SOCIAL CAPITAL & INFRASTRUCTURE
“Inventor of the Future” by Alec Nevala-Lee
The Visionary Life of Buckminster Fuller During his lifetime, Buckminster Fuller was hailed as one of the greatest geniuses of the twentieth century. As the architectural designer and futurist best known for the geodesic dome, he enthralled a vast popular audience, inspired devotion from both the counterculture and the establishment, and was praised as a […]
“The Super Age: Decoding Our Demographic Destiny” by Bradley Schurman 
From CT.org…Demographics are everything. The age, race, sex, education and ethnicity of the resident, regional and national population influences the town’s, region’s and state’s current and future programs, finances, infrastructure and housing needs. Read The Super Age and Shaping Our Nation, summarized below. You will come to believe – Demographics are everything. The challenge of […]
A breakthrough agenda on climate finance
In this sixth interview of the “17 Rooms” podcast, Amar Bhattacharya and John Podesta discuss a “breakthrough” agenda on climate finance, which is necessary to deliver on greater climate ambition and ensure synergy with the sustainable development agenda. Bhattacharya, senior fellow at the Center for Sustainable Development at The Brookings Institution and Podesta, chair and […]
A Person to Know: Lawrence Halprin 1916-2009
Highlights. Cities is one of those books from the 1960s when idealism in city planning was blooming, design was a valuable commodity, environmentalism was new and cities were just beginning their comeback. [The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1963.] People like Halprin led the way with lofty ideals and ideas, strong skills and a classical foundation in history, design and […]
A Reminder…The sources of greenhouse gases can be grouped into five categories
Transportation is the biggest, perhaps electric vehicles will reduce this number, over time. Hydrogen is still on the list. Electricity generation is second. The chart below shows the contribition of renewable sources to the generation of electricty. Industrial greenhouse gas emissions primarily come from burning fossil fuels for energy, as well as greenhouse gas emissions […]
Assessing the Global Climate in April 2022
Month tied as the fifth-warmest April on record for the globe The global surface temperature for April 2022 tied with 2010 as the fifth highest for April in the 143-year NOAA record, which dates back to 1880. The year-to-date (January-April) global surface temperature was also the fifth warmest such period on record. According to NCEI’s […]
City Hall, The Essential Main Street Asset
A Prominent Main Street City Hall. City Hall is the downtown icon. Downtown doesn’t seem like downtown without a visible city hall, especially in a small town. City hall represents stability to citizens as they attend hearings, pay utility bills and meet with elected or appointed officials to discuss civic matters. City halls draw people […]
Climate Change: Global Sea Level
HIGHLIGHTS Sea level has risen 8–9 inches (21–24 centimeters) since 1880. In 2020, global sea level set a new record high—91.3 mm (3.6 inches) above 1993 levels. The rate of sea level rise is accelerating: it has more than doubled from 0.06 inches (1.4 millimeters) per year throughout most of the twentieth century to 0.14 […]