A Plan to Reduce Greenhouse Gases for Canada’s Capital

An Energy & Emissions Plan for Canada’s Capital Region (78 page pdf, City of Ottawa, City of Gatineau, National Capital Commission, Lead Consultant, HB Lanarc Consultants Ltd., Feb. 2012) Also discussed here: Presentation to Environment Committee on Choosing Our Future and “An Energy & Emissions Plan for Canada’s Capital Region”  (Bill Pugsley, Feb. 21, 2012) [...]

GEO Medicine and Lifetime Exposure to Poor Air Quality

Bill Davenhall: Your health depends on where you live (9 min video, TED, Oct. 2009) Also shown here: Bill Davenhall: Your health depends on where you live (9 min You-Tube) And discussed here: Heart Attack Rates (Acute Myocardial Infarction per 100,000 Medicare Enrollees) (ERSI, 2005) The focus today is on a new branch of environmental [...]

Air pollution and congestion charges in London, England

Pay as you go: managing traffic impacts in a world-class city (55 page pdf, John Whitelegg, Eco-Logica Ltd, Lancaster, Dec. 2, 2011)     The report reviewed today looks back at almost a decade of experience with London’s congestion charge system and analyses the reasons for its success as well as its weaknesses. Several interesting [...]

Why Not Report Urban Air Pollution Publicly?

WikiLeaks reveals China’s failure to measure dangerous pollution- pollutant levels were not measured and made public because findings would have been ‘too sensitive’ for the authorities (Jonathan Watts, Guardian, Aug. 26, 2011) Today’s focus is on a report provided by Wikileaks from the US foreign service in 2006 about the reluctance of Chinese officials to [...]

Gridlock – real or imaginary?

Traffic Gridlock: The Real Deal or a Pile of Nonsense? (26 page pdf, Barry Wellar, Jul. 28, 2011) The focus today is on an analysis by a leading Ottawa expert on mobility, Prof. Barry Wellar. He sees the use of the term “gridlock” as a dichotomy between “research-based, and deserve to be treated as the [...]

Mapping Environmental Security

2010 Environmental Performance Index (Environmental Performance Index, Yale University) Today’s focus is on a global mapping project begun at Yale 5 years ago to display 25 indicators of health and the environment for all the reporting countries of the world- the map below shows the relative CO2 emissions. Maps such as these can be very [...]

Highest Ranked Cities in USA for Air Quality

Air Quality (SustainLane, 2008 Rankings)   This annual ranking of the most sustainable cities in the USA points to cities in the Northwest at the top across all categories (Portland was #1 overall) and to the Pacific coast for both the best  and worst for air quality. Some lessons learned from looking at cities which [...]

Urban Vulnerability to Climate Change

Conceptualizing urban vulnerability to global climate and environmental change (Abstract, Patricia Romero Lankaoa, and Hua Qina, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Feb. 10, 2011)   The focus of the review article today is on the lack of action by many large cities world-wide. The author suggests that a clearer and more comprehensive understanding of urban [...]

An Urban Air Pollution Simulator

Smog City Today’s review is about a computer simulator from California showing ozone levels over a day as a function of population, temperature, amount of cars and trucks, industry etc. To see Key Quotes and Links about this post, go to the new internet platform for Pollution Free Cities by clicking HERE

The Top Sustainable Canadian Cities

  The 2011 Most Sustainable Cities in Canada (Corporate Knights, Feb. 9, 2011) Also discussed here: The Metabolic Metropolis (editorial) (Corporate Knights, Feb. 8, 2011) And here: Expanded Results (1 page pdf, Corporate Knights, Feb. 8, 2011) Today’s review article is important because of the characteristics and programs that the top ranking cities use to [...]

How Science is (and was) Communicated

The line between science and journalism is getting blurry….again (Scientific American blog, Dec. 20, 2010) Today’s article under review gives us new insights into how (badly?)science is communicated today (and was yesterday) with an analysis or comparison between science journalists and science bloggers- and the need all along for knowledge filters to separate nonsense from [...]

Making Sense of Urban Complaints from 311 Calls

What a Hundred Million Calls to 311 Reveal About New York (Wired, Nov.1, 2010) Also discussed here: The Future of Sustainable Urban Mobility: Switch to IT Networks (The City Fix, Dec. 9, 2010) New York City, like many other large cities, has a special number (311) for its citizens to register complaints – at a [...]

2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health: The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow. Crunchy numbers The average container ship can carry about 4,500 containers. This blog was viewed about 16,000 times in 2010. If each view were a shipping [...]

Why You Should Never Google “Climate Change”

The Psychology of Climate Change (Sustainability Forum, Sep.30, 2010) The article under review today caught my eye with its use of a modified Venn diagram (note the red ball’s stability on and the curved line). These diagrams seem to allow for a better understanding of an issue than the simpler and more usual pros and [...]

Hazardous air pollutants- Highlights from EPA Workshop

Image via Wikipedia Estimating the Benefits of Reducing Hazardous Air Pollutants: Summary of 2009 Workshop and Future Considerations (26 page pdf, Environ Health Perspect., Oct. 4, 2010) Key Quotes: “Challenges related specifically to benefits analysis for air toxics include uncertainties in emissions information, air quality and exposure modeling, effects estimation, and economic valuation, as well [...]

Masdar City Update

Image via Wikipedia In Arabian Desert, a Sustainable City Rises (New York Times, Sept. 25, 2010) The most read post on this blog has been Masdar City – zero carbon, zero waste which described the Masdar City concept. Today’s review article reports on progress made since then with new approaches to the design of buildings, [...]

Uncertainty in Recycling Waste

Image by Getty Images via @daylife Uncertainty Regarding Waste Handling in Everyday Life (15 page pdf, Sustainability, 2(9), 2799-2813, Sept.3, 2010) The need to reduce the output of waste for many cities is as great a need as to reduce vehicle emissions in that both, if not given enough priority, result in overflowing landfills and [...]

Applying Public Health Approaches to Sustainable Transportation

Image via Wikipedia What Transportation And Public Health Can Learn From Each Other About Changing Public Behaviors (Steve Miller’s Blog-II, Aug. 26, 2010) Also discussed here: A Framework for Public Health Action: The Health Impact Pyramid(Abstract, American Journal of Public Health 590-595, April 2010) A fascinating article reviewed today looks at applying approaches used in [...]

Communicating Scientific Concepts

Image via Wikipedia Do Earth and Environmental Science Textbooks Promote Middle and High School Students ‘ Conceptual Development about Climate Change? Textbooks ‘ consideration of students’ misconceptions (Bulletin, American Meteorological Society, p. 889-898, Volume 91, Issue 7, July 2010) The article reviewed today looks at how climate change concepts are described in textbooks used by [...]

How Useful are Ecological Footprints?

A Review of the Ecological Footprint Indicator—Perceptions and Methods (49 page pdf, Sustainability 2010, 2(6), 1645-1693, June 7, 2010) The Ecological Footprint has been used to assess the state of the world and compare countries, regions and cities as to the impact of resource consumption on the environment. Advocates have attempted to use the footprint [...]

The Most (and Least) Polluted American Cities

Image via Wikipedia The State of the Air 2010 (175 page pdf, American Lung Association, April 28, 2010) Key Quotes: “over 175 million people—roughly 58 percent—still suffer pollution levels that are too often dangerous to breathe“ “Twenty of the 25 metropolitan areas with the worst year-round pollution reported much lower levels of particle pol­lution in [...]

Climate Change Indicators

Climate Change Indicators in the United States (80 page pdf, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, April 2010) Key Quotes: “The report presents 24 indicators, each describing trends related to the causes and effects of climate change. It focuses primarily on the United States, but in some cases global trends are presented to provide context or a [...]

Incentives for Changing Behaviour

Image via Wikipedia Using Community-Based Social Marketing Techniques to Enhance Environmental Regulation (23 page pdf, Sustainability 2010, 2(4), 26 April 2010) Does the publicity from “world” days change how individuals treat their environment? Or does strict regulation followed up with fines?  Or are economic tools such as road tolls or fines needed to change behaviour [...]

Ecological Citizens

Ecological Citizens Identifying Values and Beliefs that Support Individual Environmental Responsibility among Swedes (25 page pdf, Sustainability, 20 April 2010) The role of the individual and its importance of individual interests in changing behaviour toward a pollution free environment is always (or should be) the basis for improvement. This article examines a concept of being [...]

Communicating Sustainability

Image via Wikipedia Science, Open Communication and Sustainable Development ( 23 page pdf, Sustainability – Special Issue Advanced Forum for Sustainable Development, 13 April 2010) Often, if not always, the most effective approach to sustainability starts at the local level as we have seen in this example from the UK Think Global, Act Local. Open [...]

Air Quality Awareness Week

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration‘s (NOAA) National Weather Service urge Americans to “Be Air Aware” during Air Quality Awareness Week, May 3 – 7, 2010. A web site created to promote this week includes excellent graphics and educational material such as this look at urban pollution and inversions: [...]

The 20 Most Sustainable British Cities

Sustainable Cities Index (Forum for the Future, Nov. 19.2009) Key Quotes: “ Forum for the Future’s Sustainable Cities Index has driven real change by inspiring cities to adopt more ambitious sustainability strategies and by providing a framework against which they can benchmark their efforts.” “Index tracks progress on sustainability in Britain’s 20 largest cities: Environmental [...]

Benchmarks for Walking and Cycling

Bicycling and Walking In the United States: 2 0 1 0 Benchmarking Report (196 pages pdf, Alliance for Biking & Walking, 2010) This report from the U.S. examines measurable indicators of walking and cycling, as well as comparison with other countries. Benchmark reports of this type have also been done in Canada in this report: [...]

E-Waste

Recycling – From E-Waste To Resources (120 page pdf, UNEP July 2009) Also discussed at Hazardous E-Waste Surging in Developing Countries (Science Daily, Feb. 23, 2010) The growth of cell phones and computers and their limited (5-8 year) useful lives has resulted in a growing – some say alarming – increase in the disposal of [...]

Modelling Energy Use in Cities

Urban Form, Behavior Energy Modeling in China: Sim City for Real? (Green Flow, Feb. 16, 2010) The application of urban simulation modelling to the development of new cities in China and an assessment of energy, water and emissions over varying conditions of time of year permits urban planners to find solutions that reduce pollution, while [...]

Why do you drive to work?

How Does Car Parking Availability and Public Transport Accessibility Influence Work-Related Travel Behaviors? (15 page pdf, Sustainability 2010, 2, 576-590, 12 February 2010) How to get people out of their cars for the daily commute and into public transit is a challenge for many cities in North America. This article looks at the factors that [...]

Sustainable Development and Community Vitality

Community Vitality: The Role of Community-Level Resilience Adaptation and Innovation in Sustainable Development (17 page pdf, Sustainability 2010, 2, 215-231) – detailed cases can all be read Here Key Quotes: “Communities…can be said to have a level of community vitality that acts as a site of resilience, adaptation and innovation in the face of environmental challenges” [...]

What’s Good For The Climate Is Good For Health!

The Royal College of Physicians in the UK just released this call for action: WHAT’S GOOD FOR THE CLIMATE IS GOOD FOR HEALTH! (3 page MS Word doc), – part of a global campaign by doctors and other health professionals for urgent government-led international action to protect health by limiting climate change http://www.climateandhealth.org/pledge/ Key Quotes: [...]

Accountability of air quality management

Measuring public health accountability of air quality management (10 page pdf, Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health, March 2009) Key Quotes: “changes in ambient air quality are rarely linked to changes in public health” “Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators (CESI) .. three components: air quality, fresh water quality, and greenhouse gas emissions” “The air quality component of [...]

What Scientists Say and What the Public Hears

Communication Gap: The Disconnect Between What Scientists Say and What the Public Hears (4 pages pdf, Environ Health Perspect 117(12): doi:10.1289/ehp.117-a548) Key Quotes: “communication experts are calling for fundamental changes in how scientists interact with the media because debates over climate change, health, energy, and technology are simply too important to lose to misinformation” Reworking the [...]

Communicating Air Quality-Health Effects

Some considerations for the communication of results of air pollution health effects tracking (15 page pdf,  Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health, July 2009) Key Quotes: “This program should include frequent two-way communication, repeated and on-going evaluation of how well the audience understands the messages, and consideration of how to improve the delivery.” “based on consideration [...]

Climate Scoreboard

Related articles by Zemanta OECD Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard 2009 (kauffman.org)

El Nino, Snowfall and Air Quality

It is often observed that the air quality for a month or season is better when there is above average precipitation which removes the pollutants from the lower atmosphere.  The converse would be true as well with low precipitation associated with poorer air quality.  The problem is that quantitative precipitation forecasts are difficult to get [...]

Climate Change and Public Opinion

The 15th  Conference of the Parties, beginning next week in Copenhagen, aims to reach an agreement on global greenhouse gas emissions to succeed the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012.  As  many greenhouse gas emissions and most health-hazardous pollutants have urban origins, the success or failure of the Copenhagen conference will have consequences for both [...]

Climate Change Health Indicators for USA

Environmental Health Indicators of Climate Change for the United States: Findings from the State Environmental Health Indicator Collaborative (9 page pdf Environmental Health Perspectives- Nov 2009) Key Quotes: “best indicators of environmental changes due to climate change are quantity of greenhouse gas emissions, air quality (in particular ozone), air mass stagnation events (such as those [...]

The Greenhouse Effect (1896)

On the Influence of Carbonic Acid in the Air upon the Temperature of the Ground (22 page pdf) “Arrhenius’s paper is the first to quantify the contribution of carbon dioxide to the greenhouse effect and to speculate about whether variations in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide have contributed to long-term variations in climate” Arrhenius [...]

Copenhagen Agenda for Sustainable Cities

Copenhagen Agenda for Sustainable Cities (16 page pdf) Credits: The Danish foundation Realdania have asked the Scandinavian think tank Monday Morning to create the Copenhagen Agenda for Sustainable Cities initiative. Key Quotes: “Almost 80% of all CO2 emissions are generated from urban activities, which make cities the biggest contributors to global warming.” “We have become [...]

Students on Ice Expeditions

Students on Ice Expeditions – an example of a successful climate change outreach program, aimed at showing youth the regions that will be and are being affected most by the accumulated emissions of carbon fuel – sustainable cities need citizens who embrace sustainability – over the last ten years, over 1,200 students from 40 countries [...]

World Car Free Day- Sept 22

World Carfree Day 2009 Over 100,000 million people in more than 1500 cities worldwide  celebrate a move away from car culture Carfree Cities – proposes a delightful solution  to the vexing problem of urban automobiles. Car-Free Day Montreal: A Measurable Difference “Attracting in the upwards of 50,000 people in 2007, In Town, Without My Car! [...]

Assessing Sustainability

Tools for Measuring Progress towards Sustainable Neighborhood Environments This recent paper from the Journal “Sustainability” examines six assessment tools based on triple bottom line principles (social/economic/environment) to identify where improvements are needed in planning new communities “Abstract: Various assessment tools are available to assist designers, developers and regulatory bodies to reduce the negative impacts of [...]

Refresh of Environmental Strategy for Ottawa

Refresh of the City’s Environmental Strategy – proposed plan of action to refresh and update the City of Ottawa’s Environmental Strategy which includes initiatives for cleaner air and greenhouse gas reductions

POLLUTION POLL

Air Pollution and Health — a Presentation from C. Arden Pope

Air Pollution and Health (video) — a Presentation from C. Arden Pope Source: video.google.com Air Pollution and Health — a Presentation from C. Arden Pope – 1:03:59 – Mar 31, 2007Ideal Living Media – ideallivingmedia.com

Americans rate cars necessities above all else, but have been cutting car use

http://pewsocialtrends.org/assets/pdf/luxury-or-necessity-2009.pdf pewsocialtrends.org Source: pewsocialtrends.org Americans rate cars necessities above all else, but have been cutting car use – Pew research Americans are driving less because of the recession but a survey by the Pew Research Center show they still rank a car as the number one necessity of modern life. Driving less and eliminating “unnecessary” [...]

Scientists worldwide admit global warming is a hoax

http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2009/04/01/scientists-worldwide-admit-global-warming-is-a-hoax/ Scientists worldwide admit global warming is a hoax | csmonitor.com Source: features.csmonitor.com In an unprecedented move Wednesday, the Norwegian Nobel Committee rescinded the Peace Prize it awarded in 2007 to former US vice president Al Gore and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, amid overwhelming evidence that global warming is an elaborate [...]