Network-facilitated community development and sustainable development

Well, there are a few communities that are working hard to create drastically innovative living centers that change land use and transportation needs for the better. These "eco-cities" are something I've been meaning to share for some time--there's one in development right here in California's Bay Area! Califia is a proposed economically- and ecologically-sustainable community in the works for the next ten to fifteen years which will support a population of 10,000 in the San Francisco metro area. In conjunction with a worldwide network of similar development projects, the Green Century Institute is leading what it calls "network-facilitated community development"--through online wikis and forums, as well as offline salons and community design summits--with leading urban design advisors Paolo Soleri and Jon Jerde.

Learn more, click here
Blog notice provided by USP2'er Maria Sotero.

How do big development projects affect our community?

CPI Action Alert
February 19, 2007

As the guest blogger Tuesday on Cafe San Diego, CPI Research and Policy Director Murtaza Baxamusa details the ways in which San Diego officials give away the store to developers. Sold on the fallacy that any development is good for the community, City officials rarely consider the actual costs and benefits, Baxamusa argues.

Cafe San Diego is a feature of the online newspaper Voice of San Diego. You can read Baxamusa's postings and join in with your own comments.

Big Enviro Groups ‘Holding Back’ Anti-Warming Movement

Some critics call the best mainstream proposals too little, too late, --by Megan Tady

While the US government and some corporations are finally acknowledging global climate change, some critics say partnering with such forces may “tame” the movement’s goals and strategies.
Lear more at : http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/4293

2006 US city rankings of the 50 largest cities on urban sustainability

The SustainLane 2006 US city rankings of the 50 largest cities is the nation’s most complete report card on urban sustainability. The rankings explain how people’s quality of life and city economic and management preparedness are likely to fare in the face of an uncertain future. These indicators gauge, for instance, which cities’ public transit, renewable energy, local food, and development approaches are more likely to either limit or intensify the negative economic and environmental impacts of fossil fuel dependence.

San Diego is No.17. http://www.sustainlane.us/overview.jsp

Brought to our attention by: Aaron Mohammadi

Learning for Sustainability website

Social learning is increasingly cited as an essential process for addressing the complexity and uncertainty inherent in many sustainability issues, and for developing understanding between the different perspectives involved. The Learning for Sustainability (LfS) website - http://learningforsustainability.net - aims to provide a practical resource for proponents of multi-stakeholder learning processes. It recognizes that social learning is an ongoing process which underpins sustainable development initiatives, rather than an outcome to be achieved.

The guide to on-line resources is designed for government and agency staff, NGOs, researchers and other community leaders working in community development, health and natural resource management. It acts as a gathering point for resources that have been developed in these separate sectors, and supports the sharing of ideas across sectors. The site structure highlights a number of activity areas or strands that are prerequisites for social learning, and points to how these strands are woven together in practice. These strands include networking, dialogue, adaptive management, knowledge management and evaluation. The growing role of the Internet is treated as a separate section. A short introduction to each section outlines the nature of the resource links provided, and provides pointers to other topic areas which are closely related in use. A separate section links to key manuals and guides on the Internet for facilitating participation and engagement.
*This site kindly brought to our attention by Rika Yonemura, USP 2 TA

Pig farms

photo by doveimaging.com

America's top pork producer churns out a sea of waste that has destroyed rivers, killed millions of fish and generated one of the largest fines in EPA history. Welcome to the dark side of the other white meat.

JEFF TIETZ

Smithfield Foods, the largest and most profitable pork processor in the world, killed 27 million hogs last year. That's a number worth considering. A slaughter-weight hog is fifty percent heavier than a person. The logistical challenge of processing that many pigs each year is roughly equivalent to butchering and boxing the entire human populations of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego, Dallas, San Jose, Detroit, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, San Francisco, Columbus, Austin, Memphis, Baltimore, Fort Worth, Charlotte, El Paso, Milwaukee, Seattle, Boston, Denver, Louisville, Washington, D.C., Nashville, Las Vegas, Portland, Oklahoma City and Tucson.

For full article, click here, copied from Rolling Stone.
This story brought to our attention by USP Undergraduate TA Melissa Munsell

Low Impact Living, New web site launched

www.lowimpactliving.com

Low Impact Living seeks to help the millions of Americans who realize that our environment is rapidly deteriorating and who want to do something to lessen their load on the Earth. Low Impact Living will help people understand their current environmental impacts and teach them how to make their homes and lifestyles more environmentally sustainable. We show people what projects to undertake, how much they will cost, and what the environmental benefits will be. We want to be America¹s One Stop Green Shop. Some of the unique benefits we offer are:

The most comprehensive environmental impact calculator on the market today‹covering not only energy use and carbon emissions, but also trash production, fresh water use, storm-water runoff production, and other impacts. Users simply put in their zip codes and some more basic information about their homes and then we display the environmental impacts of a similar home in their area AND recommend projects for them to start making their homes and lives more eco-friendly.

The largest referral service of green service providers available on the web today‹with over 1,500 nationwide suppliers, ranging from green architects & interior designers to installers of solar systems, insulation, and bamboo flooring. Just put in your zip code and you¹ll be amazed how many green experts are waiting to help you.

Over 600 green home products, ranging from toxin-free home cleaners to energy-efficient appliances to organic bedding‹please check out our selection.

Please share any reactions/feedback/questions you haveŠwe¹re eager to hear your thoughts. And please forward this to any friends who you think might be interested in Low Impact Living.

Jessica M. Jensen

Co-Founder

Low Impact Living, Inc.

phone (213) 804-8886

www.lowimpactliving.com

WORLD’S FIRST “GREEN” SURFBOARD BLANKS

Ned McMahon, General Manager for Homeblown's U.S. manufacturing plant in San Diego, CA exhibited the surf industry’s first “green” surfboard blanks at Surf Expo. Homeblown US manufactures Biofoam blanks in which nearly 50% of the core ingredients are from agricultural products. Biofoam is produced by replacing the polyol component of the foam with materials converted from natural plant oils.
Full article, click here
Story courtesy of Eric Chen, USP 2 student.

Homeblown US is situated in San Diego in order to support the largest surfboard manufacturing base in the United States. In addition to manufacturing in the U.S., Homeblown has manufacturing plants in the U.K. and South Africa. HomeblownUS is a member of 1% for the Planet.

If you would like additional information on Homeblown US, contact:

Ned McMahon
General Manager
Homeblown US
10326 Roselle Street #103
San Diego, CA92121
Tel: (858) 587-2163

ned@homeblownus.com

www.homeblownus.com

Mystery ailment strikes honeybees

By GENARO C. ARMAS, Associated Press Writer, Sun Feb 11, 6:12 PM ET

A mysterious illness is killing tens of thousands of honeybee colonies across the country, threatening honey production, the livelihood of beekeepers and possibly crops that need bees for pollination.

Researchers are scrambling to find the cause of the ailment, called Colony Collapse Disorder.

Reports of unusual colony deaths have come from at least 22 states. Some affected commercial beekeepers — who often keep thousands of colonies — have reported losing more than 50 percent of their bees. A colony can have roughly 20,000 bees in the winter, and up to 60,000 in the summer. "We have seen a lot of things happen in 40 years, but this is the epitome of it all," Dave Hackenberg, of Lewisburg-based Hackenberg Apiaries, said by phone from Fort Meade, Fla., where he was working with his bees. (Click here for complete article)
*News alert courtesy of USP 2 Student Maria Sotero.

Environmental Concerns in China and Beyond

China's Filthiest Export
By Jennifer L. Turner and Juli S. Kim

The economic boom Deng Xiaoping sparked in 1980 brought millions out of poverty and turned China into the world's factory. However, by following in the footsteps of many western countries that opted to "pollute first and clean up later," China built its economic success on a foundation of ecological destruction. This environmental destruction is threatening the economy, human health, and social stability, as well as potentially causing irreparable damage to the water, soil, and forest ecosystems.

China's weak enforcement of environmental laws is also leading to natural resource destruction well beyond its borders. China already consumes more energy and emits more greenhouse gases (GHG) than any country except the United States. It is expected to surpass the United States in GHG emissions by 2009. The expansion of China's power plants alone—562 new coal-fired power stations by 2012—could nullify the cuts required under the Kyoto Protocol from industrialized countries.

Jennifer L. Turner directs the China Environment Forum and edits the China Environment Series at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The China Environment Forum recently initiated a new China Environmental Health project with Western Kentucky University. She can be reached at cef@wilsoncenter.org. Juli S. Kim is program assistant for the China Environment Forum and can be reached at juli.kim@wilsoncenter.org.

See new FPIF article online at:
http://fpif.org/fpiftxt/3978

Spend a Semester with Greenpeace

Students,

I am writing to alert you about an exciting opportunity: the Greenpeace Organizing Term, an action-packed semester of travel and training. It’s a hands-on training program that gives you the skills to be an environmental leader. You’ll learn about current environmental issues and solutions and you’ll get trained by the experts in grassroots organizing, leadership, media, and campaign strategy. You’ll travel abroad with Greenpeace to work with international activists. Many students are also able to receive class credit for the semester.

ACTION * TRAVEL * TRAINING

Spend a Semester with Greenpeace

http://www.greenpeace.org/got

Summer and Fall 2007 programs are filling up, and early applications are due Feb 28th. Apply at http://www.greenpeace.org/got. The semester is based in both the Washington D.C. and San Francisco Greenpeace offices. Contact program staff with questions at got@wdc.greenpeace.org.

For a green and peaceful future,

Diana Silbergeld

Greenpeace USA

415-255-9221 x342.

Scientists Predict Droughts, Rise in Temperatures, Sea Levels in Global Warming Report

Temperatures will probably increase by 3.2 to 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100. Sea levels will rise by 7 to 23 inches. Many of the world’s most populated regions will face severe water shortages. Scientists made these dire predictions in a report issued Friday in Paris by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This was the IPCC’s fourth report since 1990. For the first time, it states with near-certainty that global warming is man-made. More

Hidden Material Flows

A student in USP 2 shared this article from the New York Times. It is about Iceland and investment in aluminum manufacturing and power plants. It is a good illustration of the kinds of hidden flows we talk about in USP 2 (our ecological footprint in far off places).

Excerpt:

The culmination of years of effort by the center-right government to increase international investment in Iceland, the project has already begun to revitalize Iceland’s underpopulated east. But it has also mobilized an angry and growing coalition of people who feel that the authorities have sacrificed Iceland’s most precious asset — the pristine land itself — to heavy industry from abroad. (link to article in NYT)

Three week study tour on Housing and Community Development in Spain

Rob Weiner (California Coalition for Rural Housing) has organized a three week study tour on Housing and Community Development in Spain from July 1-July 21, 2007. The class, sponsored by the UC Davis Summer Study Abroad Program, is open to students from any university or college for credit, as well as professionals. Those taking the tour will be exploring Spanish approaches to housing lower-income and immigrant communities and neighborhood regeneration.

From the flyer advertizing the class:

This field course examines contemporary issues of housing and community development in Spain, with a focus on Barcelona and Catalonia. Through lectures, field trips, and hands-on work experiences, participants will learn about Spanish approaches to housing and neighborhood improvement, integration of internal migrants like Gypsies and immigrants from North Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe, the political, ideological, and cultural factors that inform policy, and the role of the state and community organizations in planning and development. There will be ample time for tapas, sangria, dancing, and enjoying the rich cultural and historical sites.

Learn more at:
http://summer-abroad.ucdavis.edu/programs/2007/Barcelona_Spain.cfm.

Facing rising numbers of city dwellers, UN agency launches 'urban farming' campaign

1 February 2007 - The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is launching a programme to promote urban farming across the developing world as projections show that the number of city dwellers in those countries will continue to surge dramatically.

Nine African countries are participating in FAO's "Food for the Cities" programme, where thousands of hectares of urban land are being transformed into allotment gardens to grow fresh vegetables.

All the food is being grown according to quality agricultural practices to ensure the produce is fresh, safe and healthy, FAO said in a statement issued today at its headquarters in Rome. The gardens - especially those in slum districts - will also serve as valuable green spaces in often congested and polluted cities. Learn more