Whole Travel Blog

The City of San Francisco launched a revolutionary online mapping project last week, Urban EcoMap. The site tracks the amount of carbon emissions by zip code, and even breaks down the information to the source of the greenhouse gases: transportation, energy use or waste. It was announced by Mayor Gavin Newsom on Earth Day, and it’s finally up and running. We’re excited by the many tools this site has to empower you to evaluate and reduce your carbon footprint.

Which San Francisco neighborhood is greenest?

The overall goal of this project is to reveal San Francisco residents’ bad habits and lower the City’s emissions back to 20% below their 1990 levels (as per the Kyoto Protocol). If this takes off, it could provide a great case study for local action providing a global impact. We’re keeping our fingers crossed.

On Monday, Richard Daley, mayor of Chicago, spoke to an audience in New York and said he aims to make Chigago the “most environmentally friendly city in the world.” Much of his plan involves “green roofs”, which usually entails putting plants and even a few trees on top of buildings. Aside from giving nearby skyscrapers a nice view, these roofs help keep the building cool and filter stormwater.

Green Roof

The biggest hurdle for green roofs to overcome is their cost. New York City’s sustainability office found that street trees are more effective than green roofs. Over time, many groups hope to be able to offset the cost by adding bee hives and other sustainable aspects to green roofs, making them more economically viable and broadening their positive impact on urban life. You can read more about Chicago’s campaign for sustainability here.