Summer Reading, Worldchanging-Style

Article PhotoThe approach of summer invariably brings with it a staple of literary journalism: the summer reading list. The assumption is that many of us are looking forward to long, lazy, hot afternoons on the beach, porch or back deck, with nothing to do but lose ourselves in the pages of trashy novel deliciousness, or — for the more mentally ambitious — some or other non-fiction gem we’ve been meaning to get to. I’m looking forward to long, hot summer afternoons oozing freelance sweat onto my keyboard punctuated with the occasional beach weekend on the eastern end of Long Island courtesy of the ‘rents. But even I can’t resist suggesting some summer reads — and highlighting a few choices noted in other publications — for those who are fortunate enough to have paid vacation days to take in the coming few months. (Share your suggestions in the comments!) A couple entries into the summer reading list stakes noted in a recent issue of The New York Times Book Review fit right into the worldchanging brief: Author Nora Ephron suggested “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” by Michael Pollan, which takes on the problematic health and ecological impacts of how we eat in a modern… (more)

(Posted by Emily Gertz in Media at 1:39 PM)

Greener In Texas

Article Photo by Worldchanging Austin local blogger, Luke Iseman: There’s a saying: “everything’s bigger in Texas.” Usually applied to SUVs, exurb-dwelling women’s hair, and tex-mex dishes, it’s starting to look like a lot of the biggest initiatives to green a metropolis are being born in Austin, Texas. Will Wynn is not just Austin’s mayor with a politically auspicious name: he’s also Al Gore with a Texas twang. A Worldchanger much more literate than I has already provided an excellent summary of Wynn’s speaking points , to which I have nothing substantive to add. The truly curious can also read the full current version of the Austin Climate Protection Plan . A short list of not-so-little ways in which Austin, the capital of the most polluting state in the most polluting country in the world, is giving most other locales a run for their money at the slowly starting race to think big about being green: 1. Transportation Is Becoming Less InsaneYes, our highways are still as clogged as last time you visited. However, the vehicle in front of you seems increasingly likely to be practical in size, maybe even a scooter, perhaps even an electric one . If you’re really lucky… (more)

(Posted by WorldChanging Team in Urban Design and Planning at 1:37 PM)

Smart Mobs Halt Construction of a Chemical Plant in China

Article PhotoIn Xiamen, on the southeastern coast of China, a petrochemical corporation has been constructing a $1.4 million factory to produce p-Xylene, a highly toxic petrochemical used to make polyester for fiber and plastic packaging. Public concern in the city over the health risks posed by the factory’s presence has been stirring dissent for some time, but opponents face the powerful joint force of a corporation and the government. Then several weeks ago, someone sent a text message. It said: Once this extremely poisonous chemical is produced, it means an atomic bomb will have been placed in Xiamen. The people of Xiamen will have to live with leukemia and deformed babies. We want our lives and health! As the LA Times affirms, “cellphones present a new challenge to the [Chinese] government, because all but the poorest people in China own one and text messaging is ubiquitous — used far more often, and by a wider span of ages, than in the U.S., where it tends to be a tool of the young.” Spreading like a virus, the message was repeated more than 1 million times, environmentalists said, until it had reached practically everyone in Xiamen, a city of 1.5 million people…known… (more)

(Posted by Sarah Rich in Communications and Networking at 11:48 AM)