[Michael Clancy, Arizona Republic] — Meetings are taking place citywide to ask citizens what they like about Phoenix, and what they want to change.  The gatherings are the first step in a three-year process aimed at revising the Phoenix General Plan, a document of nearly 500 pages that governs growth and development in the city.  ”If you want to have a say in what happens — highways vs. transit, sprawl vs. infill, pollution, parks and open space — then you need to get involved,” said Jim McPherson, a civic activist who has volunteered in the effort.

Carol Johnson, a city planner who is managing the process, said meetings will take place over the rest of the year in connection with local village planning committee meetings.  ”We really need to hear from the community about what they want Phoenix to be, and how we can get there,” she said.  ”That will define the scope for what we do next.”

Johnson described the general plan as the city’s “long-term guide for the physical manifestation of the city.”  She said development of the revised plan would entail a period of “visioning,” in which ideas and goals are developed, followed by a period of drafting policies and measures, and determining implementation.

The plan could include updated sustainability measures, improved business-development plans, revised historical features, and new benchmarks for infrastructure repairs and upgrades.  In meetings so far, “there is a lot of interest in climate change and the urban heat island,” Johnson said.  ”Some people have said the village cores are not working. Others want to see land use and transportation planned in tandem.” She said the plan ultimately would be organized around four subject areas: community, economy, environment and infrastructure.

Catrina Knoebl, a downtown activist, said she expects the process to be worthwhile for the public as well as the city.  ”I have found the city absolutely listens to citizens,” she said. “They want to hear what residents have to say.  They are actively reaching out.”  Knoebl said she finds the timing to be advantageous because “we have more people than ever before who are knowledgeable and engaged.”

McPherson agreed the timing is right.  ”We have a little bit of breathing room now,” he said.  ”With the slowdown caused by the economy, we have some time to do some thinking.” [Note: Read the full article at Phoenix seeks residents' input on General Plan revision.]

[Source: Shaun McKinnon, Arizona Republic] – Heat discriminates.  Phoenix’s sweltering summer inflicts the most misery and illness in poor neighborhoods, a new study shows, and among people least able to protect themselves from the elements.  Conditions in those neighborhoods, with their sparse landscaping, high-density housing and converging freeways, create pockets of extreme heat that persist day and night.  Inside, homeowners sometimes can’t afford to turn up — or even turn on — the air-conditioner.

Wealthier homeowners, meanwhile, often in neighborhoods just blocks away, maintain lush yards and trees that help cool the air more quickly at night, shortening the hours of the hottest heat waves.  They can buy further relief with a nudge of the thermostat.

The disparities present threats more serious than just discomfort on a hot day, according to the study, produced by Arizona State University researchers.  Prolonged exposure to heat can cause illness or even death. The densely developed nature of the hottest areas also means more of the people most vulnerable — the elderly, children, the homebound — live in the neighborhoods where the risk is greatest.

That link between money and the ability to cope with extreme weather emerged clearly in the research.  Among the startling revelations: For every $10,000 an area’s income rises, the average outside temperature drops one-half degree Fahrenheit.  “It’s an environmental-justice issue,” said Darren Ruddell, a geographer who led the study.  “The people who are most vulnerable are also living in the worst conditions.  It’s a double whammy.”

The researchers say they hope their findings will spur discussions about better managing land, water and energy use, factors that will grow more critical if temperatures rise in coming years, as climate-change models predict.  “If we can identify the areas most at risk, we can try to help them,” Ruddell said.  “We could redesign neighborhoods, build cities differently, improve warning systems and ultimately reduce our vulnerability to heat.”  [Note: To read the full article, visit ASU study: Wealth buys rescue from metro Phoenix's urban heat island.  Corresponding PDF graphic here.]

A great article in today’s New York Times about “daylighting” the Cheonggyecheon River in Seoul. Daylighting refers to uncovering streams buried under pavement. Three miles of elevated freeway were removed, a plant-rich stream restored, and central urban land was converted from car-centric to people-centric.

Benefits include:

• summer temperature reduction by 5 degrees Fahrenheit
• improved storm drainage, which global warming has worsened
• reduction in small-particle air pollution from 74 to 48 micrograms per cubic meter
• less auto congestion despite the loss of vehicle lanes
• bio-diversity gains include 25 versus 4 fish species, 36 versus 6 bird species, and 192 versus 15 insect species
• 90,000 daily visitors, including walking and picknicing
• higher real estate values for adjacent buildings
• political gains for former mayor, now South Korean President Lee Myung-bak (also formerly head of construction at Hyundai Corporation)
• restoration of the historic center of a 600 year city

Government officials and urban planners from Los Angeles, Singapore, San Antonio, and Yonkers have expressed interest in restoring urban streams. Sadly, the article did not mention anything about Tokyo, where most of its historic canals and rivers are covered by streets and elevated freeways.

Mori Minoru’s Mori Building is Tokyo’s largest urban real estate developer. His Vertical Garden City idea and Urban New Deal Policy are private enterprise visions for a re-made city that is at once more densely populated, more environmental and green, and more profitable for the largest developers. 

I had the intriguing experience of being invited to witness a presentation by Mori Building company for a US journalist. Asked to remain silent so as not to detract from the journalist’s work, I witness one foreign journalist, a simultaneous translator, a guide from the Tokyo Foreign Correspondent’s Club, two Mori Building Public Relations officer and one urban planner. This is clearly a business where image is created through tremendous resources.

On the one hand, there is much to be admired about Mori’s vision. He has a clear vision for improving urban life, by providing more outdoor space and greenery, lowering the heat island effect, and promoting cultural on a global scale. Notable achievements are his Roppongi Hills’ top floor Mori Art Museum, and the many roof gardens, vertical and balcony greening, bird eco-systems, wastewater recycling, rooftop rainfall capture, efficient heating and cooling systems, rice and vegetable gardens.

On the other hand, under the guise of increasing greenery and reducing earthquake and fire hazards, Mori is one of the loudest voices for destroying low level or horizontal housing in order to create residential skyscrapers. The Vertical Garden City has a rational side since high-rise living could free more ground space for parks, yet it also overlooks the lives and culture of those who must be removed for this vision to become reality. 

Much of Tokyo’s charm is the organic nature of neighborhood formation, and the activities of small landowners and residents who create lively streets. It is great that Mori Building is analyzing how green space lowers the heat island effect, but are there not other ways to improve safety and the environment than concentrating land in one person’s control, destroying and rebuilding?

For all of the grand visions, on the day of my tour, I was most impressed by a small feature not discussed by the Mori staff. Inside Roppongi Hill’s Mohri Garden, a restored traditional Japanese garden dating back to the Edo period, are “approximately” 10,000 “Space Medaka,” descendants of fish born in space on a 1994 on the Space Shuttle Columbia. Dr Kennichi Ijiri of Tokyo University continues to study these fish, and the public is charmingly invited to care for these extraterrestrial creatures as well: “Please watch over these new Roppongi Hills residents.”

[Source: John Talton, Rogue Columnist] — Former Arizona Republic columnist Jon Talton still thinks and writes about his old hometown, Phoenix.  Upon returning to his current home from a recent visit and book signing tour in Arizona, Jon wrote the following blog post about the new downtown Phoenix Civic Space (in contrast to this other local blogger’s view):

“…Which brings me to the Floating Diaphragm.  That’s what local wags have dubbed the “public art” project that is the signature of the new park on Central Avenue downtown between ASU and the Y.  At night, it’s stunning.  A floating purple dream.  But, as with the Sandra Day O’Connor Federal Courthouse, this is something designed by someone with no knowledge of local conditions.  After the first big monsoon, look for the diaphragm in your neighborhood — Gilbert would be appropriate, with its sex phobia and sex scandals. 

The park — we’ll see.  Phoenix is not good at civic spaces.  It’s unclear if it will have enough shade and grass to be inviting year-round.  And nobody can stop the creeping gravelization of the once-oasis central city.  City Hall sets a terrible example.  The old Willo House has been spiffed up as Hob Nobs.  But it’s surrounded by gravel and a couple of fake palm trees — who wouldn’t want to be around that 140-dgree heat surface on a summer day? And there are more of them — the natives and long-timers agree the falls and springs have shrunk to a week or two, and winter is getting shorter (and it lacks the frosts that once kept the mosquito population in check).  The central city needs lots of shade trees and grass, to offset the heat island effect.  It is a much better water investment than new golf courses or more sprawl.  Nobody’s listening.  Almost: The Park Central Starbucks has made its outdoor space even more lush, shady, and comfy. 

Back to the diaphragm.  It’s definitely better than the “public art” you whiz by at Sky Harbor because it focuses a civic space, the kind of walkable, gathering places great cities have and Phoenix mostly lacks.  Some art at the light-rail stations is quite well done.  But, there’s a deadening sameness.  My friend, the Famous Architect, likes to rib me, “Not everything old is good.”  True enough. But not everything new is good, either.  I’d love to see some classical statues and artwork downtown to, say, commemorate the heroic pioneer farmers, the heroic, displaced indigenous peoples, the heroic Mexican-Americans, the heroic African-Americans from this once very Southern town and the heroic Chinese-Americans.  Just two or three would offer some contrast and variety, and, I suspect, unsophisticated oaf that I am, elevate and inspire more souls who communed with them.  It would also give the lie, in visual form, to the newcomer lie that “there’s no history here.” 

Another wish I won’t get.  [Note: To read the full blog posting, click here.]

While most trees on the island are blooming with flowers, about a dozen big ones on Fernside Blvd (33rd and 32nd block, both sides) have bloomed with tree removal notices instead. The notices read, most ominously:

The tree may need to be removed as part of the Fernside re-surfacing project to re-establish the curb line, restore the drainage flow line, and minimize ponding problems. At the time of construction, determination of tree removal will be made with the consultation of a licensed arborist. Every effort will be made to retain the tree.

Anyone may protest its removal. Protests must be in writing, stating the reason for said protest, along with the name, address and signature of the person making the protest, and must be postmarked or delivered before April 13, 2009, to the City Engineer, 950 West Mall Square, Room 110, Alameda 94501-7575.
…..
Should you have questions or require further information, contact Trung Nguyen, Assistant Engineer, at (510) 749-5851, Monday thought Thursday, 9 am to 5 pm.

The thought that always comes into my head when I see these things things plastered on a beautiful old tree in a leafy neighborhood is: Why does it look like the city simply has no interest in maintaining whatever remains of its tree-lined, attractive, and livable neighborhoods, but continues to dismantle and downgrade them, even under the guise of improvement? I say that because nothing says “a neighborhood in decline” like one where mature trees are being cut down in bunches. And because this is Fernside, and I’ve seen the kind of street work that afflicted it around Lincoln Middle School and south of it, let me say upfront—no amount of haphazardly slapped concrete, obnoxious striping, and planter boxes with some flowers in them can make up for the loss of a beautiful, broad, old-fashioned street with a stately tree line, like the one endangered here.

But to the issue at hand: Because the notice says the reason for the proposed removal is curb and drainage issues, I went out yesterday and took some pictures of the curb at the tagged trees’ location. (The sidewalks, you can see, are fine, and work has been done on them recently, so they are by no means a hazard). The curbs is where the tree roots have done damage, and I’m sure there are some ponding issues as well (as corroborated by a resident I ran into while taking pictures). But are they any worse than what’s on any other street featuring large trees? No. Similar problems on other streets have been handled successfully by trimming the roots and rebuilding the curb around them. Using this approach to save our mature trees has resulted in precisely the kind of streets the city loves to brag about to out-of-town visitors, put on promotional brochures, and highlight in real estate ads.

Obviously, a compromise is necessary when dealing with old trees and even older infrastructure. What’s important is that trees are considered just as crucial a public benefit as curbs and working culverts. This understanding is explicit in the city’s own comprehensive sidewalk repair program which council adopted back in 2007. Tree removal in this plan is the very last option, topped by many others. We simply can’t afford, both literally and metaphorically, to be taking trees down wholesale any time street or sewage work needs to happen. Because, if we decide that the state of affairs on Fernside is absolutely unacceptable from a curb standpoint, that dooms a good deal of other streets as well. And if we decide that a perfect curb or flawless drainage is more important than a mature urban forest, Alameda will lose—quickly—much of its property appeal and overall charm, and it will become an even bigger heat island and contributor to air quality and global warming issues—something nobody I know is looking forward to.

So what to do?

First things first—protest the removal. The notice clearly says “may, not will be removed” and that “every effort will be made to retain the tree.” I choose to take that at face value at this time. Good thing is, some of the neighbors are firmly behind keeping their trees, and are willing to work with the city for a solution that addresses both the infrastructure problems and keeping the mature trees, using all the tools and methods at Public Works’ disposal. An arborist report should be provided as is routine but I would appeal to the city to focus its effort on working with the neighbors to keep the trees rather than pursuing an opinion slanted towards removal.

Two, attend the meeting to show you really care. Wringing one’s hands and feeling bad is not enough. People need to stand up for the trees or risk bidding them goodbye, along with their shade, wildlife, noise-reducing qualities, and yes, your property value.

To help save the Fernside trees, call and write Public Works using the info on the notice, above. Just so you know, you can protest a tree removal and attend the meeting regardless of where in Alameda you live.

I was so fascinated by the fact that Sacramento claims a “world’s most” title in anything, let alone being green, that I’m going to dwell on this subject just a little longer. Specifically, I was curious how this fact translates into pictures, so I used google maps, the desktop world travelers’s best friend, to see what a city with so many trees looks like from the top.

View Larger Map

I also pulled maps of Paris, the contender

View Larger Map

and Alameda, just for kicks

View Larger Map

If you look at the green mass in comparison to the hard mass, Sacramento wins hands down! Paris may have the same number of trees per capita (or more, if you want), but because the buildings are taller they dominate the view, not the trees. In terms of heat island effect, I have to declare it the loser. (There is no such thing as Google world heat map, is there? There’s this neat picture though.) Still, nothing a Paris rooftop garden program wouldn’t fix…

The Alameda map is interesting because we do have a reputation of being a city of “tree-lined streets,” “leafy neighborhoods,” [instert your favorite real estate catch-phrase here]. The Gold Coast area is not too bad (see how many trees there are in people’s back yards). You don’t want to look at the east, or worse, the west end though—it’s just greyness all around. Zoom to your favorite neighborhood to see where it is in comparison to say, Montmartre.

For audio-visual completeness, here’s a short NPR story about Sacramento’s trees. Story is a couple years old, but what’s that in the lifespan of a sequoia? A wink. And the word “neighborwood”? To die for…

[Source: Kit Stolz, Guest Contributor, Grist Magazine] – During a session called “Sustainability and Growth: How Can a City Develop Sustainably When its Identity is Built on Growth?” at the American Meteorological Society convention, a development expert named Grady Grammage colorfully dispelled some myths and revealed some little-known truths about Phoenix.  One myth: Phoenix is unsustainable because it imports water.  Virtually all cities import water, Grammage pointed out, even New York, not to mention countless other necessities for urban life, such as food, fuel, and steel.  Phoenix arguably has a more stable supply of water than numerous other cities, such as San Diego, because Phoenix imports its water from numerous sources, albeit at great distances.

In Grammage’s view, a bigger question is “habitability,” and he brought up the Urban Heat Island Effect, which he thinks, based on surveys, will drive more Phoenicians out of the state by 2020 than those who move in from other states.  Grammage reports that when he expressed this view, various public officials and “water buffaloes” — water experts — in Phoenix scoffed.  They think Phoenix could support as many as 10 million people — more than twice its current population.

But the climactic trends may have already been trumped by the economic trends.  According to a huge and thoroughly-substantiated front-page story in the Arizona Republic, Phoenix is already losing population — thousands of people — probably due to the economy.  Foreclosures are up a mind-blowing 534% from last year, while water hook-ups, trash collection, and sales tax revenues are all down sharply.  Substantial numbers of buildings have no water service, indicating abandonment, and sales tax revenues are down 8%.  Even crime has declined.

Already, the Phoenix city government has to try and close a 22% revenue gap of about $270 million, and if the state finds that the city is losing residents, it will cut its allocation of tax returns still further.  Perhaps this is why the mayor, Phil Gordon, scoffed at the reports of population decline. “The growth of Phoenix, like all cities in the Valley, has slowed significantly.  But Phoenix’s net growth is still positive, both in jobs and population,” he said.

Cognitive dissonance, anyone?  Or, is it just garden variety denial?  In any case, something is in the wind… as reflected in a sign I saw this morning in an empty storefront in downtown Phoenix.  Guess we’ll find out what kind of wind it is soon enough.

[Source, Lisa Selin Davis, Grist Magazine, May 13, 2008] – In order for Phoenix to truly be a green city, it would have to be brown.  Or not brown, exactly, but the sandy shade of the mountains that surround it: the jagged peaks and parched hills that enclose the Valley of the Sun.  These days, though, Phoenix is a less-natural shade of brown; a ring of smoggy pollution known locally as the Brown Cloud shadows the city.  And that’s not the only affront to the environs here.  Anyone flying in can see the patches of fierce green lawns that paint the landscape, along with the swimming pools; the manmade lake in the suburb of Tempe, evaporating 452 million gallons of water each year; the sea of single family homes spilling across the desert; the traffic clogging the ribbons of highways; and the heat snakes squiggling from all that boiling bitumen.  The 517-square-mile city — the fifth-largest and fourth-fastest-growing in America — just survived its second-driest winter on record and is deep in drought.

So how is it that this poster child for sprawl and environmental ills is being hailed — albeit by its own government — as an exemplar of sustainability?  City leaders are quick to tell anyone willing to listen that not only are they finally getting hip to environmental matters, they’ve been attending to some of them for upwards of thirty years.  From using cleaner fuels in their fleet of trucks and buses to implementing an environmental purchasing program, from building a new 20-mile light-rail line to signing the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement, officials have taken concrete steps to right past wrongs.

Perhaps more important than these piecemeal sustainability steps is the city’s partnership with the local university.  What’s wrong with the city — the temperature’s rising, for one thing, and development is still skidding out of control — is what makes it such an attractive candidate for a living laboratory.  The city’s environmental deficits are educational opportunities for the students and teachers of Arizona State University’s four-year-old Global Institute of Sustainability.  ”When Phoenix is done growing, it will be bigger than Chicago,” says Dr. Michael Crow, president of ASU.  ”The next massive city of the United States isn’t done yet.”  GIOS, then, has a chance to affect these latter stages of growth.  And what GIOS gleans from Phoenix just might change the way other desert cities behave — that is, if it’s not too little, too late.  [Note: To read the full article, click here.]

Heat island effect, metro Phoenix

[Source: Shaun McKinnon, Arizona Republic] — In the old comic books, the vilest super-villains brandished an exotic weather-control device to threaten the world’s cities.  Turns out all the villains really needed were the cities, whose growth increasingly influences the weather with devices no more exotic than an office building or a freeway. Those devices can raise temperatures to unhealthful levels, steer storms off course or alter their intensity, suck the rain out of clouds and may contribute to long-term climate change.  Worse, sprawling metropolises can foil efforts to forecast the weather or even track a single event.   “There’s no doubt man has impacted his local environment,” said Tony Haffer, meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service in Phoenix.  ”It’s reached the point that it’s more than just meteorologists and climatologists looking at this.  Engineers that build and plan cities are looking for ways of mitigating the effects of putting in more concrete and asphalt.”

The real-life power of urban areas to shape and reshape weather and climate is the theme of the American Meteorological Society’s national conference, which runs through this week at the Phoenix Convention Center.  More than 2,000 meteorologists, climatologists and even a few engineers are expected to attend.  The program includes discussions about public-policy issues, but the intent isn’t to deliver solutions or formal recommendations as much as it is to support the scientists searching for the solutions.  Some of the research presented this week will offer concrete ideas for businesses or governments to use, while other projects will guide future studies.

Phoenix provides a fitting backdrop for the gathering: It was here that scientists conducted some of the earliest research into the urban-heat-island effect, the increase in nighttime temperatures that occurs when buildings and roads release energy absorbed during the day.  The city’s rapid growth has given scientists a living laboratory to test theories and chart discoveries. [Note: To read the full article, click here.]

Welcome to today’s 1:5:10:365 Tip for becoming a better steward for our home and planet environment.

1:5:10:274 EcoTip: Cool pavement is more reflective so it doesn’t build up as much heat as asphalt. This has the advantage of increasing the amount of light available because it is reflected off of the ground. When light is absorbed by asphalt or other dark surface materials the wavelength changes to heat energy that can contribute to the heat island effect in cities and higher cooling costs for individual buildings. The temperature of asphalt can be as much as 70 degrees F (40 degrees C) hotter than light colored paving.

Source: Heat Island Group

***********************************

 Additional Information:

Suggested Review: :273

You can learn more about the heat island effect cool roofs and cool pavement from the Heat Island Group  

Tomorrow’s 1:5:10:365 EcoTip is about how cool pavement can also benefit from being pervious.

Would you like to receive an email alert for each new 1:5:10:365 EcoTip? Sign up for a Google Alert.

Last week at California’s annual Climate Change Research Conference in Sacramento, two physicists associated with the Heat Island Group presented a paper which claims that if roofs in 100 major urban areas were switched to reflective material, they would offset 44 metric gigatons of greenhouse gasses.  It’s hard for me to picture how big a metric gigaton is, but it sounds like a lot.  In fact, 44 metric gigatons of greenhouse gasses is more than all the countries on Earth emit in a single year.

The bottom line is that dark roofs and pavement absorb heat and add significantly to global warming and climate change by trapping heat in urban areas.  Just painting roofs white and paving roads with a lighter colored material could offset more than 10 years of emissions growth.  

The paper says that replacing a dark colored roof with a white roof on an average American home would offset 10 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.  And that’s for just one house!

California already requires new flat commercial structures to be built with reflective roofs and next year new and retrofitted residential and commercial buildings will need to have reflective roofs.

I really like those green roofs where people have planted grass and plants to reduce cooling costs.  But reflective roofs accomplish much of the same thing and you don’t need to mow them.  Now that’s win-win.

When Transportation Alternative’s absolutely wonderful Tour de Queens (enjoy the Street Films video above) rolled into Maspeth on Sunday under the blaze of a record-setting June heat wave, we were subjected to a brutal lesson in urban planning and natural history.

The Newtown Creek is infamous for being home to the largest oil spill in U.S. history, and to heavy metals and other industrial pollutants. Increasingly, lay greens are becoming aware of the combined sewer overflows that plague the waterway with pathogens after rainstorms. What’s less known is that, apart from airport landing strips, you won’t find hotter a hotter place in New York City than the banks of the Newtown Creek. The area’s sewage and swelter share the same origin: a concrete and asphalt “hardscape” instead of a landscape. In the absence of trees, grass, and other plants, water rolls off the impermeable surfaces and floods the sewage system while sunlight beats down on unshaded streets that reradiate heat.

NASA used Landsat to map our “urban heat island,” where temperatures are over seven degrees Fahrenheit hotter than surrounding region. Maspeth was of particular interest to the NASA researchers because it was both particularly afflicted and a prime candidate for mitigation, with low, flat-topped, strong buildings that could bear the weight of green roofs.

The natural history element I alluded to above is of greater concern to bikers than NASA: Oh, the hills! Maspeth sits on the western end of the Harbor Hill Moraine (as you can see in the U.S. Geological Survey map below) that was plowed up by glaciers over 10,000 years ago.

The image below is Helen Ho’s photograph of the Queens Museum’s celebrated New York City panaroma model, with pink tape showing our route over the hills and through the mini-torrid zone. 

I wrote for the Village Voice about the Urban Heat Island phenomenon (including diet, lifestyle, and city planning tips to survive it) and various animal heat adaptations last year. One part that didn’t get published is the fascinating possibility that migrating birds are leaving New York City plumper than they arrived because they needn’t burn as many calories to stay warm at night. I spent a morning in the woods of Bronx Park observing Chad Seewagen, a Wildlife Conservation Society ornithologist, investigating this hunch. My friends Robin Lloyd and David Berreby later wrote up items about Chad and his work for Live Science and the New Yorker, respectively.

These days, however, most species are working hard to shed heat. Humans are particularly lucky in that we sweat copiously, a gift from our tropical heritage that remains with people of all ancestries. Bear in mind, however, that parents can undo in their own kids’ resilience by raising them with air conditioning; sweat glands that aren’t activated in infancy remain dormant for life. Dogs are among the species that have wet noses, long tongues, and very wrinkled nasal passages to allow for heat exchanges with the air.

My favorite evolutionary solution is the carotid rete, a fine web where arteries dump heat into veins and the upper respiratory system so that blood rising to the brain is significantly cooler than the rest of the body. Gazelles have an extraordinarily well-developed carotid rete, but humans are much less impressive in that regard. It’s usually brain temperature that dictates when an animal must stop or pass out, so you can imagine how useful such a tool is for hunters and especially fleeing prey.

And so I might have been the only volunteer marshal ready to scream, “A carotid rete! My kingdom for a carotid rete!”

[Source: Cynthia Weaver, City of Phoenix] — The city of Phoenix has updated its Sustainability Summary increasing the total number of sustainability programs from 70 to more than 80.  The summary provides brief descriptions of all of the city of Phoenix’s environmental stewardship efforts, some of which have been in place for decades.  “To be successful, Phoenix must be an environmental leader.  This summary showcases Phoenix’s numerous environmental programs,” said Councilman Greg Stanton, chair of the Parks, Education, Bioscience, and Sustainability Subcommittee.  “The depth and variety of programs demonstrates that Phoenix is an environmental leader, both in the Valley and throughout the nation.”

The updated summary includes recent information on the city’s Climate Action efforts and participation in Earth Hour, in addition to new information about Phoenix Recycles, Bag Central Station, the Convention Center solar project and the city’s recently adopted renewable energy goal, the Brownfields Environmental Technician Job Training Program, and Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Program.  Enhancements have been reported in the areas of air quality and transportation, environmental leadership, green building and energy conservation, heat island, historic preservation, land use policies, pollution prevention, riparian area conservation, and water conservation.  To view the complete summary online, click here.

OKIE DOKIE lets begin with Heat Island shall we?

Heat Island what exactly to say about this flick… I myself enjoyed it. Heat Island” ( ヒートアイランド) is based on a crime thriller book written by Kakine Ryuosuke. The story is about a street gangster (Yu Shirota who plays Aki ) who runs around Shibuya causing trouble. Within Aki’s crew, a member seeks payback on a man who made him look like a fool, and was beaten up by in a bar one night. After gaining his revenge on him he steals a black bag that has a great deal of money, however that money was actually taken from an illegal casino operated by the Yakuza so now both groups are after Aki and his mates to get back the money.

Guess who else is in the movie :3

Yep Yep Van’s in the movie, she owns a bar called Pink Pink :3

Ok Iron Man, now wow what a movie this was, Treeluv you need to see this flick. Out of all the marvel films that has been released this one is TOTALLY worth it. Iron Man actually has a good plot/story, its not stupid, awesome animations etc etc… overall it was just brilliant. So far with the success at the box office they already have made news that there will be a 2nd and there is a released date already which is insane since its only been out in theaters for 4 days. If you haven’t seen it yet and you are a Marvel fan this is a must see. :3

Heat Island

ヒートアイランド

images from Heat Island

[Source: William Hermann, Arizona Republic] — By helicopter, by automobile, even by Pedi cab, Professor Harindra Fernando’s researchers covered the Valley Friday in an intense investigation of an intensely uncomfortable phenomenon called the “urban heat island.”  Fernando and his Arizona State University engineering colleagues are trying more exactly than ever to define the heat-trapping effect that in the summer months turns much of the Valley from a place that was once hot but habitable, to something of a hell-on-earth.

The point is to help government and private enterprise slow and even reverse the central-Valley heating trend.  “Our freeways, streets and structures all hold in heat, creating a reservoir of heat in the Valley,” Fernando said.  “There was almost no heat island effect in the Valley until the late 1940s but it was rising by the late 1950s and has risen quickly since then.  If you keep increasing the heat island effect, as we have, at some point it will become so uncomfortable that people will start leaving the Valley.  It becomes the difference between comfort and misery.”  [Note: To read the full article, click here.]

The Asahi Shinbun reports today on the effects on the climate of Tokyo of population density/global warming. At peak times, electricity consumption in the Tokyo area is greater than that of the entire UK or France.

As evidence for the continuing ‘tropicalization’ of Tokyo, the paper reports that in the park surrounding the State Science Museum in Tokyo, Japanese Windmill Palms are propagating. A fifth of the ten thousand trees and shrubs in the park are said to be propagating. Wild Kiwi are also growing (though have yet to bear fruit in Tokyo); and parrots are flying around.

Hagiwara Shinsuke, research director at the Museum comments, “Windmill palms wither if the average winter temperature falls below 4 degrees (C). However, due to global warming, they have not withered but begun to spread.”

With the combined effects of global warming and the urban heat island phenomenon, Tokyo has become one of the strikingly ‘hot’ cities in the world. While the temperature in New York has risen by about 1.6 degrees, Tokyo has become 3 degrees hotter during the last 100 years.

In the Summer, mysterious squalls of heavy rain fall on Shinjuku and other central areas. Tokyo has been known for this phenomenon – caused by the collision of the southerly winds blowing in off Sagami Bay and the easterlies off the Kashimanada sea – where heavy rain falls in a concentrated area. Recently, however, rains have been falling even on days when there is no wind blowing in off the sea.

Junior Professor at the Defense University, Bunmei Komura, comments that “Artificial human heat sources from buildings and so on lead to warm air currents rising from the city, which lead to the formation of cumulonimbus clouds.”

The heat island effect is also remarkable underground. Research by Junior Professor Tsuyoshi Kiuchi of Fukushima University into the temperature at 13 different underground locations in Tokyo city sewers reveals that in the last 30 years has risen by 4.8 degrees – though that increases to 7 degrees based on measurements taken only in the Winter. The fact that people have begun to take more showers (rather than have baths, which are more efficient) is believed to be one major cause, and it is estimated that 10% of the artificially-created heat in Tokyo is fed into the sewerage system.

As a result, water temperatures in Tokyo Bay are also on the rise. According to a survey by the Tokyo City Environmental Research Centre, the water temperature in the bay has risen by 2 degrees in the last 20 years. Plankton flourishing, leading to a lack of oxygen in the water, and the appearance and abnormal propagation of non-native species of shellfish are both considered consequences of the warming of the water. Yasunobu Ashie, Senior Researcher at the Architectural Research Centre (in Tsukuba City, Ibaragi prefecture) illustrates the amount of artificial heat produced in the 23 wards of Tokyo in one Summer’s day by saying “You could fill Tokyo Dome 70% full of water, and this heat would be enough to evaporate it all in an instant.”

Professor Takehiko Mikami of Tokyo Capital University predicts that the temperature in the capital will reach peaks of over 40 degrees by 2025, and from 2050 such temperatures would be a regular feature of the climate.

Other cities are beginning to notice the same problems : last August, Osaka experienced 14 days when temperatures were over 35 degrees C, with 230 cases of heat-stroke reported. In the Spring, the cherry blossom is coming out unusually early.

Images from opening night of Heat Island, 20 October 2007, Shibuya.

(This post has been edited since it was originally published and may be added to as images are discovered)

From Oricon Style site

From Cinemacafe.net

From Cinema Buzzlog (needs to be investigated further)

From MoPix

From Gyao Cinema

Images captured from the various trailers now available on the official site for Heat Island, scheduled to open 20 October.