We can wait for the government to make major investments in infrastructure that will promote better stewardship of resources and more resilient communities.
Chicago ready to buy land near Union Station for bus rapid transit center
"Sheltered staging area for CTA buses would include a vertical connection to an existing Amtrak underground passageway. That would allow commuters to access the Union Station concourse crossing Canal and Jackson at street level."
Or we can start to make the choices ourselves to create them today through our actions.
How communities can support walkability and be recognized for it
"Although the program is mostly forward-looking, the assessment tool does require applicants to provide some objective performance-based criteria, including the portion of commuting trips taken by walking according to Census data, as well as accident data involving pedestrians. It also includes some highly relevant questions to elicit objective data on some important factors that can influence walking, such as public transit availability and performance, sidewalk and street crossing presence and standards, and enforcement of traffic safety laws."
We can hope that elected leaders and business take the right actions to make resource efficiency an accessible priority.
Can PACE local energy financing come back?
"After effectively suspending residential PACE energy efficiency and renewable energy municipal financing programs in 2010, and then being taken to federal court and required to do a revised rule making, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released its revised ruling on PACE programs [pdf] earlier this summer."
Or we can take matters into our own hands and pursue even some crazy ideas to improve quality of life with fewer resources.
Solar Oven Makes Clean Drinking Water from Salt Water
"Technology doesn't always have to be complicated, sometimes the simplest materials and concepts are the best. The Eliodomestico works like an upside-down coffee percolator to desalinate salt water. The ceramic oven has three main pieces. The top black container is where the salt water is poured. As the sun heats the salt water and creates steam, the pressure that builds pushes the steam through a pipe in the middle section. The steam condenses against the lid of the basin at the bottom and then drips into the basin, where it is collected."
Even more importantly, we can heal.
Remembering 9/11 with a meal grown at Ground Zero
"But this Sept. 11, I am throwing off the chains of oppression and setting out to do something that I think neither the Ground Zero rebuilding architect Daniel Libeskind, nor Mayor Michael Bloomberg, nor the billionaire World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein have even contemplated.
Yes, this year at Ground Zero I will grow a meal."
Happy Friday!
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