If Punxsutawney Phil, now that his big day is over, were settling in for some Internet reading, here’s what I’d recommend he check out first:
From Greater Greater Washington, a perspective on Inauguration Day that’s unexpected: not oratory but plain old traffic, and what the historic day might teach us about how to efficiently move people on ordinary days.
From Inhabitat, a discussion of the relative greenness of Ikea. Is the furniture giant sustainable? The quick answer: no, but they’re trying. Anyone looking for a case study of the complexities of greener capitalism, here’s one place to start.
On Better World Betty, an account of the e-recycling event outside Crutchfield last weekend. Our own C-VILLE editor Cathy Harding weighed in on this one too. Sounds like the overall effect was overwhelming—great that people were doing the right thing with their crap, but Lord, do we have a lot of crap!
On that note, UVA’s Tim Beatley offers this illuminating post on the blog of Island Press, in which he describes how the “library” concept can be extended to things other than books (i.e., toys and tools) and how that might save quite a lot of resources. Seems to me that Charlottesville would be a great candidate for toy and tool libraries…
From the Times, a story about how unexpected industries are going green, at least around the fringes—in this case, the moving industry. Makes a lot of sense. (Not that plastic’s a perfect solution to disposable cardboard, but…)
And finally, a tale of unintended consequences, or maybe just willful blindness to consequences, concerning the cringe-worthy border fence being built in the southwestern U.S. Seems wildlife migrations might be affected along with human ones. Surprise—our fences, roads and subdivisions actually have an impact on species other than our own!
Who’s got more eco-reads to share? Post your links!
