Articles About Environment and Planning
We talk quite a bit in the conservation community about invasive species and the threats they pose to habitats and ecosystems.We have to deal with invasive species on conserved lands, typically invasive plants like kudzu and privet, which can spread rapidly and choke out native vegetation. However, other invasives have had an even broader impact […]
By the mid-1960s, the U.S. had become sensitized to the environmental damage caused by harmful human practices, particularly the use of pesticides and DDT, following Rachel Carson’s 1962 pivotal book on this issue, Silent Spring. Carson was an eminent biologist, ecologist, and writer at a time when women in the fields of science and research […]
Have opinions about how development should look along the hoped-for next leg of Charlotte’s light rail line? Thursday is the first of three public workshops scheduled to help planners as they draw up area plans for six* of the 11 station areas. All three meetings will be 6-8 p.m. at Sugar Creek Presbyterian Church, 101 […]
Most water quality indicators in Mecklenburg County are “good,” but its streams are not as clean as they should be, says the county’s latest State of the Environment Report. Three of four environmental indicators in this category are rated “good” and either trending up or stable. The fourth, “streams,” is rated “fair” but stable. Read […]
In the Western United States, fire season generally runs from April to September. This year has seen historic fires. The largest wildfire on record in New Mexico started in the Gila National Forest in May, eventually growing to nearly 300,000 acres. A record heat wave in June helped spur the Waldo Canyon fire, Colorado’s most […]
Just a few hours before he would give the biggest speech of his career at the Democratic National Convention, Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx was using his expanding political capital to pitch a group of community and business leaders on the merits of political consolidation between the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. His proposal to […]
Air quality continues to be Mecklenburg County’s biggest environmental problem, says the county’s latest State of the Environment Report. Ozone pollution is the particular weak spot, the report says, rating that indicator “poor” – the only such rating in the report. It took Mecklenburg County until the summers of 2008-10 to meet the 1997 national […]
Using nature as a model, a team of UNC Charlotte students and faculty has designed an energy-efficient house that includes a network of small pipes in the walls and ceiling, a type of concrete made from coal-burning waste and a complex dashboard control. The team from three different UNC Charlotte colleges unveiled its design for […]
Who doesn’t prefer a park to asphalt or concrete? What would you rather see, a parking place, or a park? That’s the impulse at the heart of International PARK(ing) Day. The yearly event has artists and other citizens transforming parking spaces – temporarily – into more people-friendly places. The event began in 2005 when workers […]
The word “sustainability” and its associated derivatives are thrown around with abandon to describe everything from architecture to Jay-Z’s diet. But what does it mean, really? Tuesday, I attended a panel discussion where experts discussed how Charlotte could move toward a more sustainable future. There was talk of sprawl and ozone, policy and transit. Statistics […]
Developer Daniel Levine – who with his father, Al Levine, and uncle Leon Levine together own some 23 acres of prime First Ward Property – has become a key player for the future of uptown development. Until now, he hasn’t developed much, keeping the land as parking lots. But that’s changing. Levine has partnered with […]
Hiking the ridgelines and hillsides of the Uwharries, you pass through forests dominated by hickory, oak and sourwood. There are large patches of knee-high blueberry bushes, and the herbaceous layer is sparse. On occasion, an attentive and adventurous outdoor enthusiast might also run across natural areas that change abruptly and appear remarkably different from this […]