The first new international airport in America in more than a decade is taking form in Florida panhandle. It's part of a broad effort to turn the region into a destination -- and a valuable real estate development.

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The small community of Tofino on Vancouver Island is looking to ban all future franchise retail establishments from moving into town.

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Most of the new housing units being occupied in New York City are illegal basement spaces. Bringing those spaces up to code could create thousands of units of affordable housing in the city.

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Can historic preservation make room for evolution, and even change? UNESCO's Cultural Landscapes designation attempts to leave room for places to evolve without losing their character.

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A new book explores the disconnect between how a "mega-city" region is portrayed through statistics, demographics, etc., and how it is perceived by the public.

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Officials in Reynoldsburg, Ohio are pushing through strict design guidelines with expensive requirements in an attempt to encourage high-end condos over rental apartments.

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The director of the Cincinnati Art Museum says in order to prepare for the future, the city should rebuild its streetcar system and build on its strengths in the arts.

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According to the latest census data projections, Canada will become a remarkably diverse nation in the coming decades, with increasing ethnic and racial mixing being concentrated in the nations' cities.

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The latest addition to Google Maps is a bicycle service, helping cyclists plan routes, find bike trails, and avoid hills.

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Grist writer Lisa Selin Davis argues that now is the time to make public transit a priority in serving outer suburbs, because the rebounding economy will inevitably lead to increased demand.

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In Sydney, Australia multiple groups of commuter bicyclists have gotten organized and adopted routes with scheduled stops calling themselves a "bike bus". The brilliance is the purposeful combination of the age-old tactic of safety in numbers, social interaction, and...

Pabst Farms is NOT brilliant. It's yet another exurban zone of tacky strip malls and low-grade McMansions. Well, is has a few minor merits - a bit more greenspace than average, for example. But basically it's another tragic waste of...

Take a look at this. I don't know anything about Tulsa, but this is one of the most well thought out urban renewal ideas I've seen in a while and to see it coming out of the bible belt is...

There's little I can say about this other than it's awesome. A welcome maship from google....

Rubber Sidewalks seem to be taking off. The city of Boston may start requiring them - article here. That's a pretty bold step for something relatively unproven, but will be very useful for other cities to watch and represents the...

This article's gotten a lot of play and it sound's like a truly brilliant idea: Make sidewalks out of recycled tires - it's cheap, they apparantly last longer, they are easier on the feet, they don't have freeze/thaw issues in...

One of my biggest complaints about my alma matter, Washington University in St. Louis, was the severe lack of interaction between the students and the city of St. Louis, which was always just a stone's throw away. St. Louis is...

LA County has placed solar panels on two key bus depots in the San Fernando valley. The panels should save the system $185k a year in electricity costs. Plus, it's a cool public display of solar potential. For a bigger...

The Milwaukee Connector is a project to build a decent - Caen style transit system in Milwaukee. It looks like a darn good idea, and ought to be considered. I worry that this time of transit system won't be a...

This is one of the funniest things I've ever seen regarding transit. Muni Haikus. A website devited to Haikus about the various bus lines in San Francisco. Some of them are brilliant, some are painful. Kind of like Muni....

This is truly brilliant. A group in San Francisco concerned witht the lack of greenspace in the city recently asked the question: As long as you put money in the meter, who's to say a parking space has to have...

The Government of Canada, in partnership with IBM and UN-HABITAT, have put together a 72-hour online event in preparation for the World Urban Forum, to be held enxt summer in Vancouver. It's called "Habitat Jam" and it'll basically be a,...

This website, ipodsubwaymaps.com, is one of the coolest, most useful web technology apps I've ever seen. William Bright has put a tremendous amount of effort into creating astonishingly accurate subway maps that you can download onto your iPod for handy...

I have a feeling this is more novelty than preacticalisty, since a cell phone could probably charge itself off a car's idling motor without any added deleterious effects. Nonetheless, here's a taxi with a wind turbine on the roof that...

San Francisco: On extraordinarily rare occasions the opportunity presents itself to develop a piece of land in ideal, truly brilliant fashion. Treasure Island is a former military facility on landfill in the middle of San Francisco Bay. It's laid largely...

I normally like Alaska Airlines. They're generally very nice, and in the case of a major delay (during which we had to turn around and return to the airport of departure) they were polite and professional. No big deal. To...

I know I'm not the first person who's complained about these things, but my respect for TSA security is so low I could scream. Twice recently I've had these idiots rummage through my bag in search of liquids and when...

I really love Google Maps. There's one problem with it though. When you search for something and get a typo, you typically get a left-hand sidebar with suggestions about what you might have done wrong. This is vaguely useful,...

JetBlue is a wonderful airline - they are hip, polite, and have cool features like live TV on the flight. However, their frequent flyer program, true blue, is a failure. Why? Because miles expire after one year. As a result,...

I never wanted to get into this battle, but I have to throw it in - Boeing's large jets are superior to those of Airbus, at least the Air France variety. Why? One and only one reason - the central...

A USB device is suppose to connect intelligently to your computer without any hassel. Not printers. If the even come with a USB cord (some printers actually make you buy this separately), you inevitable have to install an entire CD...

Northwest Airlines will now charge $15 to travelers who want to specifically reserve an aisle seat at check-in. Article here. This idea is so stupid it's gotten me to write something on my neglected blog (which takes a lot these...

This takes the cake. It's a bus that drives around Rio de Janiero. It's full of exercise bikes, and I guess you're supposed to get exercise and enjoy the view. Of course, Rio Already has fabulous weather, and apparantly, decent...

According to the South China Post, some Chinese cities are moving to ban electric bicycles in favor of automobiles. Europeans have the luxury of hindsight in this regard, and are ironically reinstating pedestrian and bicycle dominance in urban areas. The...

Chicago: I suppose this is more of a rant than a useful comment, but there are a few things in it worth thinking about. Bear with me. First of all, United Airlines insists on claiming that it has "direct" flights...

Chicago: As much as I think the current administration's attitude toward passenger rail is atrocious, I recognize that some Amtrak lines may indeed be less worthy of government support than others. If cuts must be made, let them be to...

Hong Kong: These photos were sent in by 'DickStock' from Hong Kong (thanks!). They show a dead-end door at the International Finance Centre that is labeled as a fire exit. The door literally opens into what is essentially a closet......

Your Imagination: I've been seeing these weird billboards around town for a wihile. They have a photo of this weird hairy beast-thing that looks like a Jeep with the word "Esuvee" in big letters. For the longest time I couldn't...

San Francisco: I just got ripped off big time. I was late to catch a train to Berkeley so I ran down into a BART station only to find out that the next train wasn't for 20 more minutes, so...

The Bank: This has nothing to do with sustainability, but sometimes I have to vent. I typically take $120 out when I visit ATMs that are not owned by my bank. The reason is that it minimizes the loss I...

A report from California's Legislative Analyst's Office concludes that implementation of Assembly Bill 32, or AB32, would result in near-term job losses. But Governor Schwarzenegger isn't buying it. AB32, or the Global Warming Solutions Act,  was passed in 2006 and calls for reducing California's emissions of greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2020. But an opposition [...]

As a marketing tool, networking is a great outlet for making “ideal” connections for small businesses.  What's an ideal connection?  Perhaps an analogy will help elucidate the term.  You've probably heard the following saying: Give a man a fish and you've fed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish and you've fed him for [...]

 The Wall Street Journal's third annual ECO:nomics conference: Creating Environmental Capital wrapped up last week and I'm pleased to report that it delivered on the promise of frank, highly strategic, executive-level discussions. The conference will return next year; here's hoping that we have some new energy and carbon legislation in place by then and that [...]

Millions of people around the world tuned in to last weekend's Academy Award show, bringing another Hollywood award season to a close. While nabbing an Oscar or Emmy is considered an honor, another lesser known red carpet event took place last weekend where winning an award is not recommended. The Toxies were held at the Egyptian Theater [...]

The Carnegie Institution of Science released a new study this week finding that one-third of the carbon dioxide emissions developed countries release into the atmosphere result from goods and services produced outside their borders.  The report's details are troubling:  Carnegie's researchers estimate that 2.5 tons of CO2 per person are consumed in the United States but are [...]

In recent years, after the initial honeymoon of broader consumer interest in all things green, it's now settled squarely in the space of ''prove it to me.'' Yet proving something's greenness, sustainability, fair trade status, organic certification, carbon footprint has resulted in a dust storm of competing certifications, labels, very few of which are gaining [...]

Since I’ve been covering Waste Management (WM) over the past few weeks, I couldn’t pass up this most recent news. Waste Management has created a joint venture with InEnTec (introduced previously on TriplePundit), called S4 Energy Solutions LLC, which will develop, market and operate plasma gasification facilities. Last week they announced plans to develop a plasma [...]

It's a fact of life that offices use vast quantities of paper. Just add recycling bins, and an office is environmentally friendly, some would say. However, a paperless office is possible, according to a recently released report by JP Morgan. The report, titled Sustainable Treasury Management: It's Easier Than You Think, mentions JP Morgan's Go [...]

A new report from research and consulting firm Zpryme describes the growing field of smart appliances as a tremendous market opportunity. It estimates that the global household smart appliance market will grow from $3.06 billion to $15.12 billion over the next five years. In 2015, the global market size for smart washers and smart [...]

Celebrating its commitment to the environment, Continental Airlines is giving its planes a makeover, broadcasting its “eco-friendly skies.” Many corporations including Continental are working on reducing their carbon footprint, integrating sustainable practices on their supply chain and distribution channels, and finding alternative sources of energy to fuel their operations.  Companies like Google, GE, and Unilever are arguably [...]

''No one will ever be mad at you for going green,” says Mike Abt, one of the four brothers who operate Abt Electronics, recognized as one of the nation's largest consumer electronics merchant. ''In the old days they might have thought of me as a hippie.'' Mike's quote captures the very essence of how going [...]

The struggle to take ''dirty'' trucks operating in West Coast port areas off the road has been a major rallying cry for ports and environmentalists for at least five years, but the effort is beginning to pay off. The Port of Seattle reports that its voluntary, buy-back incentive clean air program recently saw the 100th dirty [...]

[Update: Ford just announced this morning that AT&T is the lead customer for the Transit Connect Electric. The telecom giant, which plans to spend $565 million to deploy more than 15,000 alternative-fuel vehicles through 2018, will purchase two of the first Ford Transit Connect Electric vans.] Last week, I took an all-electric version of Ford's Transit [...]

By Boyd Cohen, co-founder, Kincentricity Social Carbon Carbon trading is a $100+ billion global industry driven largely by the regulated markets in Europe, where most of the offset trading is done on the European Union Trading System (EUTS). The primary tool resulting from the Kyoto Accord for generating offsets for the EUTS is the Clean [...]