WATCH + DISCOVER : e2, London: The Price of Traffic

I still think this series of documentaries from PBS, about the 'economies of the environmentally conscious', is pertinent now more than ever. Shot beautifully and well written, it definitely gets the message across, exquisitely. Featuring real-world issues, cities and people are faced with, and how rethinking the way we live as urbanites; reorganizing and redesigning to find simple yet sometimes obvious solutions.

Produced by kontentreal, and narrated by Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, e2 discusses three avenues of industry and urbanity that have come to focus in the efforts to reduce our carbon footprint. "e2 Design" features the building sectors' concerted efforts, together with the aid of architects, to help reduce its more than 60% contribution to carbon emissions through manufacturing and production of building materials, thus promoting sustainability. "e2 Transport" and "e2 Energy" showcase various cities and their urban solutions; and new viable economies that have sprung up from renewable forms of energy, respectively.

Here is a link to several episodes available for FREE on the PBS Video site. This one in particular I feel the City of Los Angeles or any American city could learn and adapt from. (http://www.pbs.org/video/video/1145396186#)

"London: The Price of Traffic

London's congestion charge challenges the 20th-century notion that cities should be designed around cars and asks drivers to pay for access to public roads and parking spaces. Thanks to Deputy Mayor Nicky Gavron, this plan is the core of a sweeping push to transform London into a transit-efficient and pedestrian-friendly mega-city in time for the 2012 Olympic Games."

May I recommend "Bogotá: Building a Sustainable City" and "Paris: Velo Liberte". The e2 site features full episodes but teensy players or you can purchase each episode for $1.99 at the iTunes Store. Cheers!

e2
http://www.design-e2.com/