Category: linkstream

A running log of all the links/bookmarks I share.

Portland’s bike corral backlog

Portland literally cannot build bike corrals fast enough to satisfy local businesses.  After installing 30 corrals in 2009 and 21 in 2010, there are now 75 businesses on the waiting list.  Once you reach a certainly critical mass of cyclists, swapping a single car parking space (1.3 customers) for a dozen bike parking spaces (12 customers) is no longer a difficult idea to sell to business.

US Ikea workers complain about factory conditions

There’s some controversy over working conditions at an Ikea plant in Virginia.  Apparently wages start at $8/hr, with 12 days of paid vacation (8 of which are determined by the company).  Oh, and also you’ll often be informed Friday evening that you have no choice but to work over the weekend too.  And don’t even think about unionizing.  Sweet!  It’s just like we keep saying about all those workers in China that make our cheap plastic crap.  “At least they’ve got jobs.”  I sense that we’re going to have to re-learn all of the lessons about balancing the rights of labor and capital that we already learned so bloodily about 100 years ago.  Only now, maybe we get to learn it in the context of becoming an exploited low-wage nation in a global economy.  Ikea workers doing the same jobs in Sweden make $19/hr and get 5 weeks of paid vacation a year.  And they’re all unionized.

Nothing will change until greens mount some primary challenges and collect some scalps | Grist

Nothing will change until greens mount some primary challenges and collect some scalps.  I agree.  I would join, give money to, and vote for a Green Party that was organized around this proposal.  We shouldn’t get all Lawrence of Arabia until we’ve actually tried real, dirty politics.  Which we haven’t.  Because we’re sissies.

The Varied Costs of Catastrophe

Andrew Revkin notes on Dot Earth that the costs of an enormous earthquake in Indonesia, and in Japan are measured very differently.  In Indonesia (or alternatively, Haiti) the cost is measured in human lives.  More than 200,000 dead, but only $14 billion.  In Japan, there’s a tenfold difference.  ~20,000 dead, but $300 billion.  I can’t help but think this says something about the morality of our global economy.  What, I’m not quite sure.

Seville on how to be bike friendly

Seville, Spain has gone from 0.4% (essentially zero) to 7% bicycle mode share in 5 years.  Boulder’s bike share is something like 9% and we’ve been at it for 20-30 years.  This suggests to me that we are being too timid, and that we have no reason to rest on our laurels.  Seville did this on the cheap, and they did it fast, by taking a small amount of space from cars, and giving it to people, while also physically protecting the people from the cars.

Corporate Climate Adaptation

The Carbon Disclosure Project is helping industry adapt to climate change.  It’s almost painfully ironic that some of their biggest customers are electrical utilities, mining, and, of course, oil and gas.  75% of the Alaska Pipeline is built on permafrost.  And it’s melting.  And they’re sure not gonna let the PR department keep them from shoring up the footings, just because they don’t believe it’s getting warmer.

From the Motor Breakers to the Sample Room

A fantastic photographic journey through the reverse supply chain from Shanghai Scrap.  This is how we close the material resource loop.  Today, anyway.  No doubt it can be made more efficient in the future if we design for this portion of the product lifecycle from the beginning.  Apparently 40% of China’s copper production comes from recycling, and the shredded automobiles whose residues we use to cover our landfills?  Their fist sized metal bits are sorted here.  Wow.