Lost from the cradle of connection: the high price of driving

...ate change, air pollution, noise pollution, light pollution, habitat loss, urban sprawl, songbird harassment–all of the rest of indicators of the unspeakably high cost of the personal automobile. So, okay, this is all depressing. What’s my point? The point is: What are we thinking? I mean, seriously, what are we thinking? Can we step back from this? I doubt it. We can’t talk about giving up the personal automobile. We can’t even think about altern...

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078 Mark Lakeman on City Repair

...the community architecture and planning firm Communitecture. He is also an urban place-maker, permaculture designer and community design facilitator. And if you’re on the West Coast of the US, you have a chance to participate in a series of workshops this month. For more information visit marklakeman.net. To find out about events in Los Angeles visit change-making.com. If you want to leave a question for the Root Simple Podcast please call (213) 5...

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Saturday Linkages: DIY Coffee Roasting and That Crazy Rhubarb Lady

...kateboard-can-go-down-stairs.html … Life in the city Urban Healers: http://urbanhealers.tumblr.com Clotheslines vs. HOAs: “Right to Dry” States http://bit.ly/13nMrPL The Ten Most Ambitious Failed Utopian Mass Transit Systems http://jalopnik.com/the-ten-most-ambitious-failed-utopian-mass-transit-syst-1135019271 … Making a Case to Phase Out “Beg Buttons” in Santa Monica’s Pedestrian Action Plan http://disq.us/8elfzy Meet Streetmix, the Website Where...

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An Echo Park Weed Salad

There’s nothing like a little urban blight to produce an excellent salad. While not impoverished (not unless you consider dilapidated $600,000 bungalows a sign of destitution), our neighborhood ain’t exactly Beverly Hills, meaning that in terms of landscaping it’s a little rough around the edges. And the edges–parkways, cracks in the asphalt, neglected plantings were, on this warm February day, overflowing with weeds. Edible weeds. We explored th...

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Sourdough Recipe #1 The Not Very Whole Wheat Loaf

...e salt and knead for another for another 6 minutes. 4. Put the dough in an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap (we use a glass bowl with a lid). Let it ferment in a warm place–in our case the top of a stove which has a pilot light for 3 to 4 hours. 5. Shape the dough into a boule (a pretentious way of saying a flattened ball) and place in a floured proofing basket. We have a wooden proofing basket, sometimes known as a “banneton”, which gives t...

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