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Urban Farming as a Successful Business

February 1, 2012 by Gavin Walsh
with 333 views
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Currently urban farming is a popular trend but it is not yet significantly changing the way we grow and eat. As we farm locally using sustainable/organic techniques we'll be reducing our carbon foodprint and eating better food. However, in order for urban farming to significantly impact our food supply it has to be economically... [read more]

How Bicycling and Walking Directly Impacts Health

January 24, 2012 by TheCityFix - produced by EMBARQ
with 937 views
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Pedestrian and bicycle projects receive less than 2 percent of federal transportation dollars in the U.S. Photo by Eric Allix Rogers. While obesity levels increased by 156 percent between 1960 and 2009, bicycling and walking levels fell by 66 percent. These are statistics from a new report by the Alliance for Biking and Walking. The... [read more]

Does Car + Bike = A Good Thing?

January 24, 2012 by Patrick Lydon
with 368 views
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Besides gaining ultra-buff legs, many ‘part-time’ bike commuters end up with an extra  $12,400 at the end of the year. Earlier this month, I wrote a piece about how Rush Hour can Save you Money, it compared a typical Silicon Valley commute using a car, and the same commute using a bicycle. At the end of the article, a breakdown of... [read more]

3 Things Farmers Markets Do Well, and 3 They Don't

January 24, 2012 by Mari Pierce-Quinonez
with 466 views
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I've come to realize that farmers markets are a dynamic space and do a lot of good, but they shouldn't be the linchpin of a local food or business movement. I've come up with some takeaways as to what works, and what doesn't, as well as the larger implications of farmers markets. [read more]

From Starbucks to Barbucks: Hyperreal Gentrification in Your Neighborhood

January 23, 2012 by Tony Chavira
with 541 views
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The idea behind hyperreality is that, at some point, you stop being able to distinguish what is real from what is fantasy. And this is what companies like Starbucks hope to ultimately achieve. [read more]

Preparing Cities for Seniors

January 18, 2012 by Victor Negrete
with 228 views
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An ageing population requires that cities reevaluate what good urbanism is. What are the trends in this sector and what needs of the senior population will cities have to start thinking about in order to adjust to this boom? Is walkable urbanism among them? [read more]

The Lost Joy of Cooking

December 24, 2011 by Kat Friedrich
with 96 views
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The art of cooking can be learned – and lost – in a generation. When I talked with a public health advocate earlier this year, she told me that some immigrants from the Caribbean can lose the ability to cook from scratch within a generation. In the opinion of a writer from the Havana Journal, after a generation of revolutionary rationing... [read more]

Green Microbreweries: Crafting a Sustainable Business

December 23, 2011 by Planet Forward
with 114 views
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  The craft beer movement has accrued a diehard following, recently creating a community of beer lovers and aficionados. In the last two decades microbreweries have been popping up across the country, serving home-brewed ales and lagers to thirsty followers. Craft brewers have carved out an important niche – many  ... [read more]

The Nation’s First Green Restaurant District?

December 18, 2011 by Eric McNulty
with 187 views
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It started as a assignment in the Envisioning Sustainable Cities class I took at Lesley University this fall: craft a proposal for a sustainability project for my home city. As a foodie and a neighborhood booster, I had the idea for a green restaurant district in Washington Square. After all, we are home to the Boston area’s first green... [read more]

The Architecture of Banana Control

December 5, 2011 by Geoff Manaugh
with 107 views
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[Image: A nearly empty banana truck; photo by the author].I had the pleasure two weeks ago of tagging along on a field trip led by Nicola Twilley, of Edible Geography, for a seminar she's teaching this fall at Columbia's GSAPP. Called "The Artificial Cryosphere," the class is an extended look at spaces and technologies of artificial... [read more]

Chronic Polluters Endanger Public & Worker Health

November 25, 2011 by Marc Gunther
with 48 views
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   Today’s guest post comes from Elizabeth Grossman, a gifted environmental journalist who is the author of Chasing Molecules: Poisonous Products, Human Health, and the Promise of Green Chemistry, High Tech Trash: Digital Devices, Hidden Toxics, and Human Health, and other books. Her work has appeared in Scientific American,... [read more]

Communicating about Local Chemical Hazards

November 15, 2011 by Kat Friedrich
with 47 views
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This factory has been open since before World War II. A local business directory estimates that it employs 5,500 people. A Boston Globe story reports a lower number and comments that the company sought state aid recently to prevent layoffs. What’s wrong with this industrial picture? [read more]