commonground

McMansions in the City

While megahouses have been sprouting on converted farmland in the outer, leafy suburbs for more than a decade, the spread of McMansions to the fixed-supply property market of established and often working-class city neighborhoods is an emerging phenomenon, changing the look and feel of America's cities. ( CS Monitor)

National Trust                                                                                                 McMansions

Mining For A Silver Lining

With Old West moxie seeking to make lemonade out of a lemon, Butte officials have been turning the so-called Berkeley Pit into a public attraction, with a $2-per-person kitschy viewing deck and plans for a million-dollar interpretative museum. ( Chicago Tribune)

New West                                                                                                                 Berekley  Mine

India's Shopkeepers Brace for Wal-Mart

Following the footsteps of exotic locales such as Hercules, Calif., and Toledo, Ohio, India is fighting Wal-Mart's announced plans to begin operations here in 2007. ( CS Monitor)

Wal-Mart Effect

Mini-Windmills England's Hottest Home Accesory

Miniature windmills have suddenly become the latest "must have" accessory among Britain's eco-conscious city dwellers. ( CS Monitor)

Urban Wind Turbines

The Lost Streams of Los Angeles

Throughout the world, engineers have tried to constrain rivers, freeze them in their paths and contain them in their banks, but no one disappeared creeks more efficiently than the people who built Los Angeles. ( LA Weekly)

LA River Restoration

Indian Nation in Crosshairs of Immigration Debate

Congress wants to build a triple fence along the border to make it tougher for illegal immigrants and drug smugglers trying to cross. The barricade would divide an American Indian tribe whose ancestors  have been  on this land four millenniums before the birth of Christ. ( Union -Tribune)

Tohono O'odham Nation                                                

Tierra Verde

Spurred by high rates of asthma and lead poisoning among their children, Hispanic immigrants  are embracing green values like never before - on their own terms. ( SLO Tribune)

EPA Portal Epanol                                                                                Hispanic Environmental Council

The South No Longer A Rift Between Black and White

For centuries, the South has been defined by the color line and the struggle for accommodation between blacks and whites. But the arrival of hundreds of thousands of Hispanic immigrants over the past decade is quietly changing the dynamics of race relations in many Southern towns. ( Ahmerst Times)

Pew Hispanic Center                                                                            PRB.org

A Suburban Path to Freedom

For most people, eating organic means a trip to the local whole- foods store and, often, a hit to their wallets. For the Dervaes  family, eating organic requires only a trip to the garden. ( SF Chronicle)

Path to Freedom                                                                                                     PTF: CBS2.com

Buying Local, A Moral Dilemma?

To buy or not to buy from local farmers, stores, and craftspeople - that is the moral question. It's stirring sharp debate about what it means to do the right thing at the cash register. ( CS Monitor)

Hudson Institute                                                                                                               ILSR.org