The Value of Direct, Convenient Access to Nature
Our health and happiness are shaped, in part, by direct, convenient access to nature.
Category: Natural World
The articles here focus on two key questions. How does urban sprawl impact the natural world differently than human-scale development? And how does living close to nature affect our well-being?
The second through the ninth article listed below form a series examining municipal climate rhetoric and reality. You can read an overview to the series here.
Why Municipalities Are at the Center of the Climate Crisis
This is the first article in a series exploring municipal climate rhetoric and reality. Whether acknowledged or not, municipalities are at the center of the climate crisis.
The Culture That Shapes Municipal Climate Rhetoric and Reality
This is the second article in a series exploring municipal climate rhetoric and reality. Maine and Nova Scotia illustrate how culture can produce incompatible planning and development outcomes.
Virtue Signaling with Climate Action Plans
This is the third article in a series exploring municipal climate rhetoric and reality. Portland, ME, and Halifax, NS, help clarify when a climate action plan is or is not an exercise in virtue signaling.
Demolishing Human-Scale Development Undermines Emissions Reduction
This is the fourth article in a series exploring municipal climate rhetoric and reality. Halifax, NS, serves as a worst-case scenario in terms of demolishing historic, human-scale development. Portland, ME, understands that “the greenest building is the one that already exists.”
Research Consistently Shows Building Tall Maximizes Emissions
This is the fifth article in a series exploring municipal climate rhetoric and reality. All research shows that high-rise development produces worst-case climate outcomes. Halifax has committed to a high-rise future. Portland, ME, can show others that there’s a path that values the environment and quality of life.
Accommodating High-Rise Densities with Courtyard-Type Buildings
This is the sixth article in a series exploring municipal climate rhetoric and reality. It’s counterintuitive to claim high-rise densities can be accommodated at a reduced number of stories, but it’s true.
Greenwashing Auto-Dependency with EVs
This is the seventh article in a series exploring municipal climate rhetoric and reality. Halifax, NS, falsely believes EVs offset the consequences of expanding auto-dependency. Portland, ME has enacted meaningful regulatory reform.
Converging Futures in Halifax and Portland?
This is the eighth article in a series exploring municipal climate rhetoric and reality. In this final article, we look to the future in Halifax, NS and Portland, ME.
