Economics | ModeShift

Lake Michigan Nears Lowest Level Ever Recorded

by Keith SchneiderNovember 29, 2007January 31, 20131

Â Tom Kelly, who directs the Inland Seas Education Association in Suttons Bay and is among the state’s foremost authorities on the Great Lakes, showed me a number of very interesting graphs earlier this week about the falling water levels in the Great Lakes. Much of the nation’s attention this summer was directed toÂ Lake Superior, where evaporation, much lighter winter snows and unusually dry spring and summer seasons hadÂ produced miles of shoreline nobody had ever …

Fresh Food, Rapid Transit Meet In Grand Civic Space

by Keith SchneiderNovember 28, 2007December 4, 20071

Â NEW YORK –Â The day after Thanksgiving it was as though no one had ever eaten a square meal, judging from the lines that formed atÂ Zaro’s Bread Basket or the Little Pie Company or Two Boots Pizza. Like everyplace else in midtown Manhattan, the ground floor, the “dining concourse” Â of Grand Central Station was mobbed. Some of what New York City presents to the world these days is familiar to those of us raised there …

More on Midwest Energy Schizophrenia

by Keith SchneiderNovember 18, 2007November 19, 20071

With as much Midwest fanfare as they daredÂ toÂ muster, nineÂ governors last week announced a regional compact to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. It was the third such multi-state climate change agreement.Â States in the Northeast and the far West have already ratifiedÂ similar pacts. Midwest governors also agreed on an economic development plan forÂ our increasingly wintry and troubled region that focused on promoting biofuels, wind energy, efficiency, conservation, and other measures to reduce costs and clear pollutants. Michigan …

Michael Moore Directs A Downtown Smash

by Keith SchneiderNovember 13, 2007January 31, 20133

Â On Monday nightÂ Michael Moore, the Academy Award-winning director, best selling author, andÂ one of theÂ nation’s most vociferous detractors of the Iraq War and the Bush White House, was in the newly renovated lobby of the State Theatre in downtown Traverse City complaining about the lights. “It’s all wrong,” he said, pointing to the ceiling whereÂ fluorescent lightsÂ shined brightly from fixtures whereÂ he wanted dimmer incandescent bulbs.Â “They didn’t have bright fluorescent lights in 1949.” On Saturday night,Â November 17, …

What Is Selling? Homes Close To Transit

by Keith SchneiderNovember 11, 2007November 13, 20071

According to real estate listing services, thereÂ are nearly 41,000 homes for sale in Detroit and its three neighboring counties — Wayne, Oakland and Macomb. That’s more than twice as many homes on the market as in 2004, when the housing slump started in southeast Michigan. Moreover, it takes an average of six months to sell a house in metropolitan Detroit, and prices have slipped 15 percent to 3o percent, depending on where the home is …

Election Results for Smart Growth Are Strong

by Keith SchneiderNovember 8, 2007November 12, 20070

Smart Growth continues to flourish at the ballot box. With the exception of the defeat of a disputed highway and transit measure in the Seattle region, voters on Tuesday this week again overwhelmingly approved candidates and strategies that make their places cleaner, greener, more neighborly, and much more efficient consumers of land and resources. Voters across the country approved 34 of 55 conservationÂ measures on the ballot, generating $1.4 billion in new conservation funding. The election …

Blueprint for American Prosperity

by Keith SchneiderNovember 6, 20071

Â If you’ve had the chance to visit America’s big cities, you’ve no doubt noticed thatÂ almost without exception they’re pretty terrific places to be these days. The revival of America’s big city downtowns and neighborhoods, the development that’s occurring in the inner ring suburbs, all portend something very useful to the nation’s well being in this century.Â The prosperity that’s occurred in American cities represents one of the great achievements in the United States in the …

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 …

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 …