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Practising politics
The "environment" can not be dealt with in isolation. The future of the planet implies a complex set-up of financial, legal, social, international and of course environmental principles. Practising politics The "environment" can not be dealt with in isolation. Becoming aware that the health of the biosphere and of the humans, the harmonious survival of future generations are closely linked to the one of the planet, implies a complex set-up of financial, legal, social, international and of (...)
Updated: July 2008
 Find out more: Practising politics

Start a campaign
How to start a campaign, convince and win the argument, in 10 basic principles How to start a campaign, convince and win the argument The principles are common sense; they have been listed by Chris Rose, previous program director from Greenpeace. Principle # 1: Is the action totally justified? A campaign is costly in human energy and motivation. It requires total commitment from everyone involved throughout the campaign, for a duration not always known. The campaign may be everything (...)
Updated: July 2008
 Find out more: Start a campaign

Street parties
The idea is to keep everyone indoors. So, when you come to challenge the powers that be, inevitably you find yourself on the curbstone of indifference, wondering "should I play it safe and stay on the sidewalks, or should I go into the street? Not so spontaneous To organize street parties such as ’Reclaim the streets’, you will have to attract people who are prepared to get their hands dirty. Not so easy... Experience shows that a chosen theme is more attractive than just ’to feel like’. (...)
Updated: July 2008
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Stop bicycle theft
These advice may not stop your bicycle from being stolen, but it’ll help Advice to minimize the bicycle theft: Attach the frame of the bicycle to something solid and irremovable Attach the wheels if they are removable The best anti-theft lock is the one in U shape, very resistant against cutting tools such as the grip, which always manage to sever any other theft protection devices in the form of cable. To avoid the destruction of U-lock, or whatever theft protection device you (...)
Updated: July 2008
 Find out more: Stop bicycle theft

Learning to skate
The most common mistakes identified, to start on the right wheel. Beware of : Leaves and vegetation: skating on half-rotting vegetation is sort of equivalent to evolving/moving on a skating rink. Marking on roadway: as slippery as oil Fine gravels, unspecified stones and other asperities: dangerous especially in the rain Gravels Best is to try and increase the rhythm and accelerate to minimize the vibrations. Slowing down will mean ending up walking with ones skates which increases (...)
Updated: July 2008
 Find out more: Learning to skate

What is this site about:

Each year 70 million people around the world migrate from the countryside to the city.

The countryside vomits its inhabitants, such a struggle it is for them to survive. For many complex reasons, working the land no longer provide for a decent living; the prediction (from the United Nations) is that we’re about to see the number of city dwellers to becoming the same as the countryside inhabitants. Mainly to find a job and hoping that their quality of life will be better, people are leaving rural areas.

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How and why does it affect us? we, who dream of clear horizons, wide open spaces, ancient trees, greenery, fresh air, calm...

Our modern lifestyles are increasingly sewn into the fabric of urban areas. So we better show imagination, belief or even ruse to -practically- transform them into Green Cities, where he will live -in a sustainable way-. An ambition for which cities lend themselves more easily that we think.

Rid the city of its pollution, its nuisance, its ghettos, and you can then take full advantage of the proximity of services, employment, education and leisure. You are at the front row of each new cultural and intellectual trends, of large movements of popular protests. Any massive change in the pattern of consumption and production will rise in any of these cities. The social effervescence is primarily urban ...

Towards a definition of the Urban Ecology:

Co-existence and harmonious interactions of different lifestyles and social classes (alternative and traditional families, single people and homosexuals, children and elders), plant and animal species, so the city is an organic living place, in harmony with its environment. It is completely integrated into the concept of sustainable development. Urban ecology must make the city a pleasant place to live because this is the only way that people -indigenous, foreign, recent or old people- develop an ownership of where they live and of course, continue to bring value and improve.

Multiple solutions ( "no size fits all"): what people aspire to in disadvantaged areas often differ from what people are looking for along the more opulent boulevards. Considering resources should be distributed equitably, and that it is necessary to reconcile with the existing, we must follow some basic principles and guidelines (for instance, for new areas or intense urban renewal, social mix is essential).

Urban ecology is above all social, because it is being implemented by and for people.

Urban ecology evokes -but does not limit itself to- the co-existence of nature with the city. Vegetation has a soothing psychological effect on human beings. Trees have a financial value not only from their role in purifying the air, limiting stormwater runoff, decreasing the temperature of the urban micro-climate, they also play a role on the welfare of people. They host a fauna biodiversity which, by its activities and its songs, beautifies the city.

There are no stable ecosystems in urban areas. Urban ecology however, by its very definition, is a system in constant eco-construction, a kind of human anthill. The question of how to co-exist with bio -and all the human- diversity of the urban environment continually finds new answers.

The concept of urban ecology is obviously linked to the concept of sustainable city.

Green city ...