by Richard Register, President and Founder, Ecocity Builders 

Now that we're all suffering, we may learn how to occupy a healthy future - by building it     

I think we in the USA and many around the world victimized by the recent version of capitalism that led to Wall Street's partial meltdown may be rising from our deadly slumber. Maybe. Too bad so much responsible action had to wait until people realized how badly they were hurting, rather than taking principled positions much earlier to ensure a fair economic game board, to prevent the US invasion of Iraq, for example, that was based on firmly documented false information known to millions of people before the fact, to withholding power from the tyrants in the Middle East and elsewhere long ago. Democracies such as the American version could have backed off from collusion with the bad guys to prevent the economic and political injustices that were abundantly clear, at home and abroad. We could have invested our treasure in peace and trade profitable enough without being abusively exploitative. The idea of fair trade products and eco-certification, organically grown and the like are getting to be old ideas - applied by only a small minority. We could have invested for peace and health of the environment but few did because deals of extreme exploitation were "in our national interest," meaning made lots of money for ours and others' gigantic corporations, especially in our oil interest (mostly to keep our car-cities running) and in maintenance of the US dollar as the main medium of international exchange. 

Oakland General Strike Participant

But perhaps the late-coming opportunity is now, now that the perfect storm of nature is striking back with climate change, now that resources depletion, especially in energy, lumped under the term these days of "Peak Oil" is beginning to be acknowledged, and now that we've seen some of the effects of economic disasters based on the wealth and greed celebrated as a major, maybe the defining American goal and virtue. Elsewhere around the world, and even among those doing well but not rich, the temptation of the comfortable was to not rock the boat. But now that the rocks loom high and the waves are churning all around and heaving us to and fro... Better late than never?

In any case - and offering us some real hope - the Occupy Wall Street movement in its very diversity of perspective and opinion has gone way beyond simple demands for more for "me." Rights for all are clearly represented, responsibilities to the Earth, generosity and openness to multiple ways of thinking are being expressed in the countless tracts and slogans appearing from the creativity of thousands of individuals at these events. I think it is truly inspiring in the best traditions of democracy.

I would guess at least 10,000 of us walked from the tent city in front of City Hall to the Port of Oakland and closed it down for several hours on the evening of November 2. It was gorgeous warm shirtsleeve weather and the golden light of sunset enveloped the hundreds of protesters (?) celebrants (?) on top of trucks stuck in humanity and on the train cars side railed in the adjacent switchyard. Many dozens, some waving US Flags, Earth Flags, peace banners and the flags of Middle Eastern countries, climbed high on the great signal light racks cantilevering over the streets and rails where thousands more celebrated their multi-faceted, world embracing solidarity.

Some of you may know I'm writing a new book, largely about an economics built on what we build. That is, looking at human economics as it rises from nature's, from the minerals and water in the soil, with the energy from the sun, processed by chlorophyll in the plants producing food, fiber, and, when stored for a couple hundred million years in the crust of the Earth, producing the fossil fuels that human economy taps into. In the debate so far about the economy, the long overdue debate about taxing the wealthy, there is hardly a word about what it is we are building and very little about the fact that infinite growth on a limited planet, even if a large planet, is strictly impossible, if not tomorrow, nonetheless soon. The idea that only if forever-growing can an economy be healthy is, to the science of ecology, a slightly nutsy delusion. Infinite growth in a limited environment can't happen, and where attempted in petri dishes and laboratory beakers always ends in starving organisms in vastly reduced biodiversity swimming in their waste or in complete extermination. And, if we fail to address properly the largest thing we create - the city - our symptom is a blindness of a very special category since most of us have eyes and see plenty of other things perfectly well. Miss those two rather large and defining items about the economics of nature and resources and how then are we supposed to know how to use nature's gifts in our own economics as people? How are we to know how to turn those gifts into our buildings, tools, products, transport systems, food, clothes and so on in a healthy manner deep into the future?

Read On 

Ecocity Insights

by Jennie Moore,

Director, Sustainable Development and Environmental Stewardship, British Columbia Institute of Technology

Car Free Journey

By Steve Atlas

A Bicycling Weekend in Boulder, Colorado

Last month, we spotlighted Denver. This month, we focus on the nearby college community of Boulder. Boulder is much more compact, a great choice for biking or walking enthusiasts, and has the world-renowned University of Colorado. Also, unlike many other communities, Boulder's downtown includes many locally owned businesses (rather than the chains that are so common elsewhere).

The easiest way for out-of-town visitors to reach Boulder is by plane. From Denver International Airport (DIA), RTD's (Regional Transit District) hourly Sky Ride service to Boulder costs $13 each way. The Boulder Transit Center is in downtown Boulder, and is served by most RTD (Regional Transit District) buses serving Boulder. Downtown Boulder is also the most convenient area to stay, during your visit.

The Regional Transit District (RTD) operates local buses in Boulder, as well as regional and express buses. One day passes (for unlimited local bus rides in Boulder-and elsewhere in the Denver region) costs $6. You can buy a pass (probably 2 passes: use one each day) at the RTD sales desk on Level 5 of the Denver Airport from 7a.m.-6p.m. weekdays, and 8a.m.-4p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

For information about how to get around Boulder by bus, bike, or walking, visit GoBoulder's web site: http://www.bouldercolorado.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8774&Itemid=2973.

A weekend visit to Boulder can focus on either the outdoors or cultural attractions (a planetarium, natural history museum, art museum, and contemporary art museum). While you are downtown, take time to sample a few of downtown Boulder's shops, and enjoy a good meal downtown.                

For more ideas about ways to enjoy Boulder, visit: www.bouldercoloradousa.com/visitor/itineraries/.

Four local attractions sounded especially interesting to us:

• Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art  www.bmoca.org/
• Fiske Planetarium http://fiske.colorado.edu/
• University of Colorado Natural History Museum  http://cumuseum.colorado.edu/ 
• CU Art Museum    www.colorado.edu/cuartmuseum 

The Fiske Planetarium, University of Colorado Natural History Museum, and the CU Art Museum are located on the University of Colorado campus, convenient to the Skip bus (that runs along Broadway).

Read On

Johan Rockstrom: Let the environment guide our development  

BIKE SHARE: In a bid to curb ever worsening traffic, some Chinese cities are instituting bike sharing and other transportation alternatives. Image: ernop, courtesy Flickr

SHANGHAI -- After decades of getting its millions of citizens off their bicycles and into modern transportation, China is now struggling to make a big policy U-turn.  

Last month, southern China's Zhongshan city for the first time filled its streets with 4,000 public bicycles, which citizens can ride free of charge for up to an hour. To further fuel the sharing, the city also built an online platform that gives citizens real-time information on where the closest docking station is and how many bicycles are available.  

This is one of numerous bike-sharing programs that are quickly growing in an attempt to unsnarl China's traffic problems. Program promoters are also having to wrestle with financial barriers as well as a hostile environment that has developed for bikers in cities that used to have millions of them. The goal is to try to get back to days when the streets weren't gridlocked and when the majority of vehicles didn't create emissions.  

Bike sharing started in Amsterdam as early as 1965. The concept then spread around the globe in cities including London and Washington. But Chinese cities, which joined this trend only a few years ago, are installing their networks at an unprecedented speed. 

"Many Chinese cities are doing bike share at a much, much bigger scale than any U.S. or European cities," said Dani Simons, director of communications at the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy in New York. 

"It's mind-blowing, in fact, for many of us to see images from Hangzhou or Shanghai," Simons continued, referring to two Chinese cities with over 60,000 and 19,000 public bikes, respectively. By contrast, the largest program in the United States provides 1,100 bikes in the Washington, D.C., area. 

Rather than simply copying the Western pattern, the Chinese are spicing it with their own innovations. Some cities added children's chairs on public bicycles, making family trips an easy matter. Others began providing free accident insurance, which bike-sharing program operators in the West rarely offer.  

As Rio+20 takes shape (officially, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development,follow-up to the historic UN 1992 "Earth Summit,"held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), the issue of sustainable cities appears to be taking center stage in planning for the June 2012 event dedicated to marshalling the global Green Economy.

Jared Blumenfeld, US EPA

"Cities provide a great framework to galvanize public opinion and citizen participation," said Jared Blumenfeld, Administrator of Region 9 of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). "Cities also have a lot in common: New York and Beijing have more in common in terms of challenges they face than do the US and China."

On the road to Rio, the UN's "Shanghai Manual for Sustainable Cities" will be released by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs on Nov. 7 as a playbook for mayors of global cities so they can deploy triple bottom line strategies (I co-authored the manual with the UN).  

Blumenfeld, who spoke last week at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, said that the US Department of State and EPA are preparing by next week a Rio+20 submittal that is "cities focused." (Previously, the United States and Brazil recently announced the US-Brazil Joint Venture on Urban Sustainability.) Meanwhile, non-governmental organization Ecocity Builders has begun high-level discussions with the UN and NGOs ICLEI and C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, on potential Rio+20 standards for ecocities including the International Ecocity Framework and Standards (IEFS).

Out of the 1992 Earth Summit, with 110 heads of state and thousands of non-governmental leaders, emerged pivotal treaties and frameworks for decades to come, including the Kyoto Protocol and Agenda 21. Other products of the first Earth Summit include the Global Environmental Facility at the World Bank, and national sustainability agendas in 86 countries based on Agenda 21, according to Jacob Scherr, director of global strategy and advocacy for the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Scherr, who also spoke with the EPA's Blumenfeld, cited UN Secretary General Ban Ki- moon's declaration that, "We are running out of time," in reference to global environmental species and habitat destruction, combined with human-caused climate change. Scherr pointed out that in 1950 there were only 50,000 cars on earth--soon there will be 1 billion. Illustrating the trend toward species extinction and habitat loss, he noted that one-third fewer wild animals inhabit the planet than there were only 40 years ago.

Such unchecked developments combined with fast-growing global urban populations--not to mention increasing difficulty in forging successful national-level sustainability agreements--make cities the best means of addressing global sustainability, Blumenfeld said.   

Blumenfeld, the former director of San Francisco's Department of Environment, said that the most effective strategies for Rio+20 may rest upon enabling local actions such as significantly increased city recycling goals (including zero waste) and banning plastic bags. "In ten days you can get the word out in cities and you can make a difference," he said, "which is very different than getting people to focus on international agreements."

Scherr implored those in their twenties or younger to take an interest in the UN Rio+20 proceedings and participate in whatever way possible, since it will be so vital to shaping a planet's future that will be decidedly urban (70% by 2050): "It shouldn't be called Rio+20. It should be called Rio for Twenty Somethings."

Warren Karlenzig is president of Common Current. He is a fellow at the Post-Carbon Institute, and co-author of the forthcoming United Nations Shanghai Manual on global sustainable city planning and management.

Register here  

Location: Strawberry Creek Design Center, 1250 Addison Street in Berkeley. The Center overlooks a park and sits alongside Strawberry Creek, which was unearthed from culverts and restored to its natural state. Seminar/training fee: $145.00

Before the first Earth Day in 1970, women worldwide worked to protect their communities and the regions where they live. Their love and care to protect water, forest, farms and air is a shared and honored history. Come partake in the legacy of women-led earth movements and your next step in the journey.

This gathering will focus on personal leadership skills for women in a turbulent world; the challenges and successes of women's experiences as change-makers, giving real tools and exercises to create positive momentum. We will explore what it means for women to lift up their voices for their own empowerment and for the sake of the Earth, our children and future generations.

The seminar will help women unlock new ways to contribute to their home circle, organizations and communities and is designed for women who are 1) already leading and want to deepen their skills and collaborate with others or 2) those who are just finding their way into leadership.

Instructors:

Kirstin Miller, Executive Director of Ecocity Builders.  

Osprey Orielle Lake, Director of the Women's Earth and Climate Caucus.