Getting citizen feedback the hard way

Grist notes the irony:

After taking heat for lack of bike-infrastructure support -- what mayor doesn't get flack for this? -- Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villariagosa climbed on a bike for the first time in years last Saturday for a ride to the beach. Within 30 minutes a taxi driver pulled out in front of him on Venice Boulevard, knocking the mayor to the pavement. He hit his head -- he was wearing a helmet -- and broke his right elbow.

How will China's citizens get to work?

ClimateWire asks: As the world hurtles toward 2 billion cars, an increasingly important issue for the climate will be this: How will China's citizens get to work?

With their rising incomes and access to freshly paved roads, many will be tempted to emulate Americans and buy cars. Some will ride the gleaming rail networks funded by Beijing. But in the past two years, China has also become the world's fastest-growing market for high-speed city buses.
In February, the southern city of Guangzhou rolled out China's latest effort, a 14-mile stretch of a main road striped with bus-only lanes down the middle. The sleek buses race between raised stations that resemble train stops. Ridership has already shattered the figures of other bus systems in Asia. Now the system beats out the ridership of every metro line in mainland China except Beijing's.

Parking - wow!

What is old is new again

Didn't local governments used to do this with non-renewables before having their powers taken off them and centralised?  ZDNet reports:

The (UK) government wants to overturn a ban which prevents councils selling renewable energy to the grid, energy minister Chris Huhne announced on Wednesday.

The Local Government ACT 1976, which currently prevents councils from selling electrcity, will be amended, said Huhne in a statement.

"It's ridiculous that the 1976 Local Government Act prevents councils from selling electricity from local wind turbines, or from anaerobic digestion," said Huhne. "I want to see this repealed and by the end of the year I hope local authorities will be able to sell electricity from renewables – generating revenue to help local services and keep council tax down."

Ducking the wind-blown spit

The excellent series in Grist continues and Terry Tamminen sums it up again:

We haven't really been focused on the price of carbon; we've been focused on reducing carbon. And if that's really our goal, as opposed to being in love with any one policy at any one level of government, then there's a lot of work going on, which has been successful and continues to be successful, that we need to defend and strengthen. That's where our time is better spent, rather than spitting into the wind

The question: what now for a carbon price given the US stalemate?

The question is from Grist and a great response from Schwartzenegger's former advisor:

Terry Tamminen: I would stop focusing on the glass that's empty and focus instead on the one that's full. We already have a price on carbon in 10 Northeastern states, at least as it pertains to the electricity sector, under RGGI [Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative]. We are in the final stages of designing a similar cap-and-trade system in the majority of the Western states, and the Midwestern states have said they'll copy what we do. So by 2012, regardless of what Congress does, if we support these state actions -- which are much more deeply rooted and have a lot more political support and practical demonstration of success -- we are much more likely to have a price on carbon in the U.S. in the near-term.

Update: that pesky TWS split

From last week (yep, I have been on holidays with my family):

Members of The Wilderness Society have tonight voted in a new Management Committee for the organization, one committed to ending the internal conflict and taking the Society forward.  
 
In a re-run 2009 Annual General Meeting, hundreds of members gathered in Adelaide and hundreds more participated by phone across the country to hold an election for the Committee. 

The 2009 AGM was required to be re-run after the Tasmanian Supreme Court ruled the previous AGM, secretly held in November 2009 and organised by the former Management Committee, was invalid as it was inadequately notified. The meeting last night was jointly called and organised by all parties within the Wilderness Society, and the outcome represents a binding resolution to a damaging chapter in the organisation’s history.