The Green Wrap-up 07.December, 2012

Oil Change International has just released a satirical ad called “Exxon Hates your Children” and is seeking donations to have it broadcast on television. The video make the argument that oil conglomerate Exxon couldn’t care less about the welfare of (your) children because it is dedicated to making short-term profits in the face of the long-term climate catastrophe that its products have been linked to. The graphics that accompany the ad bolsters the child-hating claim with graphics that connote the association of asthma with air pollution…
Initial estimates range from $60 billion to $100 billion, with a first official estimate from the US Department of Agriculture expected in February, says Steven Cain, a specialist with Purdue University’s Agriculture Communications Service in West Lafayette, Ind. By some estimates, Sandy inflicted at least $75 billion in damage.
Since 2004, the San Francisco Giants have offered free, secured valet parking for folks arriving via bicycle to see games (staffed by volunteers from the SF bike coalition). It’s a marvelous way to get to the stadium, far faster & cheaper than pretty much any other way, and a lot more sustainable to boot.
  • (Ally)GreenJoyment: This is great! I think easy bike parking is a great idea at stadiums. Finding auto parking near a busy stadium can be a huge pain and then it usually costs a small fortune. No fun! I hope this list encourages fans to urge their home stadiums to offer bike-friendly options. It almost makes me forgive the Giants for whooping my Detroit Tigers so badly during the last World Series… almost.
The UN’s annual climate meetings wrap up in Doha today, and though the feckless agreements are a “delight to no one,” there is one silver lining. Geo-engineering, that grand, scary global experiment of last resort, won “scant enthusiasm” from the vast majority of participants.
Naderev Saño, lead negotiator for the Philippines at the COP18 climate talks, gives an emotional and heart-felt plea for action in the waning hours of the conference. In his address Saño referenced the devastation brought by Typhoon Bopha, responsible for at least 500 deaths, as it plowed into the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. Saño said that no typhoon had ever come so far south or with such intensity, likening it to Superstorm Sandy as a clear sign of the consequences of a changing climate.
As I write this, I’m chewing on a spicy little arugula seedling that I grew from within the last couple of weeks. Considering that it’s -15C outside right now where I am, and there’s a good 3” of snow coating everything, I hadn’t expected to be chowing down on fresh greens unless I’d bought them from the grocery store, where they’ve been marked up exponentially as out-of-season luxuries. How did I manage to coax these sweethearts into growing, then? The answer is actually quite simple, and surprised me as well: south-facing windows.
I am growing to love doing these weekly roundups of the best in design…If you haven’t read the posts that I am talking about, you might want to click on the More in TreeHugger link at the bottom first.
Trying to think more, um, sustainably about the holidays this year? So, it seems, is everyone else. It’s hardly an innovation that 2012 can claim to own — in fact, it has become a holiday tradition in its own right.
In March 2011, the town of Onagawa, Japan was devastated by a powerful earthquake. In the months that followed, Shigeru Ban Architects designed a temporary housing complex for survivors who had been displaced from their homes. Ban’s Onagawa temporary container housing is a truly innovative design. The Japanese firm created 189 residential units in two- and three-story apartment buildings that are built from paper tubes and shipping containers.

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