the 2024 storyfest competition and winners

this year over 154 stories were submitted from 60 universities within six categories: 

• best story written by a media student 
• best story written by a non-media student
• best multimedia story written by a media student 
• best multimedia story written by a non-media student
• best video by a media student
• best video by a non-media student

additionally, two of the 32 finalists were selected for the gw award for excellence in storytelling and the spotlight award for community storytelling. 

on april 18th, at the planet forward summit the 2024 winners were announced. joy reeves, ayah mahana, and mickki garrity were selected to accompany frank sesno and aaron dye on a nine-day trip to the galápagos islands where they worked to create additional stories to be published on planet forward. sesno and dye serve as the students’ editors-in-residence by helping the students shape their stories, answer questions, conduct interviews, and coordinate with lindblad expeditions and galápagos naturalists.  

these trips have become part of the planet forward tradition, sesno believes the trip helps “incentivize and recognize great student storytelling around the planet and gives students a once in a lifetime awesome experience to travel the world.”

the 2024 trip marks the first time a gw president has accompanied the team on the trip. in 2023, former gw president mark wrighton began to speak with university leadership and trustees about planet forward and the storytelling expedition which led to four trustees joining the 2023 trip to iceland. trustees grace e speights, michelle rubin, judith lane rogers, and donna hill staton self-funded their trip. they found the trip wonderful and enjoyed interacting with the storyfest winners while they sought out new story ideas. upon hearing from the trustees about the trip, president granberg decided she would join the 2024 trip in order to experience planet forward and watch the students create stories as well.

the winners’ stories

joy reeves joined planet forward during her second year of graduate school at duke university. reeves has a background in environmental management and environmental economics and policy. despite having no formal journalism training, she decided to apply for storyfest because she was inspired by innovative initiatives in her field. reeves spent her practicum working in community based environmental management with local environmental justice organizations. this eventually allowed her to connect with the north carolina environmental justice network. this network is where she learned about the “spider web initiative” where scientists are using spider webs to track air pollution and particles in the air. reeves’s submission “your friendly neighborhood spider-party: community scientists use spider webs to monitor air pollution” uses her cartoonist background to create a visual and textual hybrid, found here. 

reeves went into the trip to the galápagos knowing she wanted to write about a community science initiative, and chose iguanas. this initiative uses drones and aerial technology to crowdsource the counting and monitoring of the iguana population through zoom. during covid-19 people had to stay home and work remotely, however this counting still needed to occur. drone technology made this task possible. reeves says “there is no way to prepare yourself for the splendor of the galápagos islands, in all my studies i have never felt the environment instead of just seeing it.” to learn more about this innovative tracking technology check it out here.

ayah mahana, who graduated from gw in december of 2023, took professor sesno’s sustainable reporting class which inspired her to get involved with climate reporting. she said “sesno taught me a lot about journalism, storytelling, and sustainability which brought me into planet forward.” her first story was written about a youth climate organization called zero hour, which can be found here. zero hour is entirely run and funded by people under the age of 30 and based in the metro dc area. they believe that we can turn anxiety about the climate into actions that can change the world. mahana felt the trip was “a once in a lifetime opportunity and privilege”, because “there is nowhere else in the world as pristine and preserved. the animals are happy in the galápagos, and they are much more relaxed versus the rest of the world.” mahana went into the trip unsure about what she was going to write about, and decided to take the route of exploring the island and its people before coming to a conclusion. 

eventually mahana landed on writing about the experience of one naturalist who grew up in the galápagos. celso montalvo has been working as a naturalist for the past 21 years, and is planning on retiring from his role in the galápagos next year. montalvo, while sad to be leaving the galápagos, hopes he is not present for the next el niño. el niños are a periodic warming of sea-surface temperatures that affect the central and eastern tropical pacific ocean, near the equator. el niños usually occur every two to seven years, and can have a variety of impacts on the climate including increased rainfall, droughts, and hurricanes. montalvo believes that with increasing temperatures and growing pressure in the atmosphere the next el niño will be devastating, and could seriously impact the wildlife in the galápagos. montalvo says “i have cherished my time in the galápagos encountering both the ugliness and the beauty of nature, and through it all my love for it has endured.”

president granberg’s impressions

president ellen granberg found the trip equally as meaningful and impactful as the students. granberg believes the work that has been done to protect the land and wildlife of the islands is unmatched anywhere in the world. granberg feels the storyfest winners taught her a lot on this trip. she said, “i am from a different generation. growing up in the 60s and 70s we were taught about climate change, but it was a far off thing not to worry about. the students of the world today are experiencing climate change and they see it as a problem for right now.”

granberg believes the trip will have a lasting impact on her, particularly due to witnessing sustainable tourism and the galápagos’ long term commitment to treating their land as a reserve. granberg thinks that other tourism locations can learn from the prominent and sophisticated role that tourism plays in the galápagos. “they are not taking away from the environment, but actually strengthening it through tourism,” said granberg. she also believes the efforts to not hunt animals and to restore the wildlife to the way it existed before human impact is inspiring. when asked what she would write if she were to write a story for planet forward about the trip she stated, “what really hit me the hardest was the behavior of the wildlife. because there has been no hunting for over 70 years, they were not afraid of us. i became intrigued by the relationship between these interactions and the sustainability of the species on the island.”

president granberg views planet forward and gw’s alliance for a sustainable future as “innovative thinkers on campus who are helping to bridge the gap between departments and solve problems that require an interdisciplinary approach. these organizations are helping to make information available to others about the work we are doing here at gw.”

the storyfest cycle begins each year as schools reconvene for the fall semester, with the deadline to submit stories in late winter. any interested students should keep an eye on planet forward for more information.

our panel discussions brought together speakers, students, and creatives from grist to national geographic to discuss the power of harnessing creativity in storytelling and how to communicate complex data in compelling formats.

an exclusive screening of the cnn documentary film “blue carbon” told the inspiring story of how combining music and science is key in averting climate change, followed by an informative discussion with the director.

on friday, attendees took part in workshops, followed by networking and lunch, generously sponsored by chaia tacos. the day was capped off with demonstrations from science and filmmaking students from rutgers university as they presented their dynamic and impactful science stories, as well as a collaborative planning session for future pillar and 2022年世界杯亚洲预选赛结果 school programming.

the summit brought together leading voices in environmental storytelling and provided two days of insightful discussions, inspiring stories, and innovative ideas to 2022年卡塔尔世界杯官网 .

katrina nicole green, of the indigenous youth climate resiliency through public policy program, gives a powerful land acknowledgement at the beginning of the summit.

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george washington university president ellen granberg delivers a welcoming statement, celebrating the work of planet forward student contributors and correspondents.

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planet forward founding director frank sesno and director of academic adventures dr. imani m. cheers recount the experiential learning trips that students have taken with planet forward over the past year.

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from left: kaitlyn yarnall, chief storytelling officer, national geographic society; farron taijeron, university of guam; owen volk, suny-esf; and libby mohn, middlebury institute of international studies; discuss storytelling from the field.

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dr. imani m. cheers onstage at the 2024 planet forward summit.

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from left: tyler hickman, university of colorado boulder; jessica stahl, editor for creative storytelling, grist; rachel frazin, energy & environment reporter, the hill; and jesse j. holland, associate director smpa; discuss the future of environmental journalism.

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from left: matt scott, project drawdown, director of storytelling and engagement, project drawdown; juan declet-barreto, union of concerned scientists; dr. neelu tummala, co-director, climate health institute, george washington university; and anna shah, george washington university discuss the use of data in storytelling.

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frank sesno; jaime perez-bedmar merello, new venture competition semi-finalist, center; and liam perry, new venture competition semi-finalist.

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frank sesno and cassandra garber, vp, corporate sustainability & esg, dell technologies; admire a planet forward mug on stage and discuss the role of complexity and science in solving the world’s most pressing problems.

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joshua panganiban, renewables lead project manager, nextera energy resources (center); and artealia gilliard, environmental leadership & sustainability communications & advocacy, ford motor company (far right); discuss corporate responsibility to sustainability.

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students and faculty from around the world gather together for a delicious vegetarian lunch provided by relish dc.

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frank sesno and aparna mukherjee, executive director, society of environmental journalists, lead the lunchtime keynote discussion.

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from left: ivey camille manybeads tso, mentor and editor, ilíiaitchik: indigenous correspondents program; and ilíiaitchik indigenous correspondents: mickki garrity, university of minnesota; nizhoni tallas, university of arizona; and abby burgess, dartmouth college.

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andrea bruce, national geographic photojournalist, educator, artist & writer; delivers a keynote speech on using photography for impact.

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from left: michelle mccauley, provost, middlebury college; mykah scott, tuskegee university; joy reeves, duke university; and chris zatarain, university of arizona.

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from left: danielle nierenberg, food tank; nicholas brown, director blue carbon; jennifer howard, vice president, blue carbon program, conservation international; and angela fritz, senior climate and weather editor, cnn; discuss the cnn documentary, blue carbon.

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from left: dr. imani cheers; joy reeves, duke university; micah seidel, rutgers university; delan li, university of connecticut; mickki garrity, university of minnesota; amy berquist, lindblad expeditions; isabella lindblad, director of brand advocacy, lindblad expeditions; and frank sesno.

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]]> //www.getitdoneaz.com/story/congratulations-2024-storyfest-winners/ sun, 21 apr 2024 00:15:10 +0000 //www.getitdoneaz.com/?p=38894 the planet forward 2024 summit culminated on thursday, april 18 with the annual storyfest awards. eight students were awarded for their work in environmental storytelling and their excellence in communication across a variety of mediums.

this year, storyfest entrants were judged in six categories: best written story by a media student, best written story by a non-media student, best video by a media student, best video by a non-media student, best multimedia story by a media student, best multimedia story by a non-media student.

planet forward staff also selected the winners of the spotlight award and the gw award; given to the stories that best profiled the environmental work of a member of a disadvantaged community, and to the work that best captured the values of george washington university, respectively.

a special thanks goes out to this year’s storyfest judging panel, which included phil frank, john sutter, elizabeth joy herzfeldt-kamprath, melanie wallace, gina murphy-darling, jake meyers, deepti bansal gage, tik root, lauren risi, and our judging chair, larry evans.

this year’s storyfest winners will travel with lindblad expeditions to the galápagos or iceland this summer to report on stories from the field.

congratulations once more to this year’s storyfest winners!

best written story by a media student

the climate necessity defense: how activists are using civil disobedience to fight climate change

by delan li, university of connecticut

the judges said, “delan moves into the focus of her story seamlessly and has a good flow, balance, and overview of the opportunities and challenges presented by this defense of civil disobedience. she did plenty of research and talked to many people, and her work paid off in a carefully and clearly written story.”

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best written story by a non-media student

making home: a story of beaver and babies

by mickki garrity, university of minnesota

the judges said, “mickki garrity has written a compelling story about our relationship with the natural world and with each other.  she begins by sharing a creation story of the nishnabek people, the story of the first man and his first teacher, the beaver.  she describes how the beaver lives in the world and how we can learn from the beaver’s example.”

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best multimedia story by a media student

looking back on alto maipo: hydropower and controversy in the chilean andes

by laura isaza & sachi kitajima mulkey, uc berkeley

the judges said, “the added element of voices gives the viewer a feeling of actually knowing who is impacted by this environmental issue and is the type of storytelling that helps one learn more through local voices. one of our judges stated that, as a spanish speaker, it was great to hear the voices of the speakers interviewed first hand. for all of the above reasons, this was our number one choice.”

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best multimedia story by a non-media student

your friendly neighborhood spider-party: community scientists use spider webs to monitor air pollution

by joy reeves, duke university

the judges said, “one of the most impressive submissions we have seen during our collective time with planet forward. clearly, so much effort went into this story from the research to the process to build out the story with very impressive drawings. the editorial quality is top notch. the three of us also loved the attribution at the end that provided a way to engage the audience to act.”

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best video by a media student

sweltering saguaros: survival in a changing desert

by jason marmon & daniel stipanovich, arizona state university

the judges said, “it took us to a place we had not been, told us things we did not know, and did so with beautiful photography, humor, creative editing, and fun music. the featured speakers were diverse, knowledgeable, and interesting. a high quality endeavor.”

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best video by a non-media student

growing gigas: farming giant clams in kosrae, micronesia

by micah seidel, rutgers university

the judges said, “micah seidel takes viewers to a place most have never been – a giant clam farm in micronesia. drone footage gives geographic context to this distant paradise, and a well-planned combination of original and acquired footage explain the intertwined plights of giant clams, corals, and entire marine ecosystems.”

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spotlight award

namé recycling: combining revenue, jobs, and sustainability

by beverly ndifoin, notre dame university

the staff said, “beverly’s story expertly shows how one person can make a gigantic difference in their community. by profiling the innovative work of namé recycling in her home country of cameroon, beverly captures how one business can make a significant impact in the fight against plastic waste pollution, while creating new, useful products in the process.”

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gw award

gen-z’s calling: one youth-climate org works to turn anxiety into action

by ayah mahana, george washington university

the staff said, “ayah’s story captures the fears, dreams, and energy of a group of young people who came together to create climate action. ayah chronicles the genesis of zero hour, whose members came from across the country, to descend on washington dc for a historic climate march in 2018. her story captures the power of young people to organize, have their voices heard, and create change.”

]]> //www.getitdoneaz.com/story/eco-gratitude-anacostia-river/ tue, 09 apr 2024 16:27:39 +0000 //www.getitdoneaz.com/?p=37323

if you’ve been to washington, d.c., the capital of the united states, chances are you’ve explored prominent landmarks like the national mall, the library of congress, and various others. but have you ever ventured to anacostia park?

enriched with a complex and nuanced history, the contemporary anacostia river exhibits significant transformations from its earlier existence as a nacotchtank settlement between the 1000s and 1600s. enduring a series of ecological and social transformations over the years, including significant events like european settlement in the 1600s, the establishment of the district’s capital in 1790, the civil war from 1861-1865, and the civil rights movement from 1954-1968, anacostia serves as a compelling illustration of how historical events and exclusionary practices can shape a city.

the community endured several years of being used as both a human and industrial waste dump as discussed in madeleine dwyer’s “forgotten by the clean water act.” then, it faced significant changes with the desegregation of local schools and the construction of the anacostia freeway in 1957. these events have deeply influenced the community leaving a lasting impact that continues to affect future generations. bruce holmes, a lifelong resident of anacostia and community liaison at friends of anacostia park, is among those whose lives have been shaped by these events.  

despite the passage of the clean water act in 1972, the anacostia river, having endured years of neglect, continues to rank among the 10 most polluted rivers in the country. this stands in stark contrast to the potomac river, situated in affluent neighborhoods like georgetown, which is often regarded as a success story for the clean water act. the disparities between these neighboring water bodies underscore the ongoing challenges faced by anacostia and highlight the persistent environmental issues that demand attention and concerted efforts for remediation. 

in recent years, numerous organizations, including friends of anacostia park – a nonprofit dedicated to enhancing the lives of dc residents by helping them build a stronger connection to the park and feel more empowered to use it – have played a crucial role in bringing attention to the anacostia river. by providing a range of recreational activities such as skating and fishing, they have contributed to the steady improvement in the river’s water quality, marked by its first passing grade in 2018, discussed in potomac conservancy report. 

while exploring the historical events that have shaped environments like anacostia, where residents have faced significant environmental injustices, maintaining a positive outlook is often difficult. this challenge is amplified by many developers seeking to profit from the river’s recent improvements. nevertheless, interviews with sophie liebel, americorps vista member at friends of anacostia park, and holmes challenge the notion that such historical events inevitably evoke only eco-anxiety.

liebel and holmes both said they are worried about the future of the park, but are also exemplifying eco-gratitude. signifying an individual’s appreciation and thankfulness towards their environment, kim-pong tam in his article on “gratitude to nature” explained how eco-gratitude involves recognizing the natural world’s inherent value by acknowledging the myriad benefits it bestows upon us and expressing gratitude for the ecosystems, resources, and biodiversity that contribute to a thriving planet.

practicing eco-gratitude can be difficult, however, holmes explained to me how showing our love and appreciation for nature can be as simple as knowing the name of a tree or the history of the land you are on. 

in weekly fishing lessons, holmes teaches fellow community members how to fish, his biggest joy in the park. during his lessons, he emphasizes the importance of knowing what kind of fish you are catching and teaching the history of the land to fellow community members. holmes “wants you to get to your recreational activities through information,” he said. when he isn’t teaching others how to fish, he said his second favorite activity is educating the public about the history of anacostia. 

in the future, holmes said would like to see the park focus more on the education of the land’s history and the public to see nature as “beautiful, powerful, and something that belongs to all.” he said doesn’t want anything decided for the park by just one person, rather the collective public needs to come together and decide what they all want as well. 

contemplating anacostia’s future restoration, including the opinions of residents like holmes, can indeed be daunting. liebel described this as she explained the hardest thing for improving anacostia will be incorporating all the good ideas.

“people don’t really realize how much knowledge there is within the community,” liebel said. however, eco-gratitude compels us to adopt a positive and appreciative perspective concerning the efforts and initiatives dedicated to enhancing the river’s condition and sustainability. this, in turn, fosters a sense of thankfulness for positive environmental actions and advances, even in the face of persistent challenges.

in 2021, the national parks service started to develop preliminary management plans for anacostia park. although the developed plans have yet to be released to the public, they rely on public input with public comments recently ending in december. these plans will offer a range of actions to improve access to trails in the park, support recreational and community use, and many other important aspects. additionally, external companies and organizations, such as rei, are working alongside friends of anacostia park on environmental restoration programs and helping to fund events such as late-night roller skating events.

moving forward, it’s crucial to acknowledge that not every environmental challenge should deter us. instead, we should embrace a perspective that combines gratitude with eco-anxiety, understanding that balance is key in all aspects of life. despite the overwhelming environmental issues and negative news, recognizing the positive steps taken and expressing gratitude for nature’s beauty is essential. holmes’ optimism and eco-gratitude toward his home provide valuable inspiration for future environmentalists confronting various injustices worldwide.

anacostia park has the potential to establish a precedent for addressing environmental injustices as community engagement continues into the future. it’s crucial to recognize, as exemplified by holmes’ inspirational story, that seemingly simple activities like fishing and appreciating the land’s history can serve as very powerful tools for practicing eco-gratitude. as efforts continue in anacostia park, holmes said he eagerly anticipates the day when the river will become both swimmable and fishable – optimistically aiming for this transformation within the next two years.

in the middle of a solar panel array in north carolina, the grass rustles with movement. a raccoon wanders between the panels. a fox wriggles through the permeable fencing and darts around the site. a cluster of turkeys stare accusingly into the wildlife camera. eventually, a curious bobcat prowls outside the fence, slinking inside and outside of the site boundary. 

the animal sightings were made possible by a carefully-placed camera trap used for conservation research. the project is part of efforts from the nature conservancy to investigate how solar development influences animal movement and work with solar developers to preserve the small corridors — or wildlife passageways — that allow for that movement. 

the sight of wildlife lingering at a solar facility between crystalline panels is an unusual one. but in north carolina, a state that ranks fourth in the nation for solar energy production and ninth for biodiversity, scientists and developers are realizing that the choice between renewables and biodiversity doesn’t have to be a trade-off.  

solar energy in the energy transition and climate crisis

amid national efforts to decarbonize the u.s. energy sector and achieve current emissions reductions goals, the u.s. is increasing its buildout of renewable energy. in the last decade, the solar industry saw an average annual growth rate of 24%, according to the solar energy industries association. 

as more and more renewables projects gain traction in states like north carolina, biologists have raised concerns over potential impacts on wildlife populations, especially amid overdevelopment and fragmentation. scientists have begun to research those impacts, but many studies have focused narrowly on bird deaths, habitat conversion,  pollinator habitat, or soil ecosystems, with fewer insights on migration and movement specifically. with climate change exacerbating the need and scale of future migrations, this research gap is a pressing one. 

while people often think of climate change as the biggest threat to biodiversity, the answer is actually habitat loss. liz kalies, the lead renewable energy scientist at the nature conservancy, spreads this message in her conservation work. “we can’t justify poor siting of renewable energy in the name of biodiversity,” said kalies. 

“but similarly, if we ignore climate change, that will also have severe consequences for biodiversity. so, we just really need to keep the two in our mind simultaneously, and not sacrifice one for the other,” she said.

strategies for building wildlife-friendly solar

fortunately, solar developers haves several options to avoid making those sacrifices: selecting sites responsibly (including repurposed mine land), building in wildlife passageways (small corridors to allow animals to pass through)—which could mean splitting a site down the middle—and letting nature reclaim parts of the facility by growing wildflowers, planting native species, or building pollinator habitats. a simple change, such as mowing the lawn in september or october instead of august, after breeding season, can make a difference, according to a research team in new york. 

one of the most promising strategies so far is permeable fencing: swapping out traditional chain-link fencing for larger-holed fencing, which is meshy enough to allow small-to-medium sized mammals to slip through. animal monitoring reports show the early promise of this fencing, as camera traps capture foxes, birds, and coyotes navigating around the fencing. in one study, wildlife-permeable fencing increased the probability that ungulates (hoofed mammals) successfully crossed through the fence by 33% — and they were able to do so in 54% less time.

camera trapping and bobcat tracking: the research behind wildlife-friendly solar

kalies and her team have launched several projects to study solar-wildlife interactions, including the camera trap project, direct site visits with developers, and even a bobcat-specific project. kalies and her team are currently working on the latter, which involves locating, sedating, radio collaring, and tracking bobcats to generate visual maps of their meanderings. bobcats are secretive, elusive animals who prefer uninterrupted vegetation, making them good candidates to study the challenges that animals may face in in solar landscapes. 

surprisingly, bobcats are interacting with the solar facilities. from the videos kalies played, it appears some of them are even drawn to the facilities for unknown reasons. in their preliminary data, one bobcat appeared to cut through a solar facility that didn’t even have a permeable fence. the team hopes to increase their sample size of bobcats in order to predict impacts of solar buildout on their populations through simulation alone.

do developers really want foxes and bobcats roaming through their facilities?

sometimes, the answer is yes, according to developers. medium-sized predators may help quell rodent populations, and rodents have been known to gnaw through the panels’ wiring, breaking the solar array.  

wildlife passageways offer other benefits to developers. at face value, building wildlife-friendly infrastructure is great for a company’s brand image and public relations — especially when local opposition to renewable projects is so prevalent, and sometimes stems from animal conservation concerns. additionally, installing wildlife-friendly fencing is economical, according to kalies. it costs roughly the same as a chain-link fence and holds up just as well structurally, based on her reports from developers. 

“i love the idea of wildlife friendly fencing,”  said scott starr, co-founder of highline renewables. 

“you’re going to be a partner with the community for 30 plus years. so, you want to do things like screen it with evergreens or use wildlife friendly fencing […] and even if it’s a small upcharge, you are looking for things to make the project work that don’t just show up in the pro forma but are also a benefit to the community.” 

as a developer who specializes in small-scale distributed generation,  starr notes that it’s common to screen for endangered species early on as part of choosing a site. “we are very careful as developers towards critical species, critical habitat, wetlands, things like that. that is part of the process.” 

but, when it comes to sharing land with wildlife, the territory is more unfamiliar. starr elaborates on the policy gaps in how governments incentivize wildlife-friendly buildout. 

“the only things that i’ve really seen are ‘we’ll give you adders to put it on this rooftop!’ and ‘we’ll give you adders if  you put it on a brownfield or co-locate with some kind of agricultural operations!’ said starr. “there never is really anything about wildlife corridors—we just don’t know.” 

while developers can’t claim that solar sites are equivalent to wildlife refuges, they do share some compelling similarities: they’re quiet, isolated, fenced off, and relatively low-disturbance on the landscape. whether or not a site is wildlife-friendly often comes down to what’s adjacent to the facility, says kalies, meaning rural sites typically have better luck than urban, overdeveloped, already-degraded plots of land. 

challenges and limitations of building wildlife passageways

some of the biggest research-specific challenges for kalies’s team include accessing sites in the first place, finding partners willing to collaborate, and hours of challenging fieldwork. another difficulty lies in data interpretation. even with data from camera traps, for example, seeing an animal onsite doesn’t mean it’s necessarily benefitting. the animal could be migrating, breeding or nesting, foraging, lost, or simply hanging out. 

starr adds that, from a developer’s perspective, even if you support wildlife-friendly fencing,  you may get a ‘no’ from the county, from financiers, or from any long-term owners of the project who might consider wildlife a risk to their multi-million dollar asset. (some developers are even concerned about bird droppings reducing the efficiency of their solar panels.)

overall, the solar industry’s ability to become “wildlife-friendly” may depend on the level of discussion happening in government. “we need clear guidance and policymaking that incentivizes these kinds of considerations,” said starr.

the future of wildlife-friendly solar 

despite these challenges, pursuing wildlife-friendly solar in north carolina may be a promising step toward preserving biodiversity. the state ranks the 13th highest in the nation for risk of species loss. while wildlife movement patterns are being studied in the western u.s. (such as pronghorn migration), more research is needed on patterns in eastern states.

the first step to preserving biodiverse populations is ensuring that animals can continue to move freely across landscapes. through siting adjustments, permeable fencing, planting wildflower pollinator habitat, and actively collaborating with scientists, the solar industry has a chance to protect wildlife. energy developers and biologists alike can take part in this initiative, giving a new meaning to “energy conservation.” 

picture this: you’re a montauk local on dec. 18 2023 and as you and your loved ones watch the news, a winter storm is expected. when hearing the term, “winter storm,” one immediately thinks of a blizzard. unfortunately, this close-knit hamlet and other long island towns experienced a storm resembling a hurricane.

it shrank many of the cherished beaches and caused major flooding, damage to coastal homes, and even a flood of trash on the shorelines. that’s not all. three more storms rolled in like turbulent waves within the next month. this destruction (to my hometown) brought perilous risks for the future of the local’s livelihoods. it’s a devastation that came to the attention of people of all ages. local instagram stories revealed ditch plains beach, webster beach, and main beach swept away by chaotic waves, leaving bare sandbags and trash for miles. 

some of the best waves come from storms like these, attracting surfers within the montauk community and outside of it, but there is a downside to this that the locals and the rest of eastern long island continue to struggle with. even though montauk is a small community, there is no doubt of its resilience when it is faced with hardships like this. we look back at hurricane sandy, a storm that ravaged the dunes, destroyed homes, and even took lives. despite those hardships and the loss of loved ones, these events have also prepared us for future ones by realizing how fragile our coastal environments truly are.  

as someone who grew up with the ocean — watching the waves crash against the coarse sand, doing the polar plunge, fishing with my family, and learning to surf — i want to protect my home. if none of us did, we wouldn’t have the lives we have now. from the moment my little self met the ocean, it immediately became a part of my life. it’s like one of your first friends that you can always go to, but the ocean will never leave. like a friendship, you need to protect it by safeguarding it and respecting how important it truly is. if you don’t, it weakens over time.

my family and i surf here, my dad takes my siblings, friends, and me out to fish. my two best friends and i paddleboard every summer, and those i graduated with from montauk public school and east hampton high school have a unique and special connection to montauk. everything in this town is interconnected because of the locals and those who visit.

click the presentation below to read the full story:

america’s solar industry is in trouble. 

who and what’s the cause of this are questions not easily answered. some point to complex supply chains. others point to problems with domestic innovation. and a few point to mamun rashid, the ceo of auxin solar, which the wall street journal calls “the most-hated solar company in america.”

the reasons for this are several. auxin filed a petition with the commerce department in 2022 accusing several chinese solar manufacturers of evading u.s. tariffs. last august, the commerce department ruled that four companies in southeast asia circumvented american tariffs on chinese made components. as a result, sweeping new solar tariffs are set to face the industry in june 2024. the countries in which those tariffs will be levied account for “nearly three-quarters of solar modules imported to the united states.”

tariffs are taxes on the import of foreign goods. they are paid by the domestic company who is purchasing those goods. 

“we are facing an unprecedented moment in american solar. many companies have relied on cheap foreign labor for their products. what we’re doing is shedding light on faulty business practices that favor china and harm american workers. we’re fighting for energy independence,” rashid said.

yet, many clean energy advocates have resoundingly criticized auxin. secretary of energy jennifer granholm stated in an interview with npr, “at stake is the complete smothering of the investment and the jobs and the independence that we would be seeking as a nation to get our fuel from our own generation sources.”

such advocates anticipate the ruling will make solar projects in america far more expensive and lengthy. according to cnn, the ruling has apparently stalled many u.s. solar projects, upending an industry critical to a clean energy future. 

this frustration, rashid claims, reflects just how reliant america’s solar industry is on foreign supply chains, many of which seep through china. according to the wall street journal, “chinese manufacturers make around 63% of the polysilicon used in most solar panels globally, and more than two-thirds of the wafers that are the next step in the manufacturing process.”

“what a decision like this forces businesses to do is rethink the way they conduct business,” said rashid. “many companies wouldn’t be as angry as they are if they hadn’t made the mistake of relying on china, so now the band-aid is peeled off and they need to develop new long-term plans. we need to incentivize companies to play by the rules and produce in america.”

rashid notes that covid exacerbated already dangerous supply chains, shedding light on american manufacturers’ reliance on foreign labor. that is what inspired him to pursue the investigation with the commerce department. now, he says, america’s solar industry bears the burden of re-shoring the supply chain. that is a process he believes tariffs will set in motion.

clean energy advocates in america believe in the need for a robust domestic solar industry. it’s an urgent policy priority. but they say in order to achieve this, we need the global supply chain in the interim.

they say it will simply take too long to accomplish energy independence to afford shattering the global supply chain, an outcome that would undoubtedly impede a clean energy future. one of these advocates is abigail ross hopper, the ceo of the solar energy industries association (seia), the trade association representing america’s solar industry. she vehemently opposes auxin’s investigation.

“the bottom line is that we all want energy independence and for america’s solar industry to thrive. but in order to achieve those long-term goals, we’ll need to rely on the global supply chain in the short-term to continue building and supporting solar projects in america over the next three to five years.” hopper said.

to re-shore america’s solar supply chain and meet this critical moment, both rashid and hopper note it will take time. but there are important steps being taken right now to bolster america’s industry. among these steps is the inflation reduction act, which offers economic incentives for solar companies to produce in america. 

and while rashid applauds the ira, he still says at the heart of the debate is the need for american companies to re-evaluate their best practices and no longer rely on imports from southeast asia. 

“for far too long, american companies have benefited from foreign producers that violate american law. the ira is an important first step, but we need long-term solutions from the businesses themselves, a commitment that they will no longer rely on unfair and, quite frankly, illegal activity in the supply chain.“

at his talk as part of the climate action capacity (cap) climate speaker series on jan. 17, sitting in front of a group of forty or so middlebury students, faculty, and community members, bill mckibben dutifully reminded us that the next five years will determine the course of our lives and human history and the history of the planet. 

naturally.

i sat in the back row and stared bill mckibben down, as if by holding him in my gaze as he said this i could somehow take the weight of his words into my body and bear the load of my particular human history. 

for a long time, i have been interested in the kind of climate anxiety belonging to the segment of young americans who’ve heard and talked about the end of the world for years but who still see their lives relatively unchanged. i was this high school activist who made signs and instagram graphics and organized my class to go to boston for the sunrise march in sept. 2019. then, in the spring of my senior year, covid restrictions more or less lifted, and i was more or less happy to just drive around with my friends, drink dunkin’ donuts iced coffee, listen to doja cat, and throw my blue compostable straw in the trash.

the fundamental experience of my teenage years was feeling myself in a last holdout sheltered from the strongest blows of climate change, and knowing too that this shelter came at the highest cost. removed, ambient anxiety hung thick. 

but the corner of the northeast that i’ve grown up in, between western massachusetts and the southern half of vermont, is pitching over the edge. in winter, overgrowth runs rampant. december lies belly-up and damp, its decay on full display. summer is the soaking season. rain washes the sweetness from the watermelon and the cantaloupe. the deerfield and connecticut rivers become rushing mammoths of brown and take the crops with them.

when storms tore through vermont this summer, montpellier and white river junction got washed out. bridges gave way, houses collapsed into sinkholes, crops failed. people would “come into the food hub crying, actively grieving the loss of all of these things that they had sewn into the ground,” said marlow saucier (‘24), an environmental justice major with a concentration in food studies, who was working at acorn this summer, a non-profit in middlebury.

saucier, with their short, curly mullet and silver jewelry running up their ears, sat on the white, paint chipped porch of 28 weybridge street in mid-july. they watched water run down the hill from campus and pool in the intersection between the red, brick twilight hall and the big, brown house home to the center for careers and internships, as cars maneuvered to try and avoid flooding their engines. public safety kept telling students not to leave their houses on account of the thunderstorms.

numi moreno calderon (‘26), an international and global studies major from the south pacific of costa rica, was here for language schools. she remembers the dorm chateau flooding and the ground floor of the library soaked. “everyone was like, well, this is unusual.” in the basements of dorms, bikes and tents and bed frames were ruined. videos circulated of a displaced bear running across battell beach, a campus quad. 

then, there are the second hand effects of endless rain: mosquitoes. megan brakeley, who manages the knoll, the campus’ organic farm, told me about them. i talked to her in her warm, sunny office in the franklin environmental center at hillcrest in january. she closed her eyes, tilted her head to the ceiling, furrowed her brow, and spoke about the mosquitos in july. they were so bad that people who “live for the summers here” and garden all season didn’t want to go outside. 

“it was feeling like a pretty apocalyptic time to be in such an idyllic space,” saucier said. 

the hyper-presence of climate change on the middlebury campus is a relatively new phenomenon, and not one that many students may have been made to reckon with. research shows us that life away from the front lines of the climate crisis is a privilege afforded by how much money you have and where you live, factors influenced by race and nationality. the 2017 new york times report put 76% of middlebury students coming from the top 20% of wealth in the country. in 2022, 56% of middlebury students were white, 31% were an “underrepresented minority,” and 11% were international. those numbers are starting to even out, but it’s slow. 

calderon talked to me about how she notices that wealthier students often recognize climate change as a threat to the planet but not their foreseeable future. theo mcdermott-hughes (‘23.5), feels like just by virtue of their economic and geographical position as a middle class american from new jersey, they’re going to be okay. for them, climate change exists more as “a moral imperative towards the rest of humanity.” nora brown (‘24), from eastern massachusetts, felt insulated from the really bad natural disaster stuff for a long time. she said this year was the first time she felt that a lot less. kamryn you mak (‘23.5), an environmental justice major, and the founder of fire, critiqued the way the college environment allows climate change to exist as “a future thing to worry about. once we get our education, we can get started.”

this is not to say that you have to have witnessed catastrophe in order to know what climate anxiety is. anyone can google climateclock and find the countdown to the day u.n. scientists gave as the last chance to keep the ocean temperature below 1.5 degrees celsius. “i lived in a perpetual state of climate anxiety and grief for two years,” saucier said. “and it really almost killed me, to be honest. that was the cornerstone of my mental health issues, like, ‘what is the point of living in this world? it’s horrible, it’s really, really horrible, and really not hopeful.’”

some of the distress comes from guilt. calderon notices a particular anxiety in her friends whose homes have already been hit hard by disaster. there’s an inner conflict between the responsibility to provide for their families, especially in a future more impacted by climate change, while also knowing that the higher paying jobs are often in some ways responsible for the environmental crisis in the first place. 

statistics on those with higher paying jobs abound. the lifestyles of most middle and upper class americans hold huge carbon footprints. there is, i think, a particular brand of climate anxiety reserved for this segment of the u.s.: those who read the u.n. reports in their air conditioned offices, drive their suvs back to their single family homes, and worry their hands when it doesn’t snow until february; those who just buy a tomato in the industrialized world and know they’re part of the problem, but it’s the only produce available. 

there’s a difference in degrees, but the quality of the anxiety is the same. the slow-burn apocalypse hisses and stirs on the edges. not everyone is forced to look at the threads between the things they depend on and the things that kill them, but “a deadly system doesn’t have to seem like it’s targeting you directly to kill you consistently.” the spiral of consumption tightens, threads strain. 

here on campus, the trees are changing. as elm and ash succumb to their respective invasive species and diseases, brought over here on lumber from europe, tim parsons, the college’s horticulturist, replaces them with the oaks and shagbark hickories native to connecticut, where he grew up. they might be more suitable for vermont’s warming climate. 

“i’m gonna plan 10, 50 years out,” parsons told me, sitting behind his desk in his windowless office in the service building (“cruel and unusual punishment for a landscaper,” he said. “but it’s warm, so i’m not complaining”). we talked about how we can make our physical world more resilient. in addition to planting trees suited to warmer climates, this also means making the school landscape as diverse as possible. “less lawns, more trees, more shade.” he suggested storm water beds as a concept around the entire campus. 

megan brakeley is thinking about adaptability at the knoll, too. she told me about how they’re relying more on cover crops, also called green mold or living mulch, to protect the soil from wind, rain, and intense sun. she thinks they’ll really pull back on tomatoes this summer too, which are sun-loving and no good in the rain. “that’s hard to think about,” she said. 

parsons and brakeley both know that there’s also a certain emotional resiliency that comes with having a landscape prepped for change and centered around community. parsons is trying to get the board of trustees to fund more landscaping initiatives across the institution. “there is no feeling of connectivity between all the spaces. there’s no experience as you walk from here (the side of campus we were on) to bi-hall (the science building), it’s just a frozen hellscape.” he’s thinking about ways to create outdoor gathering spaces that we can use even when the weather is bad — pavilions, awnings, tree canopies. 

brakeley understands the knoll as a place to stay in community and in conversation. “in these times where so much adaptation and flexibility is required, we need all the help we can get. hearing about how other people are adapting is critical. we can’t be an island.”

of course, like everything these days, it’s difficult to say how the land will change as it bears the brunt of the warming climate. parsons works closely with the grounds crew. “when you manage a facility this size,” he says, “you like predictability.” when it’s going to snow, they call in the snow crew, when it’s going to be icy, they put rock salt down. “now, it’s a crapshoot. we just don’t know what the storms bring.” all that snow could turn to rain and wash the rock salt down to otter creek.

on farms, even failsafe crops like garlic and leeks are dying. “crop failure is a part of life,” brakeley said. but as the season becomes more uncertain, she’s trying to have fewer variables with the things she can control, leaving the knoll open “to the variability that’s coming that we can’t predict.”

even parsons’ experiment with the oaks and shagbark hickories is a bit of a shot in the dark. 

“it’s new,” he levels with me. there hasn’t been enough time to do research on it yet. “i just throw spaghetti at the wall and hope something sticks.”

may we all barrel into uncertainty with so much gusto. i asked saucier how they imagine their life ten years from now. after sharing a laugh over the absurdity that our grandparents had bought “starter homes,” saucier said, “i think this knowing of the nonlinearity of our lives is really liberating in some ways. i don’t have to conceptualize my five year plan, ‘cause who the fuck knows. it really feels ridiculous to me to be like, oh in ten years, i’m gonna be living here, doing this thing. cause probably not, so like, what’s the point in thinking about that. i would much rather be like, ‘what nourishes me as a human being and how am i moving in pursuit of that?’ and doing whatever that takes and having that take me wherever it does.”

brakeley wants work at the knoll to remind people that they do have agency, “you see that written in the soil. and we just have to stay present in that… am i gonna spend my days dreading the future and seeing it as a hopeless place that we’ve already destroyed? or trying to stay in relationship to things that i can see and have active responses with? the land is our greatest teacher in those ways.”

this january, brakeley’s been watching the leaf buds on the forsythia and lilacs at her house swell. the crocus greens are starting to poke up. she’s like “it’s the wrong time, friends! get out of here!” at the knoll, though, they aren’t farming for a profit and there’s some flexibility. brakeley said they get the privilege to follow through on things and see how they end up. “things will grow. we can select for and make choices to foster the things that are growing. there’s hope there.”

in “uses of the erotic,” audre lorde frames the erotic as meaning inhabiting the world and our lives with a fullness of feeling. this truth of the erotic, she argues, has been suppressed within us, because it can “give us the energy to pursue genuine change within our world (59).” the erotic is so powerful because when we embrace it, when we inhabit feelings deeply, when we let the world affect us, when we let ourselves be touched and let the feeling of that touch grow inside of us, we find that we can settle for nothing less. 

lorde emphasizes the root of the word erotic, which comes from the greek word eros. she writes that eros is “the personification of love in all its aspects — born of chaos, and personifying creative power and harmony (54).” there is something in the crux between chaos and the erotic. the chaos of this moment forces us to turn toward the erotic, to look inward to the certainties that lie there, the truth of good feeling, of being in relation to the earth even and especially as we both change.

a legacy of black, feminist thinkers have taken up lorde’s writing on the erotic and applied it to radical imagination and organizing, adrienne maree brown being one of them. “what you pay attention to grows (1),” she writes, as the ninth core principle of emergent strategy. the internal realities we pay attention to extend outward. when we focus on what is in accordance with our great-life-force, with the power of our erotic, we turn our world toward that too. 

i want to let uncertainty guide me, let it turn me inward. how do we plan what crops to seed when we don’t know if the season will bring drought or flood? how do we plan ten, fifty years out for a future we can’t imagine? unknowns loom at every turn. but here we are, planting trees, layering our beds with clover and rye. something grows. 

there are lessons to be learned about loving a world whose future is so uncertain, loving it despite its uncertainty, because of it, its fragility and adaptability. 

priya sudhakaran nair (‘24), an environmental justice major born in india and raised in lesotho, is one of saucier’s best friends. i thought they were dating. “common mistake,” saucier said, laughing. “priya is probably the person that i’ve loved the most in my life. we’ll just get into these super huge conversations about systems of oppression and how everything is wrong and how everything is broken.” it’s a really special kind of love, founded on a shared grief, and then a shared joy to say “oh, but i love you and i want you to have a world to live in.” 

nair and saucier talk a lot about how we’re a generation of goodbyes. “we’re just gonna have to say goodbye to things forever, and like, they’re not going to come back. and what do we do with that?” 

when bill mckibben tells us that our actions over the next five years will determine the quality of our lives, this is what we hear: that our love of the world will be predicated on loss, fostered among loss, and as one grows so will the other. 

“for me,” saucier says, “grief is not something that stops. we will be grieving for the rest of our lives.”

i was home this summer in western massachusetts, working on a farm. my coworkers and i cut open and ate cantaloupes on the back of the truck. basking in the sun, with juice dripping down my chest, i felt a bit like a demigod. but the orange flesh tasted more like water left out too long. 

some things did not lose their potency, though. i had this person i loved, who’d grown up in the same towns that i had. as rain fell and hillsides eroded, he could not be desaturated, the shape of him could not be changed. he held the entirety of our home in his muscles. the mountains of his shoulders were the same ones that held the mountains of our valley. i could trace the river from the top of his head to his feet. 

i could love him and lose him like i could love and lose the land. 

this winter break, when i was home, i drove with a couple friends up to our friend sage’s house, who lives thirty minutes into the hilltowns. the roads wind through the woods for miles between these remote, high ground towns, bending against the curves of the rivers, clinging to the sides of the mountains. a lot of them closed this summer—rocks, dirt, and branches from the mountain tumbling down, water falling and pooling and eventually crumbling the concrete. now, months later, we looked out the window and still saw places where the guard rail fell off and hadn’t been replaced yet. 

it was foggy that night. it was so foggy and we drove so slow that it took us nearly an hour to get to sage’s. this, we realized, is a new touchstone of new england december. “everything gets unknown,” my friend fiona said, who was driving. “it’s so creepy. like everything’s obscured. it becomes somewhere else.” the water-cycle’s gone nonlinear. there’s no straight path from rain to groundwater to river to mist to cloud to rain. it floats back and forth in a confused haze and fiona can’t see anything out the windshield of her kia soul.

sometime before midnight that night, we all went on a walk down the road at sage’s house. the fog was settling over the fields on either side, gathering up in the distant hills, lurking in the shadows of the woods. overgrown, green-gray grasses slumped on top of overgrown, dead, golden grasses. it all turned ghostly and lumpy in the dark.

this is the new color of winter, and it’s sort of beautiful too:

the dead, golden fields, the overgrown, green mounds of plants that were supposed to die back two months ago, that just keep spilling over themselves, unable to save their energy for spring. it’s grotesque and it’s also the world, wild and quiet and no more than what it is, teaching us the lesson that it’s okay to just be what we are, to show up however we need to show up. i’m floored at how it can still be beautiful. 

the next night, my birthday, i went on a walk with my friend whose body i’ve let hold the entirety of our home. i told him what i thought about this new winter, whose colors are golden and green and gray instead of white and he said this thing about decay. “it’s all on display, now, you know? we have to look at it, we have to witness it.”

on another night, in middlebury, at the end of january, i talked to him on the phone. snow had finally fallen and accumulated for real and i walked through it in my clogs, doing loops down the roads around my house. he talked about how decay turns nouns into verbs; the essential elements of something come undone. loving something as it decays means loving it in its moment of change, in its moment of being undone. winter decay sits belly up to the foggy air. i try to love us for our fragility, our changeability. i try to turn inward, to the truth of my body in each moment. there is a feeling of my hands in the dirt right now. there is the feeling of my hands in someone else’s right now. i focus on the life i touch, i give it breath.

during january of 2024, i was able to visit st. vincent in the eastern caribbean to learn more about the land and society there. our small research team visited villages in the north leeward part of the island, listening to people’s stories of the 2021 la soufrière volcano eruption. we heard how people disregarded evacuation orders and stayed in their homes, what it was like to be displaced and navigate aid and public shelters, and how the community was brought together for a short period as a result of this devastating event. ash from la soufrière covered the entirety of the island for months, ruining most crops and livelihoods. some of these stories are collected here. thank you to everyone who contributed to this collection and may these stories and photos bring you joy, laughs, humility, gratitude, and respect.

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it’s hard to imagine a modern neighborhood without cars. or a city without parking lots. instead of rolling through a starbucks drive-thru on a 45-minute commute to work, imagine walking 50 feet to the neighborhood café while wearing pajamas. in a community without roads or garages, neighbors connect through shared walking spaces and european-style plazas. 

in tempe, arizona, a team of developers envisioned exactly this as they built culdesac. the six-acre residential community is filled with coworking spaces, local shops, backyard parks and plazas, small businesses, and transit alternatives such as electric bikes and ride shares. promoted as the “five-minute city,” the neighborhood houses over 100 residents in a 760-apartment complex with no residential parking. culdesac offers one-to three-bedroom apartments costing $1400 to $3200 per month. the neighborhood formally opened in may 2023.

culdesac may be the first of many car-free neighborhoods. its construction is timely, its developers say, as the united states grapples with road congestion and carbon emissions from the transportation sector. the transportation sector alone is a major source of greenhouse gas emission in the us and accounts for more than half of nitrogen oxides in our air, according to epa data. amid high costs of living driven up by parking lot construction, the question of whether to own a car at all has become a prominent dilemma for new city-dwellers. in three weeks, nearly 2,000 people signed up for culdesac’s interest list.

culdesac: a new housing model

the culdesac team is building what members call “missing middle housing.” missing middle housing entails neither single-family homes nor tall apartment buildings – it’s somewhere in between. this semi-dense, walkable urban living is “missing” since there’s not a lot of it on the market. “we’re building the kind of housing most americans are looking for,” said ryan johnson, co-founder and ceo of culdesac.

but is the united states ready for missing middle housing? 

the culdesac team would like to see more of it. however, the answer depends on each city’s level of readiness to ensure a comfortable transition. key factors include whether a neighborhood is close to a light rail or other public transit, as well as ensuring a robust selection of backup transit options such as discounted lyft rides, free e-bikes, and diverse micro-retailers to choose from. 

“zero residential parking” has a daunting ring to many policymakers. the culdesac team had to work closely with local government officials in tempe to achieve that goal while also planning to prevent congestion and navigating zoning regulations. the careful planning process was a time-consuming but not insurmountable challenge for tempe, and local officials were cooperative. (according to johnson, tempe’s mayor now dines at culdesac’s cocina chiwas restaurant nearly every week.)

a shift away from cars?

a growing number of americans are receptive to a car-free lifestyle. over 53% of americans want to live in walkable neighborhoods – but only 8% do. walkability is an important factor in community living – a 2020 survey from the national association of realtors found that people with a place to walk in their community continue to be the most satisfied with their quality of life. many americans instead satiate their walkability cravings by vacationing to the cobblestone streets and greenery of european villages, only to return a week later to a starkly individualistic lifestyle centered around highway commuting. 

the very luxuries americans seek out on vacations can be built into our working lives; for example, green space. when developers don’t have to plan (or pay) for parking lots, roads, and driveways, budgets for gardens, walkways, and patches of green space can rise in priority.

tempe’s car-free community offers three times the average amount of green space seen in typical developments, according to culdesac. this model of living is speaking to some people loudly in the wake of the pandemic, when work-life expectations have shifted dramatically toward remote work.

in addition to the cultural elements of walkability and green space, price is a factor that heavily influences tenants’ decision to go car-free.  not only are cars and gasoline expensive but, providing parking drives up costs for developers. even a surface parking space costs $20,000 to $30,000, said david king, an associate professor of urban planning at arizona state university. these lots accumulate financial, social, and aesthetic costs. “essentially, we require cities to build ample parking in these places where people want to go, and it diminishes the built environment – it makes it dry,” king explains. “if you have to cross the parking lot, that lot separates you from everything you want to do.”

the future of car-free neighborhoods

culdesac is evaluating new site locations across the country. the claim that tempe, arizona is home to the first car-free community of its kind in the united states is a stimulating one — but is more complicated when we consider urban design historically, said king.

 “certainly, it’s very unique now,” said king, noting culdesac is “harking back closer to the way we used to build things 100 years ago. i think we need more of this.” 

geographically, the culdesac model of living is much more popular outside of the united states. founders of culdesac were inspired by walkable neighborhoods in europe, africa, and latin america. some intentional car-free projects have had positive impacts on air quality—including a 40% reduction in no2 levels on car-free days—and getting people moving, which is good for health. a rising number of cities are trying their hand at the car-free model. in freiburg, germany, for example, a ban on cars in the center city increased bike use and decreased traffic and air pollution, while other projects, like google’s sidewalk labs in toronto, have fallen short with an overload of sustainability requirements.

johnson and his team consider culdesac a “reference project” for cities built for people in the 2020s. “to be honest, we’re not sure if future cities will ever be completely car-free,” said johnson. “we’re not necessarily ‘anti-car’ but rather, we’re against our cities’ dependency on private cars.” 

whether or not the 21st century will be defined as a post-car era, culdesac could be one of the first communities to break the cultural mold of car dependency. if successful, the united states may see an upsurge in neighborhoods seeking mobility, community, and the symbolic quietude of a car-free cul-de-sac.