Nifty stuff if you’re planning based on regions or watersheds, or..

“Integrated Land and Water Information System, ILWIS, the world’s most user-friendly integrated software with raster processing capabilities to work on remotely sensed satellite images and vector processing capabilities for making vector maps and countless spacial modeling abilities. Its fully integrated raster and vector approach and user-friendlyness make it particularly suitable for natural resources managers, field scientists, biologists, ecologists, etc., as well as for educators.

http://www.ilwis.org/

The main ingredients in each Decon Green formula are peroxides, the same substances that are in many household cleaners and whitening toothpaste. To bolster their effectiveness, the peroxides are mixed with bicarbonates or other non-toxic bases.

via Military develops multi-purpose ‘green’ decontaminants for terrorist attack sites.

This may happen, and it’s just a small element of the ideas they are throwing out there, but still… The cynical can read it as “companies wil continue to socialize costs while privatizing benefits at the expense of the social infrastructure”.

Companies will likely build smaller, decentralised working centres. They may even use existing neighbourhood infrastructure – from the local coffee shop to the community centre – for flexible working arrangements.

via What’s in store for city-dwellers in 2040? | Forum For The Future.

Sounds like a very interesting read, and dealing with some hard tradeoffs that neourbanism is going to need to consider.

In his new book Cities Under Siege, published just two weeks ago, geographer Stephen Graham explores “the extension of military ideas of tracking, identification and targeting into the quotidian spaces and circulations of everyday life,” including “dramatic attempts to translate long-standing military dreams of high-tech omniscience and rationality into the governance of urban civil society.” This is just part of a “deepening crossover between urbanism and militarism,” one that will only become more pronounced, Graham fears, over time.

BLDGBLOG: Cities Under Siege.

Global meat production has tripled in the past three decades and could double its present level by 2050

via Major report reveals the environmental and social impact of the ‘livestock revolution’.

What’s interesting here is that he’s got a track record in both politics and business.

As the article noted, “Think of the site as philanthropy, volunteerism and social networking all rolled into one.” And as Hughes' email noted, it's “an online platform to connect individuals and organizations working to change the world.”

via Chris Hughes, Facebook Co-Founder, Introduces Jumo – Tonic.

Corn ethanol doesn’t appear to be the way to go, for multiple reasons.  So no, it’s not “green”.

“The new study, published in the March issue of BioScience , finds much lower emissions from indirect land-use change than the Searchinger paper calculated but still enough to tip the balance away from corn ethanol.”

http://www.wbcsd.org/plugins/DocSearch/details.asp?type=DocDet&ObjectId=Mzc4NzM

“Public libraries are at the forefront of a number of significant and pressing urban and environmental sustainability issues, and are evolving a leadership role in addressing these through sustainable urban design practices, contributions to economic regeneration and a commitment to social equity.”

via Peter Scott’s Library Blog: Call for Papers: Public Libraries and Resilient Cities: Creating Sustainable and Equitable Places.

Including sound energy and running water…. pair this with a lowhead water turbine and things might get very interesting.

“This study provides a simple and cost-effective technology for direct water splitting that may generate hydrogen fuels by scavenging energy wastes such as noise or stray vibrations from the environment,”

via Scavenging energy waste to turn water into hydrogen fuel.

Very cool stuff  I could want one….

Not only has the entire country gone carbon neutral, educated all of their children in environmental science and furiously built retaining walls around every island, but the government is buying up land in nearby nations as a place to retreat to when the Maldives disappears. Now it appears that the intrepid Maldivians have come up with a new strategy to fight the rising tide: creating mini floating islands!

via Waterstudio.NL’s Floating Star Shaped Resort Islands for the Maldives | Inhabitat.