Uncloak Koch -- Exposing the puppet masters

Brutal Egypt regime propped up by US need to control Mideast oil

David Roberts: The War on the Carless

The War On the Carless | PubliCola - Seattle's News Elixir: "It is one of the most longstanding and best-understood findings in urban design that building more roads does not ease congestion. To the contrary, it quickly leads to more cars and more congestion. Yet no matter how bad Seattle’s congestion gets—no matter how long its citizens spend in their isolated boxes, stressed out, wasting time, taking years off their lives—the answer from politicians and vested interests is always the same: more lanes, more roads, another highway."

For you to have a car, someone, somewhere, must die.

Thomas Schelling: The Economics of Global Warming - Newsweek: "The most likely consequences of climate change will be severe impacts on food production in the developing world. We can worry about urban heat waves, polar bears, and forest fires, but the worst effects are almost certainly going to be on food production in the poor countries, where half or more of the population depends on growing its own food."

The Hindu : Cities / Chennai : Free public transport makes sense

The Hindu : Cities / Chennai : Free public transport makes sense: "A study by the Asian Development Bank in Bangalore shows that a 20 per cent increase in bus ridership reduces the city's fuel consumption by 21 per cent. It frees-up road space equivalent to taking off nearly 4,18,210 cars."

We are engaging in wishful thinking about climate and resource limits

Kokomo - free trolley service to continue through 2011

The City of Kokomo is announcing that the City-Line Trolley will continue to be free to all riders through 2011. Until 2010, Kokomo was one of the largest Indiana communities without low-cost public transportation.

Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight had pledged to install a public transit system after nearly 40 years when the last City buses stopped running.

“While I was on the City Council, one of the most common complaints was the absence of affordable public transportation,” said Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight. “The trolleys are reliable, convenient and cut down on traffic and emission going into the air.” InsideIndianaBusiness

Brazil Landslides Wipe Away Homes, Killing More Than 300 - Wall Street Journal

RIO DE JANEIRO—Walls of earth and water swept away buildings in the mountains northwest of Brazil's beachfront pearl of Rio de Janeiro, wiping away homes and killing at least 303 residents, while rescuers scrambled to reach still-trapped neighbors. WallStreetJournal

Climate crisis hits Australia hard

No more turnstyles!

Your species needs you. Join the war on cars

your heart's on the left: From Henry Ford to Rob Ford: auto-destruction, and possibilities of a car-free future: " But the patients and traffic reports add up. According to the World Health Organization cars kill more than 1 million people a year, injure 50 million, and are predicted to become the third largest contributor to the global burden of disease by 2020. This costs countries up to 4% of their GNP, with a global total of more than half a trillion dollars a year. Even without collisions, car production contributes to the cancer epidemic (as the Canadian Auto Workers’ Prevent Cancer Campaign puts it, “the auto industry is producing laryngeal, stomach and colorectal cancers along with its cars”) while car use contributes to air pollution that leads to respiratory and cardiac conditions (which by some estimates kill more people than crashes do). Car dependency is also harming the planet—with roads that pave over arable land and undermine animal migration, emission gases that lead to global warming, a requirement for oil that leads to inevitable oil spills like in the Gulf of Mexico, and animal deaths dismissed as 'road kill'.
Why are we so dependent on a mode of transporation that is so harmful to people and the planet?"

US Collapse accelerated in 2010

Now the Rich Get Richer Quicker: "These figures show that the shocking economic collapse of the last two years has been no collapse whatsoever for the most affluent, even while it remains traumatic for most, and catastrophic for many. Yet instead of generating a sense of moral urgency, this condition has produced a spirit of entitlement among the privileged, complacency among the struggling middle, and resignation among the impoverished. How else account for the most decisive judicial act of 2010 - the Supreme Court ruling in January that elite-protecting political spending by corporations must be unrestrained - and the most decisive legislative act - the December extension by Congress of massive tax cuts for that wealthiest sub-minority? And who can deny that the court decision led directly to the congressional act?"

More autosprawl subsidy -- make it stop.

UK government launches £5,000 electric car grant scheme | Environment | guardian.co.uk: "Electric cars are set to experience a breakthrough in 2011 due to a £5,000 car grant introduced by the government today, experts predict."