ModeShift - Part 42

On Keystone Pipeline, White House Blinks

by Keith SchneiderNovember 10, 2011November 10, 20110

Aware of the growing and visible opposition to the 1,700-mile Keystone Pipeline, much of it organized by writer Bill McKibben and his colleagues at 350.org, the White House today blinked. In a statement, the administration said it would evaluate a new pipeline route from Canada to the Gulf Coast, one that presumably takes it away from sensitive wetlands in Nebraska. Protests there have been so strong that even Nebraska’s Republican Governor Dave Heineman announced his …

Nashville’s City Cafe East; One Fine Lunch Joint

by Keith SchneiderNovember 3, 2011November 4, 20111

Knocking around Nashville last month dropped me on the doorstep of City Cafe East, one of the finest lunch spots I’ve ever had the pleasure to visit. It was a Thursday, when owner and executive chef George T. Bird (on right above) and Calvin Oden feature a menu headlined by meat loaf with zesty sauce, Jerusalem chicken, salmon croquettes, and baked tilapia. George and Calvin serve lunch cafeteria style at the 1455 Lebanon Pike restaurant …

A Civic Pact: Owensboro’s Next Development Strategy

by Keith SchneiderOctober 25, 2011November 5, 20143

The privilege to spend six months studying an American community is rare in journalism. Nevertheless that was the assignment from Citistates last spring. Immerse yourself in Owensboro, Kentucky and emerge with a clear sense of where the community is, and where it might consider going in the 21st century. Last week, in a series of public events, Citistates described the findings in What’s Done, What’s Next: A Civic Pact. The project found a number of …

Benzie County’s Gorgeous Leaves of Fall

by Keith SchneiderOctober 13, 2011January 31, 20130

The anguish of fall is upon us in northern Michigan. The astonishing colors, temporary as they are, are brushed onto this magnificent place I’ve called home for two decades. Yesterday, on one of the last road bike rides of the year, I took this gallery of shots with my iPhone. Every corner on our two-lanes, virtually empty of traffic these days, a billboard of reds and oranges and yellows unfolds, the colors deepening with the …

On Beautiful Fall Day Central Lake Is Shuttered For Business

by Keith SchneiderOctober 8, 2011January 31, 20130

CENTRAL LAKE, MI – There is no sprawl in Central Lake, a northern village of 942 residents in magnificentÂ Antrim County. At this time of year rows of feed corn await harvest and the green white pine and multi-colored hardwood forests pour down the hillsides to the deep blue waters of the lake that gives the village its name. (see pix above and below) Central Lakes possesses an asset all-too rare in American communities – …

Bluegrass, Mark Schatz, and the Approaching Main Stream

by Keith SchneiderOctober 4, 2011December 15, 201413

It wasn’t that I existed all these years without encountering bluegrass music. As a freshman at Haverford College in the 1970s I lived across the first floor of Barkley Hall from two upperclassmen –Â Peter Doan and Evan Lippincott — whose vinyl collection included the 1972 Nitty Ditty Dirt Band’s Will The Circle Be Unbroken. But not until this summer, when I arrived in Owensboro, Kentucky, where the International Bluegrass Music Museum is located, did …

Historic Preservationists Rally To Kill Clean Energy Projects

by Keith SchneiderOctober 3, 2011October 3, 20110

Add preservationists to the list of American interest groups determined to kill clean energy projects. Preservation Magazine published a good piece on the troubling trend in its summer 2011 issue. Along with all of the other concerns I’ve raised about the myriad and all-too-effective campaigns at the grassroots to curtail clean energy development, add this thought. At least in clean energy development the United States has the opportunity to replace scenic vistas with energy sources …

Shanghai’s Planned Community, Better For Ducks So Far

by Keith SchneiderOctober 2, 2011October 2, 20110

LINGANG PORT CITY: Shanghai, China â€” Dishui Lake, constructed where the Yangtze River meets the East China Sea, is a perfectly circular manmade lake that was meant to put people in close proximity to fresh water. The Nanhui Dongtan Wildlife Sanctuary, which lies on Dishui Lakeâ€™s eastern bank, is a 122.5-square-kilometer (47-square-mile) expanse of tall grasses and shallow, rain-fed ponds that also tests the lure of fresh water; in this case, to recruit great flocks …

Manila On 9/11

by Keith SchneiderSeptember 10, 2011February 7, 20150

MANILA — The sun rose here to another towering and impressive Asian skyline. On the 10th anniversary of 9/11, while the world joins the United States in honoring a terrifying moment, I see skylines here and in China that describe in clear line and form just how far that day blasted us off course. One measure is the scant alterations in the skylines of big American cities in the last decade. Another is that in …

Underlying Big Decisions, An Owensboro Operating System That Works, Mostly

by Keith SchneiderSeptember 8, 2011September 27, 20113

I’ve been working in Owensboro, Ky. this summer on What’s Done, What’s Next: A Civic Pact, a three-part project to help the city understand the new velocity of change in the 21st century and suggest ways that will lead to prosperity and a high quality of life. Right off the bat, itâ€™s important to note how different Owensboroâ€™s attitude about the future is from much of the rest of the country. Owensboro is in transition, …