What would our city look like in a world that had gone beyond fossil fuels? It's an important question, for if we can't paint a picture of the future we want we're not likely to get it. Oddly enough, it's not a question that many people have tried to answer. Most of the thinking on alternative energy has focused on the cool technology, rather than the urban spaces it would inhabit or the social relations that would underpin it. The debate on public space, on the other hand, has largely ignored where our energy ...

Clever graffitti really should inform more of the debate in our federal election. There I was, tearing my hair out trying to understand how anyone can think that giving young people longer criminal sentences is the most important issue facing the country, when crime rates are dropping and global warming threatens the future of all youth (plus everyone else). But then I came across an on-line mini-lecture by Dan Gilbert -- best-selling author, Harvard Psychology professor and author of the title of this rant. Sadly (for me), he has some pretty good reasons why we are blind to the danger posed by rising greenhouse gas levels, while the threats of tooth decay, terrorism or youth crime trigger immediate responses. It's well worth a listen, but he sums it up as: “ Global warming is a deadly threat only because it fails to trigger the brain's alarms. It leaves us sleeping in a burning bed. It remains to be seen whether if we can learn to rouse ourselves to battle an impersonal, slow and quiet enemy that is indeed more dangerous than any our ancestors ever imagined.” Alas, the record of our ancestors on this score is not promising. But not entirely hopeless either. Archaeologist/historian Ronald Wright sums up the historical evidence in his brilliant little book A Short History of Progress with a single line stolen from a piece of graffiti: “Each time history repeats itself, the price goes up.” I've tacked this line onto the wall by my desk because I think it is both clever and wise — and the placement seems appropriate for an academic thesis that started as a piece of street art whose creator the get-tough-on-youth-crime crowd would have us jail. Clever because it plays upon our familiarity with the expression “Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.” So it highlights the possibility of avoiding paying the price by actually learning from our mistakes, even while cynically doubting that this is probable. But at least our unknown graffiti artist retained enough hope to bother writing his warning on a wall.

I'm interested in the thoughts of Spacing readers on The Good Life campaign that WWF-Canada (aka my employer) launched yesterday. Its goal is try and make visible what is now invisible outside of polling statistics -- the public's desire for action on climate change. We know that lots of people outside of the hard-core eco-crowd are now concerned (OK, freaked) about global warming. The question is how to take that concern and channel it into positive action to meet the challenge, rather than an ‘apres ...

There's a little something for both the cycling aesthete and her/his inner planning nerd over at The Sightline Institute's blog. As someone who now regularly tows a two year-old behind him on his bike, I'm looking at how my bike fits in our streets in a whole new way and they've posted a couple of great (and pretty) think-pieces. First up is a brilliant half-hour film by New York-based StreetFilm on what makes Portland so bike-friendly (it's 30 minutes, but worth the watch -- you gotta love the all-way stop traffic signal triggered by a bike riding on top ...

On Friday, Toronto released Change is in the Air, its proposed framework for action on climate change and clean air, and it is a thing of beauty (albeit more of a sketch at this point than a finished oeuvre). As someone who has been a semi-professional complainer about the lack of action on climate change in Toronto over the last 8 years, I had to resist the urge to start hugging people as it was announced. It not only follows the European Union in setting greenhouse gas reduction targets based on what scientists say is necessary to prevent ...

I saw a TTC streetcar wrapped in a Diesel Jeans 'Global Warming Ready' ad today. My first thought was 'Can the end be far away?' when environmental concern is being milked to sell overpriced pants with the tag-line “You can't be too well-dressed for the apocalypse.” Fortunately my faith was restored when I came across the wonderful phrase 'green-collar jobs' in an interview with Van Jones on Grist. According to Jones, “All the big ideas for getting us onto a lower carbon trajectory involve a lot of people doing a lot of work, ...

What do carbon markets have to do with explosive population growth in Milton? Maybe a lot. Yesterday, CIBC's top economist Jeff Rubin came out with a report on the likely regional impacts of carbon markets (Ontario is a winner), following up on his January pronouncement that the “carbon wars” are upon us. And last week, TD's Don Drummond put out a primer on carbon taxes vs. cap-and-trade systems vs. government regulation. The details are terribly exciting only for economists and enviro-policy wonks. But these reports are another sign of a sea-change in the debate on ...

        Sprawl is eating the planet. Across the continent the landscape is being leveled - blasted clean of distinctive features and overlaid with a zombie-like monoculture. Gary Burns — master of dystopian comedy — hooks up with journalist Jim Brown to tell a startling family chronicle of the Late Suburban Age. Welcome to Radiant City. And you can go there in an advance, benefit screening of this eco-flick hosted by the sprawl-busters over at Environmental Defence on Monday, March 26 at 7 p.m. at the Varsity Cinema (Manulife Centre - 55 Bloor St. West). The evening includes a post-screening discussion ...

It has always bugged me that energy conservation programs are almost exclusively targeted at the relatively well-to-do, who need the help the least. Well, for 270 lucky low-income Toronto households, that is about to change. And with a little effort, we could be fixing up all of the poorly insulated, low-income homes in the city as part of Toronto's climate change plan in order to cut back on both greenhouse gases and the energy bills of those least able to afford to heat the great outdoors. Anyone who's tried to run an environmental program knows that the coveted 'early ...

Spacing is happy to have Keith Stewart join the Spacing Wire team. Keith spent many years keeping tabs on City Hall as a key member of the Toronto Environmental Alliance. He'll write periodically on climate change issues in Toronto. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The buzz on climate change may yet turn out to be more than just hype. Not only do we have it percolating through both the city's arts community (see Coach House's GreenTopia project) and the city's establishment (see next week's Toronto City ...