Aug 27
2013
Like in Buffalo, Detroit’s combined sewer system is spewing billions of untreated sewage and storm water into local waterways each year with little immediate relief in sight because fixing the problem is expensive to ratepayers. About 800 communities still use combined sewer systems, many of which are in the Great Lakes region.
Aug 26
2013
Aug 19
2013
The state had promised to cut back on the practice of sending mentally ill prisoners to solitary confinement. Instead, the number of inmates diagnosed with severe mental illness dropped by more than half – and solitary confinements continue. A report from ProPublica.
Aug 18
2013
Aug 16
2013
There’s enough greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere to raise the sea level in North America by more than 4 feet and flood hundreds of coastal cities and towns at high tide. When the submersions could happen is unclear but that’s the conclusion of Ben Strauss, a scientist with Climate Central, a nonprofit group of scientists and journalists who report on the world’s changing climate. Strauss predicted the sea level rise using a study from Anders Levermann, of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, who found that every degree of global warming caused by carbon pollution equals 4.2 feet of sea level rise in[...]
Aug 16
2013
I spent three-and-a-half days in Denver recently while on vacation in Colorado, which is a beautiful state. I couldn’t have come away more impressed with the city. First, what’s there: An inviting, tree-lined downtown pedestrian mall that has block after block of stores, restaurants and people. A second thriving section of downtown, known as LoDo, anchored by a striking baseball stadium and a train station under restoration. (Imagine that.) An ample stock of historic buildings, many of them nifty brick structures. A light rail system that actually goes someplace. More than 200 parks, plus several municipal parks operated outside the[...]
Aug 14
2013
H2 Oh No! from the Center for Urban Pedagogy on Vimeo. I’ve blogged on GreenPost about a dozen times on combined sewer overflows here in Buffalo, but what has been more challenging is coming up with a way to visually show you the problem. Thanks to the Center for Urban Pedagogy, I can now feel at ease because they’ve done it for me with this short video showing how a combined sewer system works. The Buffalo Sewer Authority has 52 permitted combined sewer overflow points into various local waterways. According to the Alliance for the Great Lakes, the city’s combined[...]
Aug 14
2013