Posted by Kaid Benfield in Living Sustainably , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , U.S. Law and Policy
Earlier in the week, I reported on the success of various transit measures in referenda around the country on November 4. According to our friends on the Trust for Public Land's excellent City Parks Blog, it was also a...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Living Sustainably , U.S. Law and Policy
One of the biggest challenges to solving sprawl and addressing the many social and environmental issues that accompany growth is the plethora of jurisdictions that complicate regional thinking. The environment doesn't respect political boundaries and neither does unemployment or...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil , U.S. Law and Policy
In addition to choosing our leaders for the next administration and Congress, along with state and local offices, voters last week in many cases also decided referenda and ballot initiatives, many of them having a direct bearing on smart...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil , U.S. Law and Policy
Here's a little about what this week's historic election may mean for smart growth, sustainable development, and metropolitan America, based on Barack Obama's statements and literature. There is ample reason to believe that the president-elect has a better understanding of these...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , U.S. Law and Policy
There is no way we should be settling for, or applauding, this . . . When we should be advocating this: It is time to take smart growth advocacy beyond "smart growth" as we have been defining it. ...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Living Sustainably , U.S. Law and Policy
When I left off yesterday, I showed a Google Earth image of an elementary school set on a lot isolated from its nearby community, some of whose kids might otherwise walk to school. Here's one that's even more isolated: For...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Moving Beyond Oil , U.S. Law and Policy
I know I am supposed to like traffic calming. The smart growth literature is replete with references to it. Heck, my friend Reid wrote the book on it. The Complete Streets gang, whom I support and admire, embraces the practice in...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Environmental Justice , Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy
Now that the nation's two major political parties have, for better or worse, formally nominated their candidates for president and vice president of the United States, I am reposting these two entries, with some minor updating. They were originally posted on...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Environmental Justice , Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy
Now that the two major political parties have, for better or worse, formally nominated their candidates for president and vice president of the United States, I am reposting these two entries, with some minor updating. They were originally published on August 12...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Environmental Justice , Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy
Dear Mr. President-elect*:As I was saying last time, America is entering a period of unprecedented growth and building that will challenge us as a people. To maximize the quality of life for all Americans in a climate of growing demands for...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Environmental Justice , Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy
Dear Mr. President-elect*:As you may know, America is entering a period of rapid growth that will have a profound effect on our national well-being. As a result, you and your administration will have an unprecedented challenge, but also an unprecedented...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably , U.S. Law and Policy
Waynesville, North Carolina is a sleepy southern town about 30 miles or so from where I grew up. It's where I got my first traffic ticket, among other things.You know smart growth is catching on when a place like Waynesville...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Curbing Pollution , Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy
When faced with a situation where rapid growth is occurring, such as I discussed yesterday, the best thing to do environmentally is to manage and shape it so that a good quality of life is maintained with the least environmental harm. This...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Living Sustainably , The Media and the Environment , U.S. Law and Policy
The housing market may be in a slump right now - in part because we've been building too much sprawl - but over the next 25 years or so the US is going to experience rapid population growth, and the...
