Tag Archives: nrdc

Carter Rubin: Traffic In Transition

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Do you ever find yourself driving down a familiar street and suddenly encounter an unfamiliar right turn only sign that diverts all traffic off your intended route? The changing landscape of your city’s streets may be disconcerting and inconvenient, but there’s usually a fair amount of thought and intentional planning behind those changes. This week on Sea Change Radio, we learn about how transportation planning can limit car traffic and even improve socioeconomic equity. We speak with Carter Rubin, a mobility and climate advocate for the NRDC, who discusses various efforts to make cities like Barcelona, San Francisco and New York more livable for mass transit users, cyclists and pedestrians. Take a listen and maybe the next time you’re unceremoniously diverted from a main thoroughfare, your annoyance will be mitigated by a pinch of appreciation.

Scooter Talk with Carter Rubin of NRDC

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The first time you saw a fleet of rent-able electric scooters huddled together on a city sidewalk, what was your reaction? Annoyance at yet another silly transportation trend, hope for a greener way to get around, or perhaps a burning desire to jump aboard? This week on Sea Change Radio, we hear from Carter Rubin of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). We discuss why some municipalities like San Francisco have banned these E-Scooters, the safety concerns surrounding them, and their estimated carbon footprint. Can electric-assist scooters be an integral part of our clean transportation future, or are they just faddish fun?

Getting Around: Urban Transport Solutions

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AmandaEakenWe’ve all deliberated ad nauseum about which road to take to avoid traffic. Today’s discussions about transportation choices are more about the mode than the route, with greener options like biking, public transit, and innovative ride-sharing ideas exploding. Read the show transcript

George Lakoff Part II: Framing the Debate

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LittleBlueBookGeorgeLakoff2Last week on Sea Change Radio, influential progressive and cognitive linguist George Lakoff laid out the principles of linguistic framing as they relate to environmentalism. This week, part two of host Alex Wise‘s discussion with Prof. Lakoff, where they delve into the framing of topics such as genetically modified organisms, greenhouse gas emission legislation, and what’s wrong with approaching ecological issues through a cost-benefit lens.

If you can’t get enough of Dr. Lakoff’s insightful views and would like to hear some of the more politically-focused parts of the discussion, listen to our podcast exclusive here.

Just Say No: Livestock, Drugs and Groundwater

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AvinashKar52905978_0338ee1fec_qFactory farms produce a majority of our nation’s meat. Over two-thirds of the beef consumed in this country comes from farms with at least 5,000 head of cattle; more than 90 percent of the chicken we eat comes from only ten companies; and over the last 30 years the number of hog farms has dropped to a tenth of what it was, while pork sales have remained steady.

With these mammoth farms come appalling conditions and animal overcrowding. The factory farm solution: hormones and antibiotics, which boost meat production and reduce animal disease. Pharmaceuticals are being used at an unprecedented rate. And if you think you can avoid the drug exposure by limiting or eliminating meat from your diet, the scientific community has some bad news for you – studies have recently shown that this use of pharmaceuticals on livestock is having devastating effects on our groundwater.

This week’s guest on Sea Change Radio is Avinash Kar, a staff attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council (or NRDC). He talks to host Alex Wise about NRDC’s role in the fight to regulate and create transparency in how drugs are used on livestock.

Amanda Eaken on the Rise of Collaborative Consumption

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AmandaEaken63000116_b10317f5f1_qWith the climate crisis staring us right in the face, the need to transform our daily routines has become increasingly apparent. A part of the solution may be a new twist on the very old concept of sharing things, it’s called collaborative consumption. We’ve seen how peer-to-peer networks allow us to share and buy goods and services from each other, and now that same concept is being applied by communities all over the world as a more efficient way to get around.

This week’s guest on Sea Change Radio, Amanda Eaken, the Deputy Director of Sustainable Communities at the Natural Resources Defense Council will walk us through these new modes of shared transportation – from bike-sharing to carpooling to taxi and car sharing – and show how emerging smart phone technology is playing a vital role in their rising popularity.

Here’s a link to Rachel Botsman’s TED talk about collaborative consumption that Ms. Eaken refers to in the interview.