Economic development: Start with a Tucson metropolitan microgrid
By Terry Finefrock Special to the Arizona Daily Star Arizona Daily Star
January 23, 2015
There is great potential that electricity costs could be reduced, increases avoided, system reliability improved and recurring economic benefits provided by establishing utility-scale photovoltaic solar electric facilities within and adjacent to the Tucson distribution grid.
By [...]

[ Sunday, January 4, 2015; 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm. ] at The Loft Cinema, 3233 East Speedway Boulevard, Tucson AZ 85716
Start the New Year Right: Gear Up to Fight Climate Change!
The Yes Men Are Revolting

On Sunday, January 4 at 1:00 p.m., Sustainable Tucson will partner with the Loft for a special preview screening of The Yes Men Are Revolting, with the duo of pranksters tackling [...]

Climate: The Crisis and the Movement
by Naomi Klein & Allen White
Wherein lie the roots of the climate crisis? Allen White, Senior Fellow at the Tellus Institute, talks with writer and activist Naomi Klein, author of the new book This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs the Climate, about how our economic system has driven us to [...]

 
What climate change asks of us: moral obligation, mobilization and crisis communication
by Margaret Klein
“Humans contain a great capacity to help each other, to dutifully respond to the needs of others, and to improve the world around us… When it is clear there is an emergency, and we have a vital role in responding to it, [...]

 
The Oil Price Crash of 2014 
by Richard Heinberg
Oil prices have fallen by half since late June. This is a significant development for the oil industry and for the global economy, though no one knows exactly how either the industry or the economy will respond in the long run. Since it’s almost the end of [...]

[ Monday, November 10, 2014; 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. ] The most recent Greenhouse Gas Inventory (2012) for our region has recently been released, showing a slight decrease since its peak in 2010. Nationally, this same trend is attributed to reduced emissions from electricity generation, improvements in energy efficiencies, reduction in travel and yearly fluctuation in prevailing weather conditions. For the Tucson region the two [...]

[ Monday, October 13, 2014; 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm. ] From Garbage to Gold: Turning Organic “Waste” Into a Valuable Resource
Meeting at Joel D. Valdez Main Library, Lower Level Meeting Room, 101 N. Stone (free lower level parking off Alameda St.)

Compost is a good alternative to chemical fertilizers…It doesn’t pollute groundwater, wells, or waterways.
Compost keeps organic materials out of landfills, reducing methane gas emissions.
Compost sequesters [...]

NOTE: This petition is an initiative of the Broadway Coalition which is solely responsible for processing and managing the results. Sustainable Tucson hosts this online petition drive as a community service.

[...]

[ Monday, September 8, 2014; 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm. ] Garbage: Waste Or Resource?

Compost is a good alternative to chemical fertilizers…It doesn’t pollute groundwater, wells, or waterways.
Compost keeps organic materials out of landfills, reducing methane gas emissions.
Compost sequesters carbon deep in the soil
Compost promotes healthy microbial activity in the soil, providing micronutrients to plant roots and discouraging soil diseases.
Compost improves soil structure, thereby protecting topsoil [...]

[ Monday, August 18, 2014; 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm. ]  

Monday, August 18, 2014, 6:00 – 8:00 pm

Joel D. Valdez Main Library, Lower Level Meeting Room, 101 N. Stone

(free lower level parking off Alameda St.)

HOW CAN TUCSON THRIVE IN THE FACE OF ONGOING ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL MALAISE?

WHAT AILS OUR TUCSON ECONOMY?

HOW CAN TUCSON THRIVE IN THE FACE OF ONGOING ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL MALAISE?

WHAT CAN LOCAL [...]

[ Monday, July 14, 2014; 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm. ] Tucson CAN Have Abundant Urban Food Production
Monday, July 14, 5:30-8:00 pm
Joel D. Valdez Main Library, Lower Level Meeting Room, 101 N. Stone
(free lower level parking off Alameda St.)
Urban agriculture is becoming much more common — in many forms, not just backyard gardens. Voters of Tucson recently adopted a General Plan that endorses urban food production, [...]

[ Friday, July 11, 2014; 5:00 pm; ] at Tucson Electric Power Company, 88 East Broadway, Downtown Tucson AZ (two blocks south of Ronstadt Transit Center)

Tucson Talks Transit – with Jarrett Walker
Friday, July 11, 2014
5:00 p.m. Sign-in and Reception
6:00 p.m. FREE Public Presentation

Jarrett Walker, the preeminent transit planner and transit thinker, will visit Tucson for a town hall the evening of Friday, July [...]

What climate activists should learn from the Monterey Shale downgrade
by Kurt Cobb
Published by Resource Insights on 2014-06-01
Original article: http://resourceinsights.blogspot.com/2014/06/what-climate-activists-should-learn.html
 
There is an important hidden lesson for climate activists in the vast downgrade of recoverable oil resources now thought to be available from California’s Monterey Shale. Almost all climate activists have rejected any talk that the world’s [...]

The great imaginary California oil boom: Over before it started
by Kurt Cobb, originally published by Resource Insights  | May 25, 2014
 
It turns out that the oil industry has been pulling our collective leg.
 
The pending 96 percent reduction in estimated deep shale oil resources in California revealed last week in the Los Angeles Times calls into [...]

Request to RTA Board
April 25, 2013
Honorable RTA Board:     Thank you for my reappointment to the CART as an original member. I continue to be honored to serve the RTA and larger regional community in this role.
Having closely followed the Broadway Blvd Project at public meetings and interviews, I want the following comments to be considered [...]

 
A Request and Proposal to the RTA Board

by  Bob Cook,      April 7, 2011
 
Honorable Board members, I come before you as a planner, engaged citizen, and veteran of many local planning efforts. I was an active participant in the RTA planning process and because of the generous treatment for transit expansion, the streetcar project, and making [...]

BROADWAY COALITION:  Design Criteria for the Improvement of Broadway
Based on all the facts we have examined and studies available to us, from the RTA as well as from national studies [See our website: https://sites.google.com/site/broadwaycoalition], we have arrived at a set of criteria that should be applied to all alternatives proposed for the Broadway Boulevard Improvement [...]

Broadway Coalition Design Criteria for the Improvement of Broadway
Arizona Daily Star June 8th OpEd : Pro 100′ width Broadway by Robert Cook
Arizona Daily Star June 8th OpEd: RTA viewpoint by Douglas Mance
Follow-up lobby letter to public officials June 9th by Robert Cook
It is the width, not the number of lanes: Broadway Coalition notes
Broadway Coalition: Some [...]

RTA and County Should Heed Community’s Vision for Broadway Project
 By Robert Cook , June 8, 2014
This is the June 8th Sunday Arizona Daily Star Guest Opinion without the Star’s edits. Note the Star’s edited headline is: “8-Lane Roadway No Longer Makes Sense.”
 
The two-year design phase of the Broadway Boulevard, Euclid to Country Club Project is [...]

 
Options available for Broadway project that meet RTA’s ‘functionality’ test
by Douglas Mance,  Special to the Arizona Daily Star,  June 08, 2014
 
The last time I addressed the Broadway Corridor Citizens Task Force, I let them know I wanted those dedicated volunteers to succeed in their efforts to come up with a design that would be acceptable [...]

[ Monday, June 9, 2014; 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm. ] BUILDING RESILIENT NEIGHBORHOODS:
Eco-villages and Social Cohesion
Monday, June 9, 2014, 5:30 – 8:00 pm
Joel D. Valdez Main Library, Lower Level Meeting Room,
101 N. Stone, (free lower level parking off Alameda St.)
With climate change increasing the likelihood of heat waves, flooding and other emergencies that may overwhelm first responders, and when “sheltering in place” becomes the default [...]

[ Monday, May 12, 2014; 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm. ]  
Sustainable Tucson’s May Meeting:
CAN MUSHROOMS SAVE THE WORLD?
 
Monday, May 12, 2014,    5:30 – 8:00 pm
Joel D. Valdez Main Library, Lower Level Meeting Room,
101 N. Stone, (free lower level parking off Alameda St.)
 

What do human health, environmental detoxification, consumer waste recycling and a great-tasting and healthy locally produced food source have in common? – MUSHROOMS! Learn [...]

[ Sunday, April 20, 2014; 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm. ] Welcome the Third Economic Revolution

A talk on converting from a Consumer Killer Economy to a Sustainable Green Economy
by John ‘Skip’ Laitner, featured speaker at Sustainable Tucson’s December 2013 General Meeting.

Skip is a Resource and Energy Economist, International Economic Conversion Consultant, and Visiting Fellow to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.

Hear how he is advising [...]

[ Monday, April 14, 2014; 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm. ] Sustainable Tucson’s April Meeting:
Local Water – Localized Food?
 
Monday, April 14, 2014,    5:30 – 8:00 pm

Joel D. Valdez Main Library, Lower Level Meeting Room,
101 N. Stone, (free lower level parking off Alameda St.)
 

How much local food can Tucson produce? And how much local water is available to produce it?

For several thousand years the Tucson region has [...]

[ Monday, March 10, 2014; 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm. ]  

Sustainable Tucson’s March Meeting:
Preparedness for a World of Change

Monday, March 10, 2014,    5:30 – 8:00 pm

Joel D. Valdez Main Library, Lower Level Meeting Room,
101 N. Stone, (free lower level parking off Alameda St.)

Join the Sustainable Tucson community and extended network to hear Nicole Foss, world-renown lecturer and co-creator of TheAutomaticEarth.Com speak from their DVD on [...]

[ Monday, February 10, 2014; 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm. ] Sustainable Tucson’s February Meeting:
IS YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD READY FOR CLIMATE CHANGE?
Monday, February 10, 2014,    5:30 – 8:00 pm

Joel D. Valdez Main Library, Lower Level Meeting Room,
101 N. Stone, (free lower level parking off Alameda St.)

Last November 14th, the State of Arizona ran a simulation of an emergency event that included a 72-hour power outage – the [...]

[ Monday, December 9, 2013; 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm. ] XXXX
At Joel D. Valdez Main Library, Lower Level Meeting Room,
101 N. Stone, Downtown (free lower level parking off Alameda St)
 
Sustainable Tucson December Meeting: The Economic Imperative of Energy Efficiency: Leading Tucson to More Jobs and a Robust Economy While Mitigating Climate Change
This month, Sustainable Tucson brings international expertise and vision to our community to understand [...]

Will the real International Energy Agency please stand up?
Published by Resource Insights on 2013-11-16
Original article: http://resourceinsights.blogspot.com/2013/11/will-real-international-energy-agency.html by Kurt Cobb
It was as if the International Energy Agency were appearing on the old American television game show To Tell the Truth last week as it offered a third contradictory forecast in the space of a year.
You may [...]

Loss and Damage @Warsaw
Published by Daily Kos on 2013-11-15
Original article: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/11/15/1255756/-Loss-and-Damage-Warsaw by Deborah Phelan
The issue of ‘loss and damage’, which at long last mainstreamed at last year’s COP18, is vying for center stage in Warsaw as COP19 participants wrestle with the problems of effectively addressing and financing the irreparable impacts of climate change, those impacts [...]

Energy Crunch: the global picture
Published by New Economics Foundation on 2013-11-15
Original article: http://www.neweconomics.org/blog/entry/energy-round-up-the-global-picture by Energy Crunch staff
Three things you shouldn’t miss this week

The dwindling emissions budget if we are to limit global warming to no more than 2°C.

Graphic: International Energy Agency World Energy Outlook 2013
Article: Shale’s Effect on Oil Supply Is Not Expected to Last -  According to [...]

Who knew that Seoul was a leader in the sharing economy?
by Richard Heinberg
xxxxxx
Published by Post Carbon Institute on 2013-11-12
Original article: http://www.postcarbon.org/blog-post/1949822-who-knew-that-seoul-was-a

xxxxxx
Did you know that Seoul, South Korea is one of the world’s key sites for post-growth economic re-development? No? Neither did I, until I saw for myself.
xxxxxx
I was pleased to be invited to give the [...]

[ Monday, November 11, 2013; 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm. ] at Tucson Association of Realtors conference room,  2445 N. Tucson Blvd   (one block north of Grant Rd)

But, could something like a 2030 District in Tucson help align many efforts to support economic re-generation in our community?    Come join us on:
Monday. November 11, 5:30 – 8:30 pm 
PLEASE NOTE: SPECIAL MEETING LOCATION
Tucson Association of Realtors
2445 N. [...]

When Wealth Disappears
By STEPHEN D. KING
Published October 6, 2013,  New York Times
 
LONDON — AS bad as things in Washington are — the federal government shutdown since Tuesday, the slim but real potential for a debt default, a political system that seems increasingly ungovernable — they are going to get much worse, for the United States [...]

[ Monday, October 14, 2013; 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm. ] Sustainable Tucson October Meeting: Investing in Local Solar Energy Solutions
at Joel D. Valdez Main Library, Lower Level Meeting Room,
101 N. Stone, Downtown (free lower level parking off Alameda St)

Investing in Local Solar Energy Solutions
As Tucson begins planning to reduce its greenhouse gases 80% by 2050, the largest emissions sector (59%) arises from the generation [...]

[ Monday, September 9, 2013; 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm. ] Monday, September 9, 2013

5:30 pm to 8:00 pm

at Joel D. Valdez Main Library, Lower Level Meeting Room, 101 N. Stone, Downtown (free lower level parking off Alameda St)

ST September Meeting
Working Together Toward a Sustainable Community
Part IV

Sustainable Tucson’s “Conversations with our Public Officials” series provides Tucson community members the opportunity to meet with local public officials [...]

[ Wednesday, August 7, 2013; 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm. 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm. Wednesday, August 14, 2013; 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm. 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm. Wednesday, August 21, 2013; 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm. 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm. ] This is a series of short courses for people who want to engage in effective City planning.

August 7: Land Use Planning 101

The fundamentals of planning in Arizona cities and counties including subdivisions, lot-splits, master development plans, public input, comprehensive and general plans. Presented by Mark Apel, Area Extension Agent, Pima County Cooperative Extension.

August 14: Incorporating [...]

A Radical Approach to the Climate Crisis
by Christian Parenti, July 19, 2013
Several strands of green thinking maintain that capitalism is incapable of a sustainable relationship with non-human nature because, as an economic system, capitalism has a growth imperative while the earth is finite. One finds versions of this argument in the literature of eco-socialism, deep [...]

Arctic Methane Release Due To Climate Change Could Cost Global Economy $60 Trillion, Study Reports
By Nina Chestney
LONDON, July 24 (Reuters) – A release of methane in the Arctic could speed the melting of sea ice and climate change with a cost to the global economy of up to $60 trillion over coming decades, according to [...]

Our Coming Food Crisis
By Gary Paul Nabhan,  Published by the New York Times: July 21, 2013
 
TUCSON, Ariz. — THIS summer the tiny town of Furnace Creek, Calif., may once again grace the nation’s front pages. Situated in Death Valley, it last made news in 1913, when it set the record for the world’s hottest recorded [...]

[ Friday, August 16, 2013; 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm. Saturday, August 17, 2013; 9:00 am to 11:00 am. ] Community garden at 901 East 12th Street, Tucson AZ

Saturday – rain date or overflow second workshop

 
Composting workshop specifically designed for dry deserts

Specifically designed for dry deserts, this workshop focuses on
• Low water use, conserving water for hot composting rather than dry slow
• Cold method
• Easy on your back
• Low maintenance saves you water and time.
• [...]

[ Friday, September 20, 2013; 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Saturday, September 21, 2013; 7:30 am to 5:30 pm. ] Free lecture Friday evening at the TEP Unisource Building, 88 East Broadway, Tucson AZ

Saturday conference at the Tucson Convention Center (details below)

Tucson will be hosting a climate change conference focused on public health and climate adaptation in September, sponsored by Physicians for Social Responsibility and 35 other local and national organizations. The following guest [...]

The One Thing You Need to Know about the President’s Plan to Address Climate Change
by Kurt Cobb,    June 30, 2013
 
The one thing you need to know about President Obama’s plan to address climate change is that the most it will accomplish is slowing very slightly the pace at which the world is currently hurtling toward [...]

[ Monday, July 8, 2013; 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm. ] Monday, July 8th, 5:30 – 8:00, Joel D. Valdez Main Library, 101 N. Stone, Downtown (free lower level parking off Alameda St)

Sustainable Tucson will show a variety of films at our July general meeting. Included among the short and medium length topics are greening the desert, climate change in the arctic, how the people of [...]

[ Monday, June 10, 2013; 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm. ] at Joel D. Valdez Main Library, 101 N. Stone, Downtown (free lower level parking off Alameda St)
Working Together Toward a Sustainable Community
Part III

Last spring Sustainable Tucson hosted two “Conversations with our Public Officials.” Tucson community members had the opportunity to meet with City public officials to discuss a wide range of sustainability issues. The [...]

[ Sunday, May 19, 2013; 1:30 pm; Saturday, May 25, 2013; 11:30 am; ] Free movie at Murphy-Wilmot Public Library, 530 N Wilmot Road Tucson, AZ

March begins May 25 at 12 noon at Reid Park, 900 Randolph Way, Tucson AZ

 
May 19 Sunday 1:30 pm – free documentary movie showing and discussion of “The World According to Monsanto” at the Murphy-Wilmot Public Library, 530 N Wilmot Road Tucson, AZ. [...]