Interesting interview on CNN about The Gubbins Experiment wherein Adam Greenfield decided to not use automobiles at all for a year.

What sorts of things do you think cities and towns (in the U.S. in particular) should be doing to entice people out of their cars?

AG: There are several key ways:

1. Make alternatives more appealing: Make the roads safer for bicyclists and pedestrians with more separated bike lanes, bike racks, wider sidewalks, and so on. Improve public transport. Divert some infrastructure dollars from highways to rebuilding the passenger train network.

2. Make the public realm much more appealing to people: More places to gather, such as plazas and parks; more public art, greenery, and graffiti abatement; more public events to draw people out into the streets. Then people won’t need to drive to distant places to enjoy good company and pleasant places.

3. Elect more dignified public leaders: Encourage all political leaders to walk, bicycle, and take public transit. Get leaders to tell the public the truth about peak oil and that we must start transitioning to a simple, smaller-scaled way of life.

Some amazing photographs of abandoned buildings in Detroit by Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre Photography.

via Joyengine.

Read and watch more at Rob’s website: Transition Culture.

The South Central Farm was one of the biggest and most important community farms in the United States which sadly (like so many things) was quashed to be replaced by warehouses because the warehouses would make more money for the city than the garden.

All the garden did was help the community by providing purpose, food and healthy interaction. A real community. A really sad story.

We ought to have gardens and public spaces for gardening and farming in every city.

Find a screening here.

Sustainable Innovation Conference 2008: Alex Steffen from Joel Mulligan on Vimeo.