Obama

What a great week for our nation!  Finally, the American majority has voted to create a new direction for our country, and themselves, as it certainly required much thought and reflection to vote for a bi-racial candidate.  It is a great accomplishment for black-Americans, and it was very moving to see black-Americans across the country rejoicing!!  

An Obama presidency also has implications for various aspects of Green Urbanism.  Clearly, the automobile is here to stay, but we need more efficient automobiles.  Obama's pledge to automakers hopefully will be taken and used wisely, when the gift is given.  

More importantly, Obama has dedicated a portion of his campaign website to Urban Policy.  This includes addressing housing (affordable, energy-efficiency), transportation infrastructure (including train systems and public transport), livability of communities, urban education, and poverty.  A specific quote from his website appropriately relates to Green Urbanism:

"Our communities will better serve all of their residents if we are able to leave our cars, to walk, bicycle and access other transportation alternatives. As president, Barack Obama will re-evaluate the transportation funding process to ensure that smart growth considerations are taken into account."

http://origin.barackobama.com/issues/urban_policy/

To have a president that even acknowledges the concepts of alternatives to cars, and smart growth will hopefully make our country measurably better by the end of his second term (fingers crossed).  If we can provide this much, then we can actually begin to reduce our multiple-earths ecological footprint (http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/ ,  http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/personal_footprint_calculator/).