Interview: EPA's Green Building Toolkit for Local Governments
The U.S. EPA recently released its Sustainable Design and Green Building Toolkit for Local Governments. GreenBuilingLawBlog.com sat down with Karen Bandhauer, an Environmental Scientist at EPA Region 4 who helped develop the toolkit, to speak to her about this new resource. To download the toolkit and read the full interview, click here.
Coconut Creek's City Green Plan
Coconut Creek, Florida, has created a City Green Plan addressing sustainability in seven key areas: Water, Waste Reduction, Transportation, Climate Change, Energy, Urban Nature, and Urban Design. The City Green Plan will be implemented through a series of action steps over a 10-year time frame with an emphasis on community involvement. The first annual status report will be available to the public in October 2010. For more information and to see a copy of the plan, click here.
3rd Annual WaterSmart Innovations Conference Registration Open
For the last three years, Audubon International has partnered with the Southern Nevada Water Authority, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s WaterSense Program, and other partners to help deliver the world’s pre-eminent community water efficiency conference, WaterSmart Innovations (WSI). This year (October 6-8), Audubon international is presenting a session on Stormwater Management and Sustainable Communities with one of its newest Community Initiative partners (www.Ostara.com). Last year’s WSI conference and exposition drew nearly 1,200 participants from 43 states and 13 nations--featuring more than 130 professional sessions and an expo hall with 100 exhibitors. More information is available at www.WaterSmartInnovations.com.
When Sustainable Community Efforts Backfire
Here is a model of what not to do. Read this article about failed "smart growth" comprehensive planning efforts in Picayune, MS. If this example teaches one thing, it's that pre-selling and education is critical to any sustainable community planning effort. Thrusting a plan on a community without it ends up...well, read the article.
Driving Change
