by Jonathan Hiskes. On Tuesday, the Obama administration is holding a large summit on how to reshape federal housing policy and eventually offload mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which the government bailed out in 2008. It’ll be a Very Serious event in which the health of the economy gets top billing and the health of the planet will be lucky to get even a passing mention. But the type of housing the government promotes has a big impact on climate change and other ecological challenges. Should mortgage policy encourage sprawl instead of walkable urbanism? Should it treat drafty, energy-hogging houses the same as well-sealed, efficient ones? There’s a lot of interesting work being done to promote climate solutions within housing policy, though it’s barely surfaced in economic circles. The Obama administration is taking baby steps to move the nation away from car-dependant sprawl, even if those aren’t likely to get much attention at the summit.

More on SKCEA.org:

• Toxic fallout as activists challenge strawberry industry’s pesticide use
  Faced with the potential use of a dangerous pesticide methyl iodide to spray crops in their backyards, a group of Californian teenagers decided to stand up to the might of industrial agribusiness. Rosie Spinks reports It's a short walk - about five or six steps - from the neat an...
• The race to build the world’s most improbably gigantic—and efficient—wind turbine
  by Christopher Mims. Modern wind turbines already have blades as big as the wings of jumbo jets, and the tips of them can move at up to 200 mph . Now Britain's Energy Technologies Institute wants to nearly double the generating capacity of the world's largest wind turbin...
• Green Cruising or Cruise Ship Pollution?
  Facing increasing pressure, some cruise lines are working to clean up their act, although pollution problems remain. Also get ecotourism ideas ....
• Master Builders, the Beavers show us how it’s done. Part 2
  After laboring for weeks on end, pushing themselves to their physical limits, the time has now come for the beavers to reap the rewards of their hard work. Not only can signs of the beaver species hard work be seen in the successful colonization of vast areas including that of th...
• Shrinking Coyotes
  Many animals used to be a lot bigger. When the last ice age ended more than 10,000 years ago, many large species of mammals went extinct and others underwent changes in appearance. What caused these evolutionary changes? A study by Julie Meachen of the National Science Foundation...