Published February 25, 2008 12:00AM
OUT
LEEDWASHING
Green-built condo projects are greatalmost as stirring as the pasture or forest that used to occupy the same space. Florida developer Bobby Ginn’s new 5,400-acre ski resort, slated for the mountains south of Minturn, Colorado, will employ sustainable construction practices but occupy pristine open land as well as old mining claims.
IN
MOD REDEVELOPMENT
Two trends that have us excited: Excess empty steel shipping containers (blame the trade deficit) have become 320-square-foot, $2,000 modular building blocks; and Windterra’s new roof-mounted wind turbine ($5,900; windterra.com) can generate 1,600 kilowatts per year.
OUT
CARBON OFFSETS Unless you’re soccer star DAVID BECKHAM whose commute from “Beckingham Palace,” outside London, to play for the Galaxy in Los Angeles tops 5,000 milesdon’t obsess over your “footprint.” The indulgences sold by TerraPass and others divert funds and attention from much-needed policy fixes.
IN
CARBON TRADING
This spring, Wall Street launches its Green Exchange (greenfutures.com), which will allow public companies to trade a large volume of carbon credits from greenhouse-gas-reducing projects. The market’s creation signals that big business is ready for mandatory caps.
OUT
SINGLE-SERVING BOTTLES Americans buy 215 billion beverage containers per year. On average, only 31 percent of all plastic soft-drink bottles and 45 percent of cans will be recycled.
IN
MULTIUSER BIKES This March, Washington, D.C., kick-starts the nation’s first SmartBike shared program, with 100 bikes in ten locations across the city. Users will pay annual dues of $40 to have unlimited card-swipe access to a ride. San Francisco, Chicago, and Portland, Oregon, already have similar plans in the works. smartbikedc.com
OUT
LOCAL-ONLY DIETS We love supporting our farmers, but you can pry these bananas from our cold, dead hands.
IN
LOCAL POLITICS
Weary of waiting for Washington to act, a consortium of U.S. mayors (usmayors.org) led by Seattle’s Greg Nickels signed 754 cities on to a Kyoto-besting climate agreement.