Welcome

Hello, and welcome to my first blog post! My name is Amanda Douglas and over these next couple months I hope to offer you some insight into the world of urban and regional planning. My goals are to inform and educate you about the many different ways urban planners, and the rest of the world, are trying to make our lives just a little bit greener, one day at a time. I will be writing about topics covered in my coursework at the University of Florida, as well as, topics I discover through reading various newspapers, magazines, and websites. Since I am doing a concentration in transportation, many of my posts may be devoted to that particular subtopic. Don't worry though, if transportation bores you I will find other stories to keep you entertained! Well, now that you know where we will be headed on our journey of sustainability, let us begin.

So, it is the beginning of the semester and student's pockets are full of money from financial aid, or so we hope anyways. The students are wondering, "What should we do with all this extra cash? Should we spend it on the new David Bowie song, that nobody even knew was coming out,or maybe a new pair of Nike Free sneakers?" While consumerism is great and stimulates the economy, there are other ways to invest money more sustainably. For example, the other day I came across an article about Solar Mosaic, which is a project intended for the public to invest their own hard earned cash into making the world a better place. Money invested from the public goes towards solar projects that are in need of financing. As the projects begin to produce renewable energy, they generate profits which are then returned to the public investors plus interest. Examples of solar projects include the installation of solar panels on community centers, grocery stores, and affordable housing units. 

Photo Credit: Solar Mosaic

Solar Mosaic (https://joinmosaic.com/)begin selling investment spots on January 7, 2013 and has already had 400 investors contribute $313,325 in just 24 hours alone. Just think of the potential of this type of innovative investment tool. Why stop with solar panels? Why not fund other renewable energy types such as hydro and wind farms? Are there other sustainability projects that could be funded this way? As this type of funding scheme becomes more commonplace in the future, think Kickstarter, it is very important that the people who create these websites and post projects for funding are regulated. Without regulations and accountability, how will investors truly know where their money is going and when to expect repayment? 

In closing, as we move into the future and discover more and more ways to help create a healthy environment for ourselves and future generations it is always important to think about the potential negative externalities that may arise with the decisions we make day-to-day. Just think about this, while using solar energy is a renewable resource, are the raw materials used to create and maintain the solar panels renewable? If not, then are we truly being sustainable? Or, are we just doing the best we can with what we have?