Back on the Train Gang

By Michael Dukakis. Dukakis is a former governor of Massachusetts and served on Amtrak’s board of directors. He thinks we need to use Detroit factories to manufacture trains.

After years of delay, during which both Europe and Asia enjoyed the benefits of modern trains that run at speeds of 200 miles per hour and beyond, President Obama, Vice President Biden, and Congress have made an $8-billion down payment on what can and…

In July, America’s “Cash for Clunkers” program became a front-page news story. Championed by environmental groups, progressive think tanks, and the auto industry, the program, which gave consumers up to $4,500 when they exchanged an old gas guzzler for a new, fuel-efficient car, proved to be so popular that it exhausted its initial $1 billion in less than a week (it was later extended). In the process, it got 250,000 of our nation’s most polluting…

Leading the Charge

A fleet of electric vehicles may seem like a remote reality right now, but if the corporate world is betting right, it is closer than we think. Besides the various car companies now falling over themselves to get electric cars into the market, other major American corporations are starting to get ready for a world in which people need to fill up their ride with a plug and not a pump.

Best Buy is starting its…

We Want to Ride Our Bicycles…

Bikes have been around for about a century and a half, and they’re still awesome.

Because we dig the calluses on the palms of our hands. Because we actually kind of like when our legs feel like Jell-O. Because we crave the brisk wind on our cheeks. Because we recall with fondness fastening Topps cards to chain stays. Because today we actually prefer the non-motor bike anyway. Because it’s the paragon…

Tesla

As evidenced by the flashy concept renderings all over the internet, every established car company out there, from Ford to Rolls-Royce, has a plug-in vehicle “in development.” But the $109,000 Tesla Roadster is still the only highway-capable plug-in you can actually buy, fully assembled, in America. In July, Tesla accomplished something else car manufacturers should be jealous of: It turned a profit of $1 million.

The road’s been bumpy, though. There have been the nasty legal disputes…

The Hottest Thing on Wheels (or Rails)

As the new transportation secretary, Ray LaHood has been tasked with remaking our transportation infrastructure into one that focuses more on sustainability than widening highways. It’s a tall order but, so far, we’re impressed with his approach.

1. For supporting high-speed rail.
When Obama squeezed $8 billion for high-speed rail into the recent stimulus package, LaHood got on board fast. His grant program for rail projects already has nearly 300 applications. They’re…

Finding a Better Way to Fight

It’s pretty much unanimous, at this point: The war on drugs has sucked us all down with it. Each year it accounts for more than a million arrests and costs the United States tens of billions of dollars. The impact of the war’s failed policies can be seen everywhere: There are arrest rates with their damning racial biases; the overcrowded state and federal prisons; and the fact that we spend…

Share Your Meat with All Your Friends

Because buying in bulk is always better­­

by Tamar Adler

Adler is the director of the Bay Area Meat CSA and Meatshare.org, which help hungry people buy wholesale meat directly from local farmers.

Optimizing a whole animal’s value by buying all of its cuts isn’t new—a half century ago, it was commonplace to buy a whole cow or pig from a neighbor and work your way through the meat over a course…

Blockade Parade

How closing streets can actually reduce traffic

As the city of Vancouver prepared to convert a car lane on the busy Burrard Bridge into a bike path last summer, some imagined impending anarchy. At the time, one cabbie, Jatinder Nijjar, predicted, “It is going to be chaos.” In fact, the trial—and the traffic—has run smoothly so far.

Nijjar might have had different expectations had he read “The Price of Anarchy in Transportation Networks,” a paper published in…

Portland vs. San Francisco

Portland, Oregon, and San Francisco seem locked in an ongoing battle to become the left coast’s left-most city. To stoke the competition, the blog Gas2.0 has launched a website to track each city’s progress toward building an infrastructure for electric cars. We asked the mayors of both cities to explain what they’re doing to win:

Mayor Gavin Newsom on why the Bay Area will win:

Bay Area consumers have been the early adopters of green…

Back on the Train Gang

By Michael Dukakis. Dukakis is a former governor of Massachusetts and served on Amtrak’s board of directors. He thinks we need to use Detroit factories to manufacture trains.

After years of delay, during which both Europe and Asia enjoyed the benefits of modern trains that run at speeds of 200 miles per hour and beyond, President Obama, Vice President Biden, and Congress have made an $8-billion down payment on what can and…

In July, America’s “Cash for Clunkers” program became a front-page news story. Championed by environmental groups, progressive think tanks, and the auto industry, the program, which gave consumers up to $4,500 when they exchanged an old gas guzzler for a new, fuel-efficient car, proved to be so popular that it exhausted its initial $1 billion in less than a week (it was later extended). In the process, it got 250,000 of our nation’s most polluting…

Leading the Charge

A fleet of electric vehicles may seem like a remote reality right now, but if the corporate world is betting right, it is closer than we think. Besides the various car companies now falling over themselves to get electric cars into the market, other major American corporations are starting to get ready for a world in which people need to fill up their ride with a plug and not a pump.

Best Buy is starting its…

We Want to Ride Our Bicycles…

Bikes have been around for about a century and a half, and they’re still awesome.

Because we dig the calluses on the palms of our hands. Because we actually kind of like when our legs feel like Jell-O. Because we crave the brisk wind on our cheeks. Because we recall with fondness fastening Topps cards to chain stays. Because today we actually prefer the non-motor bike anyway. Because it’s the paragon…

Tesla

As evidenced by the flashy concept renderings all over the internet, every established car company out there, from Ford to Rolls-Royce, has a plug-in vehicle “in development.” But the $109,000 Tesla Roadster is still the only highway-capable plug-in you can actually buy, fully assembled, in America. In July, Tesla accomplished something else car manufacturers should be jealous of: It turned a profit of $1 million.

The road’s been bumpy, though. There have been the nasty legal disputes…

The Hottest Thing on Wheels (or Rails)

As the new transportation secretary, Ray LaHood has been tasked with remaking our transportation infrastructure into one that focuses more on sustainability than widening highways. It’s a tall order but, so far, we’re impressed with his approach.

1. For supporting high-speed rail.
When Obama squeezed $8 billion for high-speed rail into the recent stimulus package, LaHood got on board fast. His grant program for rail projects already has nearly 300 applications. They’re…

Finding a Better Way to Fight

It’s pretty much unanimous, at this point: The war on drugs has sucked us all down with it. Each year it accounts for more than a million arrests and costs the United States tens of billions of dollars. The impact of the war’s failed policies can be seen everywhere: There are arrest rates with their damning racial biases; the overcrowded state and federal prisons; and the fact that we spend…

Share Your Meat with All Your Friends

Because buying in bulk is always better­­

by Tamar Adler

Adler is the director of the Bay Area Meat CSA and Meatshare.org, which help hungry people buy wholesale meat directly from local farmers.

Optimizing a whole animal’s value by buying all of its cuts isn’t new—a half century ago, it was commonplace to buy a whole cow or pig from a neighbor and work your way through the meat over a course…

Blockade Parade

How closing streets can actually reduce traffic

As the city of Vancouver prepared to convert a car lane on the busy Burrard Bridge into a bike path last summer, some imagined impending anarchy. At the time, one cabbie, Jatinder Nijjar, predicted, “It is going to be chaos.” In fact, the trial—and the traffic—has run smoothly so far.

Nijjar might have had different expectations had he read “The Price of Anarchy in Transportation Networks,” a paper published in…

Portland vs. San Francisco

Portland, Oregon, and San Francisco seem locked in an ongoing battle to become the left coast’s left-most city. To stoke the competition, the blog Gas2.0 has launched a website to track each city’s progress toward building an infrastructure for electric cars. We asked the mayors of both cities to explain what they’re doing to win:

Mayor Gavin Newsom on why the Bay Area will win:

Bay Area consumers have been the early adopters of green…