Thursday, 11 Aug 2005

Dense and Densibility

Densest U.S. cities aren't the ones you think

Advocates of energy-saving urban density usually laud the towering buildings and subways of Manhattan, as contrasted with the car-heavy suburban sprawl of, say, Los Angeles. But the most dense city in the U.S., measured by people per square mile, is ... Los Angeles. In fact, despite its reputation for sprawl, the West contains 10 of the country's 15 most densely populated urban areas, among them San Francisco, Las Vegas, and San Jose. At work is not a miracle of urban planning but physical limitations: a pervasive lack of water, large mountain ranges, and huge tracts of federally owned land. "Infill" development squeezes residences into every scrap of available land. Among the wealthy, planned (and often gated) communities pack houses relatively close together while preserving views and suburban amenities. But the real secret to density in many large Western cities is poverty: Often two, three, even four poor immigrant families cram into one residence, filling garages, attics, and sheds. A reminder that growth should be not only smart, but compassionate.


The Campaign to Make Poverty History is backed not only by a coterie of high-profile celebs (including both Bono and Bono's sunglasses) but by 39 prominent nongovernmental organizations -- not one of which is a conservationist group. Conservation and development used to be spoken of in the same breath. What happened? With world leaders and the public increasingly talking about ways to alleviate poverty in the developing world, why are conservationists not part of the conversation? Jon Christensen wonders.

The Peat Is Gone

Siberia's fast thaw alarms scientists

Siberia is melting. Meeelllting! Ahem. Of particular concern is a 386,000 square-mile expanse of western Siberian permafrost that's been icy cold for about 11,000 years and sits atop billions of tons of methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide. If the permafrost melts, the methane could escape, global climate change could pass a tipping point after which it is effectively unstoppable, and we, friends and neighbors, could be toast. Speaking of that, in today's New Scientist a research team reports seeing mud and lakes in the region, some more than half a mile across, where all was frozen peat bog as recently as three to four years ago. "This is an ecological landslide that is probably irreversible and is undoubtedly connected to climatic warming," said Russian scientist Sergei Kirpotin. "There's still time to take action," said Tony Juniper of Friends of the Earth U.K., "but not much."

The Sum of Owl Fears

Feds to shoot barred owls to save spotted owls

Would you kill an owl to save another owl? It's not a thought experiment from your Intro to Ethics class: Northern spotted owls -- the feathered poster children of last decade's timber wars -- are dwindling in the Pacific Northwest, and bigger, more aggressive barred owls, which have migrated to the region from Canada's Great Plains, are being blamed for at least part of the decline. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is planning an experimental hunt of barred owls in California to see if picking off a few will encourage spotted owls to return to their nests. Though timber-industry reps are playing up the role of the barred owl in the spotted owl's decline, experts point out that logging, wildfire, and West Nile virus are also contributors. Some 59,000 acres of spotted-owl forest habitat were logged between 1996 and 2004, according to a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife researcher. The U.S. FWS announced this week that it will draw up a recovery plan for the spotted owl; a draft is due next year.

Hello Cleveland!

Ohio city is latest to hire sustainability manager

Cleveland, Ohio, has joined Seattle, Chicago, Portland, Ore., and other American metropolises (metropoli?) in creating a city-government position focused on going green and saving energy -- ideally stimulating job growth in the process. Cleveland's new "sustainability programs manager," Andrew Watterson, is getting started with relatively simple and cheap solutions that will show results quickly, such as replacing incandescent light bulbs in city buildings with more efficient and longer-lasting fluorescents and instituting a "no-idling" rule for city trucks running on diesel. He's also working on energy-conserving options for the roof of Cleveland's City Hall, including a green-roof proposal. Watterson envisions Cleveland one day becoming one of the cheapest cities in which to do business when it comes to energy costs. "We live in a capitalist society," Watterson said. "You need to put [your message] in that context."