Pages tagged with climate change

Infrastructure deficit, U.S.-China climate challenges, regional economic growth, and more!
Monday, May 14th, 2012

It’s been awhile since we’ve done a round-up of posts here at The Yardstick and since we’ve covered so many topics over the past couple of months, we thought we’d sum them up in case you haven’t had a chance to see them all: Metro Washington and the U.S. as a whole are suffering from a

Read this entry

How to solve our regional and national infrastructure deficit? (Part 2)
Tuesday, April 24th, 2012

This is part two of a two-part series on infrastructure funding and financing. Part one highlighted examples of our “infrastructure deficit” as discussed at a recent forum on regional and national infrastructure needs and part two focuses on infrastructure banks as potential ways to help better

Read this entry

How to solve our regional and national infrastructure deficit? (Part 1)
Monday, April 23rd, 2012

In a globalized world, falling behind on infrastructure means falling behind economically. That’s a point we’ve made before here on The Yardstick and it was one of the key messages repeated by leaders at a recent forum on the potential for infrastructure banks to help solve our regional and nati

Read this entry

Global Fridays: Are countries “cheating” to reduce emissions? What role does urban planning play in race relations?
Friday, April 20th, 2012

Happy Friday! To get your weekend off to a great start, here are a few international news clips related to climate change, bike sharing, energy efficiency, and a reminder on the role of land use plays in how people interact with one another: “Very few countries have cut their carbon emissions

Read this entry

Aging vehicles could impact region’s emissions targets
Wednesday, April 18th, 2012

The average age of all the cars and trucks on Washington area roadways is on the rise, according to a 2011 Transportation Planning Board study of vehicle registration information from Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. The trend suggests that residents and businesses in the region are

Read this entry

More trees, hybrids, and sustainable plans are making metro Washington greener
Thursday, April 12th, 2012

In our first week of celebrating Earth Month 2012, MWCOG and Region Forward have highlighted several actions and plans that put metro Washington on a path toward a more sustainable future (on Facebook and Twitter). On April 5, one of our region’s most populous jurisdictions announced its tree c

Read this entry

Region Forward is Celebrating Earth Month!
Thursday, April 5th, 2012

What’s better than Earth Day? Earth Month! All April long, MWCOG will promote initiatives and events by its member jurisdictions that make metro Washington region greener and more sustainable. Here at The Yardstick on RegionForward.org, we’ll feature green and sustainability themed blog posts

Read this entry

Climate & Energy Policy (European Edition)
Friday, March 9th, 2012

Uncertainty is a term that’s been used with much frequency since the beginning of the Great Recession a few years ago. While initially related to the economic sector, the lexicon of uncertainty has spread to other areas as well, including climate and energy policy. The United States currently l

Read this entry

Fight Climate Change & Protect the Environment: Go Recycle!
Tuesday, February 28th, 2012

In metro Washington, across the US, and around the world, waste continues to be a major contributor to climate change. In the last 35 years, the amount of waste produced per person nationally has nearly doubled from 2.7 to 4.4 pounds per day, and about 54 percent of this – 136 million tons – is

Read this entry

Sustainable suburbs, solar power boom in Germany, and transit innovation (passes the US by)
Friday, February 24th, 2012

Building a sustainable suburb Diana Lind has a piece in Next American City that’s getting a lot of attention this week. In the piece she argues that it’s not constructive to blame the housing crisis on the suburban housing boom which predated it. Whether we like it or not, Lind argues that su

Read this entry