Replant Native Trees that Turbocharge Nature

When replanting a tree, choosing just the right native can turbo-charge the natural environment. So says renowned plant expert Douglas Tallamy who has compiled a list of native plants that deliver a bigger biodiversity bang for the buck because they attract more insects, birds and other animals. “All native plants are not equal when it comes to supporting insect herbivores and thus other forms of wildlife.”

The news comes just in time for the northeast U.S. where thousands of trees destroyed in Superstorm Sandy are being replanted by residents and towns which may be focusing more on trees that are “utility friendly” than friendly to the natural environment. more »

Driverless Vehicles and Human Durability

Will vehicles which drive themselves help or hurt us as human beings? It may not be an either/or proposition.

In today’s Washington Post I paint a picture of how an edge city near Washington, D.C. can be wired with a system connecting smart phones with self-driving cars, buses and trucks. We hear from robotics expert Robert Finkelstein and consultant Richard Bishop who say we’ll gain productive time if we aren’t driving or caught in traffic. We’ll be safer, too. Smart vehicles have onboard sensors which are being shown to dramatically reduce crashes. Plus they never get tired or distracted. more »

Want To Start a Rail~Volution?

That’s the raison d’etre behind Rail~Volution, a conference where professionals who care about public transportation share great ideas. I wrote about some of them on the blog Greater Greater Washington, including the story behind this pretty picture (hint: it’s not a mountain in Japan). 

Washington D.C. Farm Grows More than Food

Little kids aren’t the only ones reaping benefits from a new farm in the heart of the Nation’s Capital.  

Because he likes to cook, 16 year old Daniel Martinez has been appointed “executive chef” at the Farm at Walker Jones. Whenever he volunteers, he whips up dishes in the farm stand with whatever is picked that day. “It’s really neat to see plants and herbs I’d never heard of before like swiss chard – in the middle of D.C.” Daniel walks to the farm from a nearby private high school where he is a sophomore.

The half-acre plot primarily serves students, families and neighbors of a D.C. Public School called the Walker Jones Education Campus. Last year, even though groundbreaking wasn’t until early summer, the farm managed to raise 3,000 pounds of food which went to residents, a retirement community and a kitchen which serves the homeless.

The farm boasts a cornucopia of vegetables, fruit, herbs and flowers – and this year added honeybees and a butterfly garden.

Daniel at the farm stand

Young hearts and minds are tended just as carefully. As the website says, “It is an outdoor classroom where experiential learning integrated into the school curriculum happens side by side with the social and emotional education required to train the leaders of tomorrow.”

Just like other kids who visit, Daniel has learned a lot. Before he became a volunteer, he “wasn’t big into picking fresh ingredients.” But now he says he appreciates “when one second they’re in the ground and the next second they’re a delicious appetizer.”

Daniel was delighted when a woman from the neighborhood tried one of his signature recipes and gushed, “I don’t usually like zucchini, but I sure like this!”

Anyone is welcome to volunteer at the farm on Tuesday, Thursday or Sunday afternoons. You will receive a selection of the day’s produce, so don’t forget to bring a bag.

This post is brought to you by Blog Action Day 2011. The subject this year is FOOD.

How to Get Through to Congress

On Capitol Hill today, phone lines and websites are buckling under the pressure of so many Americans trying to make their feelings known about the debt ceiling. They’re answering President Obama’s call in a speech last night: “If you want a balanced approach to reducing the deficit, let your member of Congress know. If you believe we can solve this problem through compromise, send that message.”

Mr. Obama wasn’t specific about how to do that, but most people apparently went the traditional route. Thankfully, though, there were other ways to make their voices heard.    

According to a new survey –  ironically released today – Congress has rushed to embrace social media. And none too soon.

The Congressional Management Foundation, a non-profit group dedicated to improving communications with Congress, found that most members have a Facebook page and are also on Twitter. The 260 House and Senate staffers who took the survey are generally pleased to have the new tools. “By a ten to one margin, they are reaching people they’ve never been able to reach before,” says Brad Fitch, CMF president and chief executive.

But now that there are so many ways to communicate, which method has the most bang for the buck? According to Fitch, “Sending an individual e-mail is 20 points more influential than social media.” In other words, the time you take composing an e-mail has more cred than a 140-character tweet.

And how can your message have maximum impact? Fitch shared two simple rules in a fact-filled interview on Facebook DC Live.

Timing is everything.  For heaven’s sake, make sure and get in your dibs before your Congress members make a decision. Check the status of your issue so you don’t waste your time or theirs.

Don’t be wishy washy.  “Have a firm ask,” advises Fitch. Determine exactly what you want your Congress member to do, then state it simply and clearly. Start by writing your message in short form on the Subject line.

What if you do all the right things, but your carefully crafted call or note hits a technical roadblock? You may have no choice but to go social. Says Fitch: “The best ways to get through are Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.”

Getting to Know Capital Bikeshare

Bike share gives you another way to travel short distances, such as from a Metro station to a nearby restaurant. 110 of the solar-powered bike share stations have sprung up in the busier areas of Washington and Arlington.  

My ride 

Rolling away from the station outside the entrance to the Crystal City Metro, I immediately felt comfortable on my CaBi bike. The weight of the sturdy frame and the three gears kept my progress slow and under control as we negotiated stop-and-go car traffic. 

CaBi members use a plastic key to unlock bikes from the station

Since I was used to seeing Crystal City from a car window, I thought it wasn’t much more than a drab concrete jungle. But gliding slowly along, I got a closeup view of how much had changed since I moved from the area thirty years ago. Now, beautiful potted plants dot street corners. Graceful shade trees sway in the breeze. Sidewalk cafes beckon. 

And bike share stations are located every couple of blocks. That close proximity is what makes the system a viable form of transportation. Our tourguide tells us that lots of people now grab a bike instead of a taxi or bus. They predict that as Metrorail gets more crowded, bike share will become a desired alternative for more people and actually free up spaces on trains.

Milano last summer

I liked my bike in D.C. better than the one I rode last summer in Milan. For one thing, a bungy cord secures your stuff in the cargo rack. We were bummed in Italy when our new DSLR camera slid out of the open metal basket and crashed on the sidewalk. Capital Bikeshare maintenance folks report their bikes are much more reliable then the finicky fleet in Paris.

I wore business clothes for the ride and soon realized one’s outfit should rarely be an impediment. Truth be told, if you’re wearing high heels and have to go any distance at all, it’s a lot more comfortable to ride a bike than it is to walk.

CaBi facts

Capital Bikeshare is remarkably safe. More than 700,000 rides have been taken on the system since CaBi opened last fall, but there have been very few accidents.  In fact, medical assistance has only been necessary in only about a dozen instances. CaBi adds an additional measure of safety by teaming up with the Washington Area Bicyclist Association to offer free classes in negotiating city traffic. 

Bike share is a great deal. You’ll need to pay to get into the system. A year-long membership costs $75. It’s $30 for a month and $5 for a day. But having done that, any time you use a bike, the first half hour is free.  If you time it right, you could take as many short hops as you want and never pay another dime. 

Administrator Racks up a Healthier School

In the shadow of what will soon become a massive edge city not far from Washington, D.C., a school administrator is making it easier for kids to breathe free.  

Larry Knighten is dean of students at Joyce Kilmer Middle School, which is located within walking distance of traffic-choked Tysons Corner, Virginia. Recently, Larry noticed a problem. Every day, the single bike rack outside the school was filled to overflowing. Bikes were locked haphazardly to fences and trees.

It all started when the county transportation department built a little bridge over a nearby creek to create a direct connection to the many neighborhoods on the other side. What resulted is that many kids who had never been able to walk and bike to school before decided to give it a go.

Bridge opens in July 2010

But, rather than getting mad at the bicycle mishmash, Larry got creative with a few school system dollars. Not only did he buy more bike racks, he built a beautiful concrete pad to go underneath so the kids and the ground wouldn’t get muddy. 

The school is so excited, they held a ribbon-cutting  – and even a U.S. congressman dropped in to celebrate. 

A couple of student onlookers commented on how they roll.

“I ride to school because it’s faster than walking and, you know, it’s just fun because you get a little bit of exercise in the morning,” said one young man.

Another sees the practical advantages: “The bus is a lot earlier than I’d like to leave and if I leave on my bike I can leave later and it’s not that far. It’s really nice and I just think it’s a good experience to ride your bike to school.”

Sleep. Exercise. Autonomy. Just what pre-teens (and the rest of us) need to be healthy and happy. 

Below, Larry talks about the benefits of biking to school, and Virginia Representative Gerry Connolly explains how strategic, small government investments like the Kilmer bridge can lead to less car traffic and a more livable community.     .

A New Plan for Global Security

Terrifying nuclear crises, ominous cyber-wars, oil and food prices in a race to the top – if there is a Plan A for saving us from simultaneous global catastrophies, it’s not working. But there is another option. 

Enter Lester Brown, esteemed Big Thinker and founder of the Earth Policy Institute. In his new book, World on the Edge, Brown unveils “Plan B” – a sweeping vision to retool the world economy and re-balance earth’s ecosystems so its people can survive. For Plan B to come to the rescue in time, he proposes an immediate about-face in U.S. security policy. Struggles in the Middle East are what could catapult America into action. 

Brown calls his plan ”the new defense budget, the one that addresses the most serious threats to both national and global security.”  It costs $187 billion, or about one-fourth of the current U.S. Defense budget.

These are the basic building blocks of Plan B:

Keep water flowing and farmland fertile. Right now, many countries are draining the last precious drops from their water supplies. Water tables are dangerously low for half the world’s population. To prevent widespread deaths and mass migrations due to thirst and starvation, Brown’s plan would assist dry countries by helping them conserve water and grow food through efficient irrigation systems and water-efficient crops.

Because so many forests have been cut down and grasslands are being heavily overgrazed, precious topsoil is gone or disappearing in many areas. To prevent future wars over dwindling food supplies, Plan B ends deforestation worldwide and calls for restoring grasslands and the planting of billions of trees. It would also create marine reserves in oceans around the world to provide sustainable and vast supplies of edible fish. In the meantime, an international food reserve would help stabilize prices so everyone has at least something to eat.

Within 8 years, reduce carbon emissions by 80%.  This would be achieved by speeding the shift from worldwide dependence on fossil fuels to the use of the renewable, safe, and limitless energy sources of wind, waves, solar and geothermal. The plan would lower taxes on incomes but raise them on carbon-producing fuels like gasoline. This would push the world toward transportation and manufacturing practices which use less oil and coal. That way, world output of carbon dioxide will drop, slowing the rise of sea and air temperature. Less melting of arctic ice means fewer people and livelihoods would be inundated by rising water.

Stabilize the world population at 8 billion people.  Slowing runaway population growth will make it easier to conserve earth’s remaining resources and stretch food supplies. Recent history shows that educated women have fewer children. So, in countries where birth rates are highest, Brown’s plan calls for the education of all young people, especially girls. Providing access to decent healthcare and reproductive services would also shrink family size.

Re-tool U.S. defense and security. When states are in turmoil, they can’t perform basic functions like collecting taxes, paying their bills or providing jobs. Such instability also threatens global security. As Brown points out, “Efforts to control international terrorism also depend on cooperation among functioning nation states. As more and more states fail, this cooperation becomes less and less effective.”

Brown envisions a new cabinet-level U.S. agency called the “Department of Global Security” which would help shaky countries get back on their feet by providing sustainable security, economic and environmental solutions. In Yemen, for instance, the U.S. and other nation partners could help set up methods for sustainable farming, generating renewable energy and conserving water.

At this time, a large part of the U.S. defense budget is spent on costly conventional weapons. Brown questions the continuing success of this strategy, asking: “What if the next war is fought in cyberspace or with terrorist insurgents? Vast investments in conventional weapons systems will be of limited use.”  Indeed, those days are already upon us. As Michael Joseph Gross writes in April’s Vanity Fair, unprecedented, ultra-sophisticated cyber-attacks waged in 2009 on nuclear facilities in Iran were “the Hiroshima of cyber-war.”  That’s why Brown says now’s the time to re-think defense priorities.

To find out more about Plan B, you can read World on the Edge or watch the film special streaming on PBS.   If you think the idea has merit, share this post with your Congress members and Senators.  It might save billions in the Defense budget, and maybe the planet, too.

Recycling Rocks the Empire State Building

As of last week, all the windows in the Empire State Building have been replaced…using the existing glass…repurposed right on site.  Please excuse the ellipses, but this is really exciting.

As Kevin Surace of Serious Materials tells it — Tony Malkin, owner of the New York City landmark, wanted to save money on his energy bills, but didn’t want to waste his existing glass and Kevin said, “I can do that.”

So there, in a temporary shop on the fifth floor, Kevin’s crew remade each of the building’s 6,500 windows, crafting them into a new product which is 400% more efficient than what was there before.

The windows are part of an energy-efficiency retrofit that will achieve the astounding feat of making the Empire State greener than 90% of other office buildings. Tony expects it will save him $4.4 million a year. 

Kevin Surace is a game-changer. He’s one of those rare individuals who give humans a good name because they’re so darn smart – not just in book learning (his degree is in Electrical Engineering Technology), but about how to influence other people to do what’s best for humanity at large.

As Inc. Magazine’s Entrepreneur of the Year, he was featured speaker at the 2010 Rochester Institute of Technology Entrepreneurs Conference, giving a rapt crowd his ten secrets for building a great company:

1. Identify a problem. Buildings and making the the stuff they’re built from generate 52% of the world output of carbon dioxide.

2. Provide great solutions. Since dual-pane glass is basically ineffective at reducing heat and cold transfer, Kevin’s company has come up with something better.

3. Recognition by peers is important. Kevin showed two videos of President Obama extolling the fact that Serious re-opened a shuttered factory and put hundreds of people back to work making energy efficient products.

4. Hire the right people for the job. Most of his come from Silicon Valley not from the building industry.

5. Have a vision for the next 5 to 10 years (at least) into the future.

6. Amazing client references help a lot.  3.5 million people visit the Empire State Building every year. My guess is Kevin will find some way to tell them about the windows.

7. Disruptive innovation. Stand up and knock over the table of existing practice.  Kevin believes nothing happens if no one takes risks.

8.  Disruptive marketing. Be there the moment the customer needs you. Monthly newsletters don’t cut it any more.  Own the online conversation about your product category.

9.  People notice when you’re nice. Smiling faces of people you put back to work: Priceless.

10. Don’t be afraid to change everything we know.

Nuts and Bolts of Bike Share

Bike share programs are springing up all over the world.  For an idea of how they work, a system in the bustling, northern Italian city of Milan provides a good example.      

You know when it's a rent-a-bike

There’s no confusing a colorful bike share bike, which is clearly marked with municipality and conspicuous I.D. number (an effective theft-deterrent).  

Touch pad control

Bike stations are conveniently located  around the city.

Kiosks contain a screen and keypad where you enter a password created when booking online. Sliding your credit card, your bike space number appears on the screen.     

Automatically unlocked, the bike easily lifts off the rack.

Three gears do the trick

Bikes are tough and sturdy, yet easy to steer. The ride is remarkably comfortable, even over bumps. Having only three to choose from takes the guesswork out of shifting gears.         

 

No spandex required

No need for special cycling clothes. People in this fashion capital wear just about anything when they ride, including business suits and high heels. You can’t exert yourself too much or go too fast amid the traffic lights and other forms of transportation. Helmets don’t come with the rental and aren’t typically worn.  

Pedal-powered!

You’ll feel angelic powering the rear and front lights. The simple ting-ting bell also did the trick. 

Best of all – the cost is only a few euros for a two-hour period – and the first half hour is free!

I give the Milan system an A-, due to some very minor quibbles. The heavy bikes develop so much momentum they’re somewhat tough to brake. While having a bungee is helpful, the metal bike basket is slippery and heavy objects are hard to secure. My husband’s new SLR camera slipped out and broke at our first sight-seeing stop. We’ll stow our stuff in a bag next time. Booking the bike was somewhat cumbersome because the system did not allow multiple bookings at one time, nor did it retain information from prior bookings.  

But, all in all, bike share is a cheap and enjoyable alternative to taxis, a good bridge between different types of transport, and a great way to burn off the fantastic pasta and frequent gelato stops.     

Bike to Work and School Week 2010

Lots of American kids are following the lead of their parents this week by riding their bikes to work.  Schoolwork, that is.

Take it from Wolftrap Elementary in Vienna, Virginia, which issued a “BikeWalk Challenge” to see how many families would give their kids a chance to walk and roll.

Jeff Anderson, bike aficionado and Wolftrap parent, turned pied piper on wheels by leading a “bike bus” through the neighborhoods.

Besides being fun, walking and biking boost mental and physical fitness, self-esteem and self-reliance, as Jeff explains in a YouTube video.

Jeff’s efforts paid off.   “We had over 230 kids walk and over 50 bike today….which we figured out was more than 50% of the school enrollment,” he is happy to report. Car drop-offs over the week were cut nearly in half.

Of course, kids need to be safe when they bike and walk.  A federal program called “Safe Routes to School” has funding for schools which need sidewalks, crosswalks and other infrastructure improvements.  As long as someone is willing to do the paperwork (and often that’s a parent), the money is free for the asking.

For cash-strapped schools, providing safe routes has another advantage.  Sometimes, simply adding some stripes of paint and a few yards of concrete can clear the way for significant numbers of walkers and completely eliminate the need for costly bus service.

Arriving at Wolftrap

There were lessons to be learned from Wolftrap’s BikeWalk Challenge.  Many families in outlying areas of the school district were unable to take part because there are no sidewalks and it is far too dangerous to dodge cars in the road.  But, on the bright side, a Safe Routes project has been discovered.

Bike to Work Day Vienna, Virginia

Adults who once walked or biked to school remember the freedom of getting around on their own.  Despite today’s fear-laden society, kids need to spread their wings and get outside whenever they can.

Storied environmental steward  Rachel Carson’s words serve as a reminder:

“If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life.

Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.”

Have a Human Holiday

December 19, 2009                      

The snow just keeps on coming.  In front of my house, a lone pair of tire tracks fades with each falling inch. Yet, under the drifts at the end of the driveway, is a plastic bag with today’s Washington Post.  It’s as if it’s 1999, when everyone got the paper and the day couldn’t start unless you devoured those words along with your toast and coffee.  But the bag is skinny now and fewer subscribers are on the street, yet someone still managed to bring my paper in the worst December storm on record.  

The front page tells of another endangered habit. People complain about empty mailboxes and no festive cards to make their day.  But others are glad to be done with the tradition.  They love using Facebook because they can send quick, paperless greetings and a steady supply of family snapshots all year long.   

I, too, am toying with discarding the card idea. In the few days our grown-up kids were together this summer, no one thought to take a perfect picture.  But we’ll hang in for another year and send a  generic photo.  Whatever goes in the mail, I know I can depend on a slew of hard-working humans to get it where it needs to go.

Amazon depends on humans, too. I never thought much about that until I stumbled on a link to their holiday help-wanted ad.  Amazon hires walk 10 to 15 miles a day and “repetitively lift, bend, stoop and squat”.  I suddenly realized, when I order on Amazon, a great effort will be made on my behalf – not by robots or machines –  but by living, breathing people.

I had an ache of thanks just then, for all those durable humans—striding miles to schlep my selections; driving through the snowy dawn; hoping they’ll be there next year to haul my self-styled greetings. 

So, for the holidays still before us, let’s remember the unsung heroes of the Internet age.  And, when we finally have a few precious moments with the people we know and love, let’s stand down our digital devices so we don’t end up like this Facebook message:   

“Pre-Thanksgiving dinner w/the Martins at a Mexican restaurant:  sister on Blackberry with friends. Brother on Blackberry with Asian office. Sister in law on Blackberry with Washington D.C. Me on Blackberry checking emails and texts. Niece reading Vampire book. Meanwhile, Dad is eating chips and salsa, wondering what happened to his dinner companions…”

Take it from The Pack: think Local first

Let’s have a show of hands.  How many of you try to eat locally-grown food?   OK – that’s a pretty good number.  How many keep your money in local banks?   Hmmm – not too many.  Now – whose 401K is invested in local companies?    Anybody? …Anybody?   

You must be like the folks in northern Virginia who invited economist/lawyer/wonk/author Michael Shuman to come and speak.  Shuman asked them the same questions and they answered the same way – and they call their group “Sustainable Reston”!  

Well, it’s time to wake up and smell the money.

Shuman says dollars showered on local business grow the local economy. It’s like water runoff.  If rain falls on lawns and gardens, it soaks into the ground and is sucked up by thirsty plants. But the rain that falls on hard surfaces like sidewalks and streets, runs down the drain, is shunted away, and the plants don’t stand a chance.     

In his book, The Small-Mart Revolution: How Local Businesses Are Beating the Global Competition, Shuman has solid reasons why local business almost always spurs superior economic development.  For one thing, hometown businesses don’t pack up and move away.  They can be counted on to be there for the long term. Second, locally-run businesses spend more of their dollars locally.  A study done in Austin shows that if two bookstores each make $100 in profit, the national chain store returns $13 to the local economy, while $40 is churned back into the economy by the local shop. Local businesses are typically small and lean, so they have a healthy influence on the community. Because their facilities are usually more compact than sprawling factories, they enhance smaller, walkable, more livable communities.

A case in point, says Shuman, is the nation’s only non-profit, community-owned major league professional sports team.  The Green Bay Packers is actually owned by a bunch of Wisconsin Cheeseheads.  According to Aaron Popkey, Packers Manager of Corporate Communications, 112,120 people have shares in the team. Over half of them live in Wisconsin. The arrangement has paid off richly for what was once the obscure, out-of-the-way town of Green Bay. Training Camp alone nets the local economy $30 million a year. Because so many people have a vested interest in keeping the team at home, “there is very little chance we would move,” Popkey understates. The shareholders have to vote to send the Pack packing. 

But how does the average town become more self-reliant?  The answer, says Shuman, is to come up with crafty ways to drum up business while maintaining positive cash flow.  In Bellingham, Washington, for instance, coupon books which give discounts at participating local merchants are wildly popular. Coupon holders save money and the merchants make more.  He says towns also need entrepreneurial business models, which include the ability to create local stock exchanges or community funds to buy and develop land, as hedges against Big Box pressure.   

How can the average consumer make a difference? “It’s easy,” says Shuman. “Think local first.”  When you go out to eat – at least consider the home town restaurants along with the national chains.  When you need to buy something, remember the mom-and-pop store before automatically running to Target.    

Who knows?  Besides saving money, you might even save the world. After all, Shuman says, the global financial crisis was “the result of a separation of money and place. Local self-reliance is a key piece of the world solving its own problems.”