Sustainability According to the Haves and the Have Nots

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Last night I finally watched the movie Elysium by South African director Neill Blomkamp. Besides falling back on typical meaningless violence and starting plot lines that were never fully explored, the sci-fi movie had a great premise. It posed a world where the “have nots”, mostly composed of hispanics and black people, lived in the detritus of blighted urban landscapes wracked by air pollution, poverty and little access to medical care and the “haves” lived on a space station that was mostly made up of resorts and golf courses and every home was equipped by a miraculous healing machine that…

October 19, 2011

Trees, Zoning, Urban Heat Island and Social Equity on Monterosa Street

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet “The more money you have, the more vegetation you have and the less urban heat island you experience”, said Chris Martin, a landscape horticulturist and ecosystem stress plant physiologist, at an urban heat island panel discussion I attended yesterday in Tempe organized by ASU’s Sustainable Cities Network. Another panelist, Professor Harvey Bryan, a building technology expert with the ASU School of Sustainability, confirmed Martin’s sentiment saying, “wealthier communities are cooler than poorer ones.” The fact that wealthier communities enjoy a cooler summertime temperatures than their poorer neighbors resonated deeply with me because I see it everyday in my own…