Rethinking the Economy

When I lived in the Bay Area, I did what Mark Mykleby said we should do: I biked to work. I don’t in DC, and it isn’t just the awful summer weather. It’s simple — I don’t want to die.
In DC, I have friends here who bike to work every day. They tell [...]

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The International City/County Management Association just came out with an report, Getting Smart About Climate Change, that’s a nice example of Principle #2, Place Your Bets. It uses case studies to illustrate nine strategies cities and counties are using to combat global warming:
1. Create more sustainable and resilient communities
2. Green the local economy
3. Engage [...]

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If you’re feeling blue about our side’s chances of getting its act together, WE ACT for Environmental Justice, and several other environmental justice organizations from around the country just released a report you should check out: Environmental Justice and the Green Economy. The report lays out three principles for building a just, sustainable [...]

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How much does a home cost? There’s the cost of the place itself, and then there’s the cost of getting around. Knowing in your gut that a “cheaper” place way, way, way out in the burbs will mean a lot more driving is one thing. Putting a price tag on that cost is another.
Luckily, [...]

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It’s been a long, long time since our country try to make homeownership more affordable for most folks. The last real effort was back in the 30s and 40s, when the FHA & VA mortgages and other subsidies many possible for millions of white middle-class Americans to buy a home. In the last decade, prices [...]

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[Part 6 of the Beyond the Underpants Gnomes series, a response to Bill McKibben]
Taking on corporations around the globe may sound insanely ambitious, but boring it’s not. But using local/state government? It’s more Kumbaya than Mortal Kombat. Sure, there’s evil here — just ask the environmental justice groups who fight [...]

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The Urban land Institute’s got a smart idea about how to get more bang out of federal transportation bucks: ‘Channeling Funding Through “the Three Bs”’ of Base, Bonus, and Bank.
1) Use Base Formula Funds to Maintain the System
Base formula funds should be the primary funding source for system maintenance and preservation. [...]

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It’s not surprising most cities’ green plans are giving poor communities of color the short end of the stick. Many cities have basically written off these communities. But there are also unique issues that make a truly just green plan hard to pull off.
For starters, it’s hard to help folks in low income communities [...]

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According to Green Cities, a report by Living Cities, a collaborative of large foundations and financial institutions, cities are trying hard to go green.
four out of five cities report that sustainability is among their top five priorities as articulated by the mayor. Over 75 percent of cities have, or will soon have, detailed plans on [...]

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As we saw in the last post, one reason computerizing healthcare records can be a disaster is that the people designing the software don’t pay attention to how people will actually use it.
Some software designers argue that the way to avoid this mistake is to use “user-centered design.” Don’t assume that nurses in a hectic [...]

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