Global Culture

Today, a year ago, I started this blog. One hundred and fifty posts later I’m facing yet another “writer’s block”. As an exercise to get myself to start writing quickly (it is almost midnight), I try to remember the important events of the last year: certainly the highlight would have to be [...]

[Read more →]

As mentioned earlier this week, Toronto’s Mayor launched the project Zerofootprint Toronto:
A dynamic hybrid of environmental footprint calculator and a web-based social network, Zerofootprint Toronto is designed to help citizens reduce their environmental footprint significantly. The new tool graphically illustrates to users the impact every aspect of their daily lives has on the environment while [...]

[Read more →]

It takes a few passionate citizens to make a difference in a city. And it only takes a few cities to make a difference in the world. So it is very encouraging to see events like Open Cities being organized with a grassroots approach -applying all the good lessons that have created thriving [...]

[Read more →]

Toronto’s Mayor David Miller is planning to launch the project GoZero! Toronto during the C40 Climate Summit this week. The project
is a joint venture between the City of Toronto and Zerofootprint, a Toronto-based not-for-profit who designed and developed the innovative tool at the heart of the campaign. This tool brings together environmental [...]

[Read more →]

Next week the Mayors from 40 of the world’s largest cities will gather in New York to review progress, share best practices, identify collaboration opportunities and set action plans to fight climate change. The C40 Large Cities Climate Summit program will include topics such as Beating Congestion, Decentralized Energy, Efficient Water Supply, Climate [...]

[Read more →]

The Toronto Star has been running a series entitled War on Poverty. Although the focus of the series is on the local problem (as it should be), the issues and ideas are likely to be global. To the main question as to Why is the gap between rich and poor widening, the newspaper [...]

[Read more →]

Continuing with the annotation of the special report on cities by The Economist. If you haven’t, please read part 1 first.

Failures at the top: concludes that the single most important factor contributing to the success of a modern city is its government. All great cities, or cities that have gone through important renewal [...]

[Read more →]