Poor Mojo's Newswire

Construction is not a sexy area of climate policy, but it is one in which huge gains can be made for relatively little cost. Existing technologies, such as solar water heating, could cut greenhouse gas emissions from a building by almost one-third, for example. Yet authorities regulating the housing booms in places like the American south-west and many cities across China have done little to promote such measures.

San Francisco may now provide a template for change. Potential homes and offices will be rated on measures including the quality of insulation and the amount of recycled materials used in their construction. Only projects that score enough points will be allowed to go ahead.

The attackers, catalogued as "anti-emos," include some from other urban tribes such as punks, metallers and cholos but many are just ordinairy working-class teenagers and young men. They deride the emos for being posers who are overly sentimental and accuse them of robbing from other music genres. With roots in Washington, D.C., in the 1980s, emo bands play a style of rock that borrows much from punk and indie rock. They focus on exploring their emotions (hence the name) with a particular dwelling on typical teenage depression.

Valone agreed to stop using the property's water. But he refused to obey the removal order; he said the property owner refused to negotiate. The standoff continued and eventually included a round-the-clock vigil, a 300-signature petition and an effort by Supervisor Jake McGoldrick's office to mediate the conflict. After a prolonged wrangle, the garden was ripped out in April; the lot remains vacant.

"It's sort of baffling to me," Valone said last spring as the conflict raged. "It's a piece of land that no one cared about until we came. And now they're putting so much time and energy into kicking us out. ... In our society, we have a bizarre notion that if you own a piece of land, you can do anything you want, including neglecting it and letting it become an urban blight."