Environment

Community Design
Jeff Speck featured

Author Jeff Speck and 10 Reasons to Go Car-Lite

Friday, May 10, 2013 12:06 PM

Jeff Speck has gone from being a city planner and architectural designer to one of the world’s most-acclaimed authors on walkability in a relatively short time. The author of Suburban Nation (with Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk) and Walkable City spoke at a recent symposium sponsored by Mobility Lab and the Association of Commuter Transportation. Here are 10 [...]

by Paul Mackie
Environment
Total Health Center featured

Transportation and Health: A Tour of the Future

Wednesday, May 8, 2013 12:02 PM

In the world of “total health,” transportation and food are part of the health system. These industries combined make up a large chunk of the workforce and produce a large chunk of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. (The GHG numbers need to be interpreted with great care because there’s probably overlap between the industries. If you [...]

by Ted Eytan
Economic Prosperity
Sustainable DC featured

Sustainable DC Hopes to Build the “Most Livable City in the U.S.”

Friday, May 3, 2013 2:02 PM

To call Washington D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray’s Sustainable DC plan ambitious might be an understatement. Piggybacking on predecessor Adrian Fenty’s accomplishments in making the Nation’s Capital one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the U.S., Gray has gone several steps further with Sustainable DC – a 20-year plan to make it the “healthiest, greenest, most [...]

by Paul Goddin
Environment
Mexico bus station featured

Join Us for Free Lunch This Week on Mexico City Transportation

Wednesday, April 17, 2013 1:54 AM

Please join us for lunch on Wednesday, April 17 to hear from representatives of EMBARQ/Mexico about their groundbreaking success in Mexico City. EMBARQ is the sustainable transportation initiative of the World Resources Institute. It collaborates with local transport authorities to reduce pollution, improve public health, and create safe, accessible, and attractive urban public spaces in Mexico, Brazil, China, India, Turkey, [...]

by Paul Mackie
Economic Prosperity
Trailhead featured

Business Opportunities and Ecotourism Abound at Rail Trail in Berkshires

Friday, March 8, 2013 10:23 AM

We see it more and more these days – rail-trails as economic development assets. Cities and towns across America are developing rail-trail networks in order to make their area more attractive, drawing new residents and businesses and providing an environment where people want to live. We are also seeing entrepreneurs finding business opportunities connected to [...]

by Jake Lynch
Environment
San Fran walkers featured

San Francisco Crunches Numbers on Health Benefits of Biking and Walking

Wednesday, February 27, 2013 11:38 AM

Researchers from the Bay Area have quantified the public health benefits of increased biking and walking as a way to reduce greenhouse gas pollution for San Francisco and its surroundings. They found that increasing average daily walking and bicycling from 4 to 22 minutes: reduced the chances of cardiovascular disease and diabetes by 14 percent [...]

by Paul Mackie
Environment
Costa Rica featured

Travelers Move at the Pace of Life in Costa Rica

Thursday, February 7, 2013 3:25 PM

My girlfriend and I just returned from a trip to Costa Rica and, as a transportation professional navigating a foreign land, I couldn’t help but take notice of certain aspects of Costa Rican mobility. During our trip, we spent all of our time in small, mainly rural towns – a vast contrast to the bustling [...]

by Brett Jones
Environment
Medium group of people standing in subway train doorway

Documentary Details How Riding Trains Reduces Stress

Friday, February 1, 2013 1:11 PM

Less pollution, less congestion … those are good reasons to travel by train, but stress may be an even better one. For instance, people admitted to hospitals for heart attacks have a higher rate of having been in heavy traffic congestion just prior to their medical emergencies than other types of patients. And according to [...]

by Bernie Wagenblast
Environment
Obese Study featured

Travel Alternatives to Driving Improve Our Health, Air, and Finances – Environmental Health

Monday, December 10, 2012 4:22 PM

We all know that driving is not exercise, and that it’s not healthy for us or good for the environment. But, surprisingly, there had never been a study that actually looked at the CO2 air pollution resulting from active commuting (like bicycling or walking to work) compared to car commuting. The latest issue of the [...]

by Paul Mackie
Education
Behavior Change featured

Behavior Changes and Commuting: Making It Easier

Tuesday, December 4, 2012 2:18 PM

I recently attended and presented at the Behavior, Energy and Climate Change conference in Sacramento, California. Although the conference focus was on energy and climate change, the best part was learning about basic behavior-change strategies that can apply to anything – commutes, weight loss, even buying habits. It made me think of one of my own transformations [...]

by Elizabeth A. Floyd

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