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Ecocity Builders E-Newsletter, March 2006 |  |
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Dear Friends of Cities and Nature, In preparation for the 6th International Ecocity Conference in Bangalore, India, this August, we went to our library, retrieved and reviewed a copy of the "Urban Ecologist" newsletter from 1989. Urban Ecology, the organization founded by Richard Register in 1975 as Arcology Circle, was at that time organizing the First International Ecocity Conference in Berkeley, an event that would have a tremendous impact on many of the participants. Minds were changed and new careers were launched at this amazing gathering that included over 200 speakers! Back in the day, the Urban Ecology Board of Directors members were Stuart Chaitkin, Richard Register, Ernest Callenbach, Walter Anderson, John Coveney, Claire Greensfelder and Carl Anthony. Advisors were David Brower, Fritjof Capra, Len Duhl, Judith Goldsmith, Richard Grossinger, Loni Hancock, Peter Harnik, Denis Hayes, Huey Johnson, Janice Perlman, Gar Smith and Isabel Wade. "Ecocity 1" was followed by conferences in Australia, Senegal, Brazil and China. We are now very excited about Ecocity 6 coming to India in just a few months. We begin this newsletter with the statement for the First International Ecocity Conference, which is just as timely and relevant 17 years later. It is well known that cities have serious problems. It is far less well known that cities CAUSE the worst of environmental problems. Sprawl covers agricultural and natural lands, cars contribute disproportionately to the greenhouse effect, recycling is hampered by the great distances involved in negotiating today's metropolises, creeks are buried, housing prices drive people out of the city, ghettos barely hang on in the worst pollution zones, whole forests are cut for new housing tracts, few people are left who can grasp the idea that cities can have a coherence, a sense of healthy purpose beyond maximizing private consumption. IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THAT WAY! We can learn how to build cities in balance with nature and human needs. Cultural vitality and creativity can thrive along with ecological preservation, restoration and health."
February 27-March 3. Richard is traveling to Washington DC to meet with United States Congressman Earl Blumenhauer on federal legislation to advance ecological cities. He is also meeting with Congressman Denis Kucinich on the same topic and will be checking in with Lester Brown at Earth Policy Institute. March 4 - 10. Richard will be in the New Orleans area to discuss ecological rebuilding strategies with various people and institutions working on rebuilding efforts. March 17 - 18. Richard and Kirstin will be leading a community workshop in Willits, CA called "Willits in Transition, Building a Sustainable Tomorrow, Today." They'll be talking to the community about land use planning, peak oil, climate change, alternative transportation, and economic localization. April 1. Richard and Kirstin will lead a workshop at the Transportation and Land Use Coalition's 9th Annual Summit. The theme of the Summit is "Next Stop: Great Communities." Pre-register at www.transcoalition.org, call 510-740-3150 or email summit@transcoalition.org. Ecocity Builders' workshop is entitled "From Transit Villages to Ecocities." April 5 - May 10. Kirstin will be teaching a class on Ecological City Design at UC Berkeley Extension in San Francisco as part of their new Sustainable Design Certificate Program. There are about 5 spaces still open, so sign up soon, it's going to be a fun and informative class! For details and to enroll, go to www.unex.berkeley.edu. Contact Kirstin for a course outline: kirstin@ecocitybuilders.org. May 21 - 27. Richard will be teaching at Schumacher College in Devon, England, as part of their Sustainable Cities course with Herbert Giardet and Bill Dunster. This is an incredible opportunity for in-depth study with some world experts on the subject. For more information, visit www.schumachercollege.org.uk. Masters level credit available. August 5 - 12. The 6th International Ecocity Conference, Bangalore, India. Ecocity Builders is the keeper of this conference series that was launched in Berkeley, CA in 1990. Project Agastaya, a Bangalore based nonprofit working on issues of water security and recycling, is hosting this event. World leaders in the ecocity movement will meet to share ideas and best practices. We also are expecting to launch an International Ecocity Committee to help shape international ecocity strategy as cities tackle the enormous challenge of how to co-exist in balance with living systems, now and into the future. Registration fee is $250 USD per person and includes conference fees, meals, and Bangalore excursion arranged during the conference. $125 for students. If you would like to submit a paper or poster, we need it right away! Send your abstracts to conference convener Mr. Rajeev Kumar, ecocity6@gmail.com. For more information about the conference and to register, visit http:// www.tciconferences.com/ecocity2006/ecocity2006.htm
New Society Publishers is soon to release the second edition of EcoCities by Richard Register. Unlike the first edition, the new edition is generously illustrated with Richard's own inspired visions of what such rebuilt cities might actually look like. EcoCities is about re-building cities and towns based on ecological principles for the long term sustainablity, cultural vitality and health of the Earth's biosphere. Unique in the literature is the book's insight that the form of the city really matters--and that it is within our ability to change it, and crucial that we do. Further, that the ecocity within its bioregion is comprehensible and do-able, and can produce a healthy and potentially happy future. Look for EcoCities, second edition, to come out in May or June, 2006! Contributing statements of endorsement for the book will be Lester Brown, Randy Hayes, Jeff Kenworthy, Hazel Henderson and Jane Goodall.
Ecocity Builders, in partnership with Randy Hayes and the City of Oakland's Office of Sustainability, is officially launching the Oakland Urban Villages Project. Oakland, like other cities, is approaching an era that will see many new challenges, including learning how to live within a fair share of the earth's resources. Now and in the future, cities need safe, healthy, vital, pollution-free environments with access to basic services and recreation. The sustainable Oakland of the future will be less like a blanket of development accessed by cars and more like a network of walkable, resource and energy efficient "urban villages" linked by transit and connected to a strong downtown center, with more room for urban agriculture, creek corridors and greenways. The Oakland Urban Villages Project will combine the best science and technology with extensive community education, outreach and input to produce a working map that describes a shared vision for a just and sustainable Oakland. The project has four initiatives: 1) GIS based Oakland Green City Map; 2) Green City Workshop Series; 3) Greening Oakland show at the Oakland Museum; and 4) Project GO! (Green Oakland) Zero Carbon/Zero Waste development project proposal. Steering Committee Members: Kirstin Miller (Project Director), Richard Register (Co-Director), Randy Hayes (Director of Sustainability, City of Oakland), Arthur Monroe (Oakland Museum), David Room (Post Carbon Institute), George Loisos (Loisis and Ubbelohde), and James Caldwell, Ph.D.,(E3 Regenesis Solutions). We are also working on bringing in Daniel Kammen, Director, Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, and Van Jones, Director, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. Our initial work on the Oakland Urban Villages Project is made possible by a grant from the Foundation for Sustainability and Innovation. We have also applied for a grant from StopWaste.Org to help fund the project and will be continuing to seek funding as we proceed with the project initiatives. Won't you consider helping fund this very exciting project? Contact Kirstin 510-419-0850 or kirstin@ecocitybuilder.org.
We continue to work with Citizens for a Strawberry Creek Plaza towards the realization of a long held dream: the creation of a "green" downtown centerpiece project featuring a "daylighted" Strawberry Creek. Please visit our project website: http://www.strawberrycreekplaza.org for more information. On a related note, Kirstin Miller will be teaching an Ecocity Design Practicum in June for UC Berkeley Extension on the Berkeley campus. We will develop a variety of scenarios for the Strawberry Creek Plaza Project. For more information about the class, contact Kirstin at kirstin@ecocitybuilders.org. Our work in Berkeley is currently supported by the Foundation for Sustainability and Innovation, and by a donation from a Berkeley family, Diana and Arjun Divecha, interested in creating healthy public places with nature as inspiration.
We recently met with Earth Policy Institute Director Lester Brown in San Francisco. Brown is the author of "Plan B, Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble," and the updated "Plan B 2.0." Plan B 2.0 covers it all: oil peak, emerging water shortages, rising temperatures and rising seas, shrinking forests, losing soil, deteriorating rangelands, advancing deserts, collapsing fisheries, disappearing plants and animals, environmental refugees on the rise and our socially divided world, to give you a sample. The prognosis is simple: if we don't act now to protect and restore the Earth's living systems, we can expect them to stop working, which would likely mean that civilization would stop working as well. Our discussion with Brown was about how to most effectively address the problem. We believe it needs to be tackled with a whole systems response, starting at the foundation: the city. It is this human creation which has the greatest direct (and indirect) impact on the health of the biosphere. Ecocity Builders holds that the car is inextricably linked to sprawl, paving and cheap energy. To prolong the dominance of that infrastructure in to the future by improving any of its parts keeps the whole thing going and assaults the Earth on into the future. We need to prioritize for the low energy future. Feet first, cars last. Rebuild cities for pedestrian access, bicycles and rail, and THEN worry about how a car might fit in if you must. We are noticing that people are beginning to understand this fundamental principle about prioritization and preparing for a healthy, low energy future. We are getting more requests for information on ecocity planning and design. We only expect it to accelerate from now on. The big question is: is there enough time to transition before cheap energy is gone forever? We think the answer is YES, but only if we act NOW. We hope that you will join with us as we go all out to get ecocity tools and planning strategies into the hands of those who need them. Please consider making a generous donation to the cause! Here's looking forward to more exciting, important work! Thank you so much for your kindness, encouragement, participation and support. We appreciate you more than you know. Sincerely, Kirstin Miller and Richard Register, Ecocity Builders Ecocity Builders is a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization. You can make a secure fully tax deductible online donation to Ecocity Builders through our website: http://www.ecocitybuilders.org Click on Network for Good link. Or mail your donation to Ecocity Builders, P.O. Box 697, Oakland, CA 94604. Contact Kirstin Miller if you have any questions: 510-419-0850.
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