1) On September 21st, city residents across the country returned parking spaces to the people. From parkingday.org:
Conceived by REBAR, a San Francisco-based art collective, PARK(ing) Day is a one-day, global event centered in San Francisco where artists, activists, and citizens collaborate to temporarily transform parking spots into “PARK(ing)” spaces: temporary public parks.
StreetFilms posted a couple of videos:
Park(ing) Day, NYC
Park(ing) Day, San Fran
2) Sprawl counteracts fuel efficiency gains. From the Detroit Free Press:
An expected 59% increase in the number of miles Americans drive between 2005 and 2030 will outpace any reduction in greenhouse gases from better fuel efficiency of cars and trucks, said a report issued Thursday.
If there is any hope of reducing carbon dioxide emissions, a key component of greenhouse gases, the nation needs to slow sprawl and build more compact housing, such as lofts atop commercial buildings in downtowns and taller buildings on less land, the report said. It was compiled by the Urban Land Institute and issued by the Michigan Environmental Council.
Smart Growth America has the full report.
And on a related note…
3) A new study by the APTA finds that:
…when compared to other household actions that limit carbon dioxide (CO2,), taking public transportation can be more than ten times greater in reducing this harmful greenhouse gas.
[…]
The research points out that due to increases in vehicle miles traveled, the problem of pollution from vehicle emissions is accelerating. Greenhouse gas emissions from mobile sources have grown 27 percent from 1990 to 2004. Autos and light duty trucks represent about 61 percent of the total mobile source of greenhouse gas emissions. The report says single occupancy drivers switching their work commute to public transportation is one of the more effective ways to reduce the nation’s vehicle miles traveled while reducing harmful carbon dioxide.
Speaking of work commutes…
Tomorrow I’m going to try out the Connector. It doesn’t stop anywhere that’s convenient for me (and plus, I’m happy with my current bus commute), but I want to see what it’s all about. I’ll report back.