The Way to Go

The Estonian city Tallinn is way ahead of the rest of the world: in 2013 it will be the first capital city with free public transport.

Free transport is a nice way of encouraging people to leave their cars at home – or even better, don’t buy a car.

ปั่น เมือง – Bike the City

Looking at the crazy traffic in Bangkok, you would not possibly think about getting a bike.

But maybe that would be just the answer. As this fellow netizen is proposing: “go ahead, it has been done before.” And if you can cycle in Buenos Aires, Bangkok should definitely be doable!

Planting Protest

There are so many ways to protest and initiate change. Since there is no greener thing than plants, let us have a look at how rebellious gardening can be.

The motto of Guerilla Gardening is “Let’s fight the filth with forks and flowers.” It is an active way of protesting against – but also changing – the grey and bleak environments our cities have become.

What Happened So Far

From time to time it is good to look back and see what has changed since we last looked at a certain topic. So here are some updates on Kosmos 9 stories from the past:

Let us start with some very good news. Greenpeace did it! They have successfully convinced not only Puma and Nike but at last also adidas that it is better to detox. Remember when we talked about how the clothing industry is leaving our planet full of toxic substances?

World Wide Water

In Stockholm the 2011 edition of the World Water Week just came to an end. After the week long of talking, it is to hope that actions will follow.

The World Water Week is hosted by the Stockholm International Water Institute. It brings together experts and leaders from the water sector to discuss and find solutions. This year’s edition was running under the title

Start pedaling.

Buenos Aires is getting on its saddles. Bicycles are slowly starting to be a real transport alternative in the city of 12,000,000.

The Argentinian capital has since last december a public bike-rent system. Initially, around 100 bikes are available but numbers are supposed to grow up to 500. It’s part of the city’s plan

All You Can Eat

Imagine picking your own fruit just next to where you live. Do you think that is not possible because you live in a city? Pluk de Stad proves you wrong.

The idea is coming from Utrecht in the Netherlands, where a couple of young people realized that there is so much edible food going to waste around them. Besides, they would like to show that we are not depending on food which is shipped in from the other side of the world causing tons of CO2 emissions.

Grassrooting Health

Nathalie Jeremijenko runs an environmental health clinic. People get prescriptions not for medicine but on how to improve the world they live in.

The basic idea behind the environmental health clinic is to see how health is dependant on external local environments and how it can be improved by changing exactly that. How does it work?

Where to Live Green

I was wondering which are the greenest cities in the world. Here are some candidates:

A list by Grist puts Reykjavik (Iceland, in the picture) as number one, followed by Oregon (US) and Curitiba (Brazil). Do you wonder why?

“Reykjavik has been putting hydrogen buses on its streets, and, like the rest of the country, its heat and electricity come entirely from renewable geothermal and hydropower sources and it’s determined to become fossil-fuel-free by 2050.” Oregon gets points for its rural planning, including green building initiatives, biking and running infrastructures. Curitiba, on the other hand, scores 3rd because of sheep

Cities who care

Solidar, a Swiss organisation for a more just and equal world, has made a rating of the biggest Swiss cities about their global responsibility.

The report analyzes the commitment to development cooperation, fair working conditions (rules of action), facilitation of Fair-Trade and the importance of education. The two basic questions are “Which Swiss municipalities act economically responsibly?”, and “Which Swiss municipalities show solidarity with developing and emerging countries?”