Urban

Investments have to be decoupled from the profit motive and tied to specific goals to transform our transportation systems

Dec. 23, 2019

At a hastily convened press conference held outside Montreal’s Beaubien Métro station about a week before the federal election, Liberal candidates Mélanie Joly, Steven Guilbeault, Rachel Bendayan and Geneviève Hinse announced the funding of the Pink Line, a proposed major expansion of Montreal’s primary mass-transit system.

Sea level rise, erosion and cruise ships are worsening Venice’s flood problem. But corruption nearly scuppered the solution.

Dec. 10, 2019

Bureau forecasts heatwave while fire authorities say dozens of fires will burn across Australia for weeks
• How big are the fires burning on the east coast of Australia?
• ‘Get the hell out of Dodge’: the fight to save homes from the NSW central coast inferno

Dec. 7, 2019

Dozens of fires will burn across Australia for weeks, fire authorities say, including a “mega-fire”, already the size of greater Sydney, that is too big to put out.

November 19th, 2019

Nov. 11, 2019

To see our fate clearly, we must face these hard facts about energy, growth and governance. Part one of two.

No one wants to be the downer at the party, and some would say that I am an unreformed pessimist. But consider this — pessimism and optimism are mere states of mind that may or may not be anchored in reality. I would prefer to be labeled a realist, someone who sees things as they are, who has a healthy respect for good data and solid analysis (or at least credible theory).

Nov. 10, 2019

Her win is a sweet victory for foes of big corporate money in politics—but it really was a struggle.

November 4th 2019

You’ve probably never even heard of two of Canada’s more effective provincial and city-scale climate policies—and that’s probably not a bad thing.

The BC Energy Step Code and the City of Vancouver’s Zero Emissions Building Plan are both building regulations introduced within the past two years or so by the Province of British Columbia and the City of Vancouver, respectively.

NY Times Op-Ed, Nov. 3, 2019

SAN FRANCISCO — I have lived nearly all my life in California, and my love for this place and its people runs deep and true. There have been many times in the past few years when I’ve called myself a California nationalist: Sure, America seemed to be going crazy, but at least I lived in the Golden State, where things were still pretty chill.

....by this time next year the flow of plastic containers, cups, lids and utensils from restaurants, fast food outlets and other businesses serving prepared food within city limits will have virtually stopped...