Via Brendon Slotterback’s Twitter, here’s a chart showing Minneapolis’ energy use and “built square footage” (i.e. the total amount of buildings) over time: As Slotterback says: Minneapolis’ total electricity use has declined 4% since ’06 while total square footage has increased 5.5%. At the global scale, preventing out of control climate change requires de-linking GDP […]
Next time you’re out mowing the lawn, think about this map for a second. Via (something called) Fusion.net, here you go: The map comes from a NASA study which looks at how lawns affect the environment. Here is the key part: There is now an estimated total of 163,812 square kilometers, or more than 63,000 […]
This isn’t a weather report. Well it is, but that’s not the point. Check out what MPR’s Paul Huttner’s great blog says about “climate disruption.” First your forecast: OK, that’s summer. But the real eye-raising part is Huttner’s link to the Weather Channel’s list of top 25 cities for climate disruption. For some reason, Minneapolis […]
Via Bob Collins at MPR, here’s a chart showing fine particle pollution in air for July 4th compared to an average control day: Particulate matter is an easy thing to forget about unless it’s not. For other great 4th of July content, check out some of the fine streets.mn 4th of July stories from past […]
While Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Minnesota appear at the top of lists for biking, health, literacy, and other enviable qualities, we’re fortunate enough to have at least some policymakers well aware of the lessons we could still learn from our counterparts across the world. In particular, there have been many efforts to apply urban planning […]
This map is old but relevant today, given the debate at City Hall about environmental justice in the Phillips neighborhood. Almost 20 years ago, a few University of Minnesota professors did a GIS-based study (back in the early days of GIS) looking at how different toxic release geographic maps compared poverty and pollution at different […]
My University of Minnesota colleague Elizabeth Wilson lives on the quintessential neighborhood street in St. Anthony Park (St. Paul). While riding her bike to work she was sucking diesel exhaust from four different school buses running down her street; these four buses were taking kids to four different elementary schools. She thought about the transport […]
Here’s a map that crossed my desk this morning all about how affordable rooftop solar is becoming in many places around the US. (This comes from a big infographic out of the Union of Concerned Scientists…) It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why Minnesota might be a bit slow with this particular technology. […]
Once the “heart of downtown” and “Minneapolis’ Main Street,” the Nicollet Mall is turning into an outdoor, urban version of the Mall of America.
[This is part of streets.mn’s “transpo convo” series, which aims to be an oral history of getting around the Twin Cities, one person at a time.] The “Transpo Convo” series asks people how they get around the city, how they would like to get around the city, and what could improve their transportation experiences around […]