America’s “Motor City” is bearing down on the sustainability throttle: the city’s green engine is heating up and has propelled it up twelve spots in SustainLane’s 2008 rankings. What’s fueling Detroit’s upswing? First and foremost, adaptive reuse of land abandoned from decades of suburban flight. Detroit boasts a thriving community garden network growing on vacant land across the city. Quality-of-life issues are a high priority for Detroit officials, who are planning for more greenways, connecting landmarks and bringing in new businesses. The city has already seen a successful transformation of its formerly-blighted riverfront into a bustling area of parks, plazas, and a five-mile recreation path. Expect to see more greening in the near future: City council president and head of the recently-formed “Green Task Force,” Kenneth V. Cockrel Jr., replaced the city’s mayor who resigned early September 2008.
(Photo by Matt314)
Located 25 feet below grade is the Dequindre Cut, an abandoned railway line in Detroit. A neon swath of graffiti – of surreal imagery and philosophical musings – cover the bridges that traverse the old track. Broken bottles, discarded building materials, and an overgrowth of vegetation characterize what was once a busy commuter and freight line for the city. Fast-forward a couple of years, and take in the scene anew...more »
Look no further than Detroit for the next trend in urban living. What’s so special about the 17-unit condo complex slated for construction near Wayne University? How about low-flow plumbing fixtures, tankless water heaters, energy efficient appliances, radiant floor heating, and a special paint that repels radiant heat. And as though all that were not enough, the condos will be constructed from old shipping containers—93 of them to be exact.more »
It’s a simple equation: more apartment vacancies in a neighborhood equals less stability in that neighborhood. Unless of course, you add another variable: community gardens. That’s where Detroit, with a staggering 27 percent vacancy rate, has succeeded. There, 520 family, community and school gardens bind neighborhoods that were once better known for blight than community activism.more »
Submitted by Michael Cipielewski Jr.
I walk into the scrap metal center with a box of copper I collected all over Detroit during the summer—parts parts from the water-heater that broke in July, old computer wire, parts from televisions I’ve found, and a million other bits from who knows what. The guy operating the scale jokes about the rain that’s so hard we can’t even see my car yards away. I look like I showered with my clothes on, but it’s worth it. I grab the sheet of paper that spits out of the scale, trying not to drip all over it, and head to the cashier. The box of copper put $90 in my pocket. Fred Sanford ain’t got a thing on me.more »
| Write a Review | Tell Us How You Did It | Add Green Products & Businesses |
This store is national, and is basically a health food store. They promote healthy living, as well as to have a healthy "footprint" on the earth. They are very open to suggestions, as far as new products.
Food store offering organic produce, vitamins, meat, beauty care and health care supplements.
Restaurant offering organic ,antibiotic-free foods and nutritious food.
How does age of a city affect how it performs? Take a look at how pre- and post-war cities measure up to each other.
Right now the OPEC countries of the Middle East are sitting on something like 3/4s of the proven oil reserves of the planet. That means that the Middle East is the strategic pivot for the entire globe and US geopolitical strategists's seeing the inevitability of the contest for control of the Middle Eastern oil between all of these powers...the Wolfowitzs and the Richard Perles and the Donald Rumsfelds are just determined to get there first with the biggest army, stick the flag in the ground and say, "ok this is ours." That's what it's really all about. —Richard Heinberg
US City Rankings, next edition!
Facebook
Google Bookmarks
Netscape
MSN Live
Kaboodle
Fark
MyBlogLog
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Slashdot
NewsVine
Mister-Wong
BlinkList
Spurl
Furl
ma.gnolia
Simpy
