News
The World’s Greenest, Most Livable Cities
Writing in this month's Reader's Digest, Matthew Kahn, an environmental economist at UCLA's Institute of the Environment, analyzed data from 141 nations and ranked the planet's greenest, most livable places.
October 8, 2007
Judge in Vermont Upholds California Emissions Standards
Detroit car makers lost another battle in their fight against stronger emissions regulations last week, this time in Vermont.
September 17, 2007
Brit’s Liberal Dems Want to Ban Cars Fueled By Gasoline
Britain's Liberal Democrat Party unveiled a detailed plan to tackle climate change which includes a ban on fossil fuel powered cars by 2040. The Guardian reports:
August 30, 2007
Grist: NYC is Not One of the World’s Greenest Cities
Grist recently produced a list of the world's 15 greenest cities. Streetsblog favorites Copenhagen, Curitiba, London, and Bogotá all made the grade. StreetFilms' posterchild Portland captured the number two spot right behind geothermal-powered Reykjavik, Iceland. San Francisco and Austin were the only other U.S. cities to make the list with Chicago meriting runner-up status.
August 3, 2007
Just What India Needs: The $3,000 Car
The Sierra Club points out that in India, there are currently about 7 cars per 1,000 persons (as compared to nearly 500 per 1,000 in the US). With the advent of the $3,000 car, that is surely about to change. The Independent's Andrew Buncombe reports:
June 28, 2007
Addicted To Oil: Ranking States’ Vulnerability
A new NRDC report ranks U.S. states on their level of oil vulnerability measured by how heavily each state's citizens are affected by increases in oil prices. States are also ranked on their implementation of solutions to reduce oil dependence. The report found that while oil dependence affects all states, some are hit harder economically than others. And while some states are pioneering solutions, many are taking little or no action. In fact, the report finds that about one-third of states are not taking any steps to reduce their dependence. From the NRDC report (via Car Free USA):
June 27, 2007
Albany Fiddles Over Congestion Pricing…
... as NASA Scientist James Hansen and six other scientists publish a new global climate change study that concludes, "The Earth today stands in imminent peril and nothing short of a planetary rescue will save it from the environmental cataclysm of dangerous climate change."
June 21, 2007
Andy Wiley-Schwartz Starts at DOT on Monday
Department of Transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan continues to assemble an impressive management team.
June 15, 2007
Quebec Approves Carbon Tax on Fuels to Cut Greenhouse Gases
Quebec will become the first Canadian province to impose a carbon tax on energy producers. Bloomberg reports:
June 14, 2007