Clipmarks | Urban ecosystems Clips

Save that water

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:18:51 GMT

ScienceDaily (July 16, 2008) — According to a new study, global warming could lead to larger changes in snowmelt in the western United States than was previously thought, possibly increasing wildfire risk and creating new water management challenges for agriculture, ecosystems and urban populations.

Researchers, including a Purdue University professor of earth and atmospheric sciences, discovered that a critical surface temperature feedback is twice as strong as what had been projected by earlier studies.

Tags: global warming, water, snowpack

‘Air Tree’ Structures in Madrid produce Oxygen and Energy

Sat, 10 May 2008 16:56:55 GMT

clipped by: thedoorway
clipper's remarks: Solutions to our problems are available, but it takes willingness to try new things to find them.

Clip Source: www.inhabitat.com

The city of Madrid soon plans to add a striking new structure that will “climatically transform” its urban architecture. Designed by Urban Ecosystems, the Air Tree pavilion is to be built from recycled materials and will be 100% energy self-sufficient. Using photovoltaic cells, the Air Tree produces a substantial amount of energy, which is then sold back to the local electric companies, the profits being used for maintenance of the structure. The second byproduct is of course oxygen - hence the name ‘Air Tree’!

The surrounding environment near the air tree will be naturally conditioned, reducing the heat island effect found in most city centers. The air trees will be implemented city wide in the coming years.

Furthermore, the structure, made from lightweight recycled materials, can be easily disassembled and moved to another site when needed.

The trees will cool the surrounding environments and as a bonus generate clean electricity.

Tags: trees, environment, energy, madrid, spain, air tree, science, urban ecosystems, cities

Jane's Walk (Ottawa, Canada)

Fri, 02 May 2008 15:44:27 GMT

clipped by: egsnyder
clipper's remarks: Who is Jane Jacobs?
Edit

Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) was an urbanist and activist whose writings championed a fresh, community-based approach to understanding, organizing, designing, and building cities. She had no formal training as a planner, and yet her 1961 best-seller, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, and her later books introduced ground-breaking ideas about how cities function, evolve, and succeed or fail that now seem like common sense to today’s architects, planners, politicians, and activists.

Jacobs saw cities as ecosystems with their own dynamics that would evolve over time according to how they were used. With a keen eye for detail, she wrote eloquently about sidewalks, parks, retail design, and self-organization. She promoted higher density, short blocks, local economies, and mixed uses. Jacobs helped derail the car-centred approach to urban planning in both New York City and Toronto, invigorating neighbourhood activism by helping stop the expansion of expr

Clip Source: www.cityrepair.ca

Saturday & Sunday, May 3 & 4, 2008

What is Jane's Walk?

Jane's Walk is a coordinated series of free neighbourhood walking tours given by locals who care passionately about where they live, work and play. Jane's Walk is a pedestrian-focused event that improves urban literacy by offering insights into local history, planning, design, and civic engagement through the simple act of walking and observing.

Jane's Walk was held last year in Toronto and New York City. In 2008, there are plans to expand to seven more Canadian cities: Calgary, Charlottetown, Guelph, Halifax, Ottawa, Vancouver and Winnipeg.

Mayoral Proclamation

We've received a official Mayoral Proclamation of Jane Jacobs Day. Check it out:

Tags: diversity, jane jacobs, ottawa, canada

this legless lizard looks suspiciously like a 'snak'!

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 03:37:03 GMT

clipped by: silvanaraihane

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

This legless lizard found in Brazil's Cerrado is probably a new species, Conservation International announced Tuesday.

Conservationists on Tuesday announced the discovery of 14 species probably new to science — among them a legless lizard and a tiny woodpecker — in a Brazilian high plains region that they said is being converted to farms at twice the rate of the neighboring Amazon forest.

A four-week expedition by U.S.-based Conservation International and several Brazilian universities ventured into Brazil's Cerrado, afterwards describing the species — eight fish, three reptiles, one amphibian, one mammal, and one bird — as poster children for a campaign to save the area.

“Protected areas such as the Ecological Station are home to some of the last remaining healthy ecosystems in a region increasingly threatened by urban growth and mechanized agriculture,” CI biologist and expedition leader Cristiano Nogueira said in a statement announcing the finds.

To Beat the Heat in Madrid: Build an Air Tree

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 21:13:39 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: A new structure that will “climatically transform” its urban architecture. These trees will cool the surrounding environments and as a bonus generate clean electricity.

Designed by Urban Ecosystems

Clip Source: www.inhabitat.com

The city of Madrid soon plans to add a striking new structure that will “climatically transform” its urban architecture.

the Air Tree pavilion is to be built from recycled materials and will be 100% energy self-sufficient.

Using photovoltaic cells, the Air Tree produces a substantial amount of energy, which is then sold back to the local electric companies, the profits being used for maintenance of the structure.

The second byproduct is of course oxygen - hence the name ‘Air Tree’!

the trees have a very interesting benefit for the local residents who have to suffer through hot Spanish summers

The surrounding environment near the air tree will be naturally conditioned, reducing the heat island effect found in most city centers

the structure, made from lightweight recycled materials, can be easily disassembled and moved to another site when needed.

The air trees will be implemented city wide in the coming years

Clip Source: www.inhabitat.com

Tags: cool trees, heat island, madrid, spain, urban ecosystem, energy, recycled materials

Great Lakes algae blooms-"No simple solution"

Sun, 07 Oct 2007 02:13:40 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: Algae, and their zebra, and quagga mussel hosts, have spread across the four lower lakes. They cannot find a simple solution, that will not affect associated ecosystems. Something like, if you tweak a system in the wrong way it can crash. If you don't tweak it, it will crash.

Clip Source: www.mail.com

By JOHN FLESHER

When runaway algae killed fish and fouled beaches in the Great Lakes region decades ago, governments ordered cutbacks of phosphorus

from laundry detergents and sewage treatment plants

It worked, for a while, but

there are no simple solutions for a recent algae outbreak that is littering shorelines with stinky muck, and it may be responsible for die-offs of loons and other water birds

Another crackdown

on phosphorus from sources such as livestock farms and urban lawn fertilizer would help, he said. But there's a catch. While areas near shore have too much phosphorus, some deeper waters don't have enough to support plankton, a crucial link in the food chain. So fish are going hungry

"We have almost two ecosystems in the lake," Bootsma said

we don't have one nice, handy management strategy

An even bigger complication is the presence of zebra mussels and their cousins, quagga mussels

Shoreline algae, known as cladophora, fastens itself to mussel shells and feeds on their waste

Tags: great lakes algae.outbreak, cladophora, mussels

Vertical farms coming to a high rise near you

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 18:26:53 GMT

clipped by: adamc
clipper's remarks: It's such a simple yet brilliant idea that could really make a difference.

Clip Source: verticalfarm.com

Vertical farms, many stories high, will be situated in the heart of the world's urban centers. If successfully implemented, they offer the promise of urban renewal, sustainable production of a safe and varied food supply (year-round crop production), and the eventual repair of ecosystems that have been sacrificed for horizontal farming.

Tags: vertical farms, farming, food, crops, ecosystem

Wes Clark's 100 Year Vision

Sat, 11 Nov 2006 18:00:23 GMT

clipped by: xynthee

Clip Source: securingamerica.com

100 Year Vision

By Wes Clark

Looking ahead 100 years, the United States will be defined by our environment, both our physical environment and our legal, Constitutional environment. America needs to remain the most desirable country in the world, attracting talent and investment with the best physical and institutional environment in the world. But achieving our goals in these areas means we need to begin now. Environmentally, it means that we must do more to protect our natural resources, enabling us to extend their economic value indefinitely through wise natural resource extraction policies that protect the beauty and diversity of our American ecosystems -- our seacoasts, mountains, wetlands, rain forests, alpine meadows, original timberlands and open prairies. We must balance carefully the short-term needs for commercial exploitation with longer-term respect for the natural gifts our country has received. We may also have to assist market-driven adjustments in urban and rural populations, as we did in the 19th Century with the Homestead Act.

( see all Civil liberties | Education | Environment | Issues and Position Papers | WesBlog Posts )

Tags: wes clark, election 2008, presidential election, clark, politics, political issues