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Decades after they were built, some of the most iconic structures built to sell and service automobiles are being restored and repurposed. 
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Southern California developers are building affordable "infill" projects on under-utilized property in another strategy to address the region's housing shortage.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
Good for bolstering housing stock, but perhaps not so good if we are hoping for more livable, walkable cities.
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Nobody walks in L.A., as the saying goes. But many people want to and will pay more to live in more walkable neighborhoods where they can stroll to work, shops and restaurants from home. It’s a rare luxury in most metropolitan areas and one worth thousands of dollars on average, according t
PIRatE Lab's insight:
Walkability tends to be more valuable in places that are already somewhat walkable. In neighborhoods in the top 5% of Orange County’s price spectrum, slightly more walkability actually leads to a $451 price cut, compared with a $8,225 premium for the same demographic in Los Angeles.
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Indian villagers walk towards the Mahan forest during a protest against a coal mining project in Singrauli district, Madhya Pradesh. Of the 14,000 sq km of forests cleared over the past three decades in India, the largest area was given to mining (4,947 sq km), followed by defence projects (1,549 sq km) and hydroelectric projects… Via Garry Rogers
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This year’s Green Living Tour and Home Show is organized by the Ojai Valley Green Coalition and aims to inspire and educate people about sustainable home improvements, gardening and lifestyles.
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Big new investors such as the Asian Infrastructure Development Bank are key players in a worldwide infrastructure, and that could be bad news for the environment.
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The Obama administration wants to give Israel more than $3 billion. Will it get it?
PIRatE Lab's insight:
Quite helpful to see where our nation's international priorities are. We apparently hate drug trafficking, bad terrorist-type folks, and AIDS.
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The Forest Stewardship Council, which promotes the responsible management of the world's woodlands, says the wood Ikea cuts from forests in Karelia, Russia, isn't being harvested sustainably.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
What isn't sustainable about nuking centuries old trees for a TV stand for a divorced middle aged guy who needs to furnish his apartment or for a college kid she need s a bookshelf in her dorm room?
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Rio de Janeiro, Feb 22 (EFE).- Brazil's portion of the Amazon rainforest lost between August 2013 and January this year some 1,162.5 sq. kilometers (448.8 sq. miles) of woodland, an area 19 percent less than the amount deforested between August 2012 and January 2013, which was 1,427 sq. kilometers (551 sq. miles), the government said.
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WASHINGTON, DC – A long-held tenet of international-trade theory is that, in the long run, increased trade correlates with faster GDP growth.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
I understand all of the macroeconomic arguments, but am still not convinced that the World Bank is the best engine for economic development out there. Globalization has (from my perspective and the studies I have examined) been quite wrenching and harmful in terms of local, traditional communities/cultures and in terms of overall environmental quality. I like the fact the World Bank seems more focused on the lower 40% of the world's population (measured by income), but somehow I am not sure they will be particularly successful.
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Arboleda, an urban mixed-use community now under development in Monterrey, Mexico, is designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects of New Haven, Conn., in collaboration with landscape design firm Office of James Burnett. The project incorporates principles of sustainable design and green building and will be compliant with the LEED for Neighborhood Development standard. The development is designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects in collaboration with landscape design firm Office of James Burnett on behalf of Mexican developer One Development Group (ODG). According to Pelli Clarke Pelli, the 26-acre Arboleda site will include residential and commercial development centered around a large central park and incorporating generous green space and native plantings, and all buildings will be LEED certified... Via Lauren Moss
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The state High-Speed Rail Authority has purchased more than 1,000 properties in the Central Valley for its route, but many of the vacant parcels are magnets for squatters, vandals and arsonists.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
Some of the many (but predictable) unintended consequences of eminent domain and large-scale public works efforts.
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It took 200,000 years for our human population to reach 1 billion—and only 200 years to reach 7 billion. But growth has begun slowing, as women have fewer babies on average. When will our global population peak? And how can we minimize our impact on Earth’s resources, even as we approach 11 billion?
Jordyn Reeves's curator insight,
January 11, 2017 3:44 PM
This relates to our topic by showing that our population is growing rapidly. By the time 2025 there will be more than 11 billion people on the Earth. But we have enough resources to last us.
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The venerable Eastside art institution gathered artists and community members in its Boyle Heights headquarters to have a talk about gentrification. In no time, the meeting went south as about a dozen mostly young activists, some wearing the brown berets of their 1960s Chicano Movemen
PIRatE Lab's insight:
"Eating one's own" comes to mind here.
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In a sweeping synthesis of global data, the United Nations Environment Programme has intensively catalogued environmental assaults across the globe.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
Again, the emphasis we see is on pollution, etc. While the ultimate drivers (gross numbers of humans and the affluence with which we live) are not front and center.
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"The 2015 Global Peace Index reveals a divided world, with the most peaceful countries enjoying increasing levels of peace and prosperity, while the least peaceful countries spiral into violence and conflict. Explore the state of world peace on the interactive Global Peace Index map. www.visionofhumanity.org "
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Consumers in many countries are adopting eco-friendly behavior, but others aren't ready to be green.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
This is a good benchmark. But, lumping all Russians or Americans or Chinese together is perhaps not the best way to go about doing this. There is marked difference in consumption in Moscow vs. Siberia, Los Angeles vs. Alaska, etc. While the country level aggregation is great, it would be nice if we could see the break down (and especially the variance) of attitudes in the larger countries.
PIRatE Lab's curator insight,
September 29, 2014 11:58 AM
This is a good benchmark. But, lumping all Russians or Americans or Chinese together is perhaps not the best way to go about doing this. There is marked difference in consumption in Moscow vs. Siberia, Los Angeles vs. Alaska, etc. While the country level aggregation is great, it would be nice if we could see the break down (and especially the variance) of attitudes in the larger countries.
This might make a particularly interesting comparison for some things when it comes to next week and our Coastal Opinions polling is done for the year.
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Birthrates are falling around the world. And that’s O.K.
Why do commentators, like Chicken Little, treat this worldwide trend as a disaster, even collective suicide? It could be because declines in fertility rates stir anxieties about power: national, military and economic, as well as sexual. In reality, slower population growth creates enormous possibilities for human flourishing. In an era of irreversible climate change and the lingering threat from nuclear weapons, it is simply not the case that population equals power, as so many leaders have believed throughout history. Lower fertility isn’t entirely a function of rising prosperity and secularism; it is nearly universal.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
This op-ed from the New York Times provides excellent material for discussing demographic issues, especially regarding declining populations. Many countries do fear the demographic uncertainty and are actively encouraging pro-natalist policies (with salacious ads such as Singapore's National Night and a Travel agency's 'Do it for Denmark' campaign). The author of this article though, seeks to quell those fears.
Colleen Blankenship's curator insight,
October 12, 2016 8:51 AM
After reading this article, do you agree or disagree? Remember, be specific with your arguments.
Colleen Blankenship's curator insight,
September 5, 2018 10:01 AM
How will this trend affect perspectives on population? How will the DTM reflect these new figures?
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In 2006, Mexico intensified its security strategy, forming an inhospitable environment for drug trafficking organizations (also known as DTOs) within the nation. The drug cartels responded by creating new trade routes along the border of Guatemala and Honduras. Soon shipments of cocaine from South America began to flow through the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor (MBC). This multi-national swathe of forest, encompassing several national parks and protected areas, was originally created to protect endangered species, such as Baird's Tapir (Tapirus bairdii) and jaguar (Panthera onca), as well as the world's second largest coral reef. Today, its future hinges on the world's drug producers and consumers.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
More drugs = less forest
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The old labels no longer apply. Rich countries need to learn from poor ones.
BILL GATES, in his foundation’s annual letter, declared that “the terms ‘developing countries’ and ‘developed countries’ have outlived their usefulness.” He’s right. If we want to understand the modern global economy, we need a better vocabulary. Mr. Gates was making a point about improvements in income and gross domestic product; unfortunately, these formal measures generate categories that tend to obscure obvious distinctions. Only when employing a crude “development” binary could anyone lump Mozambique and Mexico together. It’s tough to pick a satisfying replacement. Talk of first, second and third worlds is passé, and it’s hard to bear the Dickensian awkwardness of “industrialized nations.” Forget, too, the more recent jargon about the “global south” and “global north.” It makes little sense to counterpose poor countries with “the West” when many of the biggest economic success stories in the past few decades have come from the East. All of these antiquated terms imply that any given country is “developing” toward something, and that there is only one way to get there. It’s time that we start describing the world as “fat” or “lean.”
PIRatE Lab's insight:
The terms "developing" and "developed" are certainly problematic. But so too are just about any such terminologies. "Fat" and "lean" have their own host of problems. But the unmistakable issue is that the world is much more diverse and harder to characterize than a century ago.
My vote would be a scale of corruption. Or a measure of the disparity of income between the richest and poorest in the country, or perhaps a measure of the wealth/poverty concentration.
Steven McGreevy's curator insight,
March 7, 2014 4:49 AM
Fat and Lean nations... let's see if it sticks... 
Joanne Wegener's curator insight,
March 7, 2014 5:03 AM
Fat or Lean - what sort of world do we live in An interesting discussion on the way we perceive and label the world. 
Ma. Caridad Benitez's curator insight,
March 11, 2014 10:15 AM
Hoy en día poca claridad de dónde exactamente queda y quiénes son?
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"The AidData Center for Development Policy creates geospatial data and tools enabling development stakeholders to more effectively target, coordinate and evaluate aid. Funded through a five-year, $25 million cooperative agreement with USAID, the Center is a partnership between the College of William and Mary, Development Gateway, Brigham Young University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Esri."
PIRatE Lab's insight:
Interesting database/viewer for exploring international development/metrics.
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