Focus IS resistance

There’s a lot going on in the world right now—endless, overwhelming crises competing for our attention. Our focus? Feminist Urbanism.

Focus IS resistance

On Threads, I came across sociologist Jennifer Walter, who perfectly encapsulates my strategy for navigating this time— Focus IS resistance.  

There’s a lot going on in the world right now—endless, overwhelming crises competing for our attention. Our focus? Feminist Urbanism. That’s not to say we don’t care about other issues here on AF—we absolutely do. But our value lies in providing insight where we’re experts: 

Feminist urbanism, housing, climate, and transit.  

You can connect with us on Bluesky, Threads, LinkedIn, and even in the FB Group Space Is a Means of Production. We’re listening—and we’re ready to engage.  

Car-Centric Planning Is Killing Us

Living through the wreckage of car-centric infrastructure has been a deeply personal experience. My grandmother passed away in 2005, far too soon. She performed all the actions you’re supposed to—an avid yogini, a lover of vegetables, and a disciplined daily exerciser. But she lived directly across the street from Los Angeles' 110 Freeway, the oldest freeway in LA and one of the busiest freeway in the US, where an endless stream of cars choked the air outside her home and INSIDE her home. Her sunless house, overshadowed by concrete and exhaust is part of what I remember about her in addition to her color coded garden. She died of high blood pressure and dementia. That freeway—and the pollution it unleashed—killed her.

Car-centric planning is a public health crisis. Air pollution from vehicles fuels chronic inflammation, heart disease, dementia, and other deadly conditions. But it doesn’t end there—this infrastructure pollutes water, destroys ecosystems, and turns disasters like the wildfires in Los Angeles and the flooding on the East Coast into mass casualties. It’s an interconnected, systemic threat to our lives.  

Yes, public transit and bike infrastructure need work. But car-centric planning isn’t the answer—it’s the problem.  

What I’m Reading

I’ve been diving (someone give me a cycling themed replacement for diving in, but I am an avid surfer too so…lol) into “Clearing the Air: The Beginning and the End of Air Pollution” by Tim Smedley, a gem from 2019 that I missed at the time—for reasons that escape me… This book weaves together peer-reviewed science, personal anecdotes, and solutions in a way that’s both brilliant and deeply thought-provoking. Look out for a full review soon, but here’s a brief takeaway that I can’t stop thinking about— We treat health as an individual responsibility in the U.S., but it’s inherently collective. What impacts one of us—like air pollution—impacts all of us.  The book also discusses transboundary pollution, yeah the “it’s all local,” it is not exactly that simple.

Podcast Update

To our podcast listeners, yes we’re delayed, owing to the devastating LA fires (I’m from LA, so I’ve been raising money and organizing efforts there and trying to gently explain some hard truths). But the podcast IS coming, and we’re excited to share it with you soon.  

We can’t rebuild—the same way
As a fifth-generation Angeleno watching my city burn was painful. The city is making an excellent effort handling this ongoing crisis, but as a region going forward we must do better. Los Angeles and its surrounding cities and counties, must begin to operate from a functional region rather than political

In the meantime, check out our latest stories. If you’re looking to escape the Meta ecosystem, I promise you this— If you comment on our posts, wherever they are, and we’ll respond. This dialogue is a collective effort—and your voice, ideas, and thoughts matters.  

New Jersey can inoculate itself against the dismantling of climate policies by the Feds
On January 14, Governor Murphy delivered his final State Address, urging the legislature to act on his Executive Order 315 to achieve 100% clean electricity in New Jersey by 2035. We are now living in the Anthropocene era, during which human actions have significantly impacted the Earth. Policies that promote
The Orange Climate Con
Trump’s inauguration was a horrifying spectacle. “We will end the Green New Deal and we will revoke the electric vehicle mandate, saving our auto industry and keeping my sacred pledge to my great American auto workers…In other words, you’ll be able to buy the car of your

Warmly AF,

Lo 💋💋💋