Keith Schneider | ModeShift

$100 Barrel Oil Nears; Streetcars in Portland

by Keith SchneiderOctober 31, 2007November 1, 20070

Â Two items caught my eye today. World oil prices reached $93 a barrel this week, which is why gasoline at the Wesco down the road is $3.07-a- gallon tonight.Â The other news is the announcement on MondayÂ that city leaders inÂ Oregon want to dramatically expand the number of neighborhoods served by Portland’s spectacularly successful streetcar. The two developments are related, of course, because as fuel prices rise the sanity and fuel-efficiency of streetcar lines makes ever …

New Midwest Online News Entry

by Keith SchneiderOctober 27, 2007October 27, 20075

John Bebow,Â an active member of the association of newsies-who-became-public-interest-advocates, sent an interesting item in his weekly email alert about the emergence of online news organizations in the Midwest.Â John diverged from a decorated daily news career, Â that included stops at the Detroit News and Chicago Tribune, to becomeÂ the executive director of the Center For Michigan, a nearly two-year-old non-profit that focuses on state economic and competitiveness issues that was founded by Phil Powers, theÂ founder and former …

New Peak Oil Assessment – Not Good

by Keith SchneiderOctober 23, 2007October 30, 20076

Â Cheap oilÂ was, arguably, the most important driver of prosperity in the industrial world during the 20th century.Â Expensive energy is one, but not the only significant driver of theÂ economic Mode Shift occuring in the 21st.Â Today, just in time for gas prices here in Benzie County to edge close to $3.00 again, and with news of $90 a barrel oil this week, comes the latest independent assessment of global oil stocks. The conclusion that the …

1Sky, Step it Up, and the Citizen-Media Campaign to Prompt Action on Climate

by Keith SchneiderOctober 22, 2007November 9, 20071

[youtube]q71cMRGXx9o[/youtube] When it came to reaching large numbers of people inÂ the 20th century, it was all about mass. Mass marketing. Mass audiences. Mass communication. Journalist David Halberstam published an important book inÂ 1979, The Powers That Be, that documented the influence ofÂ a handful of large publishers — Time, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times — and a broadcast companyÂ — CBS — in setting the cultural, political, and social agendaÂ in the United States.Â One of the …

The Fourth Sector

by Keith SchneiderOctober 17, 2007October 19, 20072

Â Mode Shift’s faithful readers know how interested the author is in work that is occurring in metropolitan regions, at the grassroots, in nimble businesses, and the non-proft sector to help institutions be moreÂ responsive to the unique requirements of our time. The 20th century’s institutions, particularly government, which built the Interstate highway system, sent men to the moon, enacted enforceable protections for civil rights and endangered species,Â have turned out to be wholly incapable of meeting …

What Was Bill Richardson Thinking?

by Keith SchneiderOctober 14, 2007October 15, 20078

Â On October 4 Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson, who also happens to be the governor of New Mexico, essentially committed a personal political drowning here in the Great Lakes region. Mr. Richardson, who is campaigning hard to win the Nevada’s presidential caucus on January 9, the nation’s second such contest,Â told the Las Vegas Sun the following: “I want a national water policy,” he is quoted as telling the newspaper.Â “We need a dialogue between states …

At Notre Dame, Coming of Age For Young New Urbanists

by Keith SchneiderOctober 11, 2007October 11, 20074

Â I visited South Bend earlier this month to join a group of students from Notre Dame and several more of the nation’s best universities who held the first Congress of the Students for New Urbanism. TheÂ University of Notre DameÂ School of Architecture,Â it turns out, was an apt choice for the gathering. Notre Dame reframed its architectural curriculum several decades ago to concentrate on traditional neighborhood and urban design, one of the few architectural schools to …

I Wish, I Will

by Keith SchneiderSeptember 30, 2007October 15, 20070

Â NEW YORK — The three-day Clinton Global Initiative concluded with a flurry of new commitmentsÂ including a five-year, $4 billion pledge by Pacific Gas & Electric and Ausra toÂ build solar thermal generating stations that both companies says is cost-competitive withÂ fossil fuel generation.Â California-based Ausra will build at least 1,000 megawatts of solar power plants and PG&E will purchase at least 1,000 megawatts of solar thermal, and the dealÂ will eliminate over 36 million tons of CO2 emissions …

Online, Televised, Blogged, YouTube and More New Media at the Clinton Initiative

by Keith SchneiderSeptember 29, 2007October 5, 20072

NEW YORK —Â Live television imagesÂ fromÂ the various plenary and working sessionsÂ are everywhere at the Clinton Global Initiative. They appear on screens as big as king size bed sheets in the main conference hall. They illuminate flat screens that stand in the halls and smaller meeting rooms. A row of smallÂ screens decorate a refreshment area close to the lobby of the Sheraton New York. This demonstration of televisedÂ ubiquity is just the leading edge of a communications strategy …

Climate Change Is A New Global Organizing Principle

by Keith SchneiderSeptember 27, 2007September 28, 20075

Â NEW YORKÂ — The X Prize Foundation, which developed a new philanthropic idea called “revolution through competition,” toldÂ participants today at the Clinton Global Initiative that it would commit $300 milion in the nextÂ seven years to help solve global crises in each of the four CGI focus areas. The foundation said it is developing new prizes to increase access to renewable fuels, improve energy efficiency, and promote use of cleaner fuels. It also will have …