Anything that encourages public transit is welcome, and these bus stops rounded up on Toxel certainly look inviting. There is something about fruit-shaped stations in Japan; they come in a wide variety of flavours; … Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Crazy Bus Stops From Around the World

BMW City Electric. Image credit: RedFerret.net , via BMW. A few weeks ago I speculated that passage of a Cap & Trade bill would cause existing US manufacturers to relocate not to China but to states with greener power . BMW it turns out has decided not to wait for the Cap & Trade rush. They are planning a $100 million manufacturing facility in Washington State.

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BMW Made The First Move On Washington State Hydro Power. Who’s Next?

Photo via Rust Wire Last week, I mentioned that the majority of Washington DC voters were willing to pay higher taxes to keep public transit running . In another vote of confidence for quality mass transit, St. Louis voters have overwhelmingly approved a measure that will raise the sales tax “to stabilize and eventually expand” its transportation network, according to Grist … Read the full story on TreeHugger

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St. Louis Votes In New Tax to Pay for Better Transit, Ignores Tea Party

Lowering income taxes while upping pollution taxes could save Americans a bundle in the long run. Photo: James Jordan via flickr. As economic decision-makers–whether consumers, corporate planners, government policymakers, or investment bankers–we all depend on the market for guidance. In order for markets to work and economic actors to make sound decisions, the markets must give us good information, including the full cost of the products we buy. Unfortunately, markets largely ignore the indirect costs of goods and services, thus grossly distorting the structure of … Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Lowering Income Taxes While Raising Pollution Taxes Reaps Great Returns

Image: David Roberts/Google Maps If I was King… David Roberts has a great post over at Grist about ways to make his neighborhood more “walkable, sociable, sustainable, and safe”. He came up with a list of suggestions (as shown on the map) that would make it easier for people to get to parks and public spaces, easier to meet neighbors, walk or bike to stores, etc. It’s a great exercise that more of us should do, or at least support the

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David Roberts Redesigns His Neighborhood

Image via the New Yorker If you’re not a regular watcher of climate issues, the major ups and downs (okay, so it was overwhelmingly downs) that comprised the media narrative of global warming over the last 6 months was probably pretty confusing. There were some hacked emails, overheated allegations, some noisy weathermen, and an extra-snowy winter. So what’s someone to do if they want to catch up on the goings-on without wading into the extensive coverage of the kind produced by climate bloggers like yours truly? That, friends, is why we hav… Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Kolbert: "Goofball weathermen, Climategate, conspiracy theories" are Distractions

Image credit: Daníel Örn /Flickr In the warming Arctic, birds are being plagued by mosquitoes , confused by fog, and driven into the sea by errant winds. These strange challenges —along with avalanches, landslides, and more—have emerged as results of climate change…. Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Climate Change Causing Bizarre Arctic Bird Deaths

Image on left: Nissan “EVs would come to an annual cost of between US$190 and $278 to consumers” There’s no doubt that a large number of electric vehicles would use a lot of electricity. But the important question is: Would it be a manageable amount? There’s mounting evidence (see here , here and

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Keeping Things in Perspective: An Electric Car is About as Power-Hungry as an Air Conditioner

photo: Steve Ryan via flickr. Saying it would “unleash the forces of innovation in homes and businesses” Google and The Climate Group have sent a letter to President Obama asking him to adopt the goal of giving every household and business in the nation a

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Google & The Climate Group Tell Obama Every US Building Needs a Smart Meter

Photo: Flickr , CC “Commuting is a stress that doesn’t pay off.” A couple years ago, I wrote about extreme commuters and how they spent a significant portion of their lives being road zombies (one of the guys profiled had put 186,000 miles on his 3 years old car because he woke up at 3:45 AM fives days a week to drive 200 miles to work… this adds up to 48 whole days a year just to commute). According to the latest census data, there are more … Read the full story on TreeHugger

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More Road Zombies Than Ever: 3.4 Million Americans are Extreme Commuters