A while back, I mentioned The Crib, an “enviresponsible shelter” by Broadhurst Architects that can be used as a weekend cabin, backyard office, exercise studio, or guest house — you name it. Well it’s time for a short update from our last article, if you haven’t already noticed, that a 250 square-foot Crib was built on the grounds of the Strathmore in Bethesda, Maryland. It’s being used as a visual arts studio, a lab, and a gallery and is open to visitors during certain events and various other times.
Chicago knows firsthand that parks lead to economic development. Since opening Millennium Park in 2004, Chicago has seen $1.4 billion in economic activity in the surrounding area.
With that recent success in mind, the city has even bigger open space plans for Chicagoland. Plans are in place to build the largest urban park in the contiguous United States.
Are you from Chicago? I envy you then. This is something to look forward to. Cheers!
Forests are among the most long-established habitats on the planet, forming their delicately balanced ecosystems over centuries — and a new study in light of Texas’s ongoing drought proves how quickly they can be decimated. According to the Texas Forest Service, as many as 500 million trees in the state — roughly 10 percent of the forests there — have been killed within the last year alone as a result of 2011’s bizarre lack of rainfall.
We need wind power. It’s one of the key energy sources of the future, and it’s creating good jobs in an industry with near-guaranteed lasting power. But it’s in trouble.
…a marine biologist is harnessing bioluminescent bacteria to save one of Florida’s most precious and threatened ecosystems – the Indian River Lagoon. By mixing bioluminescent bacteria with sediment from the 156-mile estuary, renowned scientist Dr. Edith Widder is able to determine how many toxic chemicals are present in the water.