Bank: Toronto’s Trees Worth $7 Billion

One of Canada’s largest banks has announced that their economic research has concluded that in Toronto alone the tree canopy is worth $7 Billion (CAD). The non-monetary value of trees is obvious to most people and usually that’s enough to justify keeping trees around. However, there are people who only think in monetary terms and to those people we can now use the results of economic research to prove the greatness of trees.

If Toronto’s trees are worth $7 Billion, just imagine what the total value of trees are around the world!

It’s also well known that trees help manage temperature, both by blocking cold winds in winter, but also keeping the city cool in summer. Alexander said the net cooling effect on the city of a young, healthy tree is equivalent to 10 room-sized air conditioners, running 20 hours a day.

“On their own, these effects might seem small, but over the long term, these benefits make a significant contribution to environmental well-being,” Alexander said.

Beyond mitigating the need to belch out any more air pollution to cool the city, trees also provide an important role in storing pollutants already out there. The total amount of carbon currently stored in Toronto’s urban forest is estimated at 1.1 million tonnes — roughly the amount emitted by 700,000 cars a year.

Read more here.

Support DeepCity 2030: A City Sim About Cats And Resilient Cities

DeepCity Pitch video from DeepCITY Project on Vimeo.

DeepCity 2030 is like Sim City meets Clash of Clans plus a Laser Cat and at least one Disco Jesus. The game has a hyperbolic approach to climate change and it’s up to the player to figure out what sort of city they want to create. Players can deal with environmental issues by harming other players or by trying to build a green utopia. It’s a social game with a fun environmental twist. The team includes theatre of The End of Suburbia.

By the year 2030, 6 out of 10 humans will live in cities. The way these urban centres evolve to manage their energy and waste will determine the fate of the planet. Deep City 2030 asks the question, ‘What if cities could save the world?’.

The game combines a gritty steampunk aesthetic and off-beat humour with ongoing opportunities for players to demonstrate strategic prowess by inventing possible world futures.

The goal in Deep City 2030 is to survive and build a livable city, using whatever tactics you choose. It’s in your power to create a city that reigns supreme in the face of hostile competitors, a greedy Overlord, and cataclysmic world events. Be the leader of your own futuristic empire in Deep City 2030!

The game starts in a city in the year 2030. Dark, whimsical characters inhabit and can change the city as you play. Players explore deeper post-apocalyptic settings or work towards building resilient cities, solo or multiplayer. Your friends in social networks can be key advisors or adversaries. As in the real world, there are a lot of ways to “get ahead”. You can forge alliances with other players to make your city a better place for everyone. Or you can embrace the dark side and go rogue.

Support DeepCity now.

More coverage about the game elsewhere:

Boing Boing
Cliqist
Animal NY

Full disclosure: I provided some advice for this game.
This post original appeared on my game design blog.

Doctors Say Healthy People Come From Good Urban Design

A new report written by a handful of doctors titled Improving Health Care by Design concludes that in order to have a healthy populace we need cities designed for health. There is nothing startling in the report but it does provide one more reference and tool for people to use inspire positive change in their own communities.

The results: if we want healthy people, we need to build healthy communities. This means, the doctors suggest, that our communities need to made more conducive to walking, cycling, and public transit. The report concludes with calls for “major changes” in community design across the GTHA.

These are not perhaps particularly novel observations, few would argue that more opportunities for physical activity leads to better overall health. But the report, written as it was by doctors, adds leverage to these ideas by attempting to quantify more specifically, the health effects of good community planning.

Read more.

Illinois Bans Microbeads in Beauty Products

In the USA, Illinois is he first jurisdiction to ban the sale of microbeads. Microbeads are tiny plastic spheres used in exfoliants which are cheaper to use than natural products like seeds and nuts. This ban is great news because along the great lakes microbeads are found inside the belles of fish and other marine life. The environmental damage caused by microbeads is still being figured out, we already know that they are awful for nature so the ban by Illinois is hopefully one of many to come.

The new law bans the manufacture of personal care products containing microbeads by the end of 2017, the sale of personal care products and the manufacture of over the counter drugs by the end of 2018, and the sale of over the counter drugs by the end of 2019.

Environmentalists have said the non-biodegradable plastic particles used as exfoliants in many facial cleansers and soaps slip through sewage system filters and pile up in waterways, where they suck up toxins and harm wildlife. Preliminary studies in Lake Michigan have found millions of microbeads.

Read more here.

It’s Time to Reset the Net

One year ago today Edward Snowden revealed to the world evidence that many long suspected – that the American government is actively performing mass surveillance. Innocent people have been targeted and information the likes of which we’ll never fully know has been collected on nearly anyone who’s used the internet.

It’s not just the American NSA that is spying on the public – it’s global. In Canada, CSEC has been collecting mass data on the Canadian populace no matter who it is. In this sort of police state surveillance we need to operate as if everything we do online is being watched. This is NOT ok.

Today, June 5th, organizations like Mojang, Amnesty International, and even Google are calling for this intrusive spying to stop. The campaign Reset the Net is calling on websites, apps, and everything in-between to use technical solutions to make the mass surveillance run by governments more difficult. Governments shouldn’t be able to read your communications without due process.

Open Media has this to say:

In the year since we first learned the lurid details of the NSA’s dragnet spying operation, a massive wave of opposition has echoed across the world. Millions have taken action online and in the streets with one clear message: mass surveillance by any government is illegitimate. It violates our right to be ourselves, and undermines freedom of speech and democracy.

Despite the massive public outcry, a whole year after the revelations governments have failed to address our concerns. The NSA and other spy agencies are still tapping our phones and computers, while politicians endlessly debate our rights away.

Let’s work together to protect our privacy and send decision-makers a message they can’t ignore. Click here to learn how you can help Reset the Net.

Reset the Net