I've begun reading GOOD magazine within the past few weeks, and every day they come up with a little treasure like this one. It's a map of 50 iconic films that define the character of the 50 states. Most are recognizable fits, but there are some funny surprises! Jesus Camp = South Dakota?
Biofuel made from algae, also known as cellulosic ethanol has the advantage of requiring far less carbon emissions to produce than corn or sugar-based ethanol. It is cleaner burning and less damaging to the environment overall. It also avoids the ethical dilemma of burning foodstuffs to create fuel for cars, which seems especially insensitive to developing countries struggling with legitimate hunger problems of their own. According to PhysOrg, Algae is also useful for its ability to consume atmospheric carbon dioxide, where other plants would be used for agriculture.
European aerospace company EADS is developing a Diamond DA 42 that is fueled partially with cellulosic ethanol from algae. The plane debuted at the Berlin Air Show in June 2010.
According to Inhabitat, the algae-based fuel has such high energy content that the plane would require a half-gallon (1.5 liters) less fuel per hour than with conventional fuel.
Even the Pentagon is taking notice. A new federal DARPA project aims to test a 50-50 blend of cellulosic ethanol on military planes within the next year. If that is any indication, it may be only a matter of time before the fuel makes the transition to regular commercial aircraft, one of the biggest and most entrenched contributors to climate change.
I'm sorry for not posting these pictures sooner. They are from my graduation from the University of Washington this past June. A bit of post-college catharsis...here we go!
Me with Jill Sterrett, FAICP, one of my mentors for the Evergreen Fleets project. She is a lovely and very talented professor at the UW who really catalyzed my interest in environmental consulting.
Dennis Ryan, former Director of CEP and one of the most interesting and quirky professors I knew at UW. Always with a flair for the eccentric, Dennis very much embodied Michel Foucault's maxim "How do we solve the problem? By displacing the question". Dennis was the first to teach us to look at the urban environment as a living text, with all the symbolism, narrative, and allusions that any book would have.
Onstage introducing fellow CEP student Patrick Pirtle, who just got a land use policy fellowship with Americorps in Salem, Oregon. Goooo Patrick!!!
Familia! My Grandma Edie and Grandpa Les flew all the way from St. Louis to see the whole shebang :) Love you guys
It's unnerving the number of cattle products that find their way into nearly every daily necessity you can think of. While it may be true that being vegan is cheaper and better for the environment than being vegetarian or a meat-eater, cutting out meat (especially cattle) products out of your consumption may be much more difficult than it seems. If you are a vegan, did you know about most of these products? Have you tried actively avoiding any of them because of their cattle origins?
In light of all the recent suicides of gay teenagers that have been in the news, it would be a crime to not turn our focus to the "It Gets Better Project" that has taken Youtube by storm.
Started with a single posting by Dan Savage (probably the coolest and most prominent gay celebrity in Seattle and arguably the US), the project has mushroomed into an international phenomenon. Even President Obama, Google and Vinny from Jersey Shore have jumped onto the bandwagon. If you can capture the political establishment, top corporations, and popular culture, I think you just might have a movement on your hands!
What's interesting to me is that suicide among gay teenagers, and LGBT people in general is hardly news. Stats from the Human Rights Campaign have shown that suicide is as much as four times more common among gay-identified teenagers as other groups. It's not hard to imagine that kids who grow up gay in rural areas, especially where religious prejudices remain strong, may not have an ally in their struggle for their identities. Outside of parents, schools, sports teams, churches, and friend groups, the only outlet for them may very well be the media.
The It Gets Better Project is truly remarkable in that instead of merely suggesting gay-friendly themes or situations as a television show or music artist would, it projects its message of tolerance directly to your Facebook page and from a diverse host of characters as we have seen in any political cause since perhaps the civil rights movement.
Has our culture finally taken a turn for the better in terms of gay rights that we are no longer willing to accept such realities as gay suicide and bullying in the schools? Could this explain the sudden overwhelming attention the media and institutions are now paying to these issues?
Some activists will take umbrage at Obama's involvement with the It Gets Better Project, with his lakcluster commitment to gay rights over the course of his term. But in truth, I think that there is great reason for optimism. We may not have full equality yet in the United States, but with the recent federal ruling against Don't Ask Don't Tell and the sudden popular groundswell of activism against such a recently untouchable issue as gay suicide, we clearly have a lot to look forward to.
The paper I submitted for my Geography Research Methods course. A survey-based exploration of the federal HOPE VI public housing program in South Seattle.
My co-presenters were Associate Professor Dennis Ryan, Affiliate Professor Jill Sterrett, and Karen Wolf, Strategic Planning and Policy Division Manager for King County.
This presentation focused on the top trends that urban planners will face in the next 50 years. These top trends include food and water security, climate change, social equity, new urban design, demographics, collaborative education, transportation and health, regionalism, and social networking technology (Web 2.0).
I presented on the applications of social networking in urban planning (last 3 slides) to a panel of MUP alumni on January 31, 2010.
