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Monthly archive for November, 2011
The Daily Dig: Death to High-Speed Rail…Maybe
Friday, November 18th, 2011
• The House voted Thursday to kill funds for the high-speed rail program – but the project might not be over yet. (NPR) • In a mixed signal for the housing market, U.S. builders started slightly fewer homes in October Read more ›
The Daily Dig: Introducing Mongolia’s Artificial Urban Glacier
Thursday, November 17th, 2011
• The capital city of Mongolia is planning to create an artificial urban glacier to keep cool during the summer months. (Wired) • The European Union has issued a ban on airport x-ray machines, citing concerns about increased risks of Read more ›
The Daily Dig: U.S. Roads Still Suffering After Record Number of Disasters
Wednesday, November 16th, 2011
• 2011 set a record for the number of declared disasters, and 39 states are still waiting for federal money to help rebuild their damaged roads. (Stateline) • In a Florida neighborhood, a developer never told his clients that their Read more ›
Rush-Hour Read: How Much Should Government Subsidize Energy Projects?
Wednesday, November 16th, 2011
How much taxpayer money should be used to support renewable and clean energy projects? And is federal government getting a good deal for its money? In a time of fiscal distress with the government facing a huge debt and deficit, Read more ›
The Catch-22 of U.S. Air Travel
Tuesday, November 15th, 2011
Twenty months ago, the Department of Transportation instated a rule that any airline that kept is passengers on the tarmac for more than three hours would be fined up to $27,500 per passenger. A cursory glance at the numbers indicates Read more ›
The Daily Dig: Are Mind-Reading Bikes the Future of Cycling?
Tuesday, November 15th, 2011
• The Prius X Parlee, a bicycle developed by Toyota, can shift gears when you think about shifting gears — and it could be on the road as early as 2013. (GreenAutoBlog) • TransCanada announced its plans to re-route the Read more ›
Hate the Keystone XL? Here’s Why You Should Want It Anyway
Monday, November 14th, 2011
Earlier this year, government regulators abruptly idled bulldozers just as they revved up for a multi-billion-dollar energy infrastructure project. Construction stalled after officials rethought the environmental impacts of the project and discovered new dangers, even though the project had already Read more ›
The Daily Dig: Could Cleaning the Air Make Global Warming Worse?
Monday, November 14th, 2011
• The claim: cleaning up air pollution would be bad for the environment. Wait, what? (NPR) • In the most ambitious operation yet to increase security before Rio hosts the final matches of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Read more ›
The Daily Dig: Fake ‘No-Parking’ Signs Trick Police Officers
Friday, November 11th, 2011
• In beach towns such as Malibu, residents take the law into their own hands, creating fake “no-parking” signs to dissuade visitors from parking too close to their beachfront properties. (LAT) • Jefferson County, Ala. has filed for Chapter 9 Read more ›
Rush-Hour Read: The Power of Public Space for Protest Movements
Friday, November 11th, 2011
While Tweeting and Facebooking are certainly great outlets for expressing one’s opinion, nothing beats gathering large numbers of people in the streets or a public place. It shows that people are willing to move beyond commenting online to actually showing Read more ›
5 Threats to Our Water Infrastructure
Thursday, November 10th, 2011
You’ve got to give it to “Rahmbo” Emanuel. Chicago’s mayor, and Obama’s erstwhile hammer, bit the bullet in his first budget and proposed massive fee hikes over the next four years for city water and sewer service. The 90 percent Read more ›
The Daily Dig: Suburban Sprawl Means McDonald’s is Always Less Than 100 Miles Away
Thursday, November 10th, 2011
• In the lower 48 states, there is only one place left where you can be over 100 miles away from a McDonald’s restaurant. (Grist) • State and federal investigations have been ordered to investigate why it took Connecticut Light Read more ›
The Daily Dig: The Burj Khalifa’s Dirty Secret
Wednesday, November 9th, 2011
• Dubai, where some of the world’s most recent spectacular buildings are housed, has a dirty secret: there’s no sewage system in the city to support glamorous high-rises such as the Burj Khalifa. (BoingBoing) • The Peruvian capital of Lima Read more ›
Rush-Hour Read: The Link Between Traffic Congestion and Health
Wednesday, November 9th, 2011
Most people know that traffic jams are bad for the environment and people’s free time, but one under-reported aspect of congestion is the toll that it takes on people’s health. While commuting by car is one of the activities that Read more ›
The Daily Dig: Stolen Restaurant Grease is Good News for Biofuel Market
Tuesday, November 8th, 2011
• As biofuels increase in utility and correlate in price with crude oil, leftover grease from restaurants is stolen at a rate on par with the illegal copper trade, indicating biofuel use in on the rise. (NPR) • In Connecticut, Read more ›
The Daily Dig: Thousands Surround White House to Protest Pipeline
Monday, November 7th, 2011
• On Sunday, thousands gathered at the White House to protest the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that would link Canada’s tar sands to refineries on the Gulf Coast. (McClatchyDC) • The TSA is considering overhauling the airport screening process to Read more ›
The Daily Dig: And the Most Bike-Friendly Cities Are…
Friday, November 4th, 2011
• The Copenhagenize index has released its 2011 rankings for the most bike friendly cities. (Copenhagenize) • Fixed mortgage rates are near historic lows, but according to Ben Bernanke, the low rates failed to spur the increase in home buying Read more ›
Rush-Hour Read: The Impact of Fiscal Woes in U.S. Cities
Friday, November 4th, 2011
The decline in tax revenues for state and local governments has been well-documented: smaller budgets, reduced public services, and less money for schools, teachers and other government employees. But some cities and states have been hit harder than others. Harrisburg, Read more ›
The Daily Dig: The Senate’s Decision on Bikes and Pedestrians
Thursday, November 3rd, 2011
• The Senate blocked the attempt of Senator Rand Paul to take away the funding for pedestrian and cyclist street safety. (T4America) • The Yemeni capital of Sana’a may become the first waterless capital city. (AtlanticCities) • In Oakland, thousands Read more ›
The Daily Dig: Amtrak’s New Beef-Powered Engines
Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011
• Amtrak representatives announced this week that their train engines ran just as well when diesel was replaced with up to 20% of a biofuel made from beef tallow. (SmartPlanet) • An airplane carrying 231 people coming from Newark, New Jersey Read more ›
