Posted by Kaid Benfield in Environmental Justice , Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably
Thanks to Daniel and his thoughtful blog Discovering Urbanism for highlighting an innovative program designed to help residents of urban “food deserts” - neighborhoods without nearby access to supermarkets - obtain fresh, healthy food more conveniently. The program also helps...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Environmental Justice , Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably
Last week I had the pleasure of attending a Washington, DC benefit party for the documentary-in-progress, The Rebirth of Over-the-Rhine. The film is about the restoration of the historic Cincinnati neighborhood of the same name, and the event...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Curbing Pollution , Environmental Justice , Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil
“You’ve probably had your last really good Pass Christian oyster for a while,” Captain Louis Skrmetta of Ship Island Excursions told the (South Mississippi) SunHerald. “We’re looking at financial ruin from this. We’ve pretty much realized that...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Environmental Justice , Green Enterprise , Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably
Earlier this month I had the honor of participating in a webcast on the subject of sustainable community development, hosted by the Local Initiatives Support Corporation. One of the nation’s premier organizations in its field, LISC “mobilizes corporate, government and...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Environmental Justice , Green Enterprise , Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably
Distressed city neighborhoods, more than others, are deficient in environmental amenities, particularly those that are typically provided by nature. That is almost a tautology, but they especially need trees, pocket parks, rain gardens, vegetated swales, permeable pavements, roof gardens and...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Environmental Justice , Green Enterprise , Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably
Former Georgetown University and Miami Heat basketball star Alonzo Mourning has always acted with intensity and purpose, as anyone on the receiving end of one of the nearly 3000 shots he blocked during his playing career can attest. Now...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Environmental Justice , Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably
The massive earthquake in Haiti has caused a major crisis of homelessness. Addressing it poses almost inconceivable challenges. People need shelter that can be built very quickly and cheaply, that can be replicated thousands of times. It...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Environmental Justice , Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably
I honestly don’t know what to think of this, so for now I’ll just report it: Aseel Kami writes on Reuters that “the city of Baghdad asked foreign companies [last month] to sign up for a project to design...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Environmental Justice , Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably
Football digression to, um, kick off today's post: Congratulations to the very impressive New Orleans Saints for a big win over the Colts in last night's Super Bowl. I was rooting for Indy, but it's hard not to feel good for the...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Environmental Justice , Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming
This has been in the works for a long time, and the announcement finally came yesterday at the New Partners for Smart Growth Conference in Seattle. From the press release: WASHINGTON, D.C. – During a sustainability forum at Portland...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Environmental Justice , Green Enterprise , Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably
Today, as we remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I like to think that the great civil and human rights leader would be pleased by the way the values he lived for are represented in the story of New...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Environmental Justice , Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming
Two years ago I called the Atlanta Beltline "the country's best smart growth project." Although I have seen and learned about many more since then, I have not changed my mind. The Beltline is an enormously ambitious, 15-year undertaking to use...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Environmental Justice , Living Sustainably
New end-of-year data confirm what some of us have been reporting for a long time: central cities in the US are no longer in decline. This is great news for the environment, since it is more evidence that sprawl is losing its...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Environmental Justice , Green Enterprise , Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably
The environmental community needs to broaden our definition of what is "environmental." First, my friend and frequent collaborator Lee Epstein posted a thoughtful blog entry on urban education and its effect on middle class families' housing choices and, thus, on...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Curbing Pollution , Environmental Justice , Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably
Earlier this month I began a series of posts about Indianapolis's Smart Growth Redevelopment District, which I have had the honor of advising. The area in question is a distressed part of the city, two miles northeast of...
