Global Spin

Brent pointed out this article in the New York Times about a carfree German suburb: Street parking, driveways and home garages are generally forbidden in this experimental new district on the outskirts of Freiburg, near the French and Swiss borders. Vauban’s streets are completely “car-free” — except the main thoroughfare, where the tram to downtown [...]

Posted by Chris in Carfree, News, World on May 12th, 2009 | 2 Comments »

It might work if you’re a Montague or a Capulet, but for LGBT folks, marriage by any other name does not smell as sweet. Here’s the bottom line on why this issue is so important and pushes so many buttons: Marriage = legitimacy. That is, if LGBT folks can marry, it means that their relationships [...]

Posted by Deb in Community & Activism, Government, Law, News, Politics, Sexuality on March 7th, 2009 | Comments Off

Bad news from California (like we didn’t already know) in the Wall Street Journal: Shrinking Water Supplies Imperil Farmers. Dwindling water supplies are compounding economic woes in California’s Central Valley, causing farmers to leave fields fallow and confront the prospect of going under. The state’s water supply has dropped precipitously of late. California is locked [...]

Posted by Deb in Agriculture, Bummer, Environment, News on February 11th, 2009 | 1 Comment »

Seems like we’re getting back to the future in style. The Climate Friendly Cities is a project of the Green Renewable Independent Power Producers (GRIPP), a local non-government organization. In the Ecopolis episode, GRIPP Chairperson Athena Ballesteros explained that she envisioned GRIPP to address the pollution and noise problems that come with the 250,000 or [...]

Posted by Deb in Business, Carfree, Environment, News, Shameless Promotion, That which is awesome on January 26th, 2009 | Comments Off

[Graph of my feed-reading habits over the last month, courtesy Google Reader.] OK, maybe less “catching up” and more “declaring newsfeed bankruptcy.” I’ve been a wee bit busy for the past month or two (or three… shush!), and it’s not likely to let up for another month at least. Sorry about the relative radio silence. [...]

Posted by Chris in Academia, Blog, News on December 27th, 2008 | 6 Comments »