Tuesday, March 22, 2011

May is Bike month

Bike month is coming!  http://www.bikebaltimore.org/bike-month-is-coming/

Baltimore bike planner Nate Evans and his minions are hard at work planning cycling events for the entire month of May:  Kinetic Sculpture Race, Bike To Work Day, Bike Jam... check out his blog here and join the contest to see who can attend the most events!

http://www.bikebaltimore.org/

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Baltimore City Landscape Manual

Announcement from the Baltimore City office of Sustainability:

Please join us for a brief presentation and discussion of the Draft Baltimore City Landscape Manual

Wednesday, March 23, 2011 at 6:00 PM
Department of Planning
417 East Fayette Street, 8th floor


As part of the citywide zoning update, a Draft Landscape Manual is being developed. The Landscape Manual creates landscaping and screening standards for new development and redevelopment within the city, to promote attractive development, protect property values, and provide environmental benefits.



The Draft Landscape Manual can be downloaded from the Baltimore City Planning Department website: http://baltimorecity.gov/Government/AgenciesDepartments/Planning.aspx



For questions, email amy.gilder-busatti@baltimorecity.gov  or call 410-396-PLAN.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Pi Day 3.14

Ah, Pi day.  Back in high school we celebrated by hitting teachers in the face with cream pies when they couldn't answer our math questions (and ok, we may have been in cahoots with the local college math professor to get some Really Hard math questions to stack the deck)...

Here's how you can have your pie and be energy efficient too, with a PSA from the Johns Hopkins Sustainability office:

Happy Pi Day! And to celebrate, we’ve got you covered with tips to use less energy when you’re baking that pie of yours.


o Ceramic and glass dishes let you turn down the oven by 25 degrees without extended cooking times because they conduct and hold heat better than metal.

o To keep a dish warm before serving time: put it in the microwave and close the door. The insulation will keep the food warm (but make sure the dish isn’t metal!).

o If you have a convection feature on your oven, take the time to learn how to use it. You can save one-third of the cooking energy.

o If you have an oven light and a clean oven glass door, turn the light on quickly to check your pie’s status instead of opening the door and wasting energy.


Photo credit (and a really yummy-looking Grasshopper Pie recipe):
http://dyingforchocolate.blogspot.com/2011/02/grasshopper-pie-chocolate-mint-pie-day.html

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Earth Hour 2011

Tis the season for Earth Hour!  Come to the dark side with us on March 26th...

Friday, March 4, 2011

Sustainable transportation planning guidebook

The School of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology has recently completed the development of a Guidebook on Transportation Planning for Sustainability for the Federal Highway Administration, the result of a 2-year project.

The objectives of this project were as follows:
-Review US and int'l best practices in transportation planning for sustainability
-Identify appropriate data sources and data collection needs
-Provide guidance to transportation agencies through catalog of practices and case studies
-Share information on sustainability practices with state DOTs and other transportation agencies

It is available for free download at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hep/climate/resources.htm#sustain

Thanks to Adjo Amekudzi, Ph.D for sharing this resource!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Environmental film fest in DC this month


This month, Washington DC holds its 19th Annual Festival, March 15-27


60 Venues, 150 Films, 26,000+ Filmgoers

As the Environmental Film Festival launches its annual celebration of the natural world on screens across Washington, D.C., we explore one of the most controversial and timely topics of our day: the critical relationship between energy and the environment. Please join us in March as we present 150 diverse and engaging films from 40 countries.

Check the listings at their website here (most films are free!):
http://www.dcenvironmentalfilmfest.org/

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Book: Cities for People

I just read an impressive review of the book Cities for People in this month's Civil Engineering magazine (which you can read online here)...

The book's author, Jan Gehl, is an architect and professor of urban design at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, and is credited with helping to make Copenhagen the model of pedestrian- and bicyclist-friendly urbanism that it is today.  The review notes that more than 1/3 of Copenhagen's commuters travel by bicycle.

Sustainability-minded urban planners will want to read this book!