Moving Toward Sustainable Prosperity

A new book suggests that living alone could be a very green option. But wouldn’t living with one’s parents, grandparents, and children be even more sustainable?

Spain has committed to building an ambitious high-speed rail network — part of an overall decision to prioritize public transportation investments over highway spending. The country’s crisis will severely test its ability to achieve its ambitions, but it is providing leadership that the United States–confronted with crumbling infrastructure and over-reliance on automobiles–could learn from.

Guest post by Juliet Schor* *Juliet Schor is Professor of Sociology at Boston College and author, most recently of Plenitude: the new economics of true [Read More...]

Here is another installment in our series of blog posts on rail developments.  Like the earlier posts in the series, this is drawn from our [Read More...]

According to the consulting firm SCI Verkehr, worldwide operations and capital budgets for passenger and freight rail were a combined $590 billion in 2008. Another [Read More...]

As U.S. investment in rail and transit has shrunk over the decades, other countries have stepped in to fill the gap. Many countries in Europe [Read More...]

Our previous blog post announced the release of two companion reports assessing the state of the rail industry worldwide and in the United States. Here, [Read More...]

This blog post was co-authored by Michael Renner and Gary Gardner The Worldwatch Institute has produced two companion reports that assess the state of rail [Read More...]

The United Steelworkers Union (USW) has long recognized that environmental health and economic wellbeing are inseparable. As long ago as 1990, the USW declared “the [Read More...]

This post was co-authored by Gary Gardner and Michael Renner How do we reconcile simple living, which we have long espoused as an essential ingredient [Read More...]

Rail advocates found reason to cheer when President Obama announced a “comprehensive infrastructure plan to expand and renew our nation’s roads, railways and runways.” Though [Read More...]

Ridership on U.S. subways, light and commuter rail, buses, and other forms of urban mass transit is on the rise. In recent years, the number [Read More...]

A Washington Post article this week reported the opening of the District of Columbia’s latest set of dedicated bike lanes, part of a citywide effort [Read More...]

In the midst of a deep economic crisis, public investment in intercity rail and urban transit is seen as a way to kickstart languishing economies, and to create jobs in both manufacturing and operating public transportation systems. That’s true even in the United States, which for decades has neglected rail and transit even as the federal government has invested huge sums of money in highways and air travel infrastructure. The economic stimulus program offers close to $18 billion for urban transit and intercity passenger rail systems. It could be the start to a revival of U.S. rail manufacturing and associated jobs.

I can’t help but notice the deep discrepancy in the manner with which President Obama is handling two headline issues: Afghanistan and climate stability. In [Read More...]