christopherhord

Posts Tagged ‘Environment’

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Tacoma joins site uniting private sector, public works

In Uncategorized on June 25, 2013 at 4:08 pm

My poor little blog has kind of been on hiatus, while I’m in development of a bigger, more sophisticated site, but I was recently reminded of an issue I want to explore, so I thought I’d share the setup with you now.

Tacoma recently became one of 20 cities, worldwide, who joined with Citymart.com to create LLGA|Cities Pilot the Future — a website seeking private enterprise to tackle public works problems. Each city identifies specific issues they’re looking to solve. The LLGA website provides an online marketplace to connect companies, entrepreneurs, organizations and interested individuals, who can propose solutions to these issues.

I became aware of the program late last year, when Tacoma announced a January 31 deadline to propose solutions to these challenges. Then, a group including the participating cities and cosponsors — Oracle, the UN Global Compact Cities Programme and The Climate Group — would invite the groups with winning proposals will be announced in San Francisco in May of this year.

“We have established high standards and expectations for sustainability, and Tacoma’s participation in this global challenge further demonstrates our commitment to protecting the environment and ensuring a sustainable future for younger generations,” said City Manager T.C. Broadnax, at the time.

However, I recently visited the LLGA site and so no indication that Tacoma found a solution for its issue. They were seeking a tool to help calculate the return on investment for sustainable infrastructure projects, to help them evaluate future projects. Visiting the City of Tacoma website only mentions that pilot solutions were scheduled to start this month. We’ll investigate further, and report whatever became of the project.

Other participating cities include Barcelona, Boston, Christchurch, Lagos, London, Mexico City, Paris, Rio de Janeiro and San Francisco.

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Evergreen celebrates author Rachel Carson

In Features on April 30, 2012 at 12:00 am

Actress Kaiulani Lee as author Rachel Carson

Carson helped usher in environmentalism with her book, Silent Spring.

The Evergreen State College, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, will host a series of events on May 2 and 3 to celebrate the life of author Rachel Carson, whose classic book Silent Spring turns 50 this year. The school normally holds a Rachel Carson forum annually, but the college is also combining events from their annual Willi Unsoeld Seminar to make a larger, unified event.

The Rachel Carson forum will host a discussion called “The Social, Ecological, Economical, and Political Implications  of “Correct” Pesticide Use in Our Society Today” on May 2 at 6 pm in The Longhouse Education and CUltural Center, on their Olympia campus. There, policy makers, activists and scientists — including Janette Brimmer, Dr. Steven Herman, Ciscoe Morris, Dr. Marion Moses, Dr. John Perkins and  Dr. Steve Herman — will discuss how the world has changed since the publication of Carson’s landmark book, and what our prospects are for avoiding the kind of ecological disaster depicted in her work.

The Unsoeld Seminar (named after one of TESC’s founding faculty members) contributes by staging a presentation of the play about Carson, A Sense of Wonder, written and performed by Kaiulani Lee. Lee has toured across the US and internationally for more than 10 years, performing her work. The play will be performed on May 3 at the Longhouse.

 Other related events include a Rachel Carson book club event and a Carson-themed nature walk.

For additional information, contact Aaron Zimmer at zimaar02@evergreen.edu, or call (732) 241-3458.