By Brian Skeele, on May 7th, 2011 I just watched John Hunter’s TED presentation….So Dang Good!  He has his 4th graders solving World Peace in one week!  I wrote him to see if the game, played on a 3 dimensional 4’x4′ board game, could be adapted to sustainable neighorhoods.  Social, Economic and Ecological sustainability is so complicated, but hey, so …

By Brian Skeele, on May 5th, 2011 I’ve started a list of good ideas that come about if we rethink the functions and interplay of our home and its neighborhood.  So far I’ve got 29 killer (If I do say so myself)  ideas.  The first 7 are home oriented, the last 22 are more neighborhood oriented. Add your ideas to the …

By Brian Skeele, on March 20th, 2011 350 is a pretty dang  good batting average. It’s also the amount of carbon in parts per million that scientists have agreed upon that makes for a sustainable planet. In other words, if we want to avoid a lot of the impending bummers that come with Global Warming, we need to figure out how to …

By Brian Skeele, on April 11th, 2011 As we face higher gasoline prices again, we’re getting more practice in the emerging, post peak oil economy. Our ingenuity will kick in, our lifestyle will transform, all “good for people, the planet, and the polar bears”.  With this global warming dealie, time is of the essence; we can evolve faster, learn from our mistakes, …

Meltdowns and Other Impending Bummers By Brian Skeele, on March 17th, 2011 “Oh so many, ways to be wicked” I woke this morning to the song playing in my head, Maria McKee and Lone Justice belting it out, my personal soundtrack….the Japanese Meltdown is in Day 6. I call em Impending Bummers. When I think about doing something unknown, I can have …

By Brian Skeele, on March 8th, 2011 1/3 of the Boomers want to move in.  88% of the Millennials want to move in. The problem is, Sustainable Urban Villages don’t exist! Building Your Neighborhood Sustainable Well they do, between my ears and in my heart, but we need a great modeling tool so all the future residents, landowners, finance people, city planners, …

By Brian Skeele, on June 1st, 2011 Imagine. An elementary school and the surrounding neighborhoods joining  together to become  a sustainable community with the school at its heart -Part 6 Locally Created Services and Products – the Sustainable Economy Emerges As homes and business were renovated into multiple-storied, zero emission buildings, more space was created for residences, services and commercial usages. …

By Brian Skeele, on April 1st, 2011 Because they only made so many old, raggedy dinosaurs From the chart on the right, you can see the predicted world peak oil production… looks like 2012-13 to me. Notice how the line heads south in rapid order; Down 25% by 2020… that is incredible!!! I can understand why oil companies want to …

By Brian Skeele, on July 7th, 2011 Jan 1 2006….I’m talking to my sister about how her weekend was, she and her hubby and two daughters went down to Albq for the weekend, stayed in the Embassy Suites and had a good time…but last night, New Years Eve, “these young (white) kids were trashing the place. What’s the deal with …

By Brian Skeele, on March 16th, 2011 Sustainable Urban Village is an odd phrase. Sustainable Urban Village is a mash up of opposites. “Village” is pastoral, dreamy, idealistic, old fashioned, small and intimate. “Urban” conjures up pretty much the opposite-gritty, concrete and asphalt, contemporary, hip, huge and cold. Add “sustainable” to the mix, and it becomes ….an odd phrase. Where …