peterson IN Travel & Outdoors Feb 27 2009 Humans are essentially animals. There are differences. Rock and Roll music, the ability to build sailboats and the capacity to enjoy a Woody Allen movie. Some finches and several species of canines can enjoy Mr. Allen's films∗, but most scientists believe they are simply imitating the throaty guffaws of their human masters. + READ MORE

Planet Green Sponsors Greenbuild, Renovation Nation's Steve Thomas to Attend By Brian Merchant IN Work & Connect Nov 17 2008 If you're a green-minded architecture aficionado, there's probably nowhere you'd rather be than the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo. Put on by the US Green Building Council, a non-profit comprised of over 15,000 (!) pro-green building organizations, the Expo is the largest sustainable building conference in the world. + READ MORE

Help Influence President-Elect Obama's Urban Policy By Collin Dunn IN Work & Connect Nov 17 2008 The world is still buzzing about the election of Barack Obama to the nation's highest office, and for good reason: the President-Elect is already making green waves. With his focus on alternative energy and the green economy, it's shaping up to be a pretty exciting time for the growing world of green, and there's one thing that has piqued our interest, in particular: his promise to create an Office of Urban Policy. + READ MORE

USGBC Founder David Gottfried's LEED Home Renovation: Intro (Video) By Team Planet Green IN Home & Garden Nov 14 2008 This is the first in a series of video blog posts about green architecture and construction leading up to Greenbuild, the U.S. Green Building Council's annual conference. Planet Green is a Silver sponsor of this year's event, which will be held in Boston November 19-21. + READ MORE

Learn from Seattle: 3 Green Reasons to Build A Drainage System and Prevent Erosion By Josh Peterson IN Home & Garden Sep 30 2008 Some people live in Seattle. This is a fact. You can go to Seattle and people will be there. They will be in shops, driving cars, playing badminton and relaxing near displays of frozen custard. It's like a real city. Rain continuously falls from the sky there. You'd think a place like that would be nearly inhabitable, but over 500,000 wet people call it home. + READ MORE

Green Glossary: Adaptive Reuse By Team Planet Green IN Tech & Transport Sep 29 2008 As the term implies, adaptive reuse can be defined as "the adaptation of an existing structure for a use different from its original or previous use, e.g. the conversion of an office building into apartment units." While it's not green in the strictest sense of the philosophy, the concept of adaptive reuse inspires and provokes humans to rethink the seemingly endless cycle of tearing down and rebuilding. + READ MORE

Focus on Focus Earth: The 25 Most Sustainable Cities By Team Planet Green IN Focus Earth Sep 26 2008 Focus Earth has some very good news this week, with the findings of a report that spells out the 25 most sustainable American cities. Bob Woodruff and his team bring you the rankings, and the facts about what green choices... + READ MORE

Focus Earth: August 30, 2008 By Team Planet Green IN Focus Earth Aug 28 2008 This week on Focus Earth, Bob Woodruff and his team head to New Orleans for the third anniversary of Katrina, to check out green rebuilding in the 9th Ward, talk to Louisana's governor about the state's ecological future, and chart... + READ MORE

Focus Earth: August 23, 2008 By Team Planet Green IN Focus Earth Aug 22 2008 This week, Bob and the Focus Earth team bring you eco-reports from the city, the sea, and everywhere in between. Get the facts on the environmental legacy the 2008 Olympic Games will leave behind in Beijing, go deep into the... + READ MORE

Three Great Eco Parking Lots By Brian Merchant IN Tech & Transport Aug 7 2008 Okay, so parking lots aren?t exactly the greenest topic you?ll see covered in Planet Green. But they?re a fact of life (for now, at least . . .) and as long we have them, we might as well make them green, right? The following is a list of some of the more innovative eco-minded parking projects that have cropped up. + READ MORE

The World's Greenest Cities of the Future By Brian Merchant IN Travel & Outdoors Jul 15 2008 Greensburg is well on its way to ranking among the most eco-aware cities around. So who are its peers? These three cities are Greensburg's brothers in arms in the journey to establish the future of green building. + READ MORE

Greensburg Needs Trees-Donate NOW! By Team Planet Green IN Work & Connect Jul 3 2008 Greensburg is all about innovation when it comes to implementing new ideas for green living, but some things just have to be done the old-fashioned way?like planting trees. Sadly, 95% of the trees in Greensburg were lost in the tornado, and they need them back ASAP for a variety of reasons, including soil erosion prevention, wildlife habitation, noise pollution suppression, wind reduction, shading, and simple aesthetic beauty. + READ MORE

Greensburg Photos By Team Planet Green IN Greensburg Apr 13 2008 Here is a tiny glimpse at some of the people and scenes of Greensburg, Kansas. Their homes have been destroyed and are in different stages of destruction, repair and rebuild. The journey to reclaim their homes is a hard one,... + READ MORE