Green Options

CNN highlights the Billionaires for Wealthcare enthusiastically singing the praises of a public option, as they entertained unsuspecting attendees at a health insurance conference in Washington DC last week. Wolf Blitzer and Jeanne Moos discuss the increasingly popular use of guerilla musical theatre across the nation. Cleverly orchestrated performances and mini-musicals seem to have become much more popular with folks now than rabid screaming teabaggers.

First Lady Michelle Obama talks straightforwardly about women and why we all so urgently need health care reform in this five minute short that was just released by the White House. At the moment I know that I am existing in something of a self-absorbed cancer bubble of my own, but I actually found this quite moving and powerful.

Florida Rep. Alan Grayson has just utterly transformed the health care debate in the United States with his speech from the House floor. “I’m just saying what everyone else has been thinking,” explains Grayson.

Innovative artist Joshua Allen Harris has created a menagerie of inflatable monsters that are ephemeral, whimsical and utterly delightful. All of his different creatures are made from old plastic bags, and magically come to life from the air generated by New York city subway vent exhaust.

Steven Psyllos interviewed Harris recently for New York magazine to discuss his inspiration, artistic process,  and to unveil a new animated plastic bag beast; the video was shot by Jonah Green.

Lately the long foggy nights of summer make me wistfully yearn for the drive-in movies of my youth. Bad movies and sticky salty gooey food were merely condiments for the socializing that was really the main event on so many long ago August nights. Sadly, all of our local Bay Area drive-ins have gone dark years ago; however, this summer in San Francisco we now have something even better, the bike-in movies.

Throughout this summer the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is hosting a series of free bike-related movie screenings downtown at 7th and Mission Streets, right across from the Good Hotel. Once a month the hotel’s barren parking lot is transformed into a festive and inviting public space, where hundreds of people gather for free entertainment, socializing, and to eat tasty locally made snacks.

That was one of the many probing questions that the visionary former mayor of Bogotá Colombia, Enrique Peñalosa, asked a packed auditorium in San Francisco last night. How do we define what makes a good city, what is our criteria? What makes an urban environment desirable and livable, and how do we judge the quality of life? What is socially and environmentally sustainable?

The first time that I rode on San Francisco’s Muni it cost me a quarter, complete with a two hour unlimited transfer. Even as a clueless adolescent, I thought that was a pretty good deal. Mass transit ridership is skyrocketing all over the country, as more and more people are utilizing more sustainable methods of transport and

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If you ever find yourself near Redding California, especially on June 21st, you should make an effort to visit Santiago Calatrava’s pedestrian bridge, which spans the waters of the Sacramento River. In addition to being a stunning functional work of art that attracts thousands of pedestrians, families, bicyclists and nature lovers, every year on the summer solstice the beautifully designed structure also functions as an accurate sundial.

More people than ever are now using mass transit in the United States. Ridership on trains, buses, ferries and subways is at record levels, according to a survey just released by the American Public Transportation Association. Their study reports that, “despite falling gas prices and an economic recession, increasing numbers of Americans took 10.7 billion trips on public transportation in 2008, the highest level of ridership in 52 years and a modern ridership record”, and a 4% increase from [...]

San Francisco has just announced that it will go forward with a pilot bike-sharing program to help increase the number of trips taken by bicycle in our city. The program will be implemented by Clear Channel, the operator of SmartBikeDC, currently the only other bike-sharing program in the United States. Many residents and bike enthusiasts are very disappointed that the program will initially only have five stations, with roughly a dozen public use bikes at each. The five stations will [...]