“Don’t Be Fuelish” competition: does it reward driving?

This summer from May to September, the Northern Alaska Environmental Center sponsors “Don’t Be Fuelish”, a competition to encourage alternatives single-occupant car-commuting to work. I think the competition will have a good effect overall — but, in a way, the rules actually reward driving.
According to the Northern Center’s calendar of events,
It’s a friendly competition, [...]

Read Full Post »

Will the folding, stacking car give us more public space?

A family member just sent me an article titled “MIT tackles urban gridlock with foldable car idea“. Apparently, scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have designed a compact two-seater (about the size of a golf cart) capable of finding other cars like itself to stack up with, folding in half, and parking itself. [...]

Read Full Post »

“Help, I’ve been disenfranchized by city planning!”

The cold snap is behind us for now, thank heavens, though surely we’ll get more in winters to come. Now seems like a fair time to look at the relationship between people’s civil right of peaceable assembly (yes, the one guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution) and Interior Alaska’s weather — [...]

Read Full Post »

No breathing easy downtown

An acquaintance of mine works in an office building downtown. She tells me that she’s thinking of quitting her job because:

She lives on the west side of Fairbanks, and driving to and from downtown is an unpleasant commute; and
The air around her building stinks. She described it as smoky and diesel-ish, and that [...]

Read Full Post »