The Detroit-based Self-Help Addiction Rehabilitation Inc. (SHAR), a nonprofit drug rehab center funded by the state and others, is proposing that it be given up to 2,000 acres of vacant city-owned land to farm. The project, known as Recovery Park, would have the dual purpose of teaching addicts therapeutic and marketable skills and rehabbing the city itself, said SHAR's chief executive, Dwight Vaughter.

Food nourishes us, enriches our celebrations, and sustains life itself. Yet not everyone in the United States has equal access to healthy food. Some of us live in neighborhoods where grocery stores carry a greater variety of potato chips than vegetables, while some of us cannot afford vegetables even when they are available. The latest PAS Report, by Samina Raja, Branden Born, and Jessica Kozlowski Russell, shows how planners can play a significant role in shaping the food environment of communities and thereby facilitate healthy eating.

From wind and wave to sun and trash, a look at how existing power plants are providing electricity generated from renewable sources on a massive scale.

Rob Hopkins, from Transition Town Totnes, said: "I'm thrilled to see the principles of urban food production being woven into designs for this development."

So here's the headline for you: For the first time, the well-respected Energy Information Administration appears to be joining with those experts who have long argued that the era of cheap and plentiful oil is drawing to a close. Almost as notable, when it comes to news, the 2009 report highlights Asia's insatiable demand for energy and suggests that China is moving ever closer to the point at which it will overtake the United States as the world's number-one energy consumer. Clearly, a new era of cutthroat energy competition is upon us.

Good article that gets into subsidies and even EROEI: In two short years, the Northwest has gone from biofuels boom to biofuels bust. The boom began in August 2007, when Imperium Renewables opened a 100 million-gallon-a-year biodiesel plant near Grays Harbor, Wash. A month later, Pacific Ethanol opened a 40 million-gallon corn ethanol plant in Boardman. In June 2008, Cascade Grain opened a 113 million-gallon corn ethanol plant in Clatskanie. Encouraged by tax breaks and Oregon and Washington standards designed to require biofuels' use, the companies promised environmental benefits on an industrial scale, a quantum leap from smaller-scale producers making fuel from cooking grease and Northwest crops. Nearly 30 more projects were under discussion. Then came this year.

More and more people are getting involved in garden-sharing, a trend that appears to be spreading roots across the metro area as apartment dwellers and landowners, strangers and neighbors unite to grow their food at a time when seed sales are up and the economy down. With community gardens overbooked, garden-sharing makes sense for people looking to build community as well as save time, effort and money by pooling resources. Within the past few months, the Veggie Trader Web site popped up for gardeners to trade or sell their produce. Another entrepreneur launched a Web site in September for renters who want to garden. The site has a map of Portland and the suburbs dotted with bushes for people who have land to share and binoculars marking those who hope to garden. The site lets users post notes and send e-mail messages.

Tucked into a sunny corner of southwestern Germany, this old university town was best known until the 1970s for its massive cathedral dome, its tie to the Black Forest, and its craft of intricately carved cuckoo clocks. Who would have thought then that early 21st century Freiburg could claim to be a world-class eco-city, leading in solar and wind power, energy-conserving home construction, rain-water management, public transit and carless neighborhood development?

Jeff Rubin - the former chief economist at CIBC World Markets - has always struck me as someone who "gets it." I have seen him do a number of interviews, both on television and in print - and he consistently sounds the alarm on peak oil. He understands very well that cheap oil is the lifeblood of the global economy, yet this is an era that will soon come to an end. His new book - Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization - goes through the peak oil story in a way that I initially thought of as "Kunstleresque", but I changed my mind as I got deeper into the book.

The Detroit-based Self-Help Addiction Rehabilitation Inc. (SHAR), a nonprofit drug rehab center funded by the state and others, is proposing that it be given up to 2,000 acres of vacant city-owned land to farm. The project, known as Recovery Park, would have the dual purpose of teaching addicts therapeutic and marketable skills and rehabbing the city itself, said SHAR's chief executive, Dwight Vaughter.

http://www.eco-logica.co.uk/pdf/wtpp14.4.pdf World Transport Policy & Practice, Volume 14, Number 4, April 2009 Special Issue: Transport in a post-carbon society Post Carbon - or Post crash – managing the Orbanism 7 Changing dependencies on fossil fuel: the case of Vienna 17 Urban Development for Carbon Neutral Mobility 25 Integrated Transport and Urban Design Choices to Reduce Carbon Emissions: Public Attitudes in the Washington, DC USA Metropolitan Area Greening the World’s Airports 48 "Post Carbon Cities" gets a good reference in the Schriefl et al article.

As demand for local food increases, a resurgence of the local processing facilities that once dotted the American landscape has advocates of a more locally-based food system -- and economy -- optimistic.

Climate change may be the defining issue of our time. This monumental challenge is daunting and global in scale, but the responses are ultimately local and regional. Planners are uniquely positioned to lead individual communities in finding new ways to meet energy needs, cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and face the impacts that climate change may bring. But where should planners begin? Which actions are most important, and how do climate change and energy relate to other planning issues? This PAS Memo explores the essential issues that planners need to understand and outlines a basic strategy for addressing energy and climate issues at the local and regional level.

Can the United States lead the way to a bright green future for the planet? Here at Worldchanging, we believe that the answer is yes. Sustainability experts Peter Newman and Timothy Beatley share a similar view about both the opportunity and responsibility facing the United States. And they believe that the change must take place first in our urban communities. The two colleagues recently co-authored the book Resilient Cities, which describes how intelligent planning and visionary leadership can be strong weapons for cities facing climate change and peak oil. They also collaborated on Green Urbanism Down Under, a book that explores the many strides Australia has taken to encourage renewable energy, compact development, successful public transportation and more, and helps translate those ideas into examples for the United States to follow.

If you’re fighting to stay afloat in the teeth of a recession, you’re not going to worry about distant threats like peak oil and climate change, right? Wrong, say Brian Souter, Moir Lockhead, Will Whitehorn and Richard Brown. The UK’s leading transport chiefs tell Martin Wright why action now is essential for their business survival.

Are you working on energy efficiency policies or programs in your city? Do you want to learn about city-scale energy efficiency retrofits? Please join Green For All's first Community of Practice Learning Call Retrofitting America's Cities Tuesday, May 19th 1pm pacific / 4pm eastern RSVP Home energy retrofits are a quick and effective way to lower energy bills, create jobs, and reduce carbon pollution in America's cities. Well-designed programs have little or no upfront cost to homeowners, pay for themselves through utility bill savings, and create good, green jobs for community members who face barriers to employment. Our Retrofitting America's Cities Conference Call will... * Introduce the elements of a city-scale retrofit program * Discuss how Recovery Act funds can be leveraged to fund these programs * Highlight model programs from 2 cities

Japan: The city of Seki in Gifu Prefecture started a project in June 2008 to convert fallowed fields around city hall into vegetable farms in an attempt to assure food security in times of disaster. Expecting a large number of citizens to gather there in the event of a disaster, the city designated the area as the project site. During the first season, pumpkins, daikon radishes, winter melons, taro roots, carrots, and other items were grown without the use of pesticides. In response to the city's call, local farmers donated their surplus nursery vegetable seedlings. With a large amount of vegetables being harvested, including pumpkins weighing 150 kilograms each and enough daikon radishes to fill five pick-up trucks, the city held a drill of preparing hot meals outside using those vegetables in December 2008.

A green advisory team launched by Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson earlier this year has proposed a number of measures — such as encouraging people to drink tap water and grow local food — to turn the city into the world’s greenest by 2020. Other recommendations in an “urgent” report issued by Vancouver’s Greenest City Action Team include recruiting high-tech businesses and offering free parking for electric cars and scooters. The report, which still has to go to city council, warns that Vancouver has no time to lose, especially as it’s in the global spotlight because of the 2010 Olympic Games. “We’re already considered to be in the top 10 globally as a green city but we’ve been sliding in past years,” Robertson said.

Detroit may be struggling economically, but community groups and citizen activists are keeping the city vibrant with a wide variety of urban farming projects throughout the shrinking city.