Chris Turner Blog

Raise a glass to the Klondike's cultural locavores
In Dawson City, spring begins when everyone's favorite pub reopens. It's just one way the town revels in its local culture.
Yukon outpost brims with chili, social capital
At the Yukon Quest's Dawson stopover, a community concession stand operates 24 hours a day on donations, providing a case study in the value of social capital.
Appropriate technology lessons from the Yukon Quest
Every year, dogsled teams race 1,000 miles across the frozen north in the Yukon Quest race, demonstrating the value of finding the right tool for the job.
Sustainability tales from the Klondike
You might expect the Yukon gold rush town of Dawson City to be the last place to look for innovations in sustainability. But its surprising resilience has lots to teach us about the nature of sustainable community.
How India's epic blackout could launch a solar revolution
As India emerges from the darkness of the largest blackout the world's ever seen, it should look for a more stable energy future not in a larger grid but in decentralized solar power.
5 innovative ways to reinvent the strip mall
The strip mall is a ubiquitous but unloved featured of the modern city. Urban design's brightest minds explore ways to make strip malls work better — and look a lot less boring.
7 surprising solar power ads
From an apocalyptic rain of batteries to a drawling 1980s Texan, here are 7 strange and startling commercials for solar power.
3 reasons why Copenhagen is the world leader in urban sustainability
The buzz from Copenhagen is all about its new 'superhighway' for bikes. The real secret to its pioneering urban design, though, is that it puts people first on all its streets.
Is a prairie dog smarter than an industrial farmer?
Industrial agriculture likes to pretend it's all about domination and control. Its true motive force, though, is hubris. In farming, as in all things, the most powerful innovation engine is nature, not industry.
A smear campaign to protect coal
When staffers for Republican Congressman Doug Lamborn's Natural Resources Committee accused an environmental activist of trafficking in child porn, it revealed just how far this pro-coal supporter will go to make his point.

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