The Handbuilt City - Dispatches from the Rust Belt

New EGLE Workgroup Wants To Decarbonize Transportation… With Cars

April 15, 2021April 15, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments britta gross, decarbonize transportation, DNR, EGLE, electric vehicles, electrification, electrification of transportation, GHG, greenhouse gas emissions, internal combustion engine, judd herzer, la croix, mdot, Michigan DNR, Michigan EGLE, oil and gas, parsons brinckerhoff, RMI, rocky mountain institute, subaru, todd scott, who killed the electric car, whole foods, wsp

A new statewide workgroup convened by the Michigan Department of Energy, Great Lakes, and Environment, or EGLE, kicked off yesterday

Movements & Organizing Law

NLG Files Lawsuit Against the Detroit Police

April 12, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments black lives matter, BLM, chief james craig, david a. robinson, david robinson, detroit police, detroit police chief james craig, detroit police department, detroit will breathe, detroit will breathe lawsuit, james craig, legal observer, national lawyers guild, police brutality, police brutality lawsuits, police violence, protest, protest movements, tristan taylor

Attorney David A. Robinson and Detroit representatives of the National Lawyers’ Guild (NLG) held a press conference today in downtown

covid19 covid vaccine coronavirus hospitalization treatment

Public Health

Is COVID C-OV-er? In the US, maybe. There’s a Big “But.”

April 12, 2021April 12, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments bolsonaro, cardi b coronavirus, coronavirus, coronavirus vaccine, coronavirus variants, covid, covid variants, covid19 variants, grim milestone, grim milestones, india, jair bolsonaro, modi, modi india, narendra modi, nCoV19, public health

The COVID vaccine rollout in the US is, at long last, coming together. COVID vaccine rates in other countries are struggling as a product of inadequate supply and inadequate infrastructure. Addressing this is vital as a matter of global economic stability, if not basic humanitarianism.

Sustainability Home Improvement & DIY Construction

Pervious Paving Patio, One Year On

April 8, 2021April 8, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments brick theft, DIY, home improvement, impervious, pavers, pervious pavers, pervious paving, pervious surfaces, rain garden, rain gardens, salvage brick, salvaged brick, unilock

We did a somewhat experimental project last year at the old homestead around a pervious patio installation. It was a

Policy Sustainability

Is It Time For A National Trash Presort Policy?

April 8, 2021April 8, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments composting, garbage, garbage collection, landfill gas, landfill gas capture, landfills, methane, municipal composting, municipal recycling, municipal solid waste, municipal waste, presort garbage, presorting trash, recycling, recycling rate, recycling rates, solid waste, solid waste recycling, sorting trash, trash, trash collection, trash disposal, trash presort

Is municipal solid waste a question of infrastructure? Probably. Is trash presort an option to make it work better? Also probably.

Urban Planning

Book Review – Superconnect: Networks and Weak Links

April 7, 2021April 7, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments book reviews, greg lockwood, malcolm gladwell, network effects, networking, networks, outliers, platform revolution, richard koch, social networks, superconnect book, superconnecting, superconnector, talking to strangers, weak links, weakest link, you are the weakest link

Richard Koch & Greg Lockwood’s 2010 book “Superconnect” is sort of a Malcolm Gladwell-esque, quick read I came across.

Business & Economics Consumer Products

AliExpress: The New Amazon? Or, Close, But No Cigar?

April 7, 2021April 7, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments ali, ali cloud, alibaba, alibaba vs. aliexpress, aliexpress, amazon, amazon distribution center, backmarket, cainiao, capitalism, china, consumer culture, consumerism, coupang, distribution, ecommerce, eRetail, free market, late capitalism, logistics, mass consumption, PRC, products, retailers, supply chain, TPP, trade, trade relations, trans-pacific partnership, US China relations, us china trade war, US-China trade, value density, value density by volume, value density by weight, value density per volume, warehouse, world trade organization, WTO

An exhaustive review of AliExpress, the Chinese Amazon and the “foreign office” of global giant AliBaba.

Energy Efficiency Policy Energy Utilities

“Electrification Is Not Enough For Decarbonization” – Consumers Energy

April 6, 2021April 6, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments building decarbonization, carbon transition, decarbonization, demand response, demand-response, distributed generation, electrical grid, electrification, energy efficiency, energy policy, energy transition, energy waste reduction, EWR, Gretchen Whitmer, just transition, michigan, michigan public service commission, MPSC, photovoltaics, policies, policy, pv, rooftop solar, solar panels, state of michigan, utilities, utility, utility infrastructure, utility policy

A new workgroup seeks to address some questions about the future of infrastructure in a state that continues to lag in regulatory and technical innovation.