I am very open-minded on animal rights and animal welfare issues. The way we treat animals (who have the capacity to suffer) for our human ends deserves serious scrutiny and debate. For over a year I chose a vegetarian diet in large part because I abhor the way animals are often treated to […]

Murph also writes about his semester project report, called “People’s Place.”
General idea: ground level People’s Food Co-op, below-grade dedicated food co-op parking, second floor public parking, 3rd-5th floors have 40 co-housing units (25% permanently affordable through a land trust), usable green / garden roof. Note no parking included for the residential - they can buy […]

Pranks with a Purpose:
In Los Angeles, Heavy Trash, a coalition of anonymous architects, designers and urban planners, have erected orange viewing platforms outside the gates of three upscale LA neighborhoods to protest what they see as a disturbing proliferation of gated communities.
via WorldChanging.

Richard Florida has been getting a lot of play around these parts since his ideas inspired the Governor’s Cool Cities campaign, attempting to cater to Florida’s “creative class.” Over at WorldChanging, Jaimais writes about the Greening of the Creative Class. He notes the significant overlap between Florida’s “Creative Index” cities and cities on […]

The Washtenaw County web site has a great page for tips on where and how to recycle computers. Old electronics are toxic, so do us all a favor and don’t just chuck them. ScrapComputer.com also appears to take things for free, but I can’t find out whether they’re a sketchy send-it-to-China-and-pollute-it-over-there kind of […]