Urban farmers and gardeners around the world transform abandoned lots into edible landscapes, improving human and ecological health as well as creating beautiful places. Richard Ingersoll surveys a myriad of concepts and projects from around Europe and the United States.
Recent Posts
Toll Roads, Please Take Me Away!
No matter where they’re stuck in OC’s sprawling road network: on I-5, the 405, Crown Valley Parkway, or in their own driveway — a magical toll road miles from their moribund vehicular situation will time-travel them up, to that heavenly place of commuter-bliss, where slowdowns never occur.
Solazyme: The Dream of Clean, Renewable, Algae-Derived Fuel
Solazyme is a renewable oil and bioproducts company that transforms algae into high-value oils, and hopes one day to produce enough to rival gasoline and diesel. Their road to the market has been circuitous but instructive as a workable business model for renewable energy.
Obama Proposes Measured Action on Climate Change
President Obama unveiled his Climate Action Plan that proposes to cut carbon pollution from coal burning power plants, coupled with supporting energy efficiency and clean, renewable sources of energy, but cannot seem to kick the addiction to some fossil fuels, especially fracked natural gas. He also promises to ramp up climate change adaptation and to lead international efforts to address global warming.
Orange County Toll Road to Nowhere Denied Permits
Orange County’s Toll Road Agency is pushing the first segment of a previously rejected road extension that will have significant and irreversible environmental and economic impacts. According to the Save San Onofre Coalition and the State Attorney General, the project had failed to undertake sufficient environmental studies. As a result, the Regional Water Board in San Diego decided to deny the project a waste discharge permit.
Diane Arbus: A Privileged Voyeur of Life on the Margins
It’s been almost five decades since the troubled US photographer took her own life, but her images continue to reveal the camera’s predatory nature. Watch a documentary made in 1972 that examines her photography and her methods.
Wolves Forsaken By Wildlife Agencies, Hunters and Ranchers
President Obama’s Department of the Interior announced the national delisting of all wolves except the Mexican wolf. Prominent conservationists argue this is wrong-headed because (1) the wolf isn’t really recovered, and (2) Existing state management is so bad that the “recovered” population will soon decline to nothing but a tiny token population.