Grist | Topics | 176 Results

RESULTS		Results 1 – 25 of 176
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Headline	Author	Published	Section
My other candidate is a bike Obama, transportation policy, and the highway bill	David Roberts	03 Jul 2008	Gristmill
Great story in CQ this week on bike politics. Did you know that Obama met a few weeks ago with 160 cycling advocates and promised them his support? I didn't. The 600-pound gorilla in transportation politics is the 2009 negotiation of a new highway bill, which according to CQ 'is already being touted as embodying the greatest overhaul of federal transportation policy since President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Interstate Highway Act into law half a century ago.' ...
Topics: Barack Obama, bikes, placemaking, politics, presidential race 08, public transportation (all these topics)

Derailed McCain just not that into Amtrak	Kate Sheppard	02 Jul 2008	Gristmill
Over at the Boston Globe, columnist Derrick Z. Jackson does an excellent job of highlighting John McCain's beef with Amtrak: For years, McCain, in the comfort of cheap gasoline for autos and airplanes, made Amtrak a personal whipping boy. Despite the fact that governments in Western Europe and Asia zoomed far ahead of the United States by supporting high-speed trains to relieve congestion, promote tourism and now as we are coming to know, save the planet, McCain has ...
Topics: elections, John McCain, Muckraker, news, placemaking, politics, presidential race 08, public transportation (all these topics)

Making cities less dumb Select Committee examines the benefits of smarter urban planning	Kate Sheppard	20 Jun 2008	Gristmill
The House Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming held a hearing on Thursday about the opportunities for better urban planning to reduce energy use and greenhouse-gas emissions. 'Planning Communities for a Changing Climate' brought together a panel of experts on 'smart growth,' clean air policy, and transit. Witnesses included Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, who works in smart growth in Abu Dhabi; Steve Hewitt, administrator of Greensburg, Kan., the town ...
Topics: green living, Muckraker, news, placemaking, politics, urban planning (all these topics)

Screwing the goose that lays the golden eggs Better cities, better growth	Ryan Avent	16 Jun 2008	Gristmill
The Overhead Wire directs us to a Christian Science Monitor write-up of a new Brookings report on how we might want to support metropolitan economies: 'If you're going to get serious about the economy, then you've got to get specific about how you're going to leverage metropolitan economies,' says Bruce Katz, director of the metropolitan policy program at Brookings. Even though America's 100 largest cities generate two-thirds of U.S. jobs and three-quarters of dom ...
Topics: placemaking, politics, public lands, public transportation, urban planning (all these topics)

High-speed train to victory? Swing states need green manufacturing	Jon Rynn	10 Jun 2008	Gristmill
Suppose you just became the presumptive presidential nominee of the Democratic party, and suppose you really could use some of those Midwestern swing states in order to win the general election. Suppose, further, that you have mentioned how it would be a good thing to have high-speed rail coming out of Chicago, and that 'the fight for American manufacturing is the fight for America's future.' And further, suppose that there is a Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Commissio ...
Topics: gas prices, placemaking, politics, public transportation (all these topics)

The Missing Links Public transit ridership is up, but no one's talking about a better system	Ryan Avent	06 Jun 2008	Grist Feature
But how long will they wait for infrastructure improvements? Photo: Sharat Ganapati One year ago, as America prepared for the traditional summer-driving crush, op-ed pages nationwide fretted over a disturbing trend. Only a decade earlier, oil had plumbed depths near $10 per barrel, and dirt-cheap gas had allowed us to roll over the nation's blacktop in vehicles of monster-truck ...
Topics: green living, placemaking, politics, public transportation, sprawl, urban planning (all these topics)

Notable quotable Yes we can! (ride bikes)	David Roberts	22 May 2008	Gristmill
'It's time that the entire country learn from what's happening right here in Portland with mass transit and bicycle lanes and funding alternative means of transportation. That's the kind of solution that we need for America.' -- Barack Obama, speaking to a rally in Portland, Ore., where an estimated 8,000 out of 75,000 attendees arrived on bikes (via Streetsblog)
Topics: Barack Obama, bikes, placemaking, politics, Portland, public transportation (all these topics)

Surely there must be some mistake	David Roberts	20 May 2008	Gristmill
Branch of U.S. federal government accidentally passes bill that would provide $1.7 billion in grant funding for public transit.
Topics: brilliance, legislation, placemaking, politics, public transportation (all these topics)

Cities	David Roberts	07 May 2008	Gristmill
Why don't candidates who claim to be interested in climate change talk about cities more? That's where the rubber is hitting the road: Officials in King County and other places are rethinking the way their communities grow and operate, all with an eye toward reducing their overall carbon footprint. After decades of policies that encouraged people to move out to the suburbs in pursuit of larger homes and bigger backyards, some policy makers are now pushing aggressive ...
Topics: ecological footprint, local politics, placemaking, politics, urban planning (all these topics)

Oil hysteria, part 2 Are low gas prices an inalienable right?	Jon Rynn	02 May 2008	Gristmill
I'm listening to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) talk to Thom Hartmann on Air America. Sanders is arguably the best senator in decades, and understands, as he just explained, that we need to transform our energy system toward renewables. But he also said something to the effect that 'we have to get gas prices back down.' I can't blame him -- particularly in his state of Vermont, rural people are getting slammed by high gas prices, because they have to drive long distances. ...
Topics: energy, oil, placemaking, politics, public transportation, renewable energy, sprawl, Vermont (all these topics)

Obama on rail transit A candidate finally discusses public transit ... at a random lunch	David Roberts	01 May 2008	Gristmill
So I'm looking at this pool report from a run-of-the-mill day in the Obama campaign. Barack and Michelle dropped by to have lunch with an Indiana couple, Mike and Cheryl Fischer. Mike works in Amtrak's Beech Grove shop, as his family has for generations. Notes the report dryly: "No news." But I scan down a bit to the middle, where Barack's talking to Mike about his impending layoff at Amtrak, and suddenly my mouth is hanging open. Says Obama:The irony is w ...
Topics: Barack Obama, placemaking, politics, presidential race 08, public transportation (all these topics)

The unbearable tightness of oil markets America is ill equipped to handle expensive oil	Ryan Avent	30 Apr 2008	Gristmill
The Times' Jad Mouawad has written a piece describing the state of the world's oil market. It is, in a word, tight. Production volumes have been flat at best, and consumption growth has continued. Kevin Drum comments: I imagine that a global economic slowdown will flatten oil consumption a bit over the next year or two, and eventually higher prices will rein in demand more permanently. On the other hand, we've seen oil prices double three times in the past eight years wi ...
Topics: economy, energy, oil, placemaking, politics, public transportation, urban planning (all these topics)

Oil hysteria Let's rebuild our national rail network instead of repealing the gas tax	Jon Rynn	17 Apr 2008	Gristmill
At the rate things are going, any money that would be available for global warming mitigation is going to go into subsidizing the oil used by airplanes, trucks, cars, and heating oil so that most Americans do not become hysterical -- or am I being hysterical? From Michael T. Klare's latest article: Oil at $110 a barrel. Gasoline at $3.35 (or more) per gallon. Diesel fuel at $4 per gallon. Independent truckers forced off the road. Home heating oil rising to unconscionabl ...
Topics: energy, fossil fuels, oil, placemaking, politics, public transportation, urban planning (all these topics)

Don't celebrate this holiday We need to be freed from gas, not the gas tax	Ryan Avent	17 Apr 2008	Gristmill
John McCain's proposal to institute a gas tax 'holiday' during the summer driving season is as clear an example of a pander as one is likely to see during election season, but its inclusion in a major economic policy speech suggests that this is no easily ignorable one-off. As Joseph Romm notes, any hope progressives might have had that the maverick, straight-talking conservative could bring some principle to the table on climate and energy issues has now gone out the win ...
Topics: energy, gas prices, John McCain, oil, placemaking, politics, public transportation, regulation (all these topics)

Machiavelli meets the Big Apple Ten reasons NYC's congestion pricing plan went belly up	Charles Komanoff	07 Apr 2008	Gristmill
Photo: Tom Twigg Albany strikes again: congestion pricing -- the smartest urban-transportation idea since the subway -- has been buried by the professional morticians of the New York State legislature, led by Chief Ghoul Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. As previously reported, the pricing plan, proposed a year ago by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and subsequently improved by a 17-member state-mandated commission, would have charged an $8 entry fee ...
Topics: legislation, New York, placemaking, politics, state politics, urban planning (all these topics)

New York City's congestion pricing plan ...	David Roberts	07 Apr 2008	Gristmill
... is dead.
Topics: legislation, New York, placemaking, politics, state politics, urban planning (all these topics)

Them's the Brakes Manhattan congestion-pricing plan kicks the bucket		07 Apr 2008	News
Posted at 1:06 PM on 07 Apr 2008 Hopes had run high that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's ambitious congestion-pricing plan for the Big Apple would move forward, but the measure has died a quiet death. Democratic members of the State Assembly, determining that the measure was overwhelmingly opposed, neglected to even bring it to the Assembly floor, instead shooting it down with a secret vote. The now-dead plan would have cha ...
Topics: air pollution, climate, climate change mitigation, legislation, New York, New York City, news, placemaking, politics, state politics, urban planning (all these topics)

Building green, one city at a time Eager municipalities hopping on board	Katharine Wroth	02 Apr 2008	Gristmill
In case you haven't noticed, it's officially the Year of Green Building. And while some areas have had eco-standards in place for a while now (helloooooo, D.C.!), the fevah is spreading in cities across the U.S. Take a gander at a few places considering formal green-building guidelines this spring: In a move described as a 'watershed time, a wonderful thing,' Chula Vista, Calif. voted yesterday to approve mandatory green-building standards for homes and business ...
Topics: green building, legislation, local politics, placemaking, politics, urban planning (all these topics)

Highway to Nowhere California's 'hydrogen highway' runs into roadblocks		02 Apr 2008	News
Posted at 10:53 AM on 02 Apr 2008 Despite California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's executive order four years ago that "hundreds of hydrogen fueling stations" be built in the state, nary a station has been built under the program. Depending on whom you ask, the blame for the sputtering "hydrogen highway" lies with: energy companies and utilities, for not stepping forward to take state matching money to bui ...
Topics: Arnold Schwarzenegger, California, cars, energy, hydrogen, news, placemaking, politics, state politics (all these topics)

Peak Oil? Bring it on! Solving the climate problem will solve the peak oil problem, too	Joseph Romm	30 Mar 2008	Gristmill
I have a new article in Salon on perhaps the most misunderstood subject in energy: peak oil. Here is the short version: We are at or near the peak of cheap conventional oil production. There is no realistic prospect that the conventional oil supply can keep up with current projected demand for much longer, if the industrialized countries don't take strong action to sharply reduce consumption, and if China and India don't take strong action to sharply reduce cons ...
Topics: Big Auto, business, energy, fuel efficiency, hybrids, oil, placemaking, politics (all these topics)

Think globally by thinking locally	JMG	27 Mar 2008	Gristmill
A new study bolsters the importance-of-place arguments made by people like Wendell Berry: the strongest way to get people to engage with the problems and to act responsibly for the global environment is to focus on the threats to their own place).This doesn't really surprise me -- but it does prompt me to change my signature line to "Save your community -- cut greenhouse gas emissions 5% per year."Appeal To Americans By Making Global Warming A Local Issue - Study Resul ...
Topics: climate, greenhouse-gas emissions, local politics, placemaking, politics, scientific research (all these topics)

The Pricing Is Right New York's new governor supports congestion pricing		24 Mar 2008	News
Posted at 2:40 PM on 24 Mar 2008 Brand-spankin'-new New York Gov. David Paterson has announced his support for a controversial congestion pricing plan. The proposal, put forward by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and supported by former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, would charge $8 to drivers entering Manhattan during peak hours. Said Paterson in a written statement, "Congestion pricing addresses two urgent concerns of th ...
Topics: air pollution, climate, climate change mitigation, New York, New York City, news, placemaking, politics, state politics, urban planning (all these topics)

Rolling On As Corps series ends, big questions remain about the future of the Mississippi	Emily Gertz	21 Mar 2008	Grist Feature
There are 8 million stories in the Mississippi Basin, and this week we've told only a few. As lead editor of this Army Corps series, I've been immersed for the last few months in all things Mississippi River. Coming out the other side, I have a few answers, yes, but even more questions to explore. Below is my personal working list of issues that -- while perhaps less acknowledged ...
Topics: Army Corps of Engineers, Mississippi River, placemaking, politics, special series, wetlands (all these topics)

If Only We Could Afford to Live There San Francisco gets even greener		07 Mar 2008	News
Posted at 3:09 PM on 07 Mar 2008 San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom got jiggy with eco-measures this week. He signed into a law a requirement that the city's taxi fleet be converted to low-emission vehicles by 2011; ordered all city departments to purchase 100 percent recycled paper and reduce overall paper use by 20 percent by 2010; and announced his support for a tidal-energy project in the San Francisco Bay, despite a recent ...
Topics: energy, local politics, news, placemaking, politics, recycling, San Francisco, wave and tidal power (all these topics)

Hee Hee, Bikers in Suits Small-scale bike-share program to come to Capitol Hill		07 Mar 2008	News
Posted at 1:27 PM on 07 Mar 2008 Thirty bicycles will be made available to government employees on Capitol Hill under a pilot bike-share program announced by U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) at a National Bike Summit Thursday. "You have such a huge concentration of people" on the Hill, he said, "and so much of the errand running doesn't need to fire up an engine." Blumenauer, founder ...
Topics: bikes, Congress, news, placemaking, politics (all these topics)

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