The prevalence of many of our current environmental challenges -- air and water pollution; global warming, habitat fragmentation and conversion -- is in part due to the way in which we have built our neighborhoods, communities and metropolitan areas during the past half-century -- dispersed, inaccessible, and automobile-oriented -- in a word, sprawling.

The farther we have to travel between home and work, work and play, the more likely it is that we will drive. Thus it should not be surprising that as the distances between trip origins and destinations has increased so has the amount of driving we have done. The end result of all of this driving is that the nation's air quality has suffered. Research has shown that compact, pedestrian and transit friendly communities have a positive impact on air quality by improving travel alternatives.

As we build, we replace our natural landscape -- forests, wetlands, grasslands with streets parking lots, rooftops, and other impervious surfaces. The effect of this conversion is that stormwater, runoff which prior to development is filtered and captured by natural landscape, is trapped above impervious surfaces and accumulates and runs off into streams, lakes, and estuaries, picking up pollutants along the way. Runoff can be reduced through clustering of development, thereby leaving larger open spaces and buffers. Although compact development generates higher runoff and pollutant loads within a development, total runoff and pollutant loads are offset by reductions in surrounding undeveloped areas.

As development moves further and further to the metropolitan fringe it competes with open space habitat and prime farmland. Loss of open space impacts the environment in multiple ways. First, we lose many of the natural landscape features we value -- forests, wetlands, etc. Second we lose the functions that these features provide -- runoff control, wildlife migration, etc. And in the instance of farmland loss we hasten the use of lesser quality soils for production; thereby heightening conversion of forest and wetlands for crop production; and increasing dependency on irrigation, fertilizers and chemicals. Smart growth enables communities to pursue open space protection and development objectives through the clustering of development activity away from sensitive natural areas.

Resources

“Show You’re Green” Award Winning Projects

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Housing and Custom Residential Knowledge Community has selected eight “Show You’re Green” projects as examples of outstanding housing that is both affordable and green. The knowledge community invited Show You’re Green submissions from architects and developers around the nation.

This Is Smart Growth Showcases Development at its Best

Many people want to know what smart growth looks like. This Is Smart Growth, a publication from the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and the Smart Growth Network, illustrates and explains smart growth concepts and outcomes. This full-color booklet describes how, when done well, development can help create more economic opportunities, build great places where people want to live and visit, preserve the qualities people love about their communities, and protect environmental resources.

Viewpoints, Scenic America's Quarterly Newsletter

Viewpoints, Scenic America's newsletter, covers the latest developments in scenic conservation.

1000 Friends of Florida Receives 2007 Best Practice Award for Manual on Health of State's Freshwater Springs

Explosive growth in the Sunshine State has come at an expensive price: diminished health of its freshwater springs. For its vital role in enhancing public understanding about spring damages and effective ways to reduce the problem, 1000 Friends of Florida is receiving one of two 2007 National Planning Excellence Awards for Best Practice from the American Planning Association (APA).

1000 Friends of Oregon Land Use, Transportation, Air Quality (LUTRAQ) Project Reports.

Portland OR: 1000 Friends of Oregon, 1999. Series of 14 reports detailing 1000 friends of Oregon's work in developing an alternative land use pattern for Washington County, Oregon and the Portland metro area. The work of this project impacted metrowide decision making is serves as a model of community planning.

1000 Friends of Wisconsin ''Ten of the Best'' Awards

As part of its 10th year celebration, 1000 Friends of Wisconsin is recognizing ''10 of the Best'' individuals, organizations, companies, and efforts to promote better communities through land use and transportation ideas, policies, projects, and investments.

2003 AFT Steward of the Land Awardees

John and Lorraine Merrill of Stratham, New Hampshire, have won American Farmland Trust's (AFT) 2003 Steward of the Land Award, the largest nationwide award for land stewardship.

2003 Phoenix Awards

The 2003 Phoenix Awards for Excellence in Brownfield Redevelopment will be one of the highlights of the National Brownfields Conference, Brownfields 2003, in Portland, Oregon on October 27-29, 2003.

2004 American Community Survey

Smart Growth America and the National Association of Realtors® prepared this survey in October 2004 on Americans’ preferences for the type of communities they want to live in and the policies they support for creating those communities. The preferences and other opinions expressed in the survey suggest a direction for solving the conflicting pressures of the desire to develop and the wish to preserve communities.

2004 Most Endangered Sites

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has named eleven historic areas in the United States to its Most Endangered Sites list for 2004. From Utah's Nine Mile Canyon to New York City's Columbus Circle, this year's list calls attention to the natural and cultural landmarks of the United States that are at risk.

2005 AFT Steward of the Land Award -- Profile

The American Farmland Trust (AFT) profiles Steve Sinton and his 18,000-acre California ranch in their Steward of the Land awards. Sinton, who received the AFT's 2005 Steward of the Land award, has dedicated much of his time to developing conservation strategies for his land and other California ranches.

2005 APA Planning Awards

The American Planning Association (APA) has announced the winners of its 2005 National Planning Awards. These awards honor the cutting-edge achievements of the planning profession and those involved in creating communities of lasting value.

2005 Better Community Awards -- Florida

Each year, 1000 Friends of Florida honors successful efforts to save special places, fight sprawl, and build better communities in our rapidly growing state. The 2005 Better Community Awards recognizes individuals, organizations, public-private partnerships, local governments, and agencies that, through visionary leadership and planning, have brought about positive and lasting change in their community or region or the state.

2005 Five Star Restoration Challenge Grants

The National Association of Counties, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and the Wildlife Habitat Council, in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Community-Based Restoration Program within NOAA Fisheries, and other sponsors (e.g., Office of Surface Mining), are pleased to solicit applications for the 2005 Five Star Restoration Challenge Grants Program.

2005 International Awards for Livable Communities

The International Awards for Liveable Communities is the world’s only Competition for local communities that focuses on environmental management and the creation of liveable communities.

2005 Landmark Award

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) and the National Trust for Historic Preservation have announced that the North Portion of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) will receive the 2005 Landmark Award during the ASLA Annual Meeting October 7-10, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

2005 National Wetlands Awards

Seven wetlands educators, scientists, and conservationists were selected as recipients of the Environmental Law Institute's 2005 National Wetlands Awards for exemplary contributions in conserving or restoring the Nation's wetlands, and will be honored at a Capitol Hill presentation on May 18, 2005 in in Washington, DC.

2005 Sustainable Tourism Awards

Smithsonian magazine and Tourism Cares for Tomorrow will co-sponsor the 5th Annual Sustainable Tourism Awards.

2005 ULI Awards of Excellence -- Americas

Eleven outstanding developments from the Americas have been selected as winners for the 2005 Urban Land Institute's first ever (ULI) Awards for Excellence: The Americas competition.

2005 Walter B. Jones Memorial and NOAA Excellence Awards Call for Nominations

Innovation, resourcefulness, leadership and a commitment to balancing the human use of America's coastal and ocean resources with the needs of the resources themselves -- these are the hallmarks of the Walter B. Jones Memorial and NOAA Excellence Awards.

2005 Wetlands Awards

Australia’s Banrock Station Wines and The Conservation Fund have announced the latest grant recipients in their ongoing commitment to save the country’s vanishing wetlands.

2006 AFT Steward of the Land Award -- Profile

American Farmland Trust (AFT) honored Tom Hutson, a dairy farmer from DeLancey, NY, with the tenth annual Steward of the Land Award on June 8, 2006. Hutson received a check for $10,000 at a presentation on the steps of city hall.

2006 Chesapeake Bay Small Watershed Grants

The Chesapeake Bay Small Watershed Grants Program provides grants to organizations working on a local level to protect and improve watersheds in the Chesapeake Bay basin, while building citizen-based resource stewardship.

2006 Conservation Awards Nominations

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) and the National Association of Counties (NACo) announce the second annual County Leadership in Conservation Awards Program, in partnership with the National Association of County Planners and the National Association of County Parks and Recreation Officials. This Award recognizes leadership, innovation, and excellence in local land conservation and park creation by county leaders across America.

2006 Conservation Awards Winners

Six winners and twelve finalists were announced for the second annual County Leadership in Conservation Awards sponsored by the The Trust for Public Land and National Association of Counties (NACo). The Awards recognized leadership, innovation, and excellence in local land conservation and park creation by county leaders across America.

2006 Energy Star Awards

Each year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) honor organizations that have made outstanding contributions to protecting the environment through energy efficiency in the Energy Star Awards. On March 21, 2006, the EPA and DOE honored award winners at the 2006 ENERGY STAR Awards Ceremony in Washington, DC.

2006 Energy Star Awards Nominations

Each year, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Department of Energy (DOE) honor organizations that have made outstanding contributions to protecting the environment through energy efficiency. Award winners will be recognized at the ENERGY STAR Awards Ceremony on March 21, 2006 in Washington, DC.

2006 Five Star Grant Recipients

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has prepared an online list of its 2006 Five-Star Grant Recipients. Twenty-four states are represented in this list of recipients in a program that provides environmental education and training through projects that restore wetlands and streams.

2006 Five Star Restoration Grants

The National Association of Counties, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and the Wildlife Habitat Council, in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and other sponsors, are pleased to solicit applications for the 2006 Five-Star Restoration Matching Grants Program.

2006 Green Roof Award of Excellence -- Civic

The Civic Award of Excellence will be presented to a person (in North America) who through a substantiated action has advanced the public policy debate on green roofs. The 2006 contest has been extended to accept nominations until March 15th, 2006 (midnight EST).

2006 Green Roof Award of Excellence -- Research

The Green Roof Award of Excellence in Research honors a person or research team who has made an outstanding contribution to the field of green roof research in North America. The nomination process is open to the private and public sector. The contest has been extended to accept nominations until March 15th, 2006 (midnight EST).

2006 Green Roofs of Excellence Award Winners

Green Roofs for Healthy Cities has announced winnners of the 2006 Green Roofs of Excellence Awards.

2006 International Paper Conservation Awards

International Paper, in partnership with The Conservation Fund, recognizes the efforts of people across the country working to protect the future of America's outdoor heritage.

2006 Lindbergh Foundation Awards

The Lindbergh Foundation administers several awards and events each year to fulfill its mission. The Foundation offers the Lindbergh Award to an individual for his or her significant contributions toward the Lindbergh's vision of a balance between technological advancement and environmental preservation. An annual event is held around the time in May when Lindbergh took-off on his famous New York-to-Paris flight, and takes place in different cities around the United States.

2006 Massachusetts Smart Growth Conference Proceedings

Conference proceedings and presentations from the 2006 Massachusetts Smart Growth Conference are now available online at the conference website. More than 750 people from the private, public, and non-profit sectors attended this event, co-hosted by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Planning Association.

2006 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement

On November 15, 2006, EPA announced five winners of the 2006 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC. This award recognizes outstanding achievement in smart growth by tribal, state, local, or regional governments in five categories: Overall Excellence, Built Projects, Policies and Regulations, Small Communities, and Equitable Development.

2006 National Land Conservation Awards

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) and the National Association of Counties (NACo) have named six counties in the 2006 County Leadership in Conservation Awards, recognize leadership, innovation, and excellence on local land conservation and park creation initiatives by county leaders across America.

2006 Neighborhood of the Year Award

Neighborhoods, USA (NUSA) invites applications to its 2006 Neighborhood of the Year Awards Program. Application deadline for the 2006 award is March 1, 2006.

2006 New Partners for Smart Growth Conference -- Audio Recordings

Audio compact discs from the 2006 New Partners for Smart Growth Conference are available for purchase. The fifth annual conference drew more than 1,200 attendees and offered dozens of seminars, symposia, workshops, and other events.

2006 Outstanding Brownfields Team Award

The U.S. EPA announced that Spokane, Washington's Kendall Yards environmental project team has been selected to receive the national 2006 Outstanding Brownfields Team Award. These awards recognize excellence in regional waste management and emergency response programs.

2006 Vision Long Island Smart Growth Awardees

Vision Long Island hosted more than 375 leaders, experts and advocates at the 5th Annual Smart Growth Awards on June 16, 2006. The event put a spotlight on the cutting edge people, projects and policies that are shaping the future of Long Island’s landscape. Categories were based on Vision Long Island's “Principles of Smart Growth,” and included awards for green development and regional leadership.

2006 Vision Long Island Smart Growth Awards Nominations

Vision Long Island is seeking nominations for its fourth annual Smart Growth Awards. This special event will honor individuals and organizations taking leadership in advancing Smart Growth projects, policies, regulations and initiatives. Deadline for submission is February 28, 2006.

2006 Wetlands Awards

Australia’s Banrock Station Wines and The Conservation Fund have announced the latest grant recipients in their ongoing commitment to save the country’s vanishing wetlands.

2007 AFT Steward of the Land Award -- Profile

Sandy and Rossie Fisher of Brookview Farm in Manakin-Sabot, Virginia, have received American Farmland Trust's (AFT's) 2007 Steward of the Land Award for their leadership in farmland protection and environmental stewardship.

2007 APA Colorado Chapter Awards

Winners of the 2007 APA-Colorado Chapter Awards will be recognized Thursday, October 4, 2007 during the chapter's annual conference award's banquet in Colorado Springs.

2007 Award for Smart Growth Excellence -- New York State

The New York State Association of REALTORS Award for Smart Growth Excellence was created to recognize the successful efforts of New York's communities to incorporate the principles of smart growth into their projects, policies and programs. Its purpose is to promote the continued advancement of smart growth in the state, in accordance with the principles adopted by REALTORS.

2007 Better Bricks Awards

The BetterBricks Awards recognize architects, engineers, developers, building owners, building operators, facility managers, service providers and other building professionals for their support, use and design of sustainable, high performance, commercial buildings with a special emphasis on energy efficiency in the Northwest.

2007 Better Community Awards Winners -- Florida

1000 Friends of Florida has announced winners of its 2007 Better Community Awards competition.

2007 ELI Award Dinner

Kathryn Fuller, the former President and Chief Executive Officer of the World Wildlife Fund, U.S., is the winner of the 2007 ELI Award for Achievement in Environmental Law, Policy, and Management. The award honors Fuller's career achievements in advancing the cause of biodiversity conservation and in responding aggressively and creatively to the forces of economic development and environmental pollution that threaten wildlife and natural habitat.

2007 Energy Star Awards Nominations

Each year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) honor organizations that have made outstanding contributions to protecting the environment through superior energy efficiency. Award winners will be recognized at the ENERGY STAR Awards Ceremony on March 21, 2007 in Washington, DC.

2007 Environmental Quality Awards

The EPA's Region 2 Environmental Quality Awards honor non-profit, environmental and community groups, individual citizens, environmental education and business organizations and members of the news media. The honor is given to those individuals or organizations that have made significant contributions to improving the environment in EPA Region 2.

2007 Farm Policy Reform: Creating Healthy Farms, Healthy Food and a Healthy World

2007 Farm Policy Reform: Creating Healthy Farms, Healthy Food and a Healthy World outlines the American Farmland Trust's ambitious and comprehensive campaign to strengthen American agriculture and expand the public benefits of U.S. farm policy.

2007 National Planning Awards -- Call for Entries

Good planning helps create communities of lasting value. Creating such communities takes effort, vision, and dedication.

2007 Planning Award for Regional Bicycle Plan

Changing people's minds about the practicality and convenience of using a bicycle instead of car to drive to work, complete an errand, or go on a nearby outing is neither simple nor easy. Yet, the idea of using a bicycle to get around town is not only gaining popularity in Chattanooga, Tennessee, but also national attention.

2007 Regional Conservation Priorities List

The Washington Smart Growth Alliance is now accepting nominations for its 2007 Regional Conservation Priorities List. Last year's inaugural Regional Conservation Priorities List garnered over 20 spots in the local media, including an editorial in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

2007 School Planning Awards

The Council of Educational Facility Planners (CEFPI) presents its 84th Annual International Conference in Toronto, Ontario, October 6-9, 2007. This event will include an awards ceremony honoring exceptional planning and inspired architectural design of high quality learning environments.

2007 Sustainability Award Winners -- Berkeley

The Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Sustainability (CACS) at the University of California-Berkeley presents the annual Sustainability Award to outstanding members of the Cal Community.

2007 Vision Long Island Smart Growth Awardees

Vision Long Island honored a dozen individuals and organizations in their 2007 Smart Growth Awards ceremony, held on June 15, 2007, at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury, New York.

2007 Walk to School Survey Findings

The 2007 Walk to School Survey Findings report provides a brief background on Walk to School events in the U.S.; summarizes findings from the 2007 Walk to School Organizer survey; proposes implications of the findings; and recommends actions that would likely strengthen the conduct of future events and increase capacity and demand for SRTS programs.

2007 Wind Symposium Videos and Presentations

Videos and presentations from the event are now available from ''Manufacturing and Developing Wind Energy Systems in Michigan,'' a symposium held September 10-11, 2007 at Michigan State University. This conference focused on jump-starting wind projects in Michigan and on helping wind turbine original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) find and conduct business with quality Michigan suppliers. It also connected community leaders with business leaders in the industry and enhanced understanding of the economic development benefits of wind development.

2008 Accredited Land Trusts

The Land Trust Accreditation Commission, an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance, awarded accreditation to 39 land trusts from across the country at its 2008 inaugural awards ceremony. This is a milestone for the land conservation community.

2008 AFT Steward of the Land Award -- Profile

American Farmland Trust is proud to recognize Nash Huber of Nash's Organic Produce as our 2008 Steward of the Land. The award recognizes Huber for his leadership in protecting agricultural land, local food and the environment.

2008 Annual Green Innovation Awards

The Virginia Sustainable Building Network (VSBN) announced the fourth annual Virginia Green Innovation Awards at its Annual Meeting on June 25, 2008. Each year, VSBN members are asked to nominate Green businesses, organizations, design firms, and community programs that represent ''the best Green projects or programs in Virginia.''

2008 Awards for Excellence -- Europe

Five outstanding developments have been selected as winners of the Urban Land Institute's (ULI) 2008 Awards for Excellence: Europe competition. The Awards for Excellence competition is widely recognized as the land use industry's most prestigious recognition program.

2008 Benchmarking Sustainability Awards

Green Building Pages has announced winners of its 2008 Benchmarking Sustainability Awards. This competition recognizes product manufacturers for achievements in minimizing their global environmental impacts in order to create a sustainable building industry and world.

2008 Better Community Awards -- Florida

1000 Friends of Florida has announced winners of its 2008 Better Community Awards competition.

2008 Better Community Awards Nominations -- Florida

Each year, 1000 Friends of Florida honors successful efforts to save special places, fight sprawl, and build better communities in this rapidly growing state. The 2008 Better Community Awards will recognize Florida's leading citizens, public servants, programs and communities that are contributing to an enhanced quality of life in this state.

2008 Comprehensive Planning Grants -- Wisconsin

Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle has announced comprehensive planning grants for 149 local governments throughout Wisconsin, 1000 Friends of Wisconsin reports. This funding will help communities develop and adopt locally created plans to address long-term needs, promote economic development, and guide future land use decisions.

2008 Energy Star Awards Applications

Each year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) honor organizations that have made outstanding contributions to protecting the environment through superior energy efficiency. Award winners will be recognized at the ENERGY STAR Awards Ceremony on April 1, 2008 in Washington, DC.

2008 Evergreen Cities Act -- Washington State

The 2008 Evergreen Cities Act (Washington State, HB 2844) was signed into law by Governor Christine Gregoire on April 1, 2008. This landmark legislation represents a commitment by the State of Washington to improving its urban forests.

2008 Green Fund Grant Recipients -- Berkeley

The University of California-Berkeley sponsors the Green Fund Cal sustainability projects, which are funded by the Chancellor's Green Campus Fund.

2008 International Young Eco-Hero Awards

The 2008 International Young Eco-Hero Awards recognize the individual accomplishments of young people (ages 8-16) whose personal actions have significantly improved the environment.

2008 Pedestrian and Biking Professionals Awards

The Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals (APBP) announced the 2008 winners of its annual awards program to honor excellence in the profession. APBP made three awards at its 2008 Pro Walk/Pro Bike conference in Seattle: The Lifetime Achievement Award, the Public Sector Professional-of-the-Year, and the Private Sector Professional-of-the-Year.

2008 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) has released its 2008 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard, a comprehensive approach to scoring and ranking states on the adoption and implementation of energy efficiency policies and programs.

2008 Sustainability Award Winners -- Berkeley

The Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Sustainability (CACS) at the University of California-Berkeley presents the annual Sustainability Award to outstanding members of the Cal Community. Winners of the 2008 competition are featured on the CACS website.

2008 UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development Speaker Series

Ecofoot, the official website of the Office of Campus Sustainability at Michigan State University, provides a listing for its 2008 UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development Speaker Series. Participating in the Fall 2008 speaker lineup are Ritu Primlani, Richard Louv, and Tom Princen.

2009 City Park Facts

2009 City Parks Facts is a report published by the Trust for Public Land that has methodically researched urban parks across the United States and created a database on acreage, facilities, staffing, budgets, usership, and more. This information is then broken in to sections throughout the report with information such as acres of parkland by city or agency, total spending on parks per resident by a selected city, a series of top 10 lists for facilities (dog parks, pools, skateboard parks etc.) per 10,000 residents, and interesting parks with notable statistics such as most visited, oldest and largest. Information for over 20,000 individual parks for the 77 largest cities in the United States has been collected for this report.

The Trust for Public Land is a national non-profit land conservation organization that conserves land for people to enjoy. Since 1972, the Trust for Public Land has worked with landowners, community groups, and national, state and local agencies to complete more than 3,900 land conservation projects in 47 states. Since 1994, they have helped states and communities pass over 330 ballot measures, generating almost $25 billion in new conservation related funding.

2009 Collegiate Athletic Department Sustainability Survey

The 2009 Collegiate Athletic Department Sustainability Survey Report shows that while sustainability efforts appear to be growing within collegiate athletics, commitment to sustainability is lower among athletic departments than compared to their institutions as a whole and to professional sports teams.

2009 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement Winners

EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson presented the 2009 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement on December 1 at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. Through the awards, four communities were recognized for their comprehensive approach to improving access to affordable housing, providing more transportation options and protecting the local environment for residents.

The four recipients of the 2009 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement are:

Overall Excellence: Lancaster County Planning Commission for Envision Lancaster County. Lancaster County, in south-central Pennsylvania, is known for its historic towns and villages, and its fertile farmland. To maintain the county’s character, its diverse economy, and its natural resources for future generations, the Lancaster County Planning Commission established a countywide comprehensive growth management plan, which protects valuable farmland and historic landscapes by directing development to established towns and cities in the county.

Policies and Regulations: City of Charlotte for Urban Street Design Guidelines. As the central city in a rapidly growing metropolitan area, Charlotte, N.C., is under intense development pressures. Rather than continue the automobile-dominated development patterns of the last 50 years, Charlotte adopted Urban Street Design Guidelines to make walking, bicycling, and transit more appealing and to make the city more attractive and sustainable.

Built Projects: Chicago Housing Authority, FitzGerald Associates Architects and Holsten Real Estate Development Corporation for Parkside of Old Town. Parkside of Old Town sits on eight city blocks that were once home to a public housing complex notorious for criminal activity. The redevelopment has transformed the neighborhood by reconnecting it to downtown Chicago and tying together mixed-income housing, parks, and new shops and restaurants.

Smart Growth and Green Building: City of Tempe, Ariz. for the Tempe Transportation Center. The Tempe Transportation Center is a model for sustainable design, a vibrant, mixed-use regional transportation hub that incorporates innovative and green building elements tailored to the Southwest desert environment. The Tempe Transportation Center is a true multi-modal facility that integrates a light rail stop, the main city bus station, and paths for bicyclists and pedestrians.

2009 New Partners for Smart Growth Session Proposals

The Local Government Commission (LGC) is conducting a ''Call for Session Proposals'' (CFSP) for the 2009 New Partners for Smart Growth Conference program. This process will be open from May 19 through June 25, 2008. The submittal review process will take place from early-July through late-August 2008.

2009 RFP -- Reduction of Nutrient and Sediment Loads Into the Chesapeake Bay

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Chesapeake Bay Program Office, has announced three Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for reduction in nutrient and sediment loads into the Chesapeake Bay Watershed for fiscal year 2009.

2009 Smart Growth Design & Reuse Competition

The Valley Development Council, in collaboration with the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, invites you to participate in the 2009 Smart Growth Design & Reuse Competition.

Architects, designers, landscape architects, planners and students are invited to prepare concept plans for the redevelopment of three strategic sites in the Pioneer Valley, a region of Western Massachusetts defined by the Connecticut River Valley. These sites are located in Southampton, Palmer and Hadley.

The goal for this international design competition is to create a local example of sustainable development and redevelopment, and to provide a model of how communities in the region can grow smarter. With the partnerships formed through this competition process, there will be significant momentum for turning the winning concept plan idea into reality.

Deadline for submissions is January 15, 2010.

2009 Smart Growth Vermont Awards

Smart Growth Vermont announces its 2009 Smart Growth Awards and Art Gibb Award Ceremony. This awards program honors projects, initiatives, and plans anywhere in the state of Vermont that demonstrate smart growth principles in action.

2009 Sustainability Awards

The Fraser Basin Council of British Columbia congratulates recipients of its 2009 Sustainability Awards.

2009 Sustainable San Mateo County Awards

Winners of the 2009 Sustainable San Mateo County Awards and Green Building Awards were honored at the 10th Annual Awards Event held on March 18, 2009 at the South San Francisco Conference Center.

2009 Sustainable Vision Grants from NCIIA

Through its Sustainable Vision Grants program, the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) funds transformational education programs where breakthrough technologies are created and commercialized for the benefit of people living in poverty in the U.S. and abroad.

2010 Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition

The ULI/Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition, now in its eighth year, offers graduate-level students the opportunity to form their own multidisciplinary teams and engage in a challenging exercise in responsible land use. Student teams comprising at least three disciplines will have two weeks to devise a comprehensive design and development program for a real, large-scale site fraught with challenges and opportunities. Submissions will consist of boards that include drawings, site plans, tables, and market-feasible financial data.

ULI will announce this year’s competition site on January 18, 2010, which is the day the competition officially gets underway.

The winning team will receive $50,000 and the finalist teams $10,000 each.

2010 Healthy Communities - Region 1

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 1, requests proposals for the Healthy Communities Grant Program. This program support projects that work directly with communities to reduce environmental risks and protect and improve human health and the quality of life. Priority areas include: Asthma; Capacity Building on Environmental and Public Health Issues; Healthy Indoor/Outdoor Environments; Healthy Schools; and Urban Natural Resources.

Some $300K is expected to be available, with up to 20 awards anticipated.

Responses are due April 5, 2010. Projects must take place in CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, or VT.

2010 IAHH International Student Design Competition

The International Association for Humane Habitat (IAHH) has announced its eighth International Student Design Competition, which is based on the theme of “Affordable Housing in Sustainable Humane Habitats.” The competition is open to students of architecture, housing, planning, urban design, landscape architecture and related disciplines of anthropology, sociology, engineering, economics, geography, social work etc. However, the design team must be led by a student of architecture. The student participants are required to identify a site in a city of their own choice anywhere in the world for planning and designing affordable housing in sustainable humane habitat project.

The site for the project shall be about 5-10 ha, which will be a brownfield site located in an urban area that is presently neglected. The site may have dilapidated housing stock. The project shall aim at providing affordable housing to about 1,000 families belonging to various income and social groups. A high priority shall be given to provide housing for the urban poor and low-income families. The project shall aim at sustainable urban renewal of the area with a mixed land-use strategy.

Final submissions are due: January 25, 2010.

2010 MetLife Foundation Community-Police Partnership Awards Program

MetLife Foundation and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) are partnering for the ninth year to recognize, sustain and share the work of innovative partnerships between community groups and police to promote neighborhood safety and revitalization.

Preliminary Application Deadline: February 26, 2010

Awardees will receive monetary grants ranging from $15,000 to $25,000.

Case studies about award-winning partnerships will be disseminated throughout the community development and law enforcement industries.

Cash grants will be awarded in the following two categories:

Neighborhood Revitalization Awards (Six at $15,000-25,000): These awards celebrate exemplary collaboration between community groups and police that yields crime reduction as well as economic development outcomes, such as real estate development, business attraction and job growth.

Special Strategy Awards (Five at $15,000): Community and police partners who have achieved significant accomplishments in one of the following areas will receive awards:

• Applied technology
• The Aesthetics and Greenspace Improvement
• Diversity Inclusion & Integration
• Drug Market Disruption
• Gang Prevention & Youth Safety
• Seniors & Safety

2010 Metropolis Next Generation Design Competition

Metropolis's 2010 Next Generation Design Competition is now accepting entries based on the theme is One Design Fix for the Future. The competition is looking for one small (but utterly brilliant!) design fix that can be made now, and that will have a lasting postive impact on the designed environment. The competition is open to all designers and architects in practice ten years or less (including design students), and the winner will receive $10,000 to help make his or her idea a reality.

Deadline: January 29, 2010.

2010 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is now accepting applications for the 2010 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement. This competition is open to public- and private-sector entities that have successfully used smart growth principles to improve communities environmentally, socially, and economically.

The application period is open from February 8, 2010 to April 5, 2010.

Up to five awards will be given in the following categories:

• Programs, Policies, and Regulations
• Smart Growth and Green Building
• Civic Places
• Rural Smart Growth
• Overall excellence

2010 New Partners for Smart Growth: Building Safe, Healthy and Livable Communities

February 4-6, 2010 – Seattle, WA

The 9th Annual 2010 New Partners for Smart Growth Conference in Seattle, Washington, boasted record-breaking attendance. Some 1,600 people from across the country gathered for three days of presentations, discussions, and information sharing. For more information about the conference, see www.newpartners.org.

The conference was produced by the Local Government Commission (LGC), with support form a very impressive and multi-disciplinary group of partners and sponsoring organizations, agencies, and companies. Without their collective support, this dynamic event would not have been possible. For a complete list of sponsors and cosponsors, see

The conference was produced by the Local Government Commission (LGC), with support form a very impressive and multi-disciplinary group of partners and sponsoring organizations, agencies, and companies. Without their collective support, this dynamic event would not have been possible. For a complete list of sponsors and cosponsors, visit the conference website.

PDF files of available PowerPoint presentations are now available on the conference program page at the link below. These files are available for FREE download.

Please note: some presentation files are large and may take time to download.

2010 Opportunity to Register and Other Important Information for Electronic Application Submission for the Sustainable Communities Planning Grant Program

On February 10, 2010, HUD published an Advance Notice (75 FR 6689) announcing its intent to offer funding through competitive NOFA under its Sustainable Communities Planning Grant Program. Through the Advance Notice, HUD sought input from state and local governments, regional bodies, community development entities, and a broad range of other stakeholders on how the Sustainable Communities Planning Grant Program should be structured in order to have the most meaningful impact on regional planning for sustainable development.

HUD is publishing this new Notice to inform potential applicants of the multi-week time frame for the registration requirements that must be met before an application can be submitted, as well as the application procedures to follow once the NOFA itself is published.

HUD is using this notice to request entities interested in applying for the Sustainable Communities Planning Grant Program to notify HUD of their intent to submit an application. Providing HUD with this information will allow HUD to properly access the workload anticipated during the review process and plan accordingly to ensure timely decision-making.

If your organization is interested in applying for the Sustainable Communities Planning Grant Program, please call the HUD NOFA Information Center as soon as possible at 1-800-HUD-8929. The NOFA Information Center will ask for your organization name and address, contact name, email, and telephone number, including area code. Notification of intent to apply is not a requirement for application. If you are an eligible applicant, you may still apply – notification merely helps HUD determine staffing requirements for review and evaluation of applicants.

The full Notice is available at the link below.

2010 U.S. Forest Service National Urban and Community Forestry Challenge Cost-Share Grant

The U.S. Forest Service recently issued a Request for Proposals for the 2010 National Urban and Community Forestry Challenge Cost-Share Grant Program. There is approximately $900,000 available for projects within four issue areas:

• Energy conservation and urban forests
• Climate change and urban forests
• Public health and urban forests
• Green infrastructure assessments

A copy of the grant package is available on the Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry website at the link below.

Pre-Proposals must be posted to www.grants.gov or Courier hard copies received by 11:59 PM Eastern, December 15, 2009. Innovation proposals selected for full proposals will be (tentatively) due by 11:59 PM Eastern, March 17, 2010. The U.S. Forest Service will award the successful projects as Federal Financial Assistance grants no later than September 30, 2010.

21st Century Land Development Code

In 21st Century Land Development Code from APA Planners Press, two of the nation's leading experts in land-use law and planning provide a comprehensive guide to drafting and updating land-use regulations.

30 Great Places in America

The American Planning Association (APA) has announced its 2008 list of Great Neighborhoods, Great Streets, and Great Public Spaces -- in 21 states and the District of Columbia -- that offer better choices for where and how people work and live.

50 Greenest Cities in the United States

The March 2008 issue of Popular Science Magazine has ranked America's 50 Greenest Cities. Popular Science used raw data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Geographic Society's Green Guide, which collected survey data and government statistics for American cities over 100,000 people in more than 30 categories, including air quality, electricity use, and transportation habits.

5th World Environmental Education Congress -- Call for Papers

The Organizing Committee of the 5th World Envronmental Education Congress is accepting abstract proposals for its May 10-14, 2009 event in Montreal, Canada.

A Better Future from Farms

American Farmland Trust is launching two new initiatives to harness the potential of our nation's farms and ranches at this pivotal time in history: the Agriculture & Environment campaign and the Growing Local campaign.

A Bridge to Somewhere: Retooling the U.S. Transportation System

A Bridge to Somewhere is a report from Brookings that analyzes the current state of the U.S. transportation system, identifies weaknesses, and outlines crucial points of action to build a transportation policy that works on the federal, state, and local levels.

A Call to Farms

A Call To Farms: A Mid-Decade Review of Connecticut’s Agricultural Lands, a report prepared by The Working Lands Alliance, features a summary of key farmland data in the state of Connecticut, including land prices, land use, and farmland loss.

A Citizen’s Guide to Participating in Florida’s Growth Management Process

1000 Friends of Florida have produced A Citizen’s Guide to Participating in Florida’s Growth Management Process, a handbook that provides a brief overview of the Florida's Growth Management Act, and then focuses on how citizens can become effective advocates for better planning in their communities.

A Convenient Remedy: Walkable Urban Neighborhoods

A Convenient Remedy: Walkable Urban Neighborhoods is a short movie from the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) that demonstrates the difference that your choice of neighborhood can make in reducing your contributions to global warming -- and how it can help protect you from runaway gas prices.

A Creative Combination: Merging Alternative Wastewater Treatment with Smart Growth

A Creative Combination: Merging Alternative Wastewater Treatment with Smart Growth is part three of a series about onsite wastewater treatment alternatives from the University of Rhode Island's Cooperative Extension, Natural Resources Science Department. The manual describes how onsite wastewater treatment systems can be used to direct growth, as it examines alternative development options for five different sites, representing a wide range of landscapes and planning situations.

A Global Urban Agenda: Highlights from the 2005 World Cities Forum

A Global Urban Agenda from the Urban Land Institute highlights issues discussed at ULI’s World Cities Forum in June 2005.

A Greener Plan for Affordable Housing

A Greener Plan for Affordable Housing: How States are Using the Housing Credit to Advance Sustainability is a report with a national focus that summarizes elements in state plans for allocating federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits in the areas of smart site locations, energy and resource efficiency, and healthy living environments.

A Guide for Collaborative Action

This report examines how community development organizations often overlook the importance of involving youth and delinquency prevention in their programs.

A Guide to New Jersey Grants and Loans that Support Sustainability Initiatives

A variety of financial incentives in the form or grants and loans are available to New Jersey communities interested in re-creating their municipality into an environmentally sustainable community. A Guide to State Grants and Loans that Support Sustainability Initiatives organizes these incentives by general program area within the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) and by other state agencies.

A Guide to Preserving Agricultural Lands in the Chesapeake Bay Region

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) has released A Guide to Preserving Agricultural Lands in the Chesapeake Bay Region: Keeping Stewards on the Land, a report on how the loss of prime farmland is threatening the region's agricultural industry, and ways to preserve farmland for the future.

A Guide to Setting Up Your Own Edible Rooftop Garden

The Alternatives and the Rooftop Garden Project are publishers of Guide to Setting Up Your Own Edible Rooftop Garden, a guidebook that provides a top-to-bottom outline of creating and maintaining rooftop gardens.

A Guide to Smart Growth and Cultural Resource Planning

A Guide to Smart Growth and Cultural Resource Planning, prepared by the Wisconsin Historical Society's Division of Historic Preservation, is now available.

A Nation in Transition: What the Urban Age Means for the United States

In an address to a gathering of the Urban Age in New York City on May 4, 2007, Bruce Katz argues that contrary to popular opinion, the United States exemplifies the world's drive towards urbanization, and that to remain prosperous, the U.S. must recognize the central lesson of the Urban Age: that the ability of the U.S., or any nation, to compete globally and meet the great environmental and social challenges of our time rests largely on the health and vitality of major cities and metropolitan areas.

A National View of Agricultural Easement Programs

The American Farmland Trust has released its third report in the series A National View of Agricultural Easement Programs: Easements and Local Planning. Examining the planning connections of 46 easement programs in 15 states, this report is based on the perceptions knowledgeable persons collected in extensive phone interviews and on more objective information from other sources.

A National View of Agricultural Easement Programs: Report 4

When do agricultural easements effectively preserve farmland from urban influences? A National View of Agricultural Easement Programs, the fourth in a series of reports from the American Farmland Trust, answers the question by examining five different tests of effective farmland protection as applied to the experiences of 46 easement programs in 15 states.

A New Path Forward: Action Plan for a Sustainable Washington
Achieving Long-Term Economic, Social, and Environmental Vitality

From the Executive Summary:
Governor Gary Locke convened the Sustainable Washington Advisory Panel in September 2002 because of the widening gap between our state’s current reality and a Washington that is equitable, healthy, and prospering. The Panel concluded that it is imperative to initiate significant changes now if we want Washington’s quality of life to improve, not diminish, over the next generation.

A Plan for Tomorrow: Creating Stronger, Healthier Communities

A Plan for Tomorrow: Re-Thinking Density to Create Stronger, Healthier Communities is a free PowerPoint presentation jointly prepared by the Urban Land Institute, the National Multi-Housing Council, and the Sierra Club, that shows how density can transform neighborhoods, and offers compelling research to allay conventional fears about density.

A Primer for Petroleum Brownfields

A Primer for Petroleum Brownfields is designed to help existing underground storage tank field pilot communities (USTfields), and others exploring reuse of petroleum brownfield sites, to better understand the opportunities that these sites bring.

A Report on the Future of Land Conservation in America

2007 marks the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Land Trust Alliance and Exchange, the National Journal of Land Conservation, marks this anniversary by examining the biggest challenges facing land conservation.

A Reporter’s Resource and Media Guide to Growth in CA

Unprecedented population pressures throughout California are threatening the state’s natural values and pristine landscapes. The threat is largely the result of land use policies that favor low-density development over carefully planned growth within existing urban boundaries.

A Residents' Guide to Creating Safe and Walkable Communities

People need walkable communities where sidewalks, trails, and street crossings are safe, accessible, and comfortable for people of all ability levels. A Residents' Guide to Creating Safe and Walkable Communities from the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, provides examples from communities that are working to improve pedestrian safety. It includes information, ideas, and resources to help residents learn about issues that affect walking conditions; find ways to address or prevent these problems; and promote pedestrian safety.

A Return on Investment: The Economic Value of Colorado’s Conservation Easements

This report analyzes the State of Colorado’s financial return on public investments in conservation easements. A conservation easement is a restriction placed on a piece of property to protect its associated resources. The easement is voluntarily donated or sold by the landowner and constitutes a legally binding agreement that limits certain types of uses or prevents development from taking place on the land in perpetuity while the land remains in private hands.

Public Benefits of Privately-Protected Lands
Permanently protected privately-owned lands provide a multitude of public benefits, such as water supply protection; scenic views; flood control; fish and wildlife habitat; recreation (including hunting, fishing, hiking, bird watching and other outdoor activities); aesthetics; carbon sequestration; dilution of waste water; erosion control; and agricultural crop production. Economists have estimated the monetary value of the benefits provided by land of various ecosystem types. By categorizing all of the Colorado conservation easements according to the ecosystem type those easements protect, it is possible to calculate the dollar value of the public benefits provided by those protected lands.

Methodology
Using geographic information system (GIS) data of publicly and privately held conservation easements, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) determined the underlying ecosystem type of each acre of land placed in a conservation easement in Colorado. TNC used the National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD) to group the conservation easements into 16 distinct ecosystems. Economist Jessica Sargent-Michaud then conducted a thorough literature review of the per acre value previously calculated by other economists for the 16 ecosystem types and the kinds of benefits these ecosystems provide. Then Ms. Sargent-Michaud gathered information on Colorado’s investment in conservation easements through the Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) and conservation easement tax credit programs and estimated the return on potential future investments.

Results
Since GOCO began investing in conservation easements in 1994, and with the addition of the conservation easement tax credit incentive in 2001, 1.41 million acres in Colorado have been placed under conservation easement. Citizens of Colorado have invested $511 million in conservation easements; the lottery-funded Great Outdoors Colorado program has made $138 million in grants for conservation easement purchases and the State issued $373 million of Colorado tax credits through the conservation easement tax credit program for donated conservation easements. Adjusting these sources to today’s dollars results in a total investment of $595 million. According to the report, this investment returned $3.52 billion in public benefits, a return of $6 for every $1 invested.

A Road Map for Accelerating Farmland Protection in New York

Picking Up the Pace: A Road Map for Accelerating Farmland Protection in New York from the American Farmland Trust (AFT) looks at the growing number of areas in Upstate New York that are challenged by the task of managing sprawling development while maintaining their quality of life and community character.

A Smart Growth Reader

A Smart Growth Reader, prepared by the American Planning Association (APA), is designed as an aid to understanding the various elements that make up Smart Growth. This on-line publication draws on articles that have appeared in APA publications over the past two years, and is intended as a rich compendium of perspectives on the smart growth.

A Strategy for Saving Rhode Island from Sprawl and Urban Decay

This briefing book from Grow Smart Rhode Island provides background information about issues that are critical for the state’s healthy economic and physical development, quality of life, and social well-being.

A Sustainable Chesapeake: Better Models for Conservation

This new book from The Conservation Fund provides an important conservation resource for individuals, organizations, governments and businesses across the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The book profiles promising conservation practices and technologies and describes the protection of critical land and water resources. Thirty-one case studies feature the work of government and private organizations and conservation leaders throughout the Bay watershed. The book’s six chapters—Climate Change Solutions, Stream Restoration, Green Infrastructure, Incentive Driven Conservation, Watershed Protection, and Stewardship—are each introduced with a summary of the restoration principles learned from the projects.

The book was developed by David Burke, an experienced conservation planner, and Joel Dunn, Program Coordinator of The Conservation Fund’s Sustainable Chesapeake initiative. The initiative builds on The Conservation Fund's record of land and water conservation with tools that lead to smarter conservation and development, increases the capacity of regional groups and agencies to solve conservation issues and demonstrates sustainable economies.

The case studies show the many dimensions of land and water conservation through a standardized, user-friendly format that includes photos, diagrams, tables, facts and concepts that people and organizations can draw from to solve local conservation challenges.

A Sustainable Chesapeake can be downloaded free at the link below.

A Toolkit for Tomorrow’s Schools

This analysis examines how schools and development can be planned together using common population projections, facility budgeting, comprehensive plans, and even common review staff.

AASHE Campus and Student Sustainability Awards -- 2008

The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) has announced the winners of its annual Campus Sustainability Leadership Awards. The winners are: Tulane University (Louisiana), Ithaca College (New York), Northland College (Wisconsin), and College of Menominee Nation (Wisconsin). The awards recognize institutions that have demonstrated an outstanding overall commitment to sustainability in their governance and administration, curriculum and research, operations, campus culture, and community outreach.

AASHE Sustainability Leadership Awards -- 2007

The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) presented its annual Campus Sustainability Leadership Awards at the 7th biennial Greening of the Campus Conference, ''Partnering for Sustainability: Enabling a Diverse Future,'' held September 6-8, 2007, at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.

AASHTO Sustainability Case Studies

The Center for Environmental Excellence by AASHTO (the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials) maintains a Sustainability section on their website that includes examples of case studies including best practices and/or innovative tools/approaches that apply to transportation issues.

Access to Destinations

The Center for Transportation Studies (CTS) at the University of Minnesota has published a study Access to Destinations: Monitoring Land Use Activity Changes in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Region that presents an effort to track and model land use change in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Region.

Access to Nature and Regional Equity: Portland-Metro Region

Access to Nature and Regional Equity is a summary of results from the Coalition for a Livable Future's Regional Equity Atlas Project, a collaborative effort with Portland State University's Population Research Center to elevate issues of social equity in public discourse and regional policy by developing a common language and baseline of information relating to regional equity in the Portland-Metro region.

Access to Safe Parks Helps Increase Physical Activity Among Teenagers

Access to Safe Parks is a brief from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research that presents policy recommendations aimed at improving neighborhood environments and access to parks to encourage physical activity by California adolescents.

Access to the Waterfront

Across the country, conflicts over access to beaches, shorelines, and waterways are increasing as our coastal towns and communities undergo major demographic and economic changes. As the various regions and states confront access challenges, they are recognizing the need to identify and share the tools and solutions that are being used throughout the nation. Access to the Waterfront: Issues and Solutions Across the Nation examines trends in coastal access throughout the country and highlights solutions and success stories.

Achievement in Environmental Justice Award -- 2007 Call for Entries

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a call for entries to the 2007 Achievement in Environmental Justice Award. The award will recognize industry organizations, such as a member of business or a member of industry, for their achievement in addressing environmental justice issues or achieving the goals of environmental justice in a manner that results in positive impacts to a community.

Achieving Equity and Inclusion in America

PolicyLink has developed Achieving Equity and Inclusion in America: Policy Principles for the Obama Administration and New Congress, a framework of principles that can guide federal decision-making to maximize the return on national investment for all Americans, especially low-income people and communities of color. These principles reflect the knowledge and experience PolicyLink has developed through its decade-long partnership with local leaders working to foster economic and social inclusion in communities across America.

Achieving Smart Growth in New Hampshire

The New Hampshire Office of Energy and Planning (OEP) has produced a report and website, Achieving Smart Growth in New Hampshire. This project documents how New Hampshire is changing and highlights some positive examples of development and conservation throughout the state.

ACHP Guide to Historic Preservation Funding

The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) offers this online guide that outlines the range of historic preservation funding options that are currently available.

Across Local Borders

This 45-page report documents some of the conditions under which local governments have found regional coordination of brownfields redevelopment to be strategic, the different forms of regional coordination that are taking place, and case study examples describing why and how communities are meeting brownfields challenges through regional approaches.

Active Living Approaches by Local Government

Active living -- the integration of physical activity into daily routines -- is one innovative approach to making communities healthier. This survey by the National Association of Counties and the International City/County Management Association seeks to understand how local government leaders view their role in enabling active living in communities.

Active Living Minnesota

The Active Living Minnesota funding program supports interdisciplinary partnerships to plan for and implement a comprehensive approach to encourage active living among community residents, with a focus on environmental and policy change efforts.

Active Living Research

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has announced a New Connections funding opportunity the Active Living Research program. The Foundation's New Connections program is designed to expand the diversity of perspectives that inform RWJF programming and introduce new researchers and scholars to the Foundation, while simultaneously helping to analyze data that measures progress towards programming objectives.

Active Living Research -- Call for Abstracts 2006

Active Living Research has issued a Call for Abstracts for their Third Annual Conference, to be held in Coronado, California, February 16-18, 2006.

Active Living Research -- Call for Proposals

Active Living Research (formerly Active Living Policy and Environmental Studies) is a $12.5-million national program of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), created to stimulate and support research that will identify environmental factors and policies that influence physical activity. Findings are expected to inform environmental and policy changes that will promote active living among Americans.

Active Living Research -- Call for Proposals (Round 8)

Active Living Research, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, has issued a call for full proposals for research topic grants and full proposals for dissertation grants in Round 8 of their program.

Active Living Research 2009 -- Childhood Obesity

Active Living Research supports research to inform policy and environmental strategies for increasing physical activity among children and adolescents, decreasing their sedentary behaviors and preventing obesity. A special emphasis is placed on research focused on racial/ethnic populations and children living in low-income communities who are at highest risk for obesity. Findings will advance RWJF's efforts to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic by 2015.

Active Living Research PowerPoint Presentations

PowerPoint presentations from the 3rd Annual Active Living Research Conference, held in Coronado, California on February 16-18, 2006 are now available online.

Conference sessions included oral presentations and posters selected though a competitive call for abstracts and presentations on cutting-edge issues by experts.

Active Living Research is an Active Living Program supported by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and administered by San Diego State University. Read more at the resource link below.

Active Living Resource Center Experts Directory

The Active Living Resource Center website provide answers and resources to help you make walking and bicycling part of your community's healthier lifestyle.

Active Living Resource Center Library

The Active Living Resource Center (ALRC) is an online resource designed to help citizens take charge in their neighborhoods and make them more physically active by making them more bicycle and pedestrian friendly. The ALRC Library provides dozens of resources that support this goal.

Active Neighborhood Checklist

Active Living Research grantees have developed an objective and practical checklist to help residents, community groups, local government officials and advocacy organizations determine whether their neighborhoods are activity friendly. The checklist rates communities on land use, presence of public recreational facilities, availability of public transportation and quality of the environment.

Active Transportation for America: A Case for Increased Federal Investment in Bicycling and Walking

Active Transportation for America from the Rails to Trails Conservancy makes the case and quantifies the national benefits -- for the first time -- that increased federal funding in bicycling and walking infrastructure would provide tens of billions of dollars in benefits to all Americans.

Adirondack Park Smart Growth Funding

The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), in partnership with the Adirondack Park Agency and the Department of State, is soliciting Adirondack Park Community Smart Growth Grant applications from municipalities located wholly or partially within the Adirondack Park.

Affordable Housing Built Responsibly Grants

Through the Affordable Housing Built Responsibly grant program, The Home Depot Foundation administers millions of dollars in grants each year to nonprofit organizations whose missions align with the Foundation's interests in supporting the production and preservation of affordable, efficient and healthy housing.

The Home Depot Foundation makes grants to 501(c)(3) tax-exempt public charities in the United States and to charitable organizations in Canada. Support is given to programs and projects that align with the Foundation's mission and grant criteria.

To better support its mission, The Home Depot Foundation awards most of its grants by directly soliciting proposals from high-performing nonprofit organizations with the demonstrated ability to create strong partnerships, impact multiple communities and leverage grant resources. In order to identify potential future nonprofit partners or respond to unique community revitalization opportunities, a limited amount of unsolicited grant funding is set aside to be awarded through a competitive process.

UPDATE: Community Tree Grants
The Home Depot Foundation has combined its community trees grant program with its Affordable Housing Built Responsibly grant program. The Foundation remains firmly committed to supporting the planting of trees and the development of greenspace in order to provide communities with the many economic, social and environmental benefits of the urban forest. This change in programming structure reflects the foundation’s understanding that it is more effective to support the creation of healthy and sustainable communities through the integration of our focus areas.

Preference is given to proposals that include community engagement that result in the production, preservation, or financing of housing units for low- to moderate-income families. The most promising proposals incorporate a number of “green” building design practices. Also, proposals that clearly demonstrate how tree strategies integrated with affordable housing production/preservation create healthier, more vibrant communities will have a distinct advantage.

For this grant cycle, letters of inquiry are due July 1, 2010. Full project proposals are due September 15, 2010.

Affordable Housing's Green Future

Affordable Housing's Green Future by Tony Proscio describes the remarkable efforts of funders, policymakers, researchers and community-based developers in Minnesota to make all affordable housing in the state environmentally sustainable. Minnesota Green Communities has made substantial progress in just two years, putting the initiative's ambitious goal to make all the affordable housing in the state green within cautious reach in the near future.

AFT State Guides for Farm-Friendly Planning Policies

The American Farmland Trust (AFT) has produced state guides for California, Wisconsin, and New York to advise municipalities on farm-friendly planning policies.

After Katrina: New Solutions for Safe Communities and a Secure Energy Future

Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) offers this report on how Hurricane Katrina exposed deficiencies in past and current planning practices and energy choices, and provides alternatives to both that may help communities maintain a level of safety in the face of future disasters.

Agenda for a Sustainable America

Agenda for a Sustainable America is a comprehensive book that assesses U.S. progress toward sustainable development and a roadmap of necessary next steps toward achieving a sustainable America.

Agricultural Conservation Easements

Agricultural Conservation Easements, part of the American Farmland Trust's Fact Sheet series, provides an overview of conservation easements, with discussion on tax benefits, retaining title rights, and benefits. In general, agricultural conservation easements limit subdivision, non-farm development and other uses that are inconsistent with commercial agriculture.

Agricultural Funding Sources

The Alternative Farming Systems Information Center (AFSIC) provides a listing of farming and agriculture-related funding opportunity resources on its website. AFSIC specializes in identifying resources about sustainable food systems and practices, in support of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) effort to ensure a sustainable future for agriculture and farmers worldwide.

Agriculture and Climate Change

The American Farmland Trust (AFT) maintains a webpage on ''Agriculture's Role in Curbing Climate Change,'' which details AFT's Climate Change Campaign. As stewards of over half the land and water resources in America, farmers and ranchers must be involved in the development of climate change solutions.

Agriculture and Farmland Protection Programs

This report to the New York State Advisory Council on Agriculture summarizes results from six regional round table discussions on Agriculture and Farmland Protection held between May and September, 2003. These discussions were held to obtain informed stakeholder views on current State programs designed to promote the agricultural industry and maintain the agricultural land base.

Agriculture and Smart Growth

There is a growing recognition that the protection of farmland around cities and towns -- urban-influenced farmland -- contributes to smart growth and the livability of our communities. Not only does agricultural protection further smart growth, integral to smart growth is the protection of urban-influenced farmland. Sustainability begins -- although it does not end -- with the land that feeds us.

Ahwahnee Principles for Climate Change

At the 17th Annual Yosemite Conference for Local Elected Officials, a process was set in place by the Local Government Commission's (LGC's) Board of Directors to develop a set of guiding principles for local governments to use in response to global warming. A draft of Ahwahnee Principles for Climate Change was distributed at the conference for comments by all attendees.

Ahwahnee Water Principles for Resource Efficient Land Use

The Local Government Commission has published online the Ahwahnee Water Principles for Resource Efficient Land Use. These principles complement the Ahwahnee Principles for Resource-Efficient Communities that were developed in 1991. Many cities and counties are already using them to improve the vitality and prosperity of their communities.

AIA 50to50

50to50 from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a how-to resource intended to assist architects and the construction industry in moving toward the AIA's public goal of a minimum 50 percent reduction of fossil fuel consumption in buildings by 2010 and carbon neutrality by 2030.

AIA Green Building Awards -- 2008

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Committee on the Environment (COTE) has announced winners of its 2008 ''Top Ten Green Projects.'' Each project was evaluated on ten measures, documented extensively on the COTE Web site, which include design innovation, community context and land use, longevity, bioclimatic design, water and energy conservation, materials, and indoor environment.

AIA Green Projects

Each year the American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment selects projects from across the United States as shining examples of sustainable design. This year eight buildings and one urban design design plan have achieved this distinction, now called the Green Project Awards.

AIA Recorded Presentations -- Convention '09

Did you miss the 2009 AIA convention? The American Institute of Architects is offering through its website a video stream of select presentations and workshops from the 2009 National Convention and Design Exposition.

AIA Sustainable Design Assessment Team (SDAT) Program

The SDAT is a community assistance program that focuses on the principles of sustainability. SDATs will bring a team of volunteer professionals (such as architects, urban designers, planners, hydrologists, economists, attorneys, and others) to work with community decision-makers and stakeholders to help them develop a vision and framework for a sustainable future.

AIA Sustainable Design Assessment Team RFP -- 2009

The American Institute of Architects Center for Communities by Design announces the 2009 Sustainable Design Assessment Team Program Request for Proposals.

AIA Sustainable Design Assessment Team RFP -- 2010

The AIA Center for Communities by Design announces the 2010 Sustainable Design Assessment Team Program Request for Proposals. The RFP solicits applications for inclusion in the Sustainable Design Assessment Team 2010 program.

AIA Top Ten Green Projects -- 2009

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and its Committee on the Environment (COTE) have selected the top ten examples of sustainable architecture and green design solutions that protect and enhance the environment.

AIA Top Ten Projects and Measures -- 2008

Each year the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Committee on the Environment hosts a 2008 Top Ten Green Awards competition. In addition to posting award recipients and project summaries, AIA produces a webpage featuring information on the ten measures and supporting metrics used to evaluate the entries.

AIA/COTE Top Ten Green Project Awards -- 2008

The American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment has posted results from their 2008 Top Ten Green Awards.

AIA/COTE Top Ten Green Projects -- 2009 Nominations

The American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment (AIA/COTE) invites your entry to the 2009 Top Ten Green Projects Awards.

Air Quality and Smart Growth: Planning for Cleaner Air

Air Quality and Smart Growth: Planning for Cleaner Air, Translation Paper #16 from the Funders Network, explores the connection between land development patterns, transportation patterns, and air pollution and how growing smarter can lead to better air quality.

Alaska Brownfields

The State of Alaska's Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), Division of Spill Prevention and Response, maintains a webpage on their Contaminated Sites Program that describes DEC's brownfields reuse and redevelopment initiative (RRI).

Alcan Prize for Sustainability 2005

Alcan Inc. and The Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) have awarded the US$1 million Alcan Prize for Sustainability to Aga Khan Planning and Building Service of Pakistan.

Alcan Prize for Sustainability 2006

The Alcan Prize for Sustainability identifies and recognizes not-for-profit, civil society and non-governmental organizations for their contributions to economic, environmental and/or social sustainability.

Alcan Prize for Sustainability 2006 -- Awardees

Alcan and The Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) announced the 2006 shortlist of candidates for the US$1 million Alcan Prize for Sustainability. Ten organizations were selected from a field of almost 200 entries from 55 countries around the world, and now face a final consideration by an international Adjudication Panel of distinguished sustainability experts.

Alcan Prize for Sustainability 2007

The Alcan Prize for Sustainability is a $1 million prize that recognizes organizations demonstrating a comprehensive approach to addressing, achieving and further advancing economic, environmental and/or social sustainability. The Alcan Prize for Sustainability is one of the world’s most significant, privately funded Prizes. One Prize is awarded annually.

Alcan Prize for Sustainability 2008

The Alcan Prize for Sustainability is a $1 million prize that recognizes organizations demonstrating a comprehensive approach to addressing, achieving and further advancing economic, environmental and/or social sustainability. The Alcan Prize for Sustainability is one of the world’s most significant, privately funded Prizes. One Prize is awarded annually.

Alternatives for Coastal Development

NOAA Coastal Services Center offers an extensive online library of information and tools for coastal development, mapping, and restoration. In Alternatives for Coastal Development: One Site, Three Scenarios, the Center examines design scenarios in terms of Smart Growth.

America 2050 Planning Initiative

America 2050 is a national initiative to meet the infrastructure, economic development and environmental challenges of the nation as we prepare to add about 130 million additional Americans by the year 2050.

America 2050 Prospectus

America 2050 is a national initiative to meet the infrastructure, economic development and environmental challenges of the nation as we prepare to add 120 million additional Americans by the year 2050. The America 2050 Prospectus outlines steps that must be taken to ensure the United States remains economically competitive in world markets while offering a sustainable, high-quality of life for its citizens.

America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places 2005

America's heritage is at risk from coast to coast -- and beyond. The National Trust for Historic Preservation notes some of the most at-risk places in its annual list of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.

America’s Best: Profiles of America’s Best Energy Efficiency Programs

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) conducted a national review and assessment of current utility-sector energy efficiency efforts in order to identify exemplary energy efficiency programs that might be replicated by those in other jurisdictions.

American Farmland Trust

AFT was founded in 1980 to protect the nation's agricultural resources. AFT works to stop the loss of productive farmland and to promote farming practices that lead to a healthy environment. Its programs include public education, technical assistance in policy development, and direct farmland protection projects. AFT and the SGN are working together to promote implementation of smart growth methods in order to help conserve agricultural and rural lands in surrounding cities

American Farmland Trust Introduces New Website

The American Farmland Trust has redesigned its website to promote its vision for change: A vision of well-managed, protected farm and ranch land that provides open space, clean water, healthy food, wildlife habitat and a renewed connectedness between the farm community and the rest of America.

American Makeover

American Makeover is a new web-exclusive series that explores growth and development alternatives in communities across America, looking at what can be done to help our communities grow in such a way that gives us the kind of neighborhoods and choices we're increasingly looking for.

The first episode ''sounds the alarm bell on Atlanta’s sprawl.'' No one who has ever been to Atlanta will argue their status as poster child of sprawling growth, but it's encouraging that the filmmakers spend most of the short episode taking a closer look at the alternatives in Atlanta — focusing on those growing millions of people who are looking for places to live that are walkable and connected and dontt entail hour-long car commutes to work, school, or the local market.

The series is expected to include episodes of four to five more cities.

American Society of Landscape Architects Awards -- 2007 Call for Entries

Each year, the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Professional Awards honor the best in landscape architecture from around the globe, while the ASLA Student Awards program gives us a glimpse into the future of the profession.

American Society of Landscape Architects Awards -- 2008 Call for Entries

Each year, the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Professional Awards honor the best in landscape architecture from around the globe, while the ASLA Student Awards program gives us a glimpse into the future of the profession.

American Trails' National Trails Awards Program -- 2008

Every two years, American Trails presents the National Trails Awards to recognize the tremendous contributions of volunteers, professionals, businesses, and other leaders who are working to create a national system of trails for all Americans.

America's Park Roads and Parkways

America's National Park Roads and Parkways brings together 331 measured and interpretive drawings commissioned by Historic American Engineering Record to illustrate the physical characteristics, design strategies, construction practices, and visitor experiences of roads in national parks from Acadia to Zion and parkways from the Blue Ridge to the Natchez Trace.

AMPO -- 2004 Conference Presentations

Presentations from the 2004 Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations Conference are available online as PowerPoint files through the AMPO website.

AMPO -- 2008 Conference Presentations

Presentations from the 2008 Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations Conference are available online as PDF files through the AMPO website. The event was held October 28-31, 2008, in in Seattle, Washington.

AMPO Annual Conference Presentations

The AMPO Annual Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas, October 2-4, 2007, drew close to 300 attendees from MPO's, state and federal agencies, and consulting firms. Presentations from many conference events are now available online at the AMPO website.

An Alternative Future: Florida in the 21st Century 2020 2040 2060

An Alternative Future is a comprehensive look at an alternate trend for development that would accommodate the predicted doubling of Florida's population by 2060 without changing the character of the landscape. By creating an efficient transportation infrastructure, a significant cost-savings can be realized -- up to $526 billion dollars -- over the current development trends.

Anacostia River Urban Watershed Partnership RFP

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), is soliciting new assistance agreement proposals under the EPA's Targeted Watershed Grants Program designed to support the protection and restoration of urban water resources through a holistic watershed approach to water quality management.

Ann Arbor Greenbelt Map

In November 2003, the residents of Ann Arbor overwhelmingly passed the Open Space and Parkland Preservation Millage, also known as the Ann Arbor Greenbelt and Parkland Program. The purpose of the Greenbelt Program is to protect both working farmland and natural areas, as well as identifying and conserving those lands that are integral to the protection of the City of Ann Arbor's source groundwater and the Huron River -- a portion of which is designated a state scenic river.

Annotated Resources for Green Multifamily Rehabilitation

Annotated Resources for Green Multifamily Rehabilitation from Local Initiatives Support Corp. (LISC) is a summary of resources available on the topic of green building/rehabilitation for multifamily homes.

Annual Urban Forestry Awards -- Mississippi

Each year the Mississippi Urban Forest Council (MUFC), in partnership with the Mississippi Forestry Commission and the U.S. Forest Service, recognizes and honors cities, individuals, civic groups and businesses that have demonstrated success with urban forestry and green infrastructure.

APA Audio Conferences

The American Planning Association (APA) offers the Audio Conference Training Series comprised of thematic audio and visual training programs. Topics during the current series include Economic Development for Small Towns, Planning and Public Health, and Planning for Safe Growth.

APA Daniel Burnham Award

The Ontario government has won the American Planning Association's (APA's) 2006 Daniel Burnham Award for its Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe. The award is given to the plan that best illustrates progress, community benefit and contribution to the advancement of the planning profession.

APA National Plan of the Year Award -- 2006

With northeastern Illinois expected to grow by 1.9 million people over the next 25 years, a new vision -- one that will accommodate this anticipated growth in an efficient, coordinated and sustainable manner -- is guiding decision making around the region. This vision is a key component of the 2040 Regional Framework Plan, recipient of the 2006 Outstanding Planning Award for a Plan from the American Planning Association (APA).

APA National Planning Conference Coverage 2007

The American Planning Association has created a website featuring resources and information from their 2007 National Planning Conference. Session reports, photos from various events, media coverage, and more can be found at this resource.

APA's 2009 Planning Conference -- Call for Proposals

The American Planning Association (APA) is seeking proposals for providing educational content at the 2009 APA National Planning Conference in Minneapolis, April 25–29, 2009.

Applications Sought for Brownfields Assessment Revolving Loan Fund and Cleanup Grants

The US Environmental Protection Agency is soliciting applications for its Brownfields Assessment Revolving Loan Fund and Cleanup Grants. Assessment grant funds of up to $200,000 (up to $350,000 with waiver) may be used to inventory, characterize, assess and conduct planning and community involvement efforts related to brownfields.

April 2007 Getting Smart! Newsletter

The April 2007 issue of Getting Smart! focuses on three case studies of faith-based organizations and religious institutions that have been pivotal in the success of smart growth efforts.

April 2009 Getting Smart! Newsletter

The April 2009 Getting Smart e-newsletter features articles on energy-related topics. With the Obama Administration declaring energy a priority and investing billions of federal dollars in new and existing programs, this edition offers some ideas for broader consideration.

ARC's Certified Green Communities

The Atlanta Regional Commission's (ARC's) Green Communities Program is a voluntary certification program for jurisdictions in the 10-county Atlanta, Georgia, region to encourage local governments to become more sustainable. ARC developed the program to assist local governments in reducing their overall environmental impact.

Arizona Brownfields: Community Development Opportunities

Arizona Brownfields: Community Development Opportunities is the focus of this workshop scheduled for March 29-30, 2007 in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Arizona Smart Growth Scorecard

The Arizona Smart Growth Scorecard is a valuable tool for community self-assessment developed by a working group of the Growth Cabinet with input from public and private stakeholders. It is designed to strengthen the ability of local officials to plan for future growth and development and to adopt comprehensive strategies that address growth-related pressures. As Arizona continues to attract unprecedented population growth, all levels of government must play a role in wisely planning and managing both the challenges and opportunities that new growth and development present.

Recognizing that communities measure and track how well they are implementing smart growth and look for areas of improvement, the Growth Cabinet prepared this Scorecard to help communities assess whether they have the right tools in place to promote smart growth. Executive Order 2007-05, directed state agencies to identify how state discretionary funds might provide incentives to communities for growing smarter and technical assistance for those needing support. The intent is to provide communities, counties, and Tribal governments - small or large, rural or urban - with a simple, clear, usable means of evaluating how well prepared they are for the pressures of growth. In addition, the Scorecard can help spur action on local and regional approaches to address growth issues and provide incentives and assistance to communities wanting to effectively and efficiently manage development. Cities, towns, counties, and Tribal governments will be evaluated by the set of smart growth criteria and indicators contained within the Scorecard.

Arlington's Smart Growth Journey: Documentary Film

Arlington's Smart Growth Journey is a documentary film that traces the dramatic history of the past half-century of growth and development in Arlington, Virginia.

ARRA Prevention and Wellness Funding: Communities Putting Prevention to Work

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) Procurement and Grants Office has published a funding opportunity announcement entitled, ''American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009: Communities Putting Prevention to Work.'' Approximately $373 million will be available in fiscal year 2009 to fund thirty to forty awards.

ASCE-NCS Sustainability Award -- 2007 Entries

The American Society of Civil Engineers, National Capital Section, is seeking entries for its 2007 Sustainability Award. This award is established to recognize either private-industry outreach initiatives/programs or public legislation/programs in the Washington DC metropolitan area that advance or promote the responsible and sustainable development of infrastructure, the built environment, or the conservation of natural resources. Deadline for submissions is February 28, 2007.

Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy

The Ashden Awards reward outstanding, inspirational and innovative local sustainable energy schemes that both protect the environment, tackle climate change and make real improvements to people's quality of life. The Awards are designed to encourage wider take-up of local energy solutions worldwide -- proving to the public and policy makers alike that such schemes offer viable, practical ways of tackling poverty, resource shortages and climate change.

ASLA 2005 Awards

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has announced the recipients of its 2005 Professional Awards. The awards will be presented on October 10, 2005, at the ASLA Annual Meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

ASLA Awards -- Call for Entries, 2006

Each year, the American Society of Landscape Architects' Professional Awards honors the best in landscape architecture from around the globe, while the ASLA Student Awards program provides a glimpse into the future of the profession.

ASLA Community Service Award

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has announced that Kevin Shanley, ASLA, president of The SWA Group, will receive the Society’s 2005 Community Service Award, to be presented during its Annual Meeting October 7-10 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

ASLA General Design Honor Award -- 2008

Design changes to the grounds surrounding the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. have won recognition in the General Design Honor category of the American Society of Landscape Architects 2008 Awards.

ASLA General Design of Excellence Award -- 2006

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) will present the 2006 General Design Award of Excellence to Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc., Landscape Architects, for their project ''From Brownfield to Greenfield: A New Working Landscape for Wellesley College Wrenched from its Toxic Past, Wellesley, Massachusetts.''

ASLA Professional Award Winners -- 2007

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has announced the recipients of its 2007 Professional Awards.

ASLA Professional Award Winners -- 2008

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has announced the recipients of its 2008 Professional Awards.

ASLA Professional Awards -- 2009

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has announced the recipients of its 2009 Professional Awards.

ASLA Professional Awards -- Call for Entries

The Board of Trustees of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has selected the recipients of the 2005 Medals and Landscape Architecture Firm Award, to be presented on October 10, 2005, during the ASLA Annual Meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

ASLA Professional Awards 2009 -- Call for Entries

Each year, the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) hosts the ASLA Professional Awards to honor the best in landscape architecture from around the globe.

ASLA Student Awards

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has announced the recipients of its 2005 Student Awards. The awards will be presented during the ASLA Annual Meeting and EXPO, October 7-10, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

ASLA Student Awards -- 2007 Recipients

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has announced winners of its 2007 Student Awards. Representing the top student honors in the profession, ASLA will present the awards to 25 projects from 22 colleges and universities at the ASLA Annual Meeting in San Francisco. The ceremony and reception will take place on October 8, 2007, and is sponsored by Landscape Forms.

ASLA Student Awards -- 2008 Recipients

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has announced winners of its 2008 Student Awards. Representing the top student honors in the profession, will present the awards to 20 projects from 11 colleges and universities at the ASLA Annual Meeting in Philadelphia. The ceremony and reception will take place on October 6, 2008 and is sponsored by Landscape Forms.

ASLA Student Awards -- 2009 Call for Entries

Each year, the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Student Awards give us a glimpse into the future of the profession by recognizing student work in the field.

Student categories in the 2009 competition are ''Student Community Service Award'' and ''Student Collaboration.''

ASLA Videos

The American Society of Landscape Architects has a web presence on YouTube for ASLA videos.

Assessing the Wealth of Nature: Using Economic Studies to Promote Land Conservation Instead of Sprawl

Assessing the Wealth of Nature summarizes how land-use and conservation decisions can be influenced by informing a community of the economic benefits of natural habitat, and provides guidelines for conducting sound economic studies.

Association of Bay Area Governments: Theory in Action - Smart Growth Case Studies in the San Francisco Bay Area and around the nation

This online document catalogs smart growth initiatives such as compact development, urban revitalization, affordable housing, and open space protection at the local, regional, and state level in the Bay Area, elsewhere in California, and in the rest of the country.

Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) Livable Centers Initiative -- Georgia

The Atlanta Regional Commission’s (ARC) Livable Centers Initiative encourages local jurisdictions to plan and implement strategies that link transportation improvements with land use development strategies to create sustainable, livable communities consistent with regional development policies.

Atlanta Regional Commission Public Affairs Show

''The Shape of Things to Come'' is a quarterly, 30-minute public affairs program produced by the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC). The show focuses on the issues, challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for the Atlanta region.

Atlanta's Fifty Forward Initiative

The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) has launched an ambitious initiative, called ''Fifty Forward: Metro Atlanta Futures Forum,'' to explore possible future scenarios for metro Atlanta and forge an action plan to ensure future livability, prosperity and sustainability.

Audio from Three Winter 2008 Smart Growth Speaker Series Events

New audio recordings are now available from three Smart Growth Speaker Series events at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. These lectures are part of a four-part series focusing on Smart Growth in Washington, D.C., which will conclude with the April 23, 2008 event celebrating 10 years of the Smart Growth Speaker Series.

August 2007 Getting Smart! Newsletter

The August 2007 issue of Getting Smart! focuses on one of the hottest -- no pun intended -- issues of the day: climate change. The transportation sector is one of the largest contributors of greenhouse gas emissions. To effectively reduce emissions from the transportation sector, we must reduce the number of miles U.S. residents drive; in other words, land use patterns must change. Smart growth will play a critical role in making this change happen.

August 2008 Getting Smart! Newsletter

The latest issue of Getting Smart! is now available for all Smart Growth Network members in the Members Section. This edition of Getting Smart! examines how the most public of places -- our community's streets -- can be transformed to serve not only vehicles but also pedestrians and cyclists.

Award for Municipal Excellence

The Awards for Municipal Excellence identify and showcase outstanding city and town programs that improve the quality of life in America’s communities. Winners of this award exemplify excellence in city governance, best practices in municipal policy, and models to follow to improve the lives of their citizens.

Award Winning Green Roof Designs

Award Winning Green Roof Designs from author Steven W. Peck includes more than 100 informative photos of the green roofs technology that is quickly becoming a fundamental element of the emerging practice of living architecture.

Awards for Municipal Excellence -- 2008 Call for Nominations

The National League of Cities (NLC) is pleased to announce the 2008 Awards for Municipal Excellence, an awards competition that identifies and showcases outstanding city and town programs that improve the quality of life in America's communities.

Awards of Excellence for Community Trees -- 2007

The Home Depot Foundation, in partnership with the U.S. Conference of Mayors, recently announced the opening of the application period for the Second Annual Awards of Excellence for Community Trees. The Home Depot Foundation believes that the urban forest is one of the essential building blocks for healthy, livable communities impacting our social, environmental, economic and overall well being -- and that the simple act of planting a tree has the power to be the catalyst for significant ecological improvements and profound community change.

Awards of Excellence for Sustainable Community Development

The Home Depot Foundation’s Awards of Excellence for Sustainable Community Development recognizes public-private partnerships that have successfully developed projects and/or initiatives that promote and exemplify a more sustainable community. Truly sustainable projects take a holistic, integrated approach, whereby sustainability planning, affordable housing and the creation of green spaces and planting of trees are inextricably linked.

Projects that qualify for the Awards of Excellence in Sustainable Community Development program exhibit thoughtful construction of a neighborhood which includes green affordable housing and tree plantings and have gone beyond to address overarching community issues. These projects have contributed to creating a stronger connection among the residents and addressed many broad-scale issues, including treatment of stormwater, economic development, reducing urban heat island effect, disaster preparedness, carbon reduction strategies, abandoned and foreclosed properties, pedestrian friendliness, traffic calming, transit oriented development, and resident health and quality of life.

The Awards of Excellence go to both the cities and their non-profit partners representing the partnership that completed the local initiative. The Foundation will recognize a National Winner ($75,000 grant), National Runner-up ($25,000 grant), and up to three Honorable Mentions ($2,500 grant).

The grants are to be used at the discretion of the non-profit to further the sustainability goals of the community.

Responses are due March 31, 2010.

Awards of Excellence Winners

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and the Federal Highways Administration (FHWA) selected four local agency projects for the 2004 Award of Excellence awards.

Award-Winning Healthy Schools

The Council of Educational Facility Planners International (CEFPI) lists on its website CEFPI Award-Winning Healthy Schools.

Balancing Water Quality and Smart Growth Goals -- Archived Webcast

Balancing Water Quality and Smart Growth Goals looks at how two very different communities -- San José, California and Barnstable, Massachusetts -- protect water quality while meeting smart growth goals for economic growth and development. An archive of this July 2007 webcast, presented by ICMA and the U.S. EPA, is now available on the ICMA website.

Baltimore County Forest Sustainability Project

Baltimore County's Forest Sustainability Project is the latest report in The Conservation Fund's Green Infrastructure Case Studies series. The project engages stakeholders to ensure the long-term health and vitality of Baltimore County's diverse forest resources.

Bank of America Neighborhood Excellence Initiative -- 2007

Bank of America's Neighborhood Excellence initiative consists of three distinct investing programs in select markets: Neighborhood Builders, Local Heroes, and Student Leaders.

Bargaining for Development

This unique, 312-page volume from the Environmental Law Institute features an extensive categorization of land development conditions by type of public facility and an extensive discussion of ways in which impact fees can be calculated.

Barriers to Environmental Design in Maryland

Barriers to Environmental Design in Maryland, a report by 1000 Friends of Maryland, examines the barriers that continue to discourage environmental design in Maryland and offers suggestions for how State and local governments can remove these roadblocks and help foster more environmentally responsible decisions in conceiving and constructing landscapes.

Bay Area Bike Commuter of the Year Nominations -- 2008

Do you know someone in your community who is committed to making every day a ''Bike to Work Day''? Does this person epitomize and actualize the health, environmental, social and economic benefits of bicycling? Please share his or her story with us!

Bay Area Focused Growth

Four San Francisco, California Bay Area regional agencies have joined forces in a Joint Policy Committee. The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) are working together to create complete, livable communities.

Bay Area Smart Growth Fund -- San Francisco Bay Area, California

The Bay Area Smart Growth Fund I, LLC invests in retail, office, commercial, industrial, multi-family and select single-family housing opportunities that may make a measurable impact on the economic and social revitalization of neighborhoods in the 46 targeted communities in the San Francisco Bay Area.

BEES 3.0 -- Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability

Designers, builders, and product manufacturers can use this program to help select cost-effective, environmentally preferable building products.

Beltway Burden: Housing and Transportation Costs Squeeze Working Families

Housing located far from transit and employment centers places a heavy financial strain on working families in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region, according to a 2009 publication from the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Terwilliger Center for Workforce Housing. Beltway Burden: The Combined Cost of Housing and Transportation in the Greater Washington, DC Metropolitan Area, documents the challenges faced by area working families who are forced to ''drive 'til they qualify'' for housing, incurring higher transportation costs that eventually erode their housing cost savings. It finds that area families are victim to combined housing and transportation costs that constitute, on average, nearly 47 percent of the area median income.

Best and Worst Developments in the Bay Area

The Transportation and Land Use Coalition (TALC) has produced this report that rates 18 projects in nine counties of the San Francisco Bay area.

Best Awards 2007

Since 1993, the BEST Awards have been presented annually to Portland, Oregon, area companies demonstrating excellence in business practices that promote economic growth and environmental benefits.

BEST Awards 2008

Since 1993, the Office of Sustainable Development in Portland, Oregon, has hosted the BEST Awards -- Businesses for an Environmentally Sustainable Tomorrow. These awards have been presented annually to Portland area companies demonstrating excellence in business practices that promote economic growth and environmental benefits.

Best Development Practices

APA Planners Press. 1996. In this book Reid Ewing argues that the best development is both profitable and sustainable. APA Planners Press.

Best Practices in Context Sensitive Solutions -- 2006

Best Practices in Context Sensitive Solutions -- 2006 documents the AASHTO Center for Environmental Excellence's second national competition to recognize best practices in context sensitive solutions (CSS).

Best Practices in Development: ULI Award Winning Projects 2009

This lavishly illustrated, hardcover awards book profiles 48 top development projects throughout the world. Each project description includes photos, the development story, and project data and is a winner or finalist for the prestigious ULI Awards for Excellence. The annual prize is based on financial viability, the resourceful use of land, design, relevance to contemporary issues, and sensitivity to the community and environment.

Best Practices in Green Education

Best Practices in Green Education from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) offers model education programs and curriculum to support efforts in educating for sustainability. USGBC believes educators learn best from hearing the stories of other educators' efforts.

Better Bricks Awards -- 2006

The BetterBricks Awards recognize architects, engineers, developers, building owners, building operators, facility managers, service providers and other building professionals for their support, use and design of sustainable, high performance, commercial buildings with a special emphasis on energy efficiency in the Northwest.

Better Models for Development in California

Better Models for Development in California is a one of a kind publication for creating, maintaining and enhancing livable communities in California.

Better Models for Development in Maryland

Authors Edward McMahon and Shelley Mastran offer practical advice on key issues facing communities throughout Maryland in Better Models for Development in Maryland, published by the Conservation Fund.

Better Models for Development in Pennsylvania

Better Models for Development in Pennsylvania is a 134-page book that offers officials and citizens dozens of ideas and examples of ways to balance conservation with economic development.

Better Models for Development on the Eastern Shore

Better Models for Development on the Eastern Shore is a unique publication for improving the design and siting of new commercial development on the Eastern Shore. This booklet, co-published with the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy was written for elected officials, planning commissioners, developers and interested citizens on the Delmarva Peninsula. Better Models shows how new commercial development can be made more attractive, more efficient and more profitable.

Beyond Green Awards 2008: Call for Entries

The Sustainable Buildings Industry Council (SBIC) invites you to participate in the 2008 Beyond Green™ High-Performance Building Awards. This unique program recognizes the initiatives that shape, inform and catalyze the high-performance building market, as well as the real-world application of high-performance design and construction practices.

BGreen 2020

The City of Bridgeport and Bridgeport Regional Business Council have released BGreen 2020, a Sustainability Plan that outlines the policies and actions to be implemented in the next decade to improve the quality of life, social equity, and economic competitiveness of the city while reducing carbon emissions and increasing the community's resilience to the effects of climate change and increasing energy costs. The program management team, led by Regional Plan Association, convened the efforts of more than a hundred stakeholders in a Community Advisory Committee and working groups to develop strategies to address brownfields and land use, pedestrian and transit access, renewable energy production, and environmental protection while supporting the growth of green jobs in the region.

BGreen 2020 is the result of a public-private partnership between the City of Bridgeport and the Bridgeport Regional Business Council, a consortium of local business groups. By building on Bridgeport's existing strengths, BGreen will modernize the city's infrastructure, create wealth, intensify urban amenities, enhance environmental quality, enable revitalization without gentrification, and retain Bridgeport's historic character. Early priorities are the creation of an Energy Improvement District to support energy efficiency and production, adopting a ''Transit First'' policy, developing a plan for open space use and maintenance, expanding recycling, and protecting the region's waterways through enhanced stormwater management. A Green Collar Institute will train workers and act as an incubator for developing green industries.

More information, and a download link, can be found at the link below.

(Reprinted with permission from Regional Plan Association)

Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities Funding -- Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Departmetn of Transportation (WisDOT) takes an active role in providing financial assistance to create and improve bicycle and pedestrian facilities in Wisconsin. The state's website offers background on both current and historical funding for bicycle and pedestrian facilities.

Bicycle and Pedestrian Funding

Bicycle and pedestrian projects are broadly eligible for funding from almost all the major Federal-aid highway, transit, safety, and other programs. Bicycle projects must be ''principally for transportation, rather than recreation, purposes'' and must be designed and located pursuant to the transportation plans required of States and Metropolitan Planning Organizations. This page lists funding sources for bicycle and pedestrian projects.

Bicycle Friendly America

The League of American Bicyclists coordinates the Bicycle Friendly America family of programs, which recognize states, communities, and businesses for their efforts to promote bicycling and provides roadmaps to improve. The League is helping build a bicycle-friendly America, and its 2009 U.S. Bicycle-Friendly State Rankings provides a 50-state rankings list.

Bicycle Friendly Communities Awards 2005

Sixteen cities across the United States were awarded “Bicycle Friendly Community” designation by the League of American Bicyclists. The award, given at levels from Bronze to Platinum, recognizes those communities that are improving conditions for bicyclists and bicycling safety.

Bicycle Friendly Communities Awards 2006

Twelve cities across the United States celebrated the start of fall with the news that the League of American Bicyclists awarded them the coveted designation of Bicycle Friendly Community. The award, given at levels from Bronze to Platinum, recognizes those communities that are improving conditions for bicyclists and bicycling.

Bicycle Friendly Communities Grants

Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI), a national retail cooperative providing quality outdoor gear and clothing, has announced a $100,000 grant to the Bikes Belong Foundation to support an innovative series of grant awards to help U.S. cities become more bicycle friendly. The Bikes Belong Foundation, in cooperation with the League of American Bicyclists, will direct the new effort.

Bicycle Friendly Community Grants

The Bicycle Friendly Communities Campaign is an awards program that recognizes municipalities that actively support bicycling.

Bicycle Parking Solutions

''A Resource for Installing Indoor Bicycle Parking.''

Big & Green: Toward Sustainable Architecture in the 21st Century, January 17-June 22, 2003

Big & Green: Toward Sustainable Architecture in the 21st Century explores five categories of issues that design and building professionals are addressing in order to reduce the deleterious environmental impact of skyscrapers and other megastructures: Energy; Light and Air; Greenery, Water and Waste; Construction; and Urbanism.

Big Ideas: Linking Food, Culture, Health, and the Environment

With a global food crisis, rising environmental concerns, and America's children facing epidemic levels of diet-related diseases, how can educators positively engage students in understanding the connections among these topics? Big Ideas: Linking Food, Culture, Health, and the Environment provides a conceptual framework for integrated learning in these important areas in K-12 classrooms.

Bike to Work Day 2009

Thousands of bicyclists turned out to celebrate Bike to Work Day 2009 at locations in the District of Columbia, suburban Maryland, and Northern Virginia. More than 8,000 people signed up to participate in advance of the event, which set a new record for registrations.

Bike/Walk Twin Cities

Bike/Walk Twin Cities, formerly known as the Non-Motorized Transportation Pilot Program, or NTPP, was established in 2005 as part of the six-year federal transportation bill known as SAFETEA-LU. This website provides current information on the project and scheduled events for the Minneaspolis region.

Bikeability Checklist

How bikeable is your community? The Bikeability Checklist can help you find the answer. Inside you'll find insightful questions, allowing you to evaluate your neighborhood's bikeability.

Bikes Belong Coalition Grants -- May 2007

Bikes Belong is the national coalition of bicycle suppliers and retailers working together to put more people on bicycles more often. Through national leadership, grassroots support, and promotion, we work to make bicycling safe, convenient, and fun.

Bikes Belong Coalition Grants -- Overview

The Bikes Belong Coalition is sponsored by members of the U.S. bicycle industry. Its mission is to put more people on bicycles more often. The Bike Belong Grants Program was the first major on-going initiative undertaken by the Bikes Belong Coalition.

Bikes Belong Grants -- Summer 2007

Bikes Belong is the national coalition of bicycle suppliers and retailers working together to put more people on bicycles more often. Through national leadership, grassroots support, and promotion, Bike Belong works to make bicycling safe, convenient, and fun. In summer 2007 Bikes Belong presented six grant awards, totaling $46,935. Investment in these paths, trails, parks, and advocacy initiatives will help create, enhance, and protect great places to ride in communities across the country.

Bill Moyers' Interview with Michael Pollan -- Podcast

In this podcast, Bill Moyers sits down with Michael Pollan, Knight Professor of Journalism at UC Berkeley, to discuss what direction the U.S. should pursue in the often-overlooked question of food policy.

Biodiversity and Smart Growth

This paper discusses the relationship between biodiversity conservation and smart growth, the work that is being done, and suggests promising strategies and explicit collaborations for consideration by philanthropic and public funders and other key actors.

Biodiversity Grants -- Living Lands Project

Living Lands is a new Defenders of Wildlife project to increase the capacity of local land trusts to protect, enhance and restore native wildlife habitat and biodiversity. The project will support this work through financial and technical assistance.

Blueprint Buffalo

Blueprint Buffalo is a report from the National Vacant Properties Campaign (Campaign) and Local Initiatives Support Corporation -- Buffalo (LISC-Buffalo) that outlines a strategy to rebuild the Buffalo, New York region using smart growth development principles, with an emphasis on reclaiming and reusing vacant and abandoned properties.

Blueprint for a Better Region: Putting Development in the Right Places

This PowerPoint presentation promotes Smart Growth principles in the Greater Washington, D.C. metro area.

Blueprint for American Prosperity

The Blueprint for American Prosperity is a multi-year initiative from Brookings to promote an economic agenda for the nation that builds on the assets -- and centrality -- of America's metropolitan areas.

Blueprint for Oregon's Future

From 2005-2007, 1000 Friends of Oregon, the Bus Project, and more than 50 other organizations hosted a series of town hall forums in 16 locations across the state. Called ''Envision Oregon,'' these forums challenged more than 2,200 participants from over 140 towns and places in Oregon to describe their vision for Oregon's future, and to help create strategies for making that vision a reality. They also formed the foundation for Blueprint for Oregon's Future.

Blueprint Houston

Blueprint Houston is a nonprofit organization dedicated to building community support for a planning process that makes improvements to Houston's quality of life and place.

Boston Green Awards 2008

In April 2008, the City of Boston and Mayor Thomas M. Menino recognized the winners of the 2008 Green Awards. Celebrating both local businesses and residents, the 2008 awards were expanded to include a non-profit category and a special bike-friendly business award for companies engaged in bike-friendly activities.

Boston Indicators Report

The Indicators Report provides high quality data and information about Boston by engaging hundreds of participants and experts in presenting data in 10 categories, drawn from the wealth of research and information generated by public agencies, civic institutions, researchers, think tanks and community-based organizations.

Breaking the Codes

Breaking the Codes is a report from Good Jobs First that documents the ways that states are revising their building codes to encourage more rehabilitation of existing structures, especially in urban areas.

Breakthroughs, May 2010

This year's third edition of Breakthroughs has just been released by HUD’s Regulatory Barriers Clearinghouse. In this issue, you'll read about Maryland's efforts to promote affordable housing for military households, a new California law that focuses on the environment and affordable housing, and impact fee cuts to increase housing affordability.

Briefing Papers on Benefits of City Parks

To demonstrate the benefits of city parks and the varied positive affects they can have on a community, the City Parks Forum is producing a series of briefing papers on ''How Cities Use Parks For…''

Bringing Buildings Back

Abandoned properties are a plague across the United States, from rust belt cities like Detroit and Buffalo to small towns like Lima, Ohio, and Waterloo, Iowa. Even in Sunbelt cities such as Houston and Las Vegas, abandonment is a major problem, as investment flows to the periphery, leaving the older, inner neighborhoods behind. In Bringing Buildings Back, author Alan Mallach provides policymakers and practitioners with the first in-depth guide to understanding and dealing with the many ramifications that this issue holds for the future of our older cities.

Bringing Home the Benefits of Energy Efficiency to Low-Income Households

A new study by Enterprise Community Partners, Bringing Home the Benefits of Energy Efficiency to Low-Income Households: A Case for a National Commitment, calls for a national commitment to rehabilitate and retrofit low-income housing with energy-efficient features that will offer substantial financial savings for the residents and ensure long-term gains in environmental and energy sustainability.

Bringing Safe Routes to Scale

The Transportation and Land Use Coalition (TALC) has released Bringing Safe Routes to Scale, a report that outlines the need for regional funding to support Safe Routes to Schools programs that help students safely walk and bike to and from school without having to be driven in a car.

Brookings Greater Washington Research Program Outlines Vision for Capital Renewal

''Revitalizing Washington's Neighborhoods: A Vision Takes Shape,'' a new discussion paper by Alice Rivlin and others, provides a roadmap for revitalizing the District of Columbia and boosting its population by targeting development resources on key neighborhoods.

Brower Youth Award Nominations -- 2008

The Brower Youth Awards is an annual national award recognizing six young people for their outstanding activism and achievements in the fields of environmental and social justice advocacy. The winners of the award receive a $3,000 cash prize, a trip to California for the award ceremony and wilderness camping trip, and ongoing access to resources and opportunities to further their work at Earth Island Institute. Young activist leaders ages 13-22 living in North America are eligible to apply.

Brownfield Case Study Sites

As part of a research project at Carnegie Mellon University entitled: Brownfield Development: the Implications for Urban Infrastructure, several case studies are being conducted concerning specific brownfield sites. Information for each of the case study brownfield sites currently being investigated.

Brownfield Communities Network

Brownfield Communities Network is a national network of local communities working to demonstrate how the cleanup and redevelopment of contaminated property can be an effective tool for community revitalization.

Brownfield Funding -- Michigan

The Clean Michigan Initiative (CMI) is a $675 million bond approved by Michigan voters to improve and protect Michigan's water resources. The major programs are administered by the Departments of Environmental Quality (DEQ), Natural Resources (DNR), and Community Health (MDCH).

Brownfield Grant Awards in Florida

The Florida Brownfields Association (FBA) provides a comprehensive list of brownfields grant awards in the state of Florida.

Brownfield Internet Toolkit

Portland, Oregon's Bureau of Environmental Services offers this website on brownfields information, including information on pollution prevention, community involvement and financial assistance.

Brownfield Redevelopment Funding

Through its Project Learning Program (PLP), the Center for Creative Land Recycling (CCLR) assists nonprofits, municipalities, and community organizations in tackling brownfield redevelopment projects. Each year, CCLR awards several PLP grants to communities and organizations, providing them with the financial and technical assistance necessary to address brownfield-related issues such as: contamination and remediation, economic feasibility, regulatory facilitation, financing, and community-based decision making. Once awarded funding, grantees often retain outside consultants to assist with community-consensus building, economic feasibility studies, site reuse planning, and site design.

Brownfield Redevelopment Solutions

Working with a stakeholder group, Envision Utah has developed a multi-disciplinary tool to expedite the land redevelopment process without sacrificing environmental and land-use standards.

Brownfield Showcase Communities

Brownfield Showcase Communities are designated by a multi-agency partnership to demonstrate the benefits of collaborative activity on brownfields. Part of the Brownfields National Partnership begun in 1997, Brownfields Showcase Communities bring together the resources of more than 15 federal agencies to address local cleanup and reuse issues in a more coordinated manner.

Brownfield to Parks Examples

Since the 1970's, The Trust for Public Land (TPL) has been helping to transform used land into gardens and parks. TPL has posted on its website recent examples -- snapshot portraits of communities where brownfields are giving way to gardens, parks, greenways and open space.

Brownfields 2008 Call for Ideas

The Brownfields 2008 Call for Ideas is open. Submit ideas for a complete session, a presentation, a poster, or a particular topic you would like to see covered. There are twelve educational tracks for Brownfields 2008, including The Greening of Redevelopment and Planning and Design Approaches, and two types of sessions, Marketplace Roundtable and Panel.

Brownfields 2009-2013 Annual Conference RFP

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is accepting proposals from eligible entities and non-profit organizations for financial assistance to assist non-federal personnel in participating in three national Brownfields conferences to be planned and held over a five-year period, beginning in 2009.

Brownfields and Sustainable Development

Region 8 of the U.S EPA offers an online toolkit for tackling brownfields restoration that help remediation efforts to be profitable for the community, restorative for the environment over the long term, and sustainable.

Brownfields and Utility Sites: A Primer for Local Governments

ICMA has released a new report, Brownfields and Utility Sites: A Primer for Local Governments. This free report details some of the unique issues involved in redeveloping properties owned or formerly owned by oil, gas, and electric utility companies. Types of former utility sites include former manufactured gas plant sites (MGP), disposal stations, tank farms, substations, service facilities, rights-of-way parcels, and treatment plants.

Brownfields Assessment Grants -- Connecticut

The Connecticut Office of Brownfield Remediation and Development offers the CT EPA Assessment Program to fully qualify the environmental condition of a site so that remediation and redevelopment can occur.

Brownfields Assessment Grants -- EPA Region 8 (Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah)

Region 8 of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency offers brownfield assessment grants that provide funding to inventory, characterize, assess, and conduct planning and community involvement related to Brownfield sites.

Brownfields Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund and Cleanup Grant Guidelines -- U.S. EPA, 2010

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announces the availability of funds and solicits applications from eligible entities and non-profit organizations for its competitive 2010 ''Brownfields Grant program: Assessment Grants, Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) Grants, and Cleanup Grants.''

Brownfields Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup Grants -- U.S. EPA, 2007

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announces the availability of funds and solicits applications from eligible entities and non-profit organizations for its competitive Brownfields Grant program: Assessment Grants, Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) Grants, and Cleanup Grants.

Brownfields Assistance -- Illinois

The Illinois Bureau of Land (BOL) is responsible for the protection and restoration of land and groundwater resources in the State of Illinois. The BOL administers a broad variety of solid and hazardous waste management and cleanup programs, including Brownfields Assistance.

Brownfields Case Study: Hercules, California

This case study from the Local Government Commission examines how the town of Hercules, California, reclaimed a 426-acre brownfield site in the middle of town.

Brownfields Center

The Environmental Law Institute's Brownfields Center provides essential information on brownfields cleanup and redevelopment with a focus on the concerns and needs of community groups across the country. The Center's goal is to encourage and support effective citizen participation in the redevelopment of brownfields.

Brownfields Cleanup Grants -- EPA Region 8 (Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah)

Region 8 of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency offers brownfield cleanup grants that provide funding to carry out cleanup activities at Brownfields sites.

Brownfields Cleanup Success Stories

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is publishing brownfield cleanup success stories accomplished through its Revolving Loan Fund (RLF). brownfields at-a-glance are fact sheets that contain vital statistics and a project overview for each story, including key accomplishments and outcome.

Brownfields Economic Development Initiative

The Brownfields Economic Development Initiative (BEDI) is one of the key competitive grant programs that HUD administers to stimulate and promote economic and community development activities under Section 108(q) of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, as amended. BEDI is designed to assist cities with the redevelopment of abandoned, idled and underused industrial and commercial facilities with expansion and redevelopment of real or perceived environmental contamination.

Brownfields Federal Programs Guide

There are nearly two dozen federal programs that can help communities in one way or another to assess, cleanup and reuse Brownfields. Brownfields Federal Programs Guide examines in alphabetical order the resources available in other departments and agencies which could be applied in Brownfields situations.

Brownfields Financing Basics

This presentation introduces newcomers to the brownfields financing issue -- local officials, developers, congressional staff, and others -- to basic terms, programs, and opportunities for public sector initiatives.

Brownfields Funding -- Indiana

This resource lists funding options for brownfield redevelopment within the state of Indiana.

Brownfields Funding -- Maryland

The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE), Site Assessment/State Superfund Division can perform a Phase I and Phase II Site Assessment at selected sites at no cost to the property owner or interested party. MDE, through a grant with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has funds to conduct assessments at Brownfields properties throughout the State of Maryland.

Brownfields Funding -- SMARTe

Brownfields funding resources can be found on the Sustainable Management Approaches and Revitalization Tools (SMARTe) website, a free, web-based decision support system for developing and evaluating future reuse scenarios for potentially contaminated land.

Brownfields Funding -- Updates to U.S. EPA Grant Proposal Guidelines

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released EPA Brownfields Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund and Cleanup (ARC) Grant Proposal Guidelines: Key Modifications, a two-page document that outlines changes to the EPA's grant guidelines for the 2008-09 grant cycle.

Brownfields Funding Awards -- 2008

Communities in 43 states, two Tribal Nations and two territories will share over $74 million in EPA Brownfields grants in 2008 to help revitalize former industrial and commercial sites, turning them from problem properties to productive community use.

Brownfields Funding California

In 2000, Governor Gray Davis signed into law the ''Cleanup Loans and Environmental Assistance to Neighborhoods (CLEAN) Program'' establishing new financial incentives to encourage property owners, developers, community groups and local governments to redevelop abandoned and underutilized urban properties in California. Links on this website provide information on the program.

Brownfields Funding in Washington State

The Washington State Department of Ecology maintains a webpage on grants and financial assistance for cleanup of brownfields in the state.

Brownfields Funding Programs -- Connecticut

The Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) offers flexible tools to deal with all brownfield issues, including gap financing, seed capital programs, corporate tax credits and its own environmental liability insurance program.

Brownfields Grants -- Montana

Montana's Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) offers a web site dedicated to brownfields grant information. The data is linked to the U.S. EPA's Brownfields grants program.

Brownfields Grants from CCLR

The Center for Creative Land Recycling (CCLR) awards Project Learning Program (PLP) grants that range in size up to $25,000 per project, year-round, on a merit-based schedule.

Brownfields Green Space Grants -- Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has posted notice that it will not not be accepting any applications for its Brownfields Green Space Grants program until after July 1, 2009.

Brownfields Insurance

BrownfieldsInsurance.org is a website developed with funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to assist those seeking information and assistance with insurance products that mitigate environmental liabilities associated with brownfield properties.

Brownfields Job Training Grants

The U.S. EPA announces the availability of funds and solicits applications from eligible entities and non-profit organizations to provide environmental job training projects that will facilitate the assessment, remediation, or preparation of brownfield sites. Applicants must propose to serve a community that currently receives, or has received, financial assistance from EPA for brownfields assessment, revolving loan fund or cleanup competitive grants.

Brownfields Job Training Grants

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is soliciting applications from eligible entities and non-profit organizations to provide environmental job training projects that will facilitate the assessment, remediation, or preparation of brownfield sites.

Brownfields Land Recycling Program

This City of Phoenix, Arizona, offers a Brownfields Land Recycling Program on its website. The Office of Environmental Programs manages the program, which provides municipal grant funds for infrastructure improvements and development fees on qualified brownfields projects.

Brownfields Land Recycling Program -- Phoenix

The city of Phoenix Brownfields Land Recycling Program is accepting applications for financial and technical assistance for redevelopment projects that meet program requirements. A total of $2 million is available during the next five years to businesses, property owners, developers and nonprofit organizations for redeveloping environmentally contaminated property known as brownfields.

Brownfields Links

The U.S Conference of Mayors website offers a list of brownfields links on its website.

Brownfields National Site Revitalization Award

Orlando's Baldwin Park community, the largest single-phase demolition and recycling project in history that has resulted in one of the nation's most successful residential real estate developments, has added yet another prestigious award to its trophy case. The Phoenix Award™ was presented to Baldwin Park Development Company during the Brownfields 2006 environmental conference in Boston.

Brownfields of Dreams

Detroit Free Press writers Steve Neavling and John Gallagher report on how efforts to reclaim brownfields in the Detroit region are beginning to pay dividends, as once-abandoned land becomes useful to the community.

Brownfields Policy and Research

The February 2009 Brownfields Policy Research Newsletter from Northeast/Midwest Institute (NEMW) includes links to recent reports and white papers plus a feature article, ''Infill, Historic Preservation, and Infrastructure Savings.''

Brownfields Policy and Research: August 2009

The August 2009 Brownfields Policy Research Newsletter from Northeast/Midwest Institute includes links to recent reports and white papers plus an analysis of how brownfields projects would be eligible under the proposed Livable Communities Act of 2009.

Brownfields Policy Research Newsletter -- September 2008

The September 2008 Brownfields Policy Research Newsletter from Northeast/Midwest Institute (NEMW) includes links to recent reports and white papers plus a feature article, ''State-Facilitated Tax Increment Financing for Brownfields Redevelopment.''

Brownfields Policy Research Newsletter from NEMW

The Northeast/Midwest Institute (NEMW) publishes the Brownfields Policy Research Newsletter, a monthly publication highlighting policy research and legislative information that will assist brownfields and community redevelopment practitioners to make progress in their communities.

Brownfields Policy Research Newsletter: July 2009

The July 2009 Brownfields Policy Research Newsletter from Northeast/Midwest Institute contains links to recent reports and white papers, with a section on Energy, Brownfields, and Sustainability.

Brownfields Redevelopment

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is seeking proposals for Smart Growth and Brownfield Redevelopment. Proposals are due by 5:00 pm on August 24, 2004.

Brownfields Redevelopment -- Indiana

The Indiana Finance Authority (IFA) offers financial assistance for brownfields redevelopment in the form of site assessment grants, low-interest loans, petroleum remediation grants, and more.

Brownfields Redevelopment -- Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy offers a focus on brownfields in the Community Lots section of their website. This focus section is specifically tailored for the needs and concerns of nonprofit community-based organizations (CBOs) that want to undertake brownfield redevelopment.

Brownfields Redevelopment Fund -- Oregon

The Brownfields Redevelopment Fund is a direct loan and grant program to conduct environmental actions on brownfields. Created by the Oregon Legislative Assembly in 1997, the program's primary purpose is to assist private persons and local governments to evaluate, cleanup, and therefore redevelop brownfields.

Brownfields Redevelopment Tax Credits -- Maryland

Maryland properties with environmental concerns are now eligible for tax credits after environmental clean up. Polluted sites often lay dormant, unattractive to development due to clean-up and liability concerns. Federal and state laws have now clarified the legal responsibilities for environmental clean-up, paving the way for opportunities to redevelopment land in prime commercial locations.

Brownfields Redevelopment Toolbox for Disadvantaged Communities

Case Studies, site-specific tools, and planning for brownfields remediation in disadvantaged communites are all part of the Brownfields Redevelopment Toolbox for Disadvantaged Communities from the Northeast-Midwest Institute and the Disadvantaged Communities Network.

Brownfields Redevelopment: Best Practices Report

The NGA Center for Best Practices examines innovative state practices in brownfield redevelopment that encourage urban cleanup and revitalization. Two PDF files included as resources on this site.

Brownfields Research Consortium

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Milwaukee Brownfields Research Consortium is a new partnership among UWM faculty, government agencies, businesses, and nonprofit organizations involved in the cleanup and redevelopment of brownfield properties.

Brownfields Resource Guide -- Washington State

Brownfields cleanup and reuse are priorities for the State of Washington and USEPA. This resource guide will point you in the right direction to get answers to your questions and help with brownfield projects.

Brownfields Resource Guide for Rural and Small Communities

Published by the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) Research Foundation under a cooperative agreement with EPA, Brownfields Resource Guide for Rural and Small Communities is a guide that provides a range of resources for brownfields efforts.

Brownfields Road Map

The U.S. EPA's Road Map to Understanding Innovative Technology Options for Brownfields Investigation and Cleanup, Fourth Edition, includes new and updated resources to assist in identification and selection of innovative site characterization and cleanup technologies for brownfields redevelopment.

Brownfields Site Mart -- New Jersey

The Brownfields Site Mart, a web site produced by the State of New Jersey, is designed to make it easier for developers to locate and build on land in cities and towns, while preserving the state's dwindling inventory of open space.

Brownfields Tax Incentive

Originally signed into law in 1997, the Brownfields Tax Incentive encourages the cleanup and reuse of brownfields. This program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been extended through December 31, 2009.

Brownfields Tax Incentive

Originally signed into law in August 1997, the Taxpayer Relief Act (Public Law 105-34) included a tax incentive to spur the cleanup and redevelopment of brownfields in distressed urban and rural areas.

Brownfields Tax Incentive -- FAQ (2007)

Originally signed into law in 1997 and extended through December 31, 2007, the Brownfields Tax Incentive encourages the cleanup and reuse of brownfields. This document from the U.S. EPA provides answers to some of the most frequently asked questions (FAQs) about this federal tax incentive.

Brownfields Tax Incentive Guidelines -- 2007 Edition

Originally signed into law in 1997 and extended through December 31, 2007, the Brownfields Tax Incentive encourages the cleanup and reuse of brownfields. Under the Brownfields Tax Incentive, environmental cleanup costs are fully deductible in the year incurred, rather than capitalized and spread over time. Improvements in 2006 expanded the tax incentive to include petroleum cleanup.

Brownfields Tax Incentive State Contacts

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) offers a state-by-state listing of Brownfields Tax Incentives on the Brownfields section of its website. Contact information for all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, are included in this resource.

Brownfields to Green Space

Brownfields to Green Space is a fact sheet from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) that describes the financial hurdles met by groups and communities seeking to convert brownfields to usable green space, and the positive effects new green spaces have on communities.

Brownfields Tools for Disadvantaged Communities

The Northeast-Midwest Institute, the Sustainable Community Development Group and The Ferguson Group have launched a U.S. EPA-sponsored initiative to provide brownfields tools and technical assistance to local communities that are seeking to overcome economic and neighborhood disadvantage.

Brownfields Training Grants

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Brownfields Cleanup and Redevelopment (OBCR) has issued a revised announcement of a funding opportunity for the Brownfields Training, Research, and Technical Assistance Grants and Cooperative Agreements Program.

Brownfields Training, Research and Technical Assistance Grants

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) posts on its website Training, Research, and Technical Assistance Grant Fact Sheets. These Fact Sheets, viewable as PDF or HTML documents, describe various programs throughout the United States that are receiving funds from the EPA's Technical Assistance Program.

Brownfields Workshop Presentations

The Canadian Brownfields Network (CBN) is offering workshop presentations on its website. Presentations from events dating back to 2004 are available in Adobe Acrobat format.

Brownfields: State of the States

Elected officials and program staff across the country have endeavored to make certain that their programs reflect local brownfield project needs, run smoothly, and take advantage of opportunities to tie brownfield cleanup and redevelopment assistance with regulatory incentives. This updated report highlights their successes and challenges over the past year.

BrownfieldSource.org

BrownfieldSource.org is a comprehensive online resource for brownfields news and information.

Brunswick, Georgia, Brownfields Mobile Workshop

This document details the Brownfields Mobile Workshop, held May 21, 2007, in Brunswick, Georgia. The workshop was part of the 20th Annual Southeast Regional Directors Institute (SERDI) Conference.

Building a Greener Future: Zero-Carbon Housing

This 2006 report from the United Kingdom's Department for Communities and Local Government outlines a plan to provide zero carbon housing for new residential construction in England by 2016.

Building a Sustainable Business: Developing a Business Plan for Farms and Rural Businesses

Conceived in 1996 by a planning team for the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture (MISA) to address the evolving business planning needs of beginning and experienced rural entrepreneurs, Building a Sustainable Business: A Guide to Developing a Business Plan for Farms and Rural Businesses incorporates recommendations on content, language and organization from the review process as well as examples from five of the review team’s business plans.

Building Better: A Guide to America's Best New Development Projects

Building Better: A Guide to America's Best New Development Projects from the Sierra Club reports on the current state of development in the United States and highlights some of the best new developments that are producing healthy neighborhoods and livable communities.

Building Commons and Community

Building Commons and Community documents 45 years of the late Karl Linn's legacy creating neighborhood spaces for communities and by communities. In this richly-illustrated landscape-format hardcover book, Linn presents his philosophies and practical wisdom to help people use the resources they find in their own surroundings to create welcoming shared spaces.

Building Communities and Entrepreneurs

The Citigroup Foundation's Building Communities and Entrepreneurs program supports community development corporations, intermediary organizations and community development financial institutions that focus on affordable housing, economic development, welfare-to-work initiatives, community infrastructure improvements, and environmentally sustainable growth to local economies.

Building Florida's Future

Building Florida’s Future: Strategies for Regional Cooperation, a report from the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Florida Initiative on Regional Collaboration, outlines how the state's communities can benefit economically and in maintaining a high quality of life by working closely together during the substantial growth expected in the next 15 years.

Building for Tomorrow: Innovative Infrastructure Solutions

Building for Tomorrow: Innovative Infrastructure Solutions from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) presents a compendium of innovative alternatives to infrastruction maintenance and improvements for public and private entities.

Building from the Best of the Northern Rockies

In response to unprecedented growth in the Northern Rockies, the Sonoran Institute launched an innovative effort to guide a vision for development that reflects and protects the unique natural and architectural assets of the West. Building from the Best of the Northern Rockies (BBNR) promotes this alternative vision for growth, highlighting what good development looks like in the West. It documents and celebrates new developments in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho that embody this vision.

Building Green Infrastructure: Land Conservation as a Watershed Protection Strategy.

San Francisco: TPL, 1999. Case studies of four watersheds: Austin, Texas; Barnegat Bay, NJ; Mountain Island Lake, NC; and Indian River Lagoon, Fla, which have been able to use land conservation to preserve water quality.

Building Green Sustainable Communities

Building Green Sustainable Communities, a special report from Local Initiatives Support Corporation, highlights the group's green projects, including training for green jobs; construction of new affordable housing and retrofit of existing homes; urban farms and farmers markets; and green schools and environmental education programs.

Building Green: Onus or Bonus

A Green Buildings Matrix is available from the April 2005 Zoning Practice, the American Planning Association's newsletter that helps guide you as you write and administer smart development codes.

Building Green: Overcoming Barriers in Philadelphia

Building Green: Overcoming Barriers in Philadelphia is a report from the Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC) that identifies obstacles to green building in Philadelphia and recommends solutions to dissolving those barriers.

Building Healthy Communities for Active Aging -- 2008 Applications

The U.S. EPA's Aging Initiative is spearheading the multi-agency Building Healthy Communities for Active Aging Award. The The principal goal of the is to raise awareness across the nation about healthy synergies that can be achieved by communities combining Smart Growth and Active Aging concepts.

Building Healthy Communities for Active Aging -- 2009 Applications

The principal goal of the Building Healthy Communities for Active Aging Award program is to raise awareness across the nation about healthy synergies that can be achieved by communities combining Smart Growth and Active Aging concepts.

Building Healthy Communities for Active Aging Assessment Tool

The U.S. EPA's Aging Initiative website provides a wealth of information about the Agency's efforts to protect the environmental health of older persons. The Initiative's Building Healthy Communities for Active Aging Assessment Tool consists of a series of questions that address concerns for an aging population in terms of overall health, quality of life in terms of accessibility within the community -- and how smart growth practices provide solutions to these questions.

Building Healthy Communities for Active Aging Awards 2008

The U.S. EPA has produced a booklet for recipients of its Building Healthy Communities for Active Aging Awards 2008. Included in this booklet are details on the 2008 Achievement Award Winner, 2008 Commitment Award Winners, and 2007 BHCAA Winner Updates.

Building Healthy Communities for Active Aging Awards Nominations

Nominations are now open for the 2009 Excellence in Building Healthy Communities for Active Aging Awards. This award from the U.S. EPA's Aging Initiative program recognizes communities for their outstanding comprehensive approaches to implementing principles of smart growth, as well as strategies that support active aging.

Building Healthy Communities for Active Aging: Grant Winners

The U.S. EPA has announced winners of its Building Healthy Communities for Active Aging: Training and Demonstration Projects. EPA has awarded the Training Grant to the Univeristy of Maine, and the Demonstration Grant to Portland State University.

Building Resilient Cities Along the Gulf of Mexico

In The Resilient Coast: Policy Frameworks for Adapting the Built Environment to Climate Change and Growth in Coastal Areas of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, authors John Jacob and Stephanie Showalter predict that a ''perfect storm'' is brewing on the Gulf Coast: Rapid growth is occurring in hazardous zones that will likely be rendered even more hazardous as a result of climate change, putting ever more people in harm's way. This publication examines policy frameworks across the five Gulf states that could encourage better planning, and finds a surprising variability among the states.

Building Successful Communities in the Sierra Nevada

Planning for Prosperity: Building Successful Communities in the Sierra Nevada is designed to help decision-makers in the Sierra Nevada plan wisely and effectively for their communities' futures.

Building the Line to Equity

PolicyLink and Action! offer Building the Line to Equity: Six Steps for Achieving Equitable Transit Oriented Development in Massachusetts, a report that lays out a set of principles for achieving transit development without displacement.

Building the Livable Urban Edge

This resource from the Cleveland Waterfront Coalition is a Best Practices for Urban Waterfronts slideshow that you can view in your web browser. More than 150 slides show the current condition of Cleveland's lakefront and photos from other cities.

''Built to Last'' Film

Recorded in May of 2009 in Buffalo, New York, the short film ''Built to Last'' is independent filmmaker John Paget's short film exploring the connection between New Urbanism and environmental issues.

Califia Sketchbook Design Competition

The Califia Sketchbook Design Competition will demonstrate what life will be like in Califia, a proposed next generation eco-city. People from around the world are invited to enter a conceptual sketch conveying their view of ''slices-of-life'' within Califia, revealing smarter ways of building, powering, and maintaining the urban fabric. The program sponsors believe that allowing for more direct public involvement in the design of future living spaces is the first step in a successful eco-city project.

California Brownfields Reuse Success Stories

The State of California's Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) contains a variety of brownfield-related resources on its website, including a section on successful reuse of certain brownfields within the state.

California Farmland Conservancy Grants

The State of California's Department of Conservation Farmland Conservancy Program provides grants to local governments and qualified nonprofit organizations.

California Farmland Conservancy Program

The California Department of Conservation's Farmland Conservancy Program seeks to encourage the long-term, private stewardship of agricultural lands through the voluntary use of agricultural conservation easements. The CFCP provides grant funding for projects which use and support agricultural conservation easements for protection of agricultural lands.

California Green Campuses Earn Best Practices Award

Two Green Campus universities -- Humboldt State University and University of California, Berkeley -- received last year’s Higher Education Energy Efficiency Best Practices Awards in the category of Student Energy Conservation in the CSU and UC grouping respectively.

California Greening Schools Initiative

The California Green Schools Initiative has compiled a list of resources as a starting place for parents, teachers, and school administrators who are interested in finding ways to cover the costs of greening their schools.

California Land and Water Conservation Fund

The California Department of Parks and Recreation offers this guide to the Federal Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) program, administered nationally by the National Park Service, provides funds to federal agencies, the 50 states and 6 territories.

California Smart Growth Initiative

The California Smart Growth Initiative, initiated in September 2000 by the Urban Land Institute, is designed to examine growth and development trends in California, determine the barriers to smart growth, and identify specific local, regional, and state solutions that advance a collaborative smart growth agenda.

California Sustainable Community Planning Grant Program

On behalf of the Strategic Growth Council, the California Dept. of Conservation is administering a $22.3 million competitive planning grant program for sustainable community plans.

The primary purpose of this grant program is to implement the vision of the Governor and Legislature to foster and support development of sustainable communities. Local governments will need to adopt land use plans and integrated strategies that can transform communities and create long term prosperity. Such communities shall promote equity, strengthen the economy, protect the environment and promote healthy, safe communities.

Under SB 732, approximately $60 million will be awarded to cities, counties, Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), Joint Powers Authorities (JPAs), Regional Transportation Planning Agencies (RTPAs), and Council of Governments (COGs). The Council anticipates two or three funding cycles.

Funds will be used to encourage sustainable regional and local actions that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, promote water conservation, reduce automobile use and fuel consumption, encourage infill and compact development, protect natural resources and agricultural lands, promote public health, and revitalize urban and community centers. Proposals must help achieve state planning priorities and environmental goals, as well as promote cooperative and scale-appropriate methods and strategies that reflect the interdependence of environmental, economic and community health.

Workshops will be conducted to provide technical assistance in preparing grant applications and vetting project proposals for eligibility and competitiveness.

Applications are due by August 31, 2010.

Call for Abstracts -- Urban Down Under 2005

Urbanism Down Under 2005 -- Creative Urban Futures, an international urban design conference with an Australasian focus, has issued a Call for Abstracts for their August 2005 conference.

Call for Entries: 2005 SBIC Best Sustainable Practice Awards

Sustainable Buildings Industry Council (SBIC) is now soliciting submissions for their 2005 Awards Program. Entries must be submitted by Friday, October 21, 2005.

Call for Entries: 2006 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is pleased to announce that applications are now being accepted for the fifth annual National Award for Smart Growth Achievement.

Call for Entries: National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education Best Masters Thesis Award 2007

The National Center for Smart Growth at the University of Maryland will grant one award in the amount of $1000 for the best masters thesis focused on urban growth and development issues completed in the 2007 academic year. Masters students in urban planning, public policy, civil engineering, public and community health, economics and finance, political science or related fields are encouraged to apply.

Call for Entries: Sustainable Building Challenge

The International Initiative for Sustainable Built Environment (iiSBE) invites all those with experience in designing, building or operating high performance buildings to take part in the Sustainable Building Challenge 2007-2008. SBC08 is a continuation of the Green Building Challenge process that began in 1996 and has since engaged more than 20 countries in project assessments, displayed at GBC'98, SB2000, SB02 and SB05.

Call for Papers -- International Sustainable Development Conference -- Sustainable Cities

The Centre of Urban Planning and Environmental Management (CUPEM), The University of Hong Kong, in association with ERP Environment, have announced the 12th Annual International Sustainable Development Research Conference 2006 will be held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong on April 6-8, 2006.

Call for Pilot Projects: LEED for Neighborhood Development Pilot Rating System

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is soliciting projects to be part of the pilot program for its LEED for Neighborhood Development Rating System. Up to 120 pilot projects will be selected to participate in the pilot program.

Call for Program Ideas -- New Partners for Smart Growth 2008 Conference

The Local Government Commission is conducting a ''Call for Program Ideas'' for the 2008 New Partners for Smart Growth Conference program. This process will be open from June 6th through July 11th, 2007. The submittal review process will take place from mid-July through late-September 2007, and those selected for inclusion in the final program will be notified by late September.

Call for Smart Growth Model Courses

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has received requests from communities and universities for help in developing model courses that incorporate smart growth into hands-on, applied course offerings.

Call for Submissions: Affordable Green Housing Projects

Submit your affordable green housing projects for a juried selection and posting on the new Green Housing section of the Affordable Housing Design Advisor, sponsored by the AIA.

Campus Building Design Projects

Sterling College recently began to renovate its facilities and dorms to make these historic Vermont buildings more energy efficient. In keeping with the mission of the college, it was apparent that this development should be done in an ecologically sustainable way.

Campus Ecology Fellows

Leveraging their efforts beyond the campus bounds, National Wildlife Federation's (NWF) 2005 Campus Ecology Fellows are transforming their university's operations, building community ties and advancing discussions about and solutions to address global environmental issues.

Campus Environmental Yearbook

Each year, Campus Ecology gathers case studies for the Campus Environmental Yearbook to document and celebrate the great work being done at colleges and universities across the country

Campus Sustainability Assessment Framework

The Campus Sustainability Assessment Framework (CSAF) examines campus sustainability by looking at the interconnectedness of People and Ecosystems in maintaining the balance of life on this planet.

Campus Sustainability Leadership Awards -- 2007

The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) presented its Campus Sustainability Leadership Awards on September 7, 2007, at the 7th biennial Greening of the Campus conference, ''Partnering for Sustainability: Enabling a Diverse Future,'' held at Ball State University September 6-8, 2007, in Muncie, Indiana.

Campus Sustainability Leadership Awards -- Call for Nominations 2008

The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education is accepting nominations for the 2008 Campus Sustainability Leadership Awards. The awards recognize institutions that have demonstrated an outstanding overall commitment to sustainability in their governance and administration, curriculum and research, operations, campus culture, and community outreach.

Campus Sustainability Profiles

Campus Sustainability Profiles is a web-based resource comprised of applications for the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE's) Campus Sustainability Leadership Awards.

Campus Sustainability Report -- Indiana University 2007

The Indiana University Task Force on Campus Sustainability has released the Campus Sustainability Report, a collective work of more than 100 IU faculty, staff, and students who have been engaged, over the past six months, in developing a sustainability plan for the IU-Bloomington campus.

Campus Sustainability Report -- Michigan State University 2007

The Michigan State University Committee for a Sustainable Campus (UCSC) has released the 2007 Campus Sustainability Report, a collective work that builds on the initial report from 2003. The report presents the latest trends in interdependence between the social, environmental and economic components of the campus -- and adds several new indicators.

Can Landscape Architects Make Schools Walkable Again?

In the April 15, 2008 edition of LAND online, the landscape architecture news digest of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), editor J. William ''Bill'' Thompson discusses the challenge of getting kids to walk to school.

Canada's Sustainable Cities 2009

Corporate Knights Magazine has issued its 2009 Sustainable Cities Report, the third annual report detailing which Canadian cities have the smallest environmental footprint.

Canons of Sustainable Architecture and Urbanism

The Charter of the New Urbanism is the guiding document of the new urbanist movement. Although it offers an encompassing vision of sustainable urbanism from the scale of the region to the block and building, three leading CNU members, including two who had a central role in drafting the original Charter, undertook an effort to clarify and detail the relationship between New Urbanism and sustainability. The resulting document, The Canons of Sustainable Architecture and Urbanism, is designed to serve as a set of operating principles for human settlement that reestablish the relationship between the art of building, the making of community, and the conservation of our natural world.

Caring for Land Trust Properties

How can you be a good guest and care for the land you have been entrusted with? In Caring for Land Trust Properties from the Land Trust Alliance (LTA) you will learn to manage properties more effectively.

Car-Sharing: Where and How It Succeeds

The Transportation Research Board's Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) has produced Car-Sharing--Where and How It Succeeds, a report that examines the development and implementation of car-sharing services.

Cascadia Scorecard

Northwest Environment Watch (NEW) offers the Cascadia Scorecard, a new gauge of regional progress that monitors seven key trends--health, economy, population, energy, sprawl, forests, and pollution--that are profoundly shaping the region's future.

Case Studies for Transit-Oriented Development

Case Studies for Transit-Oriented Development, a report prepared for Local Initiatives Support Corp. by Reconnecting America, is a short summary of the TOD tools that are used by communities all across the country.

Case Studies in Smart Growth

The New Jersey Smart Growth Gateway, a project of New Jersey Future, is an online resource to provide the information necessary to begin implementing Smart Growth Strategies in their communities. Included on this website are links to on- and off-site case studies from a variety of organizations.

Case Study of State Incentives: Proposals to Make Strategic Investments in Brownfields Redevelopment

The Northeast-Midwest Institute partnered with ICF International to create this Case Study of State Incentives, which advises a state on the potential to modify and expand its brownfields incentives.

Case Study: Gardening in the San Diego School District

The Local Government Commission (LGC) has posted this case study of gardening in the San Diego School District. Students at Rosa Parks Elementary School in the San Diego, California, can enjoy the benefits of a community garden right on their school's campus. The school is located in the City Heights neighborhood where residents are predominately Latino, African-American and Southeast Asian, and 54.5 percent of families earn incomes below the federal poverty level.

CDC Livability Listserv

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) facilitates a Listserv that addresses issues related to health and the built environment. An e-newsletter that includes related news articles, latest studies, and updates on conferences and events related to livability is sent to all subscribers once a month.

CDC Offers Slideshows on Kidswalk to School Website

Two new slide presentations are available on the CDC's Kidswalk-to-School website. Each comes with a lesson plan, presenter's guide, and presentation script.

Center for Infrastructure Equity

The PolicyLink Center for Infrastructure Equity advocates for fair and inclusive policies and provides community and grassroots leaders, advocates, and public officials with the tools, training, and consultation needed to ensure that public investments in infrastructure create economic opportunity and health in all communities. The center has evolved out of several years of action-oriented research and partnerships by PolicyLink with state and local organizations, and is poised to continue that work while also addressing key new federal infrastructure policy opportunities.

Center for Sustainable Communities

Center for Sustainable Communities, part of the National Association of Counties (NACo) website, provides a forum for county officials to work with other government leaders, the private sector, and communities to develop policies and programs that lead to economic enhancement, environmental stewardship and social well being -- the three pillars of sustainable communities.

Center for Urban and Rural Affairs Funding

The Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) is an all-University applied research and technology center at the University of Minnesota that connects faculty and students with community organizations and public institutions working on significant public policy issues in Minnesota.

Central Florida Champions Awards

The Urban Land Institute-Orlando will honor exceptional community leaders, initiatives and projects dedicated to sustainability and excellence at its Central Florida Champions Awards 2008, to be held September 24, 2008, in Orlando, Florida.

Central Florida Regional Indicators Report 2005

The Central Florida Regional Indicators Report 2005 establishes a regional key indicator system that not only measures progress in the myregion priority areas but indicates the region’s success in becoming less fragmented and more coordinated.

Century Commission for a Sustainable Florida

The Century Commission for a Sustainable Florida was established by the Governor and Legislature of Florida to envision the future of Florida -- to help citizens and state leaders prepare for a continued increase in population and to craft a plan that meets the challenges and opportunities this presents. This First Annual Report lays the foundation for the creation of a sustainable Florida.

CEOS for Cities

CEOs for Cities is a membership-based national network of urban leaders dedicated to creating next generation cities that hold the answers to many of the challenges our nation faces. Through its website, members and visitors can keep current on events, publications and projects, meetings, and more.

Champions for Sustainable Communities

Forward Scotland is accepting nominations for the first-ever Champions for Sustainable Communities Awards, to be held on 18 March 2008 in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Champions for Sustainable Communities -- Call for Partners

Forward Scotland is currently developing and looking for partners for Champions for Sustainable Communities. Originally launched in 2008, this is an award that recognizes the achievements of individuals across society who have lead the way in community development with the highest regard for sustainable development principles.

Champions of Open Space Awards

Three Washington County, Minnesota landowners who have made financial and environmental commitments to protecting open space were honored at a ceremony at Belwin, near Afton in July.

Champions of the Earth 2005

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has named seven leaders in the field of the environment as Champions of the Earth 2005 for ''setting an example for the world to follow.''

Changing Metropolitan America

As the nation looks to make significant new federal investments in infrastructure, Changing Metropolitan America: Planning for a Sustainable Future, a new publication from the Urban Land Institute, outlines strategies for building and maintaining infrastructure that fosters sustainable cities and metropolitan areas.

Charles Eliot Scholarship

The Metropolitan Area Planning Council has established a scholarship award in memory of Charles W. Eliot, II. Mr. Eliot was an advocate of regional cooperation and especially interested in land use planning as it affected open space protection, land management, and other ecological issues.

This scholarship is open to any senior in a secondary school in the 101 city-and-town MAPC region, who is planning to further his/her education in these fields, which were of significant value to Mr. Eliot. A cash prize of at least $500 will be awarded in the form of a scholarship to the school of the recipient's choice.

The deadline for 2010 applications is April 23, 2010.

Charles Greeley Abbot Award 2008

While American families struggle with record energy prices and urgently seek alternative sources of energy, the nation's top award in the field of solar energy was presented to Dr. Lawrence L. Kazmerski for his pioneering work to reduce the cost of solar energy.

Check Your Success: A Guide to Developing Indicators for Community-Based Environmental Projects

Check Your Success is a guide to developing indicators for community-based environmental projects. It's designed for groups that are working on environmental protection at a community level, and will boost efforts to improve your community by helping you develop indicators to measure your success. It also will show you how your group can move beyond a narrow focus and start thinking about how your activities can be used to address the connections between the environment, economy and society.

Chesapeake Bay Grant Programs

The Chesapeake Bay Trust has issued several request for proposals for its 2007-2008 grants cycle. A July 13, 2007 deadline applies for the Stewardship Grants Program, the Environmental Education Grants Program, and the Urban Greening Grant Program.

Chesapeake Bay Small Watershed Grants Program

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) will award grants in partnership with the Chesapeake Bay Program, Environmental Protection Agency, US Forest Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the D.C. Department of the Environment, with additional corporate funding support from Altria, FedEx and Perdue Farms.

Grants of between $20,000 to $200,000 will be awarded to organizations and local governments working on a local level to protect and improve watersheds in the Chesapeake Bay basin, while building citizen-based resource stewardship. Sponsors anticipate awarding approximately $3 million in grants through this solicitation.

More information is available at the link below, including how to apply.

Applications are due May 17, 2010.

Chesapeake Bay Trust Funding -- Maryland

The Chesapeake Bay Trust provides grant funding for on-the-ground Chesapeake Bay restoration projects throughout Maryland, reaching thousands of students, organizations and community leaders each year.

Chesapeake Bay Trust Mini-Grants: Summer 2009 Deadlines

The Chesapeake Bay Trust's Mini Grants program awards up to $5,000 for projects that address one or more of the Trust's grant making priorities. The majority of Mini Grant applications are submitted by schools for field experiences and on-the ground student service projects.

Chesapeake Bay Watershed Grants

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Chesapeake Bay Program Office, is announcing a request for proposals for Support of the Chesapeake Bay Targeted Watershed Pilot Grants Program (CBTWPGP) for 2005. This is a new announcement that has not previously been distributed.

Chicago Climate Action Plan

The Chicago Climate Action Plan describes the major effects climate change could have on the city and suggests how all city residents can work together to address those challenges.

Chicago Climate Action Report

Chicago's Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the Center for Neighborhood Technology a reports on the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for the Chicago metro region for the years 2000 and 2005, assesses the impacts of the 8.4 million people who live in the region and the commerce conducted there, and provides four key findings of the research.

Chicago's Eat Local Live Healthy Campaign

''Chicago: Eat Local, Live Healthy'' is a City of Chicago strategy to coordinate aspects of the local and regional food industry in ways that enhance public health and create food-related business opportunities.

Chicago's Guide to Completing an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy

Center for Neighborhood Technology recently helped to co-author Chicago's Guide to Completing an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy, a guide that will help cities and counties to develop a long-term and sustainable energy efficiency and conservation plan.

Children and Nature Network Community Action Guide

The Children and Nature Network (C&NN) was created to encourage and support people and organizations working toward the goal of reconnecting children and nature. C&NN provides a critical link between researchers, individuals, educators, organizations, businesses and government agencies dedicated to children's health and well-being.

Choosing Our Community's Future

Smart Growth America has released Choosing Our Community's Future, a guidebook developed to assist communities in shaping the growth and development of their neighborhoods, towns and regions.

Cities Go Green

CitiesGoGreen is a project focused on answering the question, ''How can cities and other local governments become sustainable as quickly and effectively as possible?'' With both an online and offline presence -- the project includes a digital and a print magazine, distributed with the intent to encourage effective movement by cities and other local governments toward sustainability.

Citistates Weekly Columns

The Citistates Group is a network of journalists, speakers and civic leaders focused on building competitive, equitable and sustainable 21st century metropolitan regions.

Citizen Planners Resource Kit

The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy offers U.S. planning boards a complimentary Citizen Planners Resource Kit. The Citizen Planners Resource Kit was developed for distribution to local planning boards and commissions across the U.S. as part of the Lincoln Institute’s mission to reach out to citizen planning commissions through educational programs, publications, multi-media resources, and its website.

City of Portland’s Green Investment Fund

The City of Portland's Green Investment Fund (GIF) is designed to help offset the incremental costs of demonstration commercial, residential, industrial and mixed-use building projects in Portland that achieve a high level of environmental performance through multi-faceted design, progressive technologies, and best practices.

City of Portland's Green Investment Fund -- Portland, Oregon

The Green Investment Fund (GIF) is a competitive grant program that supports innovative green building projects in Portland.

City Parks Blog

City Parks Blog is a joint effort of the Center for City Park Excellence at the Trust for Public Land and the City Parks Alliance to chronicle the news and issues of the urban park movement. The blog covers a variety of related topics, including green infrastructure, planning, health, transportation, and economics.

City Parks Forum Briefing Papers

The City Parks Forum, a special initiative of the American Planning Association (APA), has published a second series of briefing papers that show mayors, city managers, planners and others how to use healthy parks to create safer neighborhoods, protect and enhance urban environments, improve learning among children, and improve public health.

City Parks: Facts and Figures 2009

The 77 largest city park systems nationwide provide more than 1.3 million acres of parkland, providing close-to-home outdoor experiences in an ailing economy, according to a City Parks: Facts and Figures report released by The Trust for Public Land (TPL).

City Parks: When There's Nothing to Conserve -- Create!

When There's Nothing to Conserve -- Create! is a publication from the Trust for Public Lands (TPL) that describes how, from Boston to San Francisco, successful parks have been created out of former factories, home sites, office buildings, railyards, parking lots, landfills, and even highways.

City Practice Resources

When your city is seeking solutions, avoid reinventing the wheel by using the City Practice Resources compiled by the staff of the National League of Cities. Four City Practice Resources are now available: City Practice Online Database, City Practices Briefs, Municipal Action Guides, and the Municipal Reference Service Inquiry Service.

CITYgreen

American Forests. This GIS software program, used for land-use planning and policy-making, helps people understand the value of trees to the local environment .

CITYGreen Environmental Education

American Forests' environmental education program provides students with a real world learning experience while providing teachers an innovative yet well organized program for teaching science, math and Geographic Information Systems.

Civic Vision Award -- AIA Houston

The American Institute of Architects-Houston (AIA) honored Houston Tomorrow's David Crossley with its Civic Vision Award at AIA Houston's Annual Meeting on October 30, 2008.

Clean Air Excellence Awardees -- 2006

EPA's Clean Air Excellence Awards Program, established at the recommendation of the Clean Air Act Advisory Committee, annually recognizes and honors outstanding, innovative efforts that help to make progress in achieving cleaner air.

Clean Air Excellence Awards -- 2010

The U.S. EPA is accepting applications for the 10th Annual Clean Air Excellence Awards. The program honors outstanding innovative efforts to help make progress in achieving cleaner air. Award-winning entries must directly or indirectly reduce pollutant emissions, demonstrate innovation, offer sustainable outcomes, and provide a model for others to follow.

Clean Communities on the Move

Clean Communities on the Move, from the National Association of Local Government Environmental Professionals profiles more than 30 innovative programs and approaches by local governments to improve air quality by reducing traffic congestion and vehicle emissions, and changing growth patterns.

Clean Energy and Climate Policy for U.S. Growth and Job Creation

The new study Clean Energy and Climate Policy for U.S. Growth and Job Creation concludes that a robust climate bill could boost the U.S. economy by about $111 billion by 2020 and create as many as 1.9 million jobs.

The report is by David Roland-Holst and Friedrich Kahrl of the University of California, Berkeley, in collaboration with Madhu Khanna of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and Jennifer Baka of Yale University. The authors’ findings run contrary to claims made by opponents of climate legislation in the U.S. Senate.

The team's analysis issued in late October 2009 offers a state-by-state look at the economic implications posed by comprehensive federal climate policy.

The study's key findings are:

• All 50 states can gain economically from strong federal energy and climate policy, despite the diversity of their economies and energy mixes.
• Contrary to what is commonly assumed, comprehensive national climate policy does not benefit the coasts at the expense of the heartland states.
• A strategy for public education about the conservation effort is in place.
• The country as a whole can gain 918,000 to 1.9 million jobs, and household income can grow by $488 to $1,176, by 2020 under comprehensive energy and climate policy.

Clean Ohio Bond Fund

American Farmland Trust (AFT) reports a landslide victory for Clean Ohio Bond Fund, a November 2008 ballot initiative that offers great promise to farmland protection and the environment.

Clean Ohio Fund

The Clean Ohio Fund was established to preserve green space and farmland, improve outdoor recreation, and revitalize blighted neighborhoods by cleaning up and redeveloping polluted properties.

Clean Watersheds Project

The Clean Watersheds Project is an interdisciplinary collaborative watershed monitoring project that uses Google Earth Pro to store and share watershed data. The main goal of the project is to empower parents, teachers, students and environmental experts to collect, post, and analyze data about our changing watersheds in an effort to improve the health of our national watersheds. The project inspires these groups to come together as a learning community and teach each of us to take responsibility for our environment. Participating schools can apply to receive licensed copies of Google Earth Pro in order to participate.

Projects goals:

• Action research into the water quality of a local water supply
• Basic techniques of environmental data collection on local watershed
• Use of GPS technology to record geographical data points
• Use of spreadsheet technology to store and analyze watershed related data
• Use of online GIS database technology and wikis to share information between researchers
• Global awareness that these issues are common to all parts of the world.
• Discussion between involved entities as to the relevance of the data collected toward possible contamination sites
• Promote social networking between environmental teachers, students, businesses, and area experts
• Engagement between involved parties toward implementing solutions to improving water quality

Clearing the Air

Nearly half of all Americans are breathing unhealthy air, and air quality in dozens of metropolitan areas has actually gotten worse over the last decade according to a new report from the Surface Transportation Policy Project.

Climate Change and Health

The National Association of County & City Health Officials (NACCHO) maintains a Climate Change webpage under its Environmental Health programs.

Climate Change and Older Adults

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has developed a web page on Climate Change and Older Adults that provides an overview of world climate change and how it may affect portions of the population.

Climate Change and Schools Resources

The Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) facilitates the design, construction and operation of high performance schools: environments that are not only energy and resource efficient, but also healthy, comfortable, well lit, and containing the amenities for a quality education. In January 2008, CHPS called together a group of stakeholders to discuss schools and their impact on climate change, and how CHPS can address greenhouse gas emissions in its 2009 Criteria revision. Presenters discussed greenhouse gas emissions and buildings, calculating emissions, building and policy solutions and model programs in other building sectors.

Climate Change Solutions

The David Suzuki Foundation offers a Solutions page to the Global Warming section of its website -- policy and practice changes that can be made to minimize greenhouse gas emissions.

Climate Neutral Campus Report

The Climate Neutral Campus Report contains peer-reviewed white papers, case studies, executive interviews and vendor profiles that share strategies, challenges and solutions for higher education institutions that are striving for climate neutrality.

Climate Protection Award Winners -- 2009

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced winners of its 2009 Climate Protection Award competition. The Climate Protection Awards are presented to companies, NGOs, and individuals each year to recognize exceptional leadership, outstanding innovation, personal dedication, and technical achievements in protecting the Earth's climate.

Climate Protection Awards -- 2008

In 2008, 15 Climate Protection Awards were presented to companies, NGOs, and individuals in recognition of exceptional leadership, outstanding innovation, personal dedication, and technical achievements in protecting the Earth's climate.

Climate Protection Success Stories

''Success Stories from our Cities and Counties'' is a project of the Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network Climate Protection Task Force. Formed in May 2007, the Joint Venture Public Sector Climate Task Force includes representatives from every city and county in Silicon Valley, plus several special districts and representatives from Pacific Gas and Electric and SunPower.

Climate Smart Communities

The Climate Smart Communities program from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is a state and local partnership to encourage climate protection. The program is centered around a pledge to combat climate change and includes the online resource, A Guide for Local Officials: Climate Smart Communities.

Climate, Energy and Transport

Climate protection is one of the four key goals of the World Resources Institute (WRI), and the Climate, Energy and Transport section of its website deals with the topic of climate change on a global scale.

Climate@CNU

Climate@CNU is the Congress for the New Urbanism's (CNU's) Low-Carbon Urbanism Campaign, which emphasizes low-carbon neighborhoods and high-quality living.

CNT Building -- LEED Platinum

The Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) moved into an eighty-year-old former textile factory in 1987, leaving its home in downtown Chicago for a transit-friendly neighborhood on Chicago’s near Northwest Side. CNT renovated the upper two floors of the building in a then energy-efficient manner, in accordance with the organization's philosophy of promoting urban sustainability. The building became the first non-toxic one in Illinois and CNT earned an award for having the most energy-efficient building in the state.

CNU Athena Award

Sim Van der Ryn became the 10th recipient of the Athena Award when the the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) honored him at its Sustainable Communities 2008 conference in September 2008. Van der Ryn earned an international reputation as the ''father of the green building'' during his tenure as California State Architect during then Governor Jerry Brown's administration.

CNU Charter Awards 2006 Honorees

The Congress for New Urbanism (CNU) has honored 19 professional, student, and faculty projects with in their 2006 Charter Awards competition.

CNU Charter Awards 2007 Honorees

The Congress for the New Urbanism announces the recipients of its 2007 Charter Awards, the annual prize honoring the best of the New Urbanism. The 20 winning professional submissions and 5 student/faculty submissions were chosen by a seven-member jury of distinguished urbanists in March 2007.

CNU Charter Awards Nominations 2007

The Congress for New Urbanism (CNU) is accepting nominations for its 2007 Charter Awards, recognizing achievements in design, planning, and development that meet the exacting standards of the Charter of the New Urbanism.

CNU Project Database

Are you looking for ideas on how other communities are successfully promoting walkable, neighborhood-based development? The Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) offers a Project Database that features dozens of new urbanist developments from throughout the United States and other countries.

CNU Summit Presentations -- 2007 Green Architecture and Urbanism Council

Presentations from the 2007 Green Architecture and Urbanism Council, held in Alexandria, Virginia and Washington, D.C. from November 30 to December 2, 2007, are now available at the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) website.

CNU XIV Multimedia Toolkit

The Congress for New Urbanism offers the CNU XIV Multimedia Toolkit, a collection of materials from sessions and events at the 2006 CNU Congress. The Toolkit includes audio and video from nearly 50 Congress sessions, a similar number of slideshows, and reports from the correspondents who covered the Congress for the online Daily NUws.

CNU XVI Call for Papers

The Congress for the New Urbanism invites academic paper submissions for presentation at CNU XVI in Austin, Texas from April 3-6, 2008. Submissions are welcome on a range of issues and disciplines related to New Urbanism. Selection will be based on the paper's contribution to critical discussion and practice of New Urbanism and for synergies within sessions. Summaries of research results are particularly encouraged.

Coalition for Smarter Growth Awards

The Coalition for Smarter Growth will host its Tenth Anniversary Celebration November 14, 2007 in Washington, DC at the True Reformer Building, with a reception, silent auction, and presentation of the 2007 Capital Region Visionary Awards.

Coastal Counties Restoration Initiative

The Coastal Counties Restoration Initiative (CCRI) is a partnership between NACo and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to help counties restore coastal ecosystems and remove barriers to fish migration. This grant program provides financial assistance on a competitive basis for innovative high quality county-led or supported projects.

Projects are community centered and work with NOAA’s Community-based Restoration Program which provides technical assistance in all aspects of coastal habitat restoration. Each project improves habitat for NOAA trust resources including marine, estuarine and diadromous fish.

CCRI seeks to develop the capacity of county governments and their partners to promote community-based stewardship and enhance local watershed-based resource management. Projects are evaluated based on restoration and habitat improvement as well as community outreach and education.

Deadline for applications for the 2010 funding competition is March 29, 2010.

Coastal Sprawl: The Effects of Urban Design on Aquatic Ecosystems in the United States

Pew Oceans Commission. 2002. This report details the effects of urban development and land-use practices on coastal ecosystems in the U.S. and offers a variety of strategies and tools to preserve those ecosystems for the enjoyment and benefit of residents, tourists, and businesses alike.

Codifying New Urbanism

Codifying New Urbanism describes New Urbanist essentials, the steps to putting New Urbanism to work in your community, and the successes of 12 communities who have followed the approaches described in the report.

Collaboration for Change: A Practitioner's Guide to Environmental Nonprofit-Industry Partnership

This report provides decision-makers in business and environmental nonprofits with the practical tools required to launch or improve effective partnerships.

Collaborative of High Performance Schools Project List

The Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) facilitates the design, construction and operation of high performance schools: environments that are not only energy and resource efficient, but also healthy, comfortable, well lit, and containing the amenities for a quality education. The CHPS Project List provides an at-a-glance view of school districts from across the country that are building high performance schools using the CHPS Criteria.

Collaborative Science and Technology Network for Sustainability

Through the Collaborative Science and Technology Network for Sustainability (CNS), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Research and Development (ORD) is seeking applications proposing innovative regional projects that apply science to decision-making to address a stated problem or opportunity relating to sustainability.

College Sustainability Report Card 2009

GreenReportCard.org is the first website to provide in-depth sustainability profiles for hundreds of colleges in all 50 U.S. States and Canada. Its College Sustainability Report Card is the only independent evaluation of campus and endowment sustainability activities at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.

Colorado Brownfields Foundation Due Diligence Grants -- Colorado

The Environmental Due Diligence Pilot Program is seeking communities that are proactively pursuing economic development opportunities. The EDD Program will conduct Phase I Environmental Assessments on a property or multiple properties within selected communities. Alternatively, area-wide assessments could be conducted for a main street, industrial district, business park, or other geographic area.

Colorado Brownfields Resources

The Colorado Brownfields Foundation offers an online library of publications and links from both state and national sources, including case stides from around Colorado that highlight economic, fiscal, environmental, and community impacts of brownfields redevelopment or potential brownfields development projects.

Colorado Heritage Planning Grants

The Colorado Heritage Planning Grant Program is designed to recognize and reward those communities cooperatively planning to manage growth.

Colorado Heritage Planning Grants -- Colorado

The Colorado Heritage Planning Grant Program is designed to recognize and reward those communities cooperatively planning to manage growth. Eligible recipients include: towns, cities, cities and counties, counties, and Title 32, Article 1 special districts.

Coming Clean for Economic Development: A Resource Book on Environmental Cleanup and Economic Development Opportunities

Washington DC: Northeast-Midwest Institute, 1996 The interplay between the economic and environmental arenas is dominating community development strategies in more and more jurisdictions across the country. Acquiring, cleaning, and redeveloping older, and often abandoned, industrial sites can be very expensive and time consuming. In many situations, private developers and financiers are not able, or willing, to act on their own to ensure that the full economic potential of site reuse will be achieved. Coming Clean for Economic Development shows that vigilant attention to development priorities can help reverse these patterns and invite growth and investment back into existing cities.

Commentary Links Economic Vitality to Growth Management

This commentary in the Springfield (MO) News-Leader argues that Springfield's economic resilience depends on the city setting a statewide example of growth management in the Show Me State.

Common Ground Digest -- May 2008

Common Ground Digest from The Conservation Fund is the organizations's monthly e-newsletter and features the latest in conservation and land protection news, from land acquisitions to sustainable programs to special initiatives.

Commonwealth Capital -- Massachusetts

The Commonwealth Capital (CC) policy of the Office for Commonwealth Development (OCD) coordinates Massachusetts capital spending programs that affect development patterns. The state's goal is to invest in projects that are consistent with OCD's Sustainable Development Principles and partner with municipalities seeking to advance the Commonwealth's development and resource protection interests.

Commonwealth Design Award Winners -- 2006

An Erie County project that gave a former drive-in movie theater a second act as the Tom Ridge Environmental Center captured the top honor in the 2006 Commonwealth Design Awards. 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania bestowed honors upon 15 projects in 10 counties that represent the best examples of smart growth design from across Pennsylvania. The nonprofit 10,000 Friends presented its annual awards at a public event at The State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg. PNC Bank, a part of The PNC Financial Services Group Inc., is title sponsor for the awards program.

Communities Creating Healthy Environments

Communities Creating Healthy Environments is a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) that aims to prevent childhood obesity by increasing access to healthy foods and safe places to play in communities of color. The program will advance RWJF's efforts to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic by 2015 by supporting diverse, community-based organizations and federally chartered tribal nations in the development and implementation of effective, culturally competent policy initiatives to address childhood obesity at the local level.

Communities of Tomorrow Partnership

Sustainable community development affects our people, our environment, and our economy. Communities of Tomorrow will make Regina, Saskatchewan a world leader in environmental sustainability, community development and technology commercialization.

Community Action Grants

The Gannett Foundation supports local organizations in communities served by Gannett Co., Inc.

Community Action Grants: Washington, DC Region

The Gannett Corporation's Community Action Grants program makes grants to eligible organizations in the communities in which Gannett does business, including the Washington, DC Metro area.

Community Assessment Tools

The Active Living Resource Center offers a collection of community assessment tools on its Web site.

Community Building: How to Do It, Why It Matters

Building a stronger community leads to a higher quality of life—higher educational performance, lower crime, and better physical and mental health. Community building develops trust between residents and governments, and generates a partnership between them.

Community building creates an environment in which there is almost no issue that cannot be resolved, leads to better ideas and solutions, encourages people to be responsible for and committed to improving the quality of life in their communities, and makes the job of the local government manager easier.

In this IQ Report, Ed Everett, former city manager of Redwood City, California describes how we are currently stuck in the “vending machine” form of government, with the public viewing themselves as customers, and why this has caused the public to lose their sense of being responsible citizens and accountable for their community. He describes how local governments need to change the way we view our residents to move them from being customers to being citizens. Discover the various roles of local government in building community and get concrete examples of those roles, and lessons learned. Through this report, you will come to understand not only the power of community building but also the way that community building relates to the reasons why many of us were drawn to the profession of local government management in the first place.

Community Culture and the Environment: A Guide to Understanding a Sense of Place

This Environmental Protection Agency guide is a technical document designed to help environmental professionals engage human communities in the processes of creating, implementing, and sustaining environmental protection efforts. It is based on elements of social science theory and methodology (e.g., anthropology, cultural geography, political science, economics, and sociology) that are relevant to defining and understanding the connections between community life and environmental issues.

Community Design Centers

Community Design Centers (CDCs) provide planning, design and technical assistance to low- and moderate-income urban and rural communities, many of which have limited resources.

Community Design, Active Living and Public Health

Community Design, Active Living and Public Health makes a compelling case for changes in regional and community design to reverse the growing trend toward obesity and its negative effects on health.

Community Development Resources

A collection of publications for guidance on Waterways, Landfills, and Traffic and Highway issues.

Community Energy Opportunity Finder

The Community Energy Opportunity Finder is an interactive tool that will help you determine your community's best bets for energy solutions that benefit the local economy, the community, and the environment.

Community Forest Program Grants

The Community Forest and Open Space Conservation Program, authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill, is a new program that will provide matching federal grants for purchase of local forestlands by local governments, tribes, and qualifying nonprofits. The program will ensure funding for the creation or expansion of community forests that can meet local needs for recreation, economic development, watershed protection, and other ecosystem services.

In March 2010, The Trust for Public Land worked with partner groups and the congressional Land Conservation Caucus to hold a congressional briefing on community forests in March 2010, which featured speakers who manage community forests in California and Kentucky, in addition to Forest Service staff. The briefing was well attended by members of the conservation community, forest service staff and representatives of numerous House and Senate offices.

The Forest Service is currently developing a more detailed set of guidelines on implementation of the program. They expect to release those guidelines for public comment by August 30, 2010. After public comments are considered and any revisions are made, it is expected the program will be ready for consideration of grant applications in the fall of 2010.

Community Forest Report

Community Forests is a report from the Community Forest Collaborative on the potential role of community ownership and management of forestland. It's based on research that includes GIS analysis, interviews, surveys, input from two workshops, and five case studies of Community Forests in northern New England that illuminate particular aspects of the Community Forest Model.

Community Foundation for the Alleghenies -- Pennsylvania

Through grantmaking activities, the Community Foundation for the Alleghenies serves nonprofits in Bedford, Cambria, Indiana, and Somerset Counties in western Pennsylvania.

Community Garden Grants

Project Orange Thumb is a grant program that provides community garden groups with the tools and materials they need to reach their goals for neighborhood beautification and horticulture education.

Community Greening Initiative

The Chesapeake Bay Trust is proud to announce the new Community Greening Initiative grant program, which is designed to aid communities in implementing “greening” plans that increase tree canopy, reduce storm water runoff, and improve air quality in urban areas.

Community Growth Institute -- Rural Land Use

The Community Growth Institute (CGI) is a rural land use think tank that focuses on rural communities. In addition to research and training on rural land use issues, CGI offers rural communities a variety of services and resources, from preparing comprehensive plans and writing ordinances to performing daily planning and zoning administration duties.

Community Growth Options -- Minnesota

1000 Friends of Minnesota and their University of Minnesota partners, the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs and the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, are managing the Community Growth Options (CGO) initiative, a six-year program funded by the McKnight Foundation and designed to deliver to small, fast-growing communities financial and other assistance for community planning, ordinance development, and implementation.

Community Growth Options -- Minnesota

Community Growth Options, a 1000 Friends of Minnesota program, is designed to deliver to small, fast-growing communities financial and other assistance for community planning, ordinance development and implementation.

Community Image Survey CD

The Community Image Survey from the Local Government Commission (LGC) is a tool for helping decision-makers and their constituents address community design, land use and transportation issues. It uses visual images to help participants evaluate their existing environment and envision their community's future. Tailored for the needs of each community, the survey provides a foundation for planning and implementation efforts.

Community Indicators

This report by Rhonda Phillips for the American Planning Association's Planning Advisory Service reviews the use of indicators in planning practice and explores their relationship to citizen participation, quality of life, and sustainability.

Community Involvement in Brownfield Redevelopment

Community participation and stakeholder involvement play an essential role in successful brownfield development, as dozens of success stories attest. Yet historically, community participation in federally influenced redevelopment activities has been adversarial.

Community Jobs in the Green Economy

Community Jobs in the Green Economy, a collaborative effort between the Apollo Alliance and Urban Habitat, emphasizes the potential of the ''green economy'' to generate quality jobs in the nation's low-income communities and communities of color.

Community Lots Website

The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy offers the Community Lots project, an online resource designed to help community-based organizations (CBOs) move beyond their traditional role of housing development and into the community at large.

Community of Choices

This video focuses on the economic, social, and environmental benefits of preserving community character.

Community Planner Pro

The Community Planner Pro™ CD-ROM, included as part of The Enterprise Foundation's Community Development Library, helps nonprofit, community-based organizations engage neighborhood residents in the process of developing practical action plans for their community.

Community Preservation in Action

Community Preservation in Action features articles about completed or planned projects that preserve and enhance quality of life in Massachusetts communities.

Community Revitalization Funds

The Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) provides grant funds to support local initiatives that promote community stability and quality of life through its Community Revitalization Program (CRP).

Community Revitalization Grants

The Surdna Foundation is accepting applications for its Community Revitalization Grants program to support projects that improve the quality and longevity of communities, such as through development that is walkable, environmentally sustainable, and cost-effective.

Community Revitalization Resources -- Honolulu

The City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii, offers a Community Revitalization Unit, providing information, technical support, and technical assistance for communities and organizations within communities that wish to implement projects, programs and activities that will be a positive influence for that community.

Community Revitalization Stories: On Common Ground

The Summer 2005 edition of On Common Ground from the National Association of Realtors turns its focus to revitalization: success stories of rejuvenation in urban areas and inner-ring suburbs.

Community Rules: A New England Guide to Smart Growth Strategies

Written by the Conservation Law Foundation and the Vermont Forum on Sprawl, Community Rules: A New England Guide to Smart Growth Strategies is a guidebook for volunteer board members, planners, concerned citizens, and others who want to achieve smart growth in their communities through better planning, zoning, and permitting. Community Rules is accessible and authoritative, and is chock-full of examples of communities in New England and elsewhere that have laid the groundwork for smart growth through sensible planning, zoning and other strategies.

Community Rules: A New England Guide to Smart Growth Strategies

Written by the Vermont Forum on Sprawl and the Conservation Law Foundation, Community Rules is a guidebook for local planners, concerned citizens, and others who want to achieve smart growth in their communities through better planning, zoning, and permitting.

Community Rules: A New England Guide to Smart Growth Strategies

Written by the Conservation Law Foundation and the Vermont Forum on Sprawl, Community Rules: A New England Guide to Smart Growth Strategies is a guidebook for volunteer board members, planners, concerned citizens, and others who want to achieve smart growth in their communities through better planning, zoning, and permitting. Community Rules is accessible and authoritative, and is chock-full of examples of communities in New England and elsewhere that have laid the groundwork for smart growth through sensible planning, zoning and other strategies.

Community Rules: A New England Guide to Smart Growth Strategies

Written by the Vermont Forum on Sprawl and the Conservation Law Foundation, Community Rules is a guidebook for local planners, concerned citizens, and others who want to achieve smart growth in their communities through better planning, zoning, and permitting.

Community Steward Award

1000 Friends of Florida presented its Community Steward Award to the Northwood Renaissance Community Development Corporation in West Palm Beach on June 18, to the Miami River Commission on July 11, and to Apalachicola Riverkeepers on September 17.

Community Toolbox for Children’s Environmental Health

Guided by a board comprised primarily of grassroots leaders, Community Toolbox supports community-based initiatives to protect children from environmental health hazards.

Community Trees Grants

Green Communities now offers Community Trees Grants, in partnership with The Home Depot Foundation, to affordable housing developers to strategically incorporate trees into their site plans. This program focuses on the remarkable economic, social and environmental contributions trees make to communities. The Foundation views trees as an untapped resource that can be used to help cities deal with the pollution of our air and water, cool our city streets, reduce crime, reduce asthma and improve our overall health.

Community Trees: A Living Investment

Communities need effective tools to help them manage one of their greatest assets—their trees. To help meet this need, the U.S. Forest Service, Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry worked with State partners to develop the DVD Community Trees: A Living Investment. This high-resolution DVD promotes the value of trees in our lives and in our communities using validated scientific research and citizen testimonials. The videos included on the DVD educate community members who can help build stronger tree care programs to ensure that urban forests are as healthy and well managed as possible.

The videos include a discussion about proper tree care and provide the next steps on how to get involved in community forestry efforts.

The DVD was produced for decisionmakers, community advocates, and citizens. The 2-minute video helps decisionmakers understand the benefits of community trees so they can make stronger, valid arguments for supporting tree care programs. The 6-minute video targets community tree advocates to expand their depth of understanding about how trees impact property values, save energy, and make communities more livable. It emphasizes that these benefits are greatest in communities that manage their trees. The 20-minute video is intended for a more general audience. Scientists provide detailed explanations about the services community trees provide, and citizens speak on a more personal level about how trees have improved their lives and the livelihood of their communities.

Community Watershed Assessment

The Community Watershed Assessment Handbook is a simple and straightforward watershed assessment tool that is intended to direct community groups and local governments in conducting a comprehensive environmental assessment.

Community-Based Habitat Restoration

The Five-Star Restoration Program provides modest financial assistance on a competitive basis to support community-based wetland, riparian, and coastal habitat restoration projects that build diverse partnerships and foster local natural resource stewardship through education, outreach and training activities.

Community-Based Watershed Management Handbook

Community-Based Watershed Management: Lessons from the National Estuary Program (NEP) is designed for all individuals and organizations involved in watershed management, including states, tribes, local governments, and nongovernmental organizations. This document describes innovative approaches to watershed management implemented by the 28 National Estuary Programs (NEPs).

CommunityViz® Software

CommunityViz® GIS software for land-use planning from Placeways is designed to help people visualize, analyze, and communicate about important land-use decisions. CommunityViz® community planning software provides a real–time interactive environment of 3D visuals, intelligent maps and dynamic analysis tools.

Commuter Choice Tax Incentive

According to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), it really does pay to ride transit. Federal law lets workers receive up to $115 a month in employer-paid tax-free transit costs, or take up to $115 a month in tax-sheltered payroll deductions for transit costs.

Comparing Green Building Guidelines and Healthy Homes Principles

Comparing Green Building Guidelines and Healthy Homes Principles is a report from the National Center for Healthy Housing that compares major national green building and indoor air quality guidelines with NCHH's set of recommended healthy housing criteria to assess the extent to which these programs protect residents from health and safety hazards.

Compendium of Sustainability Indicators

Version two of the Compendium of Sustainable Development Indicator Initiatives is now available online. Use this searchable directory to find initiatives based on location, type, issue areas, and more. Search for topics including quality of life,housing, and transporation.

Complete the Streets

Complete streets are designed and operated to enable safe access for all users. Pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and bus riders of all ages and abilities are able to safely move along and across a complete street. The Complete the Streets website contains information and resources that you can use to help bring complete streets to your community.

Congress for the New Urbanism: CNU 17 Call for Academic Papers

Every year, the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) invites academic paper submissions for presentation at the annual Congress. CNU 17, to be held in Denver, Colorado from June 10-13, 2009, will focus on the theme of ''Experiencing the New Urbanism: The Convenient Remedy,'' and promises to be an exciting opportunity to share new experiences and ideas.

Connected and Sustainable Mobility

The Connected Bus is a landmark innovation and a key element of the Connected Urban Development program's Urban Transportation Technology framework. Begun in summer 2007, the pilot project is a collaborative effort involving Cisco IBSG -- the global strategic consulting arm of Cisco -- and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA). They are jointly designing, developing, and delivering The Connected Bus pilot for the City and County of San Francisco.

Connecticut Brownfields Cleanup Grants

The Connecticut Brownfields Redevelopment Authority (CBRA) has developed programs that encourage brownfield redevelopment by reducing costs, eliminating environmental uncertainly, and simplifying the regulatory process.

Connecticut Brownfields Funding

The State of Connecticut Office of Brownfields Remediation (OBRD) website provides a list of financial assistance sources for brownfield redevelopment projects, including sources from the U.S. EPA, the State of Connecticut and other programs that serve specific towns and regions of the state. The OBRD partners with all of them.

Connecticut Brownfields Redevelopment Authority Grants

The Connecticut Brownfields Redevelopment Authority provides assistance for remediation and redevelopment of brownfields anywhere in Connecticut that will generate future incremental municipal property tax revenues.

Connecticut Environmental Assistance Programs

The Connecticut Office of Brownfield Remediation and Development (OBRD) provides a list of State of Connecticut Environmental Assistance Programs on its website.

Connecticut Green Circle Awards

On June 3, 2007, Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell commended 70 state civic organizations, individuals and businesses in recognition of their efforts improving the environment. The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) presented GreenCircle Awards at a ceremony at Dinosaur State Park, Rocky Hill.

Connecticut Green Plan

The Green Plan: Guiding Land Acquisition and Protection in Connecticut is an update of Connecticut's original Green Plan from 2001.

Connecticut Urban and Industrial Sites Reinvestment Tax Credit Program

The Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development offers an Urban and Industrial Sites Reinvestment Tax Credit Program. This economic development tool designed to drive investment to the state's urban centers and other economically distressed communities without depleting valuable state bond dollars.

Connecting Green Trail Packages

Portland, Oregon park providers, local cities and citizens have worked for decades to establish a network of trails linking parks to local communities and other area attractions. In April 2008 the Metro Council appointed a Blue Ribbon Committee for Trails to take the work the community has developed, evaluate where regional trails fit in the region's priorities and recommend potential strategies for expanding the region's trail network.

Conservation Almanac

The first comprehensive online database of land conservation in America was re-launched on February 5, 2010, by The Trust for Public Land (TPL), a national conservation organization.

The website, which has been the definitive source of information about land conservation policy at local, state, and federal levels, now offers new parcel-level data and mapping features to give users greater access to explore the results of land conservation. This week the new features launch for five states: Florida, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, and Oregon. In February data from five more states will be added: Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, and Wyoming.

TPL launched the Conservation Almanac in 2006 in response to numerous requests from policymakers, members of the media, and conservation practitioners about the growing funding sources for land conservation across America. TPL will continue updating the Almanac as new information becomes available and will add new state data each month.

''With a singular resource available for exploring the impact of land conservation funding, adding deeper property information and a mapping feature were the logical next steps,'' said Ernest Cook, director of TPL's Conservation Strategies department, which developed the Almanac. ''Up until now, there have been attempts to capture individual pieces of the picture of land conservation in America, but none have been comprehensive, assembling data consistently and completely in one place.''

The website offers overviews of state policy frameworks, programs, and agencies responsible for funding and managing land conservation, and the database offers users context for assessing the impacts of the growing and evolving conservation finance movement.

Conservation Almanac

The Conservation Almanac of Federal and State Lands in the West is an online reference from the Trust for Public Land that serves as the comprehensive source of information on the status of land conservation in the thirteen western states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

Conservation and Native Landscaping Award -- 2006

The 2006 Conservation and Native Landscaping Awards Program, sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Chicago Wilderness, recognizes park districts, municipalities and corporations that make extensive and creative use of native landscaping to support native species of plants and animals that comprise the Chicago Great Lakes region's outstanding biodiversity.

Conservation and Native Landscaping Award -- 2007

The 2007 Conservation and Native Landscaping Awards Program, sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Chicago Wilderness, recognizes park districts, municipalities and corporations that make extensive and creative use of native landscaping to support native species of plants and animals that comprise this region's outstanding biodiversity.

Conservation and Native Landscaping Awards -- 2005

The 2005 Conservation and Native Landscaping Awards Program recognizes park districts, municipalities and corporations that make extensive and creative use of native landscaping to support native species of plants and animals that comprise the region's biodiversity. Application deadline for the 2005 program is Wednesday, July 27, 2005.

Conservation Awards

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) and the National Association of Counties (NACo) are pleased to announce the first annual County Leadership in Conservation Awards Program, in partnership with the National Association of County Planners and the National Association of County Parks and Recreation Officials.

Conservation Awards 2005

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) has announced winners of the 2005 Conservation Awards. Six counties in six different states have received top honors in first of a planned annual awards competition that recognizes efforts to protect and restore critical environmental and habitat areas.

Conservation Capital: Sources of Public Funding for Land Conservation

Conservation Capital: Sources of Public Funding for Land Conservation is a guide from the Wilderness Society that describes some of the resources available to people and organizations interested in protecting the many values of forestlands, with a special focus on the eastern United States.

Conservation Finance Handbook

Conservation Finance Handbook is a how-to guide that explains the complex process of securing federal, state, and private conservation funds and -- most importantly -- researching, designing, and passing a local, voter-approved conservation finance measure.

Conservation Fund

The Conservation Fund is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting America's land legacy. The fund purchases and protects land--almost 2 million acres since 1985. It also assists local communities, private land owners, and government agencies with a variety of programs that balance conservation with economic development. Current efforts involve sustainable forestry, ecotourism, greenway development, battlefield protection, watershed sensitive design, and community visioning.

Conservation Innovation Grants

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is offering Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) to stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches and technologies while leveraging the Federal investment in environmental enhancement and protection, in conjunction with agricultural production.

Conservation Options for Connecticut Farmland

This guide describes farmland protection options and programs available in Connecticut and answers some frequently asked questions about agricultural conservation easements.

Conservation Tax Incentive -- IRS Clarifications

In early 2007, the Land Trust Alliance submitted questions to the IRS and requested guidance on several questions regarding interpretation of the new law. The Land Trust Alliance has published on its website a detailed and summary document of the responses to these questions.

Conservation Tax Incentive 2008

The 2008 U.S. Farm Bill renews a powerful tax incentive which has helped conserve a million or more acres of farms, ranches and natural areas across the U.S. The incentive had expired January 1, but is now retroactive to the beginning of the year and will last through 2009.

Conservation Thresholds for Land-Use Planners

Conservation Thresholds for Land-Use Planners provides a review and synthesis of information from the most up-to-date scientific literature to provide basic thresholds to land use planners to rely upon when making decisions affecting biodiversity.

Conservation: An Investment that Pays

Conservation: An Investment That Pays from Trust for Public Land is intended to help agency personnel and community conservationists make the case for conservation as a long-term economic investment.

Conserving Florida's Natural Legacy

30 Years/30 Stories: Conserving Florida's Natural Legacy is a book that celebrates more than 30 years of land conservation in Florida by The Trust for Public Land (TPL) through stories and photos of 30 signature conservation projects. The publication is a virtual tour of the state's open spaces, featuring Floridians who personify the state's great cultural diversity and environmental variety.

Conserving the Green Network

Conserving the Green Network is a joint effort by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and American Farmland Trust to assess the condition of the Washington-Baltimore region’s open space assets, past and present attempts to conserve them, and the effects that a coordinated green network might have on future growth.

Conserving the Washington-Baltimore’s Green Network

Conserving the Washington-Baltimore’s Green Network is the result of a joint effort by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and American Farmland Trust to assess the condition of the Washington, D.C. and Baltimore area's open space assets; past and present attempts to conserve them; and the effects that a coordinated green network might have on future growth.

CoolClimate Calculator

The CoolClimate Calculator is designed to help U.S. households evaluate their complete climate footprints, including all direct and indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transportation, household energy, food, goods and services. Users of this online tool can compare their results to typical households in their city or region, and to households with similar size and income, the U.S. average and the global average.

Cooperating Across Boundaries

More than 34 million acres of open space were lost to development between 1982 and 2001, about 6,000 acres per day, 4 acres a minute. Of this loss, over 10 million acres are in forestland.

Counties and Local Food Systems

Counties and Local Food Systems from the National Association of Counties (NACo) contains four methods and case studies for how county governments can support their local food systems. Written with a focus on obesity prevention, this publication will also appeal to readers interested in the links between agriculture and economic development, environmental protection, and food security will also find the content useful.

Counties and Residential Green Building Standards

Counties and Residential Green Building Standards is a fact sheet from the National Association of Counties (NACo) that provides an introduction to green buildings and an overview of green building programs, with examples and links from throughout the United States.

Creating a Regulatory Blueprint for Healthy Community Design

ICMA's consumer guide, Creating a Regulatory Blueprint for Healthy Community Design, is a road map for local government officials and their staff as they consider reforming zoning and development codes to encourage more physical activity in their areas.

Creating a Sense of Place: A Design Guide

Creating a Sense of Place: A Design Guide forms the third in a series of publications produced by Britain's Affordable Rural Housing Initiative, begun in 2003. It is a collaboration between two charitable organizations: Business in the Community and the Foundation for the Built Environment.

Creating Community-Based Brownfield Redevelopment Strategies -- Resource List

The Creating Community-Based Brownfields Redevelopment Strategies Resource List from the American Planning Association contains books, articles, and government document citations. The list is part of a continuous process and may be considered a literature review as well as a resource list for the project.

Creating Great Neighborhoods: Density in Your Community

Creating Great Neighborhoods highlights the success of nine community led efforts to create vibrant neighborhoods through density. Building great dense places with good design is not just an abstract theory -- it is a practical approach to growth that is being used in diverse places across the country.

Creating Great Places

Creating Great Places is an initiative of the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) that helps governors design and implement state growth and physical development strategies that promote healthy, economically competitive and sustainable communities.

Creating Great Town Centers and Urban Villages

Creating Great Town Centers and Urban Villages from the Urban Land Institute (2008) is a book that describes the inside story and details on how town centers were developed, what makes them special, and provides facts on costs, rents, land uses, and more.

Creating Livable Places

The Creating Livable Places website is provided by the Southern California Association of Governments to promote more livable communities. The site includes ten case studies of regional communities that have made efforts to become livable communities. The site also provides information and resources related to transportation planning, transit, and growth visioning. A calendar of events and list of related links are also available at the site.

Creating Quality Places: Successful Communities By Design

This program of the Mid-America Regional Council aims to foster the design of quality places in communities throughout the Kansas City region. Its 20 principles serve as a guide to quality development.

Creating Successful Communities: A New Housing Paradigm

The 16-page brochure from the National Multi Housing Council takes on the conventional wisdom about housing preferences and is recommended for use with local planning and zoning boards or to support state and local advocacy efforts.

Creating the Future 2007 Awards

Creating the Future: The Academy for Sustainable Communities (ASC) Awards for Sustainable Communities is the theme of this event, to be held in London, England on June 7, 2007. Formerly the Deputy Prime Minister's Awards for Sustainable Communities, Creating the Future celebrates achievement in the public, private and third sectors.

Creating Value: Smart Development and Green Design

In Creating Value: Smart Development and Green Design, a new book from the Urban Land Institute, architect Vernon Swaback argues convincingly that financial success in real estate development will increasingly require design that is smarter, greener, and more sustainable.

Creating Walkable Places

Richly illustrated with color photographs, site plans, and diagrams, Creating Walkable Places: Compact Mixed-Use Solutions is a book from the Urban Land Institute that explains how to create pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use developments.

Crossroads Hamlet Village Town

Crossroads Hamlet Village Town broke new ground by offering specific design guidance to planners, developers, and others involved in laying out, regulating, and reviewing proposals for “traditional neighborhoods.'' This new 2004 edition addresses many particulars of residential site design and the use of open space, parks, squares, greenways, and greenbelts.

Crossroads Resource Center: Tools for Community Self-Determination

Crossroads Resource Center compiles and distributes data at the neighborhood level useful for community-based and asset-based initiatives in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota.

CUI Brownie Awards -- 2007 Award Winners

Winners of the Canadian Urban Institute's (CUI's) annual Brownie Awards were announced at a presentation dinner on October 18, 2007 during the 8th annual Canadian Brownfields Conference in Montreal.

CUI Brownie Awards 2005

The Canadian Urban Institute's annual Brownie Awards program recognizes leadership, innovation and environmental sustainability in brownfields redevelopment across Canada. Working with key industry and professional organizations, the Canadian Urban Institute presents its awards at its Brownfields conference, held in October each year.

CUI Brownie Awards 2006

The Canadian Urban Institute's annual Brownie Awards program recognizes leadership, innovation and environmental sustainability in brownfields redevelopment across Canada. Working with key industry and professional organizations, the Canadian Urban Institute presents its awards at its Brownfields conference, held in the fall of each year.

CUI Brownie Awards 2006

The Canadian Urban Institute's annual Brownie Awards program recognizes leadership, innovation and environmental sustainability in brownfields redevelopment across Canada. Working with key industry and professional organizations, the Canadian Urban Institute presents its awards at its Brownfields conference, held in October each year.

CUI Brownie Awards 2006

The Canadian Urban Institute's annual Brownie Awards program recognizes leadership, innovation and environmental sustainability in brownfields redevelopment across Canada. Working with key industry and professional organizations, the Canadian Urban Institute presents its awards at its Brownfields conference, held in the fall of each year.

CUI Brownie Awards 2007

The Canadian Urban Institute's annual Brownie Awards program recognizes leadership, innovation and environmental sustainability in brownfields redevelopment across Canada. Working with key industry and professional organizations, the Canadian Urban Institute presents its awards at its Brownfields conference, held in October each year.

CUI's Urban Leadership Awards Nominations -- 2008

The Canadian Urban Institute's (CUI's) Urban Leadership Awards program honors those that have made a profound and lasting impact on the quality of urban life.

Cultivating Community Gardens

Cultivating Community Gardens: The Role of Local Government in Creating Healthy, Livable Neighborhoods is a fact sheet from the Local Government Commission (LGC) that offers case studies, best management practices, resources and tools for policymakers to develop creative, cost-effective solutions that reduce barriers and facilitate the creation of community garden programs.

Cultures of Cities: A New Online Data Bank

This online data bank gives a panorama of present transformations in European cities. The reports focus on the main themes discussed at the 4th Biennial of Towns and Town Planners in Europe.

Dangermond Fellowship

ASLA, the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF), and Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) are partnering to offer the Dangermond Fellowship for graduate students studying landscape architecture in the United States to encourage the use of geographic information systems (GIS) as a framework for exploring integrated approaches to landscape analysis, planning, design, and management.

Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy (DSIRE)

The Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy (DSIRE) is a comprehensive source of information on state, local, utility, and selected federal incentives that promote renewable energy.

DataPlace™ -- Maps, Charts and Statistics for U.S. Communities

DataPlace™ aims to be a one-stop source for housing and demographic data about your community, your region, and the nation. Build maps, create charts, or compare data on any U.S. location.

December 2008 Getting Smart! Newsletter

The December 2008 issue of Getting Smart! is now available for all Smart Growth Network members in the Members Section.

Decisions for the Earth

This issue of World Resources focuses on environmental governance -- the processes and institutions used to make decisions about the environment.

Delaware Funding Matrices

The Environmental Finance Center's (EFC's) online Resource Center includes a Delaware Funding Matrice in Excel format.

Delaware Valley Smart Growth Alliance Project Recognition

Do you have a smart growth project on the horizon? Consider submitting an application for either preliminary or final recognition by the Delaware Valley Smart Growth Alliance.

To be eligible, the project must be located in Eastern or Central Pennsylvania (including Dauphin County), Southern New Jersey (including Mercer County and south) or Delaware, and not yet under construction.

The Delaware Valley Smart Growth Alliance is a collaborative initiative of more than 200 government, private sector and non-profit organizations in the tri-state region. We support and promote good smart growth projects at the earliest stages by helping them get approved at the local level. Each quarter, applications are reviewed by an independent jury of architects, planners, developers, builders, bankers, engineers, and other related disciplines. Projects recognized to be in compliance with the DVSGA's published smart growth criteria receive a letter of endorsement and an offer of testimony before local approval authorities.

DVSGA recognizes projects that will foster regional growth and redevelopment in a manner that achieves important economic, environmental and quality of life objectives. By highlighting the potential of smart growth projects to add value to the region, the DVSGA hopes to encourage developers, business organizations, citizen groups and elected officials to strive for smart growth solutions.

To date, the DVSGA has granted preliminary and/or full recognition to 26 projects, including most recently a group of affordable infill townhomes in downtown Norristown that will soon be under construction.

Download an application, as well as the criteria and the list of more than 200 supporting organizations and companies and examples of recognized projects, at the link below.

The application deadline for the current round is September 1, 2010.

Delaware Valley Smart Growth Alliance Recognized Project -- July 2008

The Delaware Valley Smart Growth Alliance jury provides on its website a list of project applications as good examples of smart growth development in the region. In July 2008 the Alliance recognized University Place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Delaware Valley Smart Growth Alliance Recognized Projects: April 2009

The Delaware Valley Smart Growth Alliance has added to its list of recognized smart growth projects: Kardon Ponds in Chester County, Pennsylvania; and Zurbrugg Mansion Redevelopment in Burlington County, New Jersey.

Delaware Valley Smart Growth Alliance Slide Show

The Delaware Valley Smart Growth Alliance (DVSGA), an initiative of various government, private sector and non-profit organizations in the Greater Philadelphia tri-state region, offers a free educational PowerPoint slide show on its web site.

Delaware Valley Smart Growth Coalition -- Application for Project Recognition

The Delaware Valley Smart Growth Alliance (DVSGA) is an initiative of various government, private sector and non-profit organizations in the Greater Philadelphia tri-state region encompassing Southeastern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey, and Delaware. The DVSGA promotes smart growth projects by recognizing proposed projects prior to development approval.

Delaware Valley Smart Growth Projects Recognized

The Delaware Valley Smart Growth Alliance jury provides on its website a list of project applications as good examples of smart growth development in the region. Projects recognized in 2006 include Bell Point in Sussex County, Delaware, and Pembroke North in Radnor Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

Delaware Valley Smart Growth Projects Recognized -- 2007

The Delaware Valley Smart Growth Alliance jury provides on its website a list of project applications as good examples of smart growth development in the region. Projects recognized in 2007 include Wyomissing Square, Wyomissing, Berks County, Pennsylvania, and Stafford Park, Stafford Township, Ocean County, New Jersey.

Delmarva Farmland Strategy Project

American Farmland Trust (AFT) initiated the Delmarva Farmland Strategy Project to bring new tools to communities that are struggling with how to accommodate change and growth while retaining a profitable agricultural sector.

Demonstrating the Economic Benefits of Integrated, Green Infrastructure

This paper will provide a compelling argument for municipalities to pursue means of developing integrated approaches in the development of services and infrastructure.

Demonstrating the Economic Benefits of Integrated, Green Infrastructure

This paper by Sustainable Edge, Inc., prepared for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, will provide a compelling argument for municipalities to pursue means of developing integrated approaches in the development of services and infrastructure.

Demonstrating the Economic Benefits of Integrated, Green Infrastructure

This paper will provide a compelling argument for municipalities to pursue means of developing integrated approaches in the development of services and infrastructure.

Demonstrating the Economic Benefits of Integrated, Green Infrastructure

This paper by Sustainable Edge, Inc., prepared for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, will provide a compelling argument for municipalities to pursue means of developing integrated approaches in the development of services and infrastructure.

Denny Park -- Green Communities

Green Communities is a five-year, $550 million initiative to build more than 8,500 environmentally healthy homes for low-income families. Created by the Enterprise Foundation / Enterprise Social Investment Corporation in partnership with the Natural Resources Defense Council, Green Communities will transform the way America thinks about, designs, and builds affordable communities.

Design Assistance Program

The Design Center at the University of Minnesota's college of architecture and landscape architecture offers technical assistance to communities in a variety of ways. Throughout the web site you will find information, facts, and educational materials.

Design Center Image Bank

The Design Center Image Bank contains over 17,000 images, including low-level oblique aerial photographs and eye-level images. The focus of the collection is the Twin Cities metropolitan region in Minnesota and dates from the early 1990s through the present.

Design for Health Summit Report

The primary goal of the Design for Health Summit for Massachusetts Health Care Decision Makers was to bring together leading health care facility decision makers, discuss the arguments for and evidence supporting ''healthy design,'' and brainstorm initiatives and implementation strategies to achieve healthier hospitals—healthier for patients, healthier for staff, healthier for the environment and community, and healthier for hospital financial security.

Design for Livability: Call for Presentations

The American Institute of Architects Seattle (Washington) (AIA Seattle) is seeking provocative presentations and discussion topics from a wide range of viewpoints for ''Design for Livability: Sustainable Cities,'' a forum set for October 15-16, 2009.

Design Guidelines to Enhance Community Appearance and Protect Natural Resources

Design Guidelines to Enhance Community Appearance and Protect Natural Resources is a guidebook for citizens, decision-makers, and youth from Michigan Technological University that compares traditional development to a more visually appealing approach that also protects natural and cultural resources. Tools to accomplish the recommended approach are suggested.

Designing and Building Healthy Places

The Centers for Disease Control offers this website on health and the built environment. Topics include children's and elders' health, accessibility, and physical activity.

Designing for Active Recreation

Designing for Active Recreation is a fact sheet that summarizes the current state of research into the way community design is related to whether people walk or bicycle to get to where they're going.

Designing Greenways

Greenways can protect natural landscapes, allow wildlife to move freely, and offer residents ways to connect with nature. Designing Greenways: Sustainable Landscapes for Nature and People shows how to incorporate greenways into your community, and the pitfalls to avoid when developing them.

Designing Low Energy Buildings with Energy-10®

ENERGY-10® software analyzes and illustrates the energy and cost savings that can be achieved by applying up to a dozen sustainable design strategies, helping professionals deliver high-performance buildings that will operate with, on average, 20-30% lower energy costs.

Designing Schoolyards & Building Community

Designing Schoolyards & Building Community is a report on the Boston Schoolyard Initiative, an effort dedicated to transforming Boston's schoolyards into dynamic centers for learning and community life.

Developing Sustainable Planned Communities

Developing Sustainable Planned Communities from the Urban Land Institute provides down-to-earth, reality-based insights into designing and developing sustainable planned communities that are environmentally responsible, attractive to the market, and profitable.

Development Incentives -- Seattle Department of Planning and Development, Seattle, Washington

The Seattle Department of Planning and Development maintains a Development Incentives section on its website. This feature provides an overview of incentives by project type, as outlined by city Green Building staff, to help you achieve your green building goals.

Development Principles and Ordinance Manual for Protecting Nature

The Chicago Wilderness coalition produces a variety of publications for the general public, teachers, decision-makers, scientists and land managers. Sustainable Development Principles: Protecting Nature in the Chicago Wilderness Region is one of their latest publications.

Directory of Federal Programs for Environmentally-Related Education

The Directory of Federal Grant-Making Programs for Environmentally-Related Education, published by Campaign for Environmental Literacy (CEL), is designed to help meet the need of the environmental education community for easily accessible and reasonably comprehensive information about federal funding programs. It also helps enable the Campaign for Environmental Literacy to track and analyze government grant-making trends, and to provide this information to Members of Congress.

Disadvantaged Communities Network: Brownfield Tools and Assistance

The Northeast-Midwest Institute has posted on its website presentations and audio archives from the EPA-sponsored Disadvantaged Communities Network events. The Network was launched in 2006 launched to provide brownfields tools and technical assistance to local communities that are seeking to overcome economic and neighborhood disadvantage.

DOE Webinar: Sustainability Planning in El Paso

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Technical Assistance Project (TAP) for state and local officials is offering a Web seminar, and is titled ''Strategic Energy and Sustainability Planning in El Paso, Texas.” The webinar will take place on Wednesday, January 27, from 3:00 to 4:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

State and local officials can learn about the steps involved to create and implement a strategic energy plan. You will learn about the common steps that are used in many strategic energy plans. You will hear about the how the City of El Paso, Texas, developed its strategic energy plan, which included energy performance goals. Finally, you will also hear frank commentary on lessons learned from a recent sustainability summit held in El Paso.

Three speakers will present at the seminar:

• Alexander Dane, project manager at the DOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for the project to assist El Paso in developing its strategic energy plan
• Brian Levite, senior energy analyst at NREL
• Marty Howell, manager of the newly created El Paso, Texas, Sustainability Program

The Web seminar is free of charge, but you must register in advance to obtain a URL for the presentation and call-in phone number. You can register online, find information about the presenters, and read background materials at the link below.

Downtown Minneapolis Park Space Initiative

In 2007, Trust for Public Land joined the City of Minneapolis and several partners to study how existing park and open spaces can be more successful and financially viable. The Downtown Minneapolis Park Space Initiative report is the result of this study.

Downtown Planning for Smaller and Midsized Communities

''For so long we were floundering and taking ad hoc measures, but the minute I understood what a downtown plan really was I said 'We need one of those!' As it turned out, it was the most fantastic vehicle I've ever seen,'' said Susan Moffat-Thomas of New Bern, North Carolina. Her hometown got a much-needed shot in the arm from a good downtown plan. Does yours need a similar boost?

Philip L. Walker, an experienced downtown-planning consultant, offers practical tips for preserving a sense of place, improving fiscal efficiency, and enhancing quality of life in Downtown Planning for Smaller and Midsized Communities.

Planners and revitalization officials will learn how to address physical components of the downtown, as well as economic development. Walker, an experienced downtown-planning consultant, also explains how to develop an organization to implement a downtown plan; how federal, state, and local policies may influence the planning process; and how to fund a downtown revitalization effort.

Downtowns and Town Centers

The Planning Commissioners Journal is the nation's principal publication designed for citizen planners, including (but certainly not limited to) members of local planning commissions and zoning boards. ''Downtowns and Town Centers'' is an index of journal articles on downtown topics such as Farmers' Markets, Historic Preservation Ordinances, Public Buildings, Parking, and more.

Draft Report on the Environment

The U.S. EPA's Draft Report on the Environment is a report that describes current national environmental conditions and trends using existing data and indicators. The report identifies data gaps and research needs, and discusses the challenges government and our partners face in filling those gaps.

Draft Vermont Pedestrian and Bicycle Policy Plan

The State of Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) has developed a draft Vermont Pedestrian and Bicycle Policy Plan to promote bicycling and walking as an integral part of the overall transportation network in Vermont.

Earth Day TV

Earth Day TV is providing streaming video and topical programming for environmental awareness. Look for feeds and live events in the program guide.

EcoDensity -- Vancouver

EcoDensity is a concept being discussed with the Vancouver community. In brief, EcoDensity is an acknowledgement that high quality and strategically located density can make Vancouver more sustainable, livable and affordable.

EcoIndustrial Strategies

Eco-industrial Strategies explores the key issues involved in eco-industrial development and identifies the stakeholders and their roles in such projects.

Ecological Design and Building Schools

Ecological Design and Building Schools is the first and only directory of ecological design and building schools in North America, featuring an annotated listing of schools and educational centers that offer top programs in ecological building design and construction.

Ecological Design Manual for Lake County, Florida

The goal of this manual is to illustrate how development objectives and natural resource protection needs within a high-growth area can be addressed through the physical design of residential projects.

Published December 2001. 42 pages; available online as a PDF document at the resource link below.

Ecological Riverfront Design

Ecological Riverfront Design puts forth a new vision for the nation's urban riverfronts and provides a set of planning and design principles that will allow communities to reclaim urban river edges in the most ecologically sound and economically viable manner possible.

Ecologically Based Municipal Land Use Planning

Lewis Publishers. 1999. This book provides easily understood, nuts and bolts solutions for controlling urban sprawl, emphasizing the integration of federal, state, and local land use plans

Eco-Municipalities: A Model for Sustainable Communities in Wisconsin

The Ecomunicipality: Model for Sustainable Community Change describes a systems approach to creating sustainable communities. Written by Torbjörn Lahti and Sarah James, and adapted and updated by Lisa MacKinnon, this document provides an overview of what an ecomunicipality is, how it functions, and what it can achieve.

Economic Development and Smart Growth

Economic development success and smart growth can go hand-in-hand. The International Economic Development Council's (IEDC's) Economic Development and Smart Growth presents eight case studies on communities that incorporated smart growth principles in their development projects and have experienced economic development improvements in the form of increased tax revenue, more jobs, higher income levels, downtown revitalization, business growth, and other indicators of economic success.

Economics, Equity and the Environment

Economics, Equity, and the Environment, by Stephen M. Johnson, examines major economic incentive and market-based environmental protection programs that are being implemented by governments, including pollution taxes, pollutant trading programs, regulatory waiver programs, subsidies, grants, loans and favorable tax treatment, and deposit/refund systems.

EcoSmart Design Software

EcoSmart is a Web-based software program designed to evaluate the economic trade-offs between different landscape practices on residential parcels.

Edens Lost and Found

Edens Lost & Found, a four-hour PBS series, showcases extraordinary stories of environmental rebirth in four very different American cities: Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Seattle. Each one-hour program examines the unique environmental, economic and social issues that each of these great cities face.

edie's Awards Entry Forms -- 2009

The call for entries for the 2009 Awards for Environmental Excellence began in earnest on January 1, 2009. Now in their third year at the London Natural History Museum, the awards are fast building a reputation for being an enviable environmental accolade and are judged by some the UK's top environmentalists.

edie's Awards for Environmental Excellence -- 2008 Recipients

The 2008 edie Awards for Environmental Excellence were presented at London, England's Natural History Museum on November 13, 2008.

edra/Achievement Awards 2006

The Environmental Design Research Association invites applicants for their 2006 Achievement Awards, given in recognition of a specific contribution that advances the field of environmental design research through the generation of knowledge, public service, or professional practice, for a coherent recognizable body of work or activities by an individual or group.

Electronic Green Government Network

The National Association of Counties (NACo) Electronic Green Government Network is a source for information on all things green for county officials, staff, and public and private companies with an interest in learning about county activities in this area.

ELI Annual Award 2009

The Environmental Law Institute (ELI) is proud to announce that U.S. Senators Mark Udall of Colorado and Tom Udall of New Mexico will be the joint recipients of the 2009 ELI Award for Achievement in Environmental Law, Policy, and Management.

Emerald Cities: Urban Sustainability and Economic Development

This new book provides a refreshing look at how American cities are leading the way toward greener, cleaner, and more sustainable forms of economic development.

In Emerald Cities, Joan Fitzgerald shows how in the absence of a comprehensive national policy, cities like Chicago, New York, Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle have taken the lead in addressing the interrelated environmental problems of global warming, pollution, energy dependence, and social justice. Cities are major sources of pollution but because of their population density, reliance on public transportation, and other factors, Fitzgerald argues that they are uniquely suited to promote and benefit from green economic development. For cities facing worsening budget constraints, investing in high-paying green jobs in renewable energy technology, construction, manufacturing, recycling, and other fields will solve two problems at once, sparking economic growth while at the same time dramatically improving quality of life.

Fitzgerald also examines how investing in green research and technology may help to revitalize older industrial cities and offers examples of cities that don't make the top-ten green lists such as Toledo and Cleveland, Ohio and Syracuse, New York. And for cities wishing to emulate those already engaged in developing greener economic practices, Fitzgerald shows which strategies will be most effective according to each city's size, economic history, geography, and other unique circumstances. But cities cannot act alone, and Fitzgerald analyzes the role of state and national government policy in helping cities create the next wave of clean technology growth.

Lucid, forward-looking, and guided by a level-headed optimism that clearly distinguishes between genuine progress and exaggerated claims, Emerald Cities points the way toward a sustainable future for the American city.

Emerging Green Builders Competition

Register today for the 2005 Natural Talent Design Competition, sponsored by the U.S. Green Building Council's Emerging Green Builders Committee.

Enabling Innovation in Michigan Agriculture

Agriculture is a key economic sector in the state of Michigan. Recently, efforts at the state and local levels have focused on supporting this sector through preservation of the land base and enhancement of its long-term viability. Reforming existing agricultural programs and developing new ones must be preceded by sound policy analysis. This study is one of four reports designed to inform public decision makers about the options available for achieving long-term success in agricultural preservation and innovation. A fifth, the summary report, will summarize the findings of these four reports.

Enabling Source Water Protection

Expressions of interest are being sought from states that can lead the country in developing and showcasing innovative ways to protect drinking water sources through improved coordination among state land use management and water protection programs.

Endangered by Sprawl

Endangered By Sprawl: How Runaway Development Threatens America’s Wildlife is a new report produced by the National Wildlife Federation, Smart Growth America, and NatureServe that details the effects on wildlife by rapid conversion of once-natural areas and farmland into subdivisions, shopping centers, roads and parking lots.

Energy and Smart Growth (Translation Paper #15)

This translation paper from the Funders' Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities contends there is much to be gained by expanding the smart growth movement to include greater attention on energy. Through greater use of energy efficient design and renewable energy sources, the smart growth movement could better achieve its goals of environmental protection, economic security and prosperity, and community livability.

Energy Benefits of Urban Infill Developments, Brownfields and Sustainable Urban Development

In Energy Benefits of Urban Infill Developments, a report from the Northeast-Midwest Institute, sustainable urban redevelopment is shown to be a potential major source of greenhouse gas reduction.

Energy Design Guidelines for High Performance Schools

DOE offers ''Energy Design Guidelines for High Performance Schools,'' a series of seven publications that will help school districts save millions of dollars on annual utility bills by designing energy efficient schools compatible with regional climates. The first set of guidelines, released in February, is tailored to hot and dry climates. The new books address the following climates: hot and humid, temperate and humid, cool and humid, cold and humid, cool and dry, and temperate and mixed.

DOE also released the ''National Best Practices Manual for High Performance Schools,'' which provides engineering and architectural specifications and other details on how to apply the guidelines. See the DOE press release at: www.energy.gov/HQPress/releases02/julpr/pr02154.htm

Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Funding

The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) works with industry and outside agencies through two mechanisms: financial assistance and procurement.

Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Information Center

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's (EERE) Information Center answers questions about EERE's products, services, and technology programs, and refers callers to the most appropriate EERE resources.

Energy Guide for Campus Cost Savings

The Energy Smart Guide to Campus Cost Savings was created to help college and university managers sort through the opportunities and possibilities for saving energy and money on their campuses.

Energy Smart Schools

School Operations and Maintenance, a 130-page guide from Rebuild America, offers not only strategies for maintaining facilities, but also opportunities for reducing energy costs and increasing energy efficiency at existing schools.

Energy Star Awards -- 2008

Each year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) honor organizations that have made outstanding contributions to protecting the environment through energy efficiency in the Energy Star Awards. On April 1, 2008, the EPA and DOE honored award winners at the 2008 ENERGY STAR Awards Ceremony in Washington, DC.

Energy Star Challenge

The ENERGY STAR Challenge is a national call-to-action to improve the energy efficiency of America's commercial and industrial buildings by 10 percent or more. Whether you're associated with a small school or a large corporation, a local government or a national association, a community hospital or a hotel group, a manufacturing plant or an architecture firm -- you can be part of the ENERGY STAR Challenge and help improve the energy efficiency of America's commercial and industrial buildings by 10 percent or more.

Energy Star Nominations -- 2009

Each year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) honor organizations that have made outstanding contributions to protecting the environment through energy efficiency. Award winners will be recognized at the ENERGY STAR Awards Ceremony on March 31, 2009, in Washington, DC.

Energy Star Successes

Thousands of organizations have made the commitment to superior energy performance. ENERGY STAR recognizes many of their successes and encourages every organization to play a critical role in environmental leadership through better energy management.

Energy Star Target Finder

Target Finder from the U.S. EPA's Energy Star program can help you set realistic energy performance goals and receive an energy rating for design projects. By setting and achieving superior energy performance goals, architects can help their clients prevent greenhouse gas emissions associated with burning fossil fuels.

Energy Tax Incentives Website

The Tax Incentives Assistance Project (TIAP) is designed to give consumers and businesses information they need to make use of the federal income tax incentives for energy efficient products and technologies passed by Congress as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

Enhancing America's Communities: A Guide to Transportation Enhancements

Enhancing America's Communities: A Guide to Transportation Enhancements is a 40-page brochure that covers the history of the Transportation Enhancements (TE) program and describes how TE funds are distributed as well as the project development process. It also provides fifteen case studies of outstanding TE projects across the country.

Enhancing Ecosystem Services from Agricultural Lands

''Enhancing Ecosystem Services From Agricultural Lands: Management, Quantification, And Developing Decision Support Tools'' is the title of this funding opportunity from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), as part of its Agricultural and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Competitive Grants Program, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program.

Enterprise at Home for Progress at Large: The Economics of Sustainability

This new report focuses on economies in transition—economies that are threatened by the consequences of environmental changes. The report explores how key civic leaders, faced with the challenge of ensuring the future strength of their economies, have employed creative new agendas that not only help reverse the effects of environmental degradation but also leverage the occasion for valuable economic gain.

While national debates rage over which production methods will lead to a stronger, more sustainable environment, and while research and development teams struggle to produce the next revolutionary technology, it is on the local level that incredible progress is being made in advancing sustainability measures beyond rhetoric. City governments and grassroots activists are often the most obvious players, but there is a powerful—and perhaps unexpected—player in the green arena that is leading the charge in cutting emissions and conserving energy while boosting regional economies: the business community.

These activities are not wild expansions of their mission, but are essential to fulfilling it. Businesses that emit little emissions and consume fewer resources are the stronger, leaner and more agile businesses of America’s future and as the organizations that work to support economic development and improve local quality of life, many chambers of commerce have dedicated themselves to aiding in the success of green businesses. The ingenuity and forward thinking exemplified by the chambers highlighted here are the first bold steps toward a more sustainable and robust American economy.

The report provides tells stories of entrepreneurship and success—stories of chambers of commerce throughout the country instituting green business recognition programs, working to attract clean industries, creating green jobs, and providing resources to local businesses to implement more sustainable practices.

Enterprise Wins Energy Star Award

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have awarded Enterprise the 2007 ENERGY STAR Award for Excellence in Energy-Efficient Affordable Housing in recognition of its efforts to provide energy-efficient housing for low-income residents. Enterprise will be recognized at an awards ceremony today in Washington, D.C.

Environment Education Grants

The Grants Program sponsored by EPA’s Office of Environmental Education supports environmental education projects that enhance the public’s awareness, knowledge, and skills to help people make informed decisions that affect environmental quality.

Environment Performance Measurement Project

The Environmental Performance Measurement Project aims to shift environmental decision-making to firmer analytic foundations using environmental indicators and statistics.

Environment Program

The Nathan Cummings Foundation offers the Environment Program, a funding opportunity that seeks to address the root causes of environmental degradation.

Environment Program -- Kresge Foundation

The Kresge Foundation is a national foundation that has been advocating environmental conservation for many years, especially through its Green Building Initiative. In June 2008, the Foundation decided to elevate this interest and expand it into a major, comprehensive program -- the Environment Program -- to cultivate solutions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, accelerate renewable energy technologies, and support efforts to help society adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Environmental Assistance Grants -- Minnesota

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Environmental Assistance Grant Program is a competitive, two-stage application process to identify and assist projects that will be most beneficial in meeting the Agency's mission of working with Minnesotans to protect, conserve, and improve Minnesota's air, land and water resources.

Environmental Characteristics of Smart Growth Neighborhoods

This study conducted for NRDC, in cooperation with the United States Environmental Protection Agency, suggests that the environmental benefits of smart growth are real and can be measured. The study focuses on the Metro Square neighborhood in Sacramento, California, and is one of the first to examine a fully completed and occupied development.

Environmental Characteristics of Smart Growth Neighborhoods

This new study (also conducted for NRDC in cooperation with EPA) continues that research by comparing two neighborhoods in Nashville, Tennessee, and suggests that the combination of better transportation accessibility and a modest increase in land-use density can produce measurable benefits even when both sites are automobile-oriented and suburban in character.

Environmental Characteristics of Smart Growth Neighborhoods

This study conducted for NRDC, in cooperation with the United States Environmental Protection Agency, suggests that the environmental benefits of smart growth are real and can be measured. The study focuses on the Metro Square neighborhood in Sacramento, California, and is one of the first to examine a fully completed and occupied development.

Environmental Characteristics of Smart Growth Neighborhoods

This new study (also conducted for NRDC in cooperation with EPA) continues that research by comparing two neighborhoods in Nashville, Tennessee, and suggests that the combination of better transportation accessibility and a modest increase in land-use density can produce measurable benefits even when both sites are automobile-oriented and suburban in character.

Environmental Characteristics of Smart Growth Neighborhoods

This study conducted for NRDC, in cooperation with the United States Environmental Protection Agency, suggests that the environmental benefits of smart growth are real and can be measured. The study focuses on the Metro Square neighborhood in Sacramento, California, and is one of the first to examine a fully completed and occupied development.

Environmental Characteristics of Smart Growth Neighborhoods

This new study (also conducted for NRDC in cooperation with EPA) continues that research by comparing two neighborhoods in Nashville, Tennessee, and suggests that the combination of better transportation accessibility and a modest increase in land-use density can produce measurable benefits even when both sites are automobile-oriented and suburban in character.

Environmental Education Funding

The Washington State Environmental Education Initiative offers a section on Environmental Education grants on its website.

Environmental Education Grants

The Grant Program sponsored by EPA’s Office of Environmental Education supports environmental education projects that enhance the public’s awareness, knowledge, and skills to help people make informed decisions that affect environmental quality.

Environmental Financial Tools

The Environmental Finance Program (EFP) at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides financial technical assistance to the regulated community and advice and recommendations to the Agency on environmental finance issues, trends, and options. Among the resources offered by the EFP are environmental financial tools: sources of potential funding solutions.

Environmental Hall of Fame

The Environmental Hall of Fame inducted more than 36 honorees into the National, Illinois and Chicago Environmental Halls of Fame at Hotel Allegro Chicago on November 20-22, 2008 during its second awards ceremony. The Hotel Allegro, (171 W. Randolph) across from City Hall, has been rated the greenest hotel in Chicago.

Environmental Health Perspectives: Built Environment

Built Environment is a collection of articles from Environmental Health Perspectives, a peer-reviewed open access journal dedicated to the effect of the environment on human health.

Environmental Justice

The Norman Foundation of New York offers grants for environmental justice and other areas on an annual basis.

Environmental Justice Achievement Awards -- 2008

The U.S. EPA's Environmental Justice Achievement Awards recognize organizations for their success in addressing environmental justice issues or by adopting the goals of environmental justice to positively impact their community.

Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative

The Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative (EJCC) is a diverse coalition of U.S. environmental justice, religious, climate justice, policy and advocacy networks working for climate justice. This consensus-based coalition develops projects, programs and papers to educate policymakers and connect with thousands of people in communities across the country about the effects of climate change and environmental injustice.

Environmental Justice and the Green Economy: A Vision Statement and Case Studies for Just and Sustainable Solutions

Can the climate be stabilized without a fundamental transformation of the global economy? Can we go green while billions go hungry? Can the environment be made healthy for those who can afford it, while people of color and the poor continue to live in degraded conditions? A group of US environmental justice leaders say ''no'' to all of the above. In a newly released report, these leaders advance a vision in which sustainability and justice - ''justainability'' - must be simultaneous results; that one simply cannot happen without the other.

Environmental Justice and the Green Economy: A Vision Statement and Case Studies for Just and Sustainable Solutions describes a shared vision for a just and sustainable economy, and highlights grassroots environmental justice successes that are leading the way.

The publication includes case studies from low income communities and communities of color in Los Angeles, Navajo Nation, Harlan County Kentucky, Miami, Chicago, San Diego, New York, and Richmond, CA. The report concludes with three broad categories of recommendations for policy makers to support work that:

• Strives for full democratic participation
• Builds capacity for a truly sustainable infrastructure and green economy
• Creates and shares ''green'' wealth.

This publication is a resource for organizing, leadership development, policy-making, research, and public education efforts and will be of interest to all who are striving towards a ''justainable'' future.

The report was guided by a Working Group that included: Bill Gallegos (Communities for a Better Environment, Los Angeles), Denise Perry (Power U, Miami), Kalila Barnett and co-editor Penn Loh (Alternatives for Community & Environment, Roxbury Massachusetts), Diane Takvorian (Environmental Health Coalition, San Diego), Burt Lauderdale (Kentuckians for the Commonwealth), Peggy Shepard and Cecil Corbin-Mark (WE ACT for Environmental Justice), Donele Wilkins (Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice), Roger Kim (Asian Pacific Environmental Network, Oakland).

The publication can be downloaded in both English and Spanish at the link below.

Environmental Justice Geographic Assessment Tool

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) offers the Environmental Justice Geographic Assessment Tool, an online searchable database that provides information for preliminary analysis of Environmental Justice areas of concern.

Environmental Justice Grants

The New York State DEC Office of Environmental Justice is now accepting grant applications from community organizations for projects that address environmental and related public health issues. Projects must address multiple harms and risks to communities and communicate project results to the community residents.

Environmental Justice Small Grants Awards

Fiscal Year 2009 marks the 15th anniversary of the U.S. EPA's Environmental Justice Small Grants Program (EJSG). Since its inception in 1994, the Program has awarded more than $20 million in funding to 1,130 community-based organizations, and local and tribal organizations working with communities who are facing environmental justice issues.

Environmental Justice Small Grants Program -- 2007 Awards

This report from the U.S. EPA documents the 2007 Awards and Project Descriptions from the Environmental Justice Small Grants Program.

Environmental Justice Small Grants Program -- 2008 Call for Applications

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published an Application Guidance document for its 2008 Environmental Justice Small Grants Program. Deadline for applications is June 30, 2008.

Environmental Justice Small Grants Program -- Fall 2006

The Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ) provides financial assistance for local community-based organizations through the Environmental Justice Small Grants (EJSG) Program. Established in 1994, the purpose of this program is to provide financial assistance that will support and empower community-based organizations that are working on local solutions to local environmental and/or public health problems.

Environmental Justice Small Grants Program -- Spring 2006

The Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ) provides financial assistance for local community-based organizations through the Environmental Justice Small Grants (EJSG) Program. Established in 1994, the purpose of this program is to provide financial assistance that will support and empower community-based organizations that are working on local solutions to local environmental and/or public health problems.

Environmental Justice, Urban Revitalization and Brownfields

''Environmental Justice, Urban Revitalization, and Brownfields: The Search for Authentic Signs of Hope'' is a report on equitable development endorsed by the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) at its May 29-31, 1996 meeting in Detroit, Michigan.

Environmental Justice: The Power of Partnerships

Environmental Justice: The Power of Partnerships is a documentary film from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that tells the story of how one man, a local community organization called ReGenesis, and a handful of partners turned a downtrodden community around. It's about the process of discovering -- after being exposed to environmental contamination -- a public health problem, working together to envision broad solutions, bringing people together, and creating change. It's about a place that ''couldn't get any worse,'' according to one resident, that is now being transformed.

Environmental Law Institute

For nearly three decades, the Environmental Law Institute has played a pivotal role in shaping the fields of environmental law, policy, and management, domestically and abroad. Today, ELI is an internationally recognized, independent research and education center. The Environmental Law Institute (ELI) Sustainable Use of Land Program is an on-going collaborative program devoted to promoting the sustainable use of urban, suburban, and rural land at the state and local levels. ELI works in collaboration with partners to formulate and implement options for overcoming barriers to sustainable land use found in local,state, and federal law, while developing creative alternatives to promote sound economic, community, environmental, transportation, public infrastructure and other strategies.

Environmental Law Institute's Annual Award

The Environmental Law Institute® will pay tribute to its former president, J. William ''Bill'' Futrell, with the 2008 ELI Award for Achievement in Environmental Law, Policy, and Management. The award honors Futrell's career-long dedication to conservation and recognizes his 23 years of achievement as ELI President concluding in 2003.

Environmental Law Institute's ''Sustainability and Resource Protection''

Environmental Law Institute uses sustainability as an organizing principle to develop new strategies for the protection of land, water, and biological resources. ELI’s Sustainability and Resource Protection Programs improve our nation’s laws, policies, and institutions. Integrating environmental laws, tax laws, development laws, and other tools. ELI works with state, local, and federal agencies, citizen groups, non-profit organizations, and corporate partners to develop effective solutions to problems of land and resource use.

Environmental Merit Awards -- New England

For more than thirty years, EPA New England has honored those who have made outstanding contributions on behalf of the region's environment. EPA's Environmental Merit Award program has honored teachers, citizen activists, business leaders, scientists, public officials and others who have made outstanding contributions on behalf of the region's public health and natural environment.

Environmental Merit Awards -- New England

The U.S. EPA-Region 1 (New England) is now accepting nominations for groups and individuals to be considered for an Environmental Merit Award. The nomination period closes January 22, 2007. The winners will be notified in late March and the Awards Ceremony will be held in Boston in mid April.

Environmental Merit Awards -- New England

For more than thirty years, EPA New England has honored those who have made outstanding contributions on behalf of the region's environment. EPA's Environmental Merit Award program has honored teachers, citizen activists, business leaders, scientists, public officials and others who have made outstanding contributions on behalf of the region's public health and natural environment.

Environmental Merit Awards -- New England

The U.S. EPA-Region 1 (New England) is now accepting nominations for groups and individuals to be considered for an Environmental Merit Award. The nomination period closes January 22, 2007. The winners will be notified in late March and the Awards Ceremony will be held in Boston in mid April.

Environmental Merit Awards -- New England

For more than thirty years, EPA New England has honored those who have made outstanding contributions on behalf of the region's environment. EPA's Environmental Merit Award program has honored teachers, citizen activists, business leaders, scientists, public officials and others who have made outstanding contributions on behalf of the region's public health and natural environment.

Environmental Planning Handbook

In The Environmental Planning Handbook, Tom and Katherine Daniels clarify complex environmental issues, examine current sustainability efforts, and offer step-by-step guidance for local governments to incorporate sustainable environmental quality into local and regional comprehensive planning.

Environmental Public Health Tracking

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is currently leading an initiative to build a National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network. The National Tracking Network is a web-based system that will bring together data from several systems that look at environmental hazard monitoring, human exposure surveillance and health effects surveillance.

Environmental Research and Education Needs

Environmental Research and Education Needs: An Agenda for a New Administration is report from the National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE), published in December 2008, that organizes the recommendations relating to research and education policy from NCSE's first eight national conferences (2000-2008). It identifies research needed to improve scientific knowledge, and education needed to improve public understanding, professional capacity and a strong workforce.

Environmental Restoration Program -- New York

Under the Environmental Restoration Program, the State of New York provides grants to municipalities to reimburse up to 90 percent of on-site eligible costs and 100% of off-site eligible costs for site investigation and remediation activities. Once remediated, the property may then be reused for commercial, industrial, residential or public use.

Environmental Stewardship and the Green Campus

Colleges and universities are ideally suited to implement sustainability practices through environmental programs, energy conservation, and recycling. Environmental Stewardship and the Green Campus outlines practical steps your campus or institution can take to promote sustainability, including solid waste reduction, water conservation, transportation solutions, new construction, grounds and land use, and more.

Environmental Stewardship Awards

The Virginia Environmental Stewardship Awards recognize innovative and effective stewardship activities that serve to protect and enhance local and state natural resources.

Environmental Stewardship Grants

Entergy's Environmental Stewardship Program funds innovative activities, programs, or projects that go beyond compliance with environmental laws and regulations in preserving and enhancing the environment.

EnviroTools: State Brownfield Programs

EnviroTools is a website guide to involve your community in the cleanup of a polluted site. To help answer the question: ''How do we clean up this mess?'' EnviroTools has assembled a collection of educational materials on Superfund and Brownfields sites, along with sites cleaned up under state programs. The site also has a section on financing.

Envisioning Better Communities: Seeing More Options, Making Wiser Choices

Randall Arendt's work has shaped a generation of planners, designers, and landscape architects. In Envisioning Better Communities, he brings his insights to a broader public, with a profusely illustrated demonstration of how local officials, planning commissioners, and everyday citizens can work to make their communities more attractive, more habitable, and more sustainable.

Despite the widespread acceptance of good design and planning principles throughout the professions, too many of our towns and rural areas remain needlessly ugly and inefficient. In side by side comparisons of similar places and kinds of buildings, Arendt shows that we need not live amid sprawling, characterless visual blight. Simple design choices and effective municipal decisions can have tremendous impacts on the quality of our communities.

Written in Arendt's well-known clear, accessible, nontechnical style, this book creates a sense of hope for those who face the everyday challenges of working with developers and landowners to create places that make economic, environmental, and aesthetic sense. Arendt shows us that with diligence, thoughtfulness, and care, we can make our communities better in countless ways.

EPA 5th Annual P3 Awards: Student Design Competition

The U.S. EPA announces its 5th Annual P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet. As part of the P3 Award Program, EPA is seeking applications proposing to research, develop, and design solutions to real world challenges involving sustainability.

EPA 6th Annual P3 Awards: Student Design Competition

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) invite submissions to the 6th Annual P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability.

EPA Accepting Nominations for Watershed Protection Initiative

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is accepting nominations for President Bush's Watershed Protection Initiative. Governors and Tribal leaders are invited to submit nominations for projects that would help promote and advance successes in up to 20 watersheds.

EPA Announces Funding for Baltimore Brownfields Assessments

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded the Baltimore Development Corp. $400,000 in EPA brownfields funding to help assess abandoned industrial properties in Baltimore.

EPA Announces New RFP: ''Smart Growth Streets and Emergency Response''

A new grant RFP issued by the U.S. EPA's Development, Community, and Environment Division seeks to bring together emergency response officials, local government officials, transportation experts, and developers to engage in a problem-solving process around the issue of simultaneously meeting the needs for emergency response with the design of smart growth streets. The goal is to create a solution or set of solutions that have the endorsement of these multiple interests and will be applicable nationally across the U.S. and/or in significant regions of the country. The RFP will also support outreach efforts to educate relevant stakeholders nationally.

EPA Announces Winners of the 2004 National Awards
for Smart Growth Achievement

On November 17, EPA announced five winners of the 2004 National Awards for Smart Growth Achievement at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC. This Award recognizes outstanding achievement in smart growth by tribal, local, or regional governments in five categories: Overall Excellence, Built Projects, Policies and Regulation, Community Outreach and Education, and Small Communities.

EPA Awards $420,000 to Student Teams for 2006 P3 Sustainability Awards

The U.S. EPA has awarded $420,000 to 42 student teams for the 2006-2007 academic year to research and develop cutting-edge, sustainable solutions to environmental challenges.

EPA Awards $71 Million to Help Brownfields Bloom into Productivity

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced that nearly $71 million will be awarded to communities in 38 states to help revitalize former industrial and commercial sites, turning them from problem properties to productive community use. Two territories and five tribal nations also will share the $70.7 million from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

EPA Brownfields Cleanup Grants

The U.S. EPA offers brownfields cleanup grant opportunities that provide funding for a grant recipient to carry out cleanup activities at brownfield sites.

EPA Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund

The Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) grants provide funding for a grant recipient to capitalize a revolving loan fund and to provide subgrants to carry out cleanup activities at brownfield sites. Through these grants, EPA seeks to strengthen the marketplace and encourage stakeholders to leverage the resources needed to clean up and redevelop brownfields. When loans are repaid, the loan amount is returned into the fund and re-lent to other borrowers, providing an ongoing source of capital within a community.

EPA Brownfields Funding Information

This website from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency contains information on Brownfields funding for loans, job training, technical assistance, and other items related to brownfield remediation and management.

EPA CARE Grants 2006 -- Reduce Risks from Toxics

The US EPA announces availability of funds for its Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE) Program. Proposals are being sought to meet financial assistance needs for eligible entities through the new CARE program.

EPA CARE Grants 2008 -- Reduce Risks from Toxics

The U.S. EPA announces availability of funds for its Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE) Program. Proposals are being sought to meet financial assistance needs for eligible entities through the new CARE program.

EPA Climate Change Fact Sheets

EPA has produced four new fact sheets on climate change based on recent scientific data and findings. These documents may be useful to state and local governments looking for public outreach materials on climate change. The four new fact sheets are:

• Climate Change Science Facts: Describes the causes (human and natural) of climate change, the link between greenhouse gases and temperature, signs of climate change, and projections of future climate change.
• Climate Change and Ecosystems: Discusses the impacts of climate change on biodiversity, oceans, forests, habitat, invasive species, and migrations and life cycle events.
• Climate Change and Health Effects: Covers the effects of climate change on heat-related illnesses and deaths, respiratory problems, and diseases and allergies.
• Climate Change and Society: Explains how climate change could affect water resources, coastal communities, food production, and energy use and supply, among other things.

EPA's Climate Toolbox, which includes the four new fact sheets as well as other resources, is available on EPA’s Climate Change Basic Information page at the link below.

EPA Lifetime Achievement Award

Former Burlington, Vermont Mayor Peter Clavelle was honored with the EPA's Lifetime Achievement Award at the May 2006 Environmental Merit Awards presentation in Boston, Massachusetts.

EPA P3 Award Winners Announced at the 2006 National Sustainable Design Expo

George Gray, Assistant Administrator for U.S. EPA's Office of Research and Development, has announced winners of EPA's 2nd Annual P3 Awards -- People, Prosperity, and the Planet. Six student teams from Appalachian State University, University of Michigan, Lafayette College, Portland State University, University of Massachusetts -- Lowell, and Stanford University won the awards by competing at EPA's National Sustainable Design Expo.

EPA P3 Awards 2006

The P3 Award program is a national student design competition for sustainability focusing on people, prosperity, and the planet. Closing date for the 2006 competition is February 20, 2006.

EPA Region 2 Environmental Quality Awards -- 2006

The EPA's Region 2 Environmental Quality Awards honor non-profit, environmental and community groups, individual citizens, environmental education and business organizations and members of the news media.

EPA Region 3 Brownfields Grants -- EPA Region 3 (Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, District of Columbia)

The U.S. EPA’s Brownfields Program provides direct funding for brownfields assessment, cleanup, revolving loans, and environmental job training. To facilitate the leveraging of public resources, EPA’s Brownfields Program collaborates with other EPA programs, other federal partners, and state agencies to identify and make available resources that can be used for brownfields activities. In addition to direct brownfields funding, EPA also provides technical information on brownfields financing matters.

EPA Region 3 Water Quality Grants

The U.S. EPA Region 3 is soliciting proposals from eligible applicants interested in applying for Federal assistance for Water Quality Cooperative Agreements under the Clean Water Act for unique and innovative projects to be conducted within the Region 3 territory: Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.

EPA Region 4 Environmental Priorities

EPA Region 4 is soliciting proposals for projects for Fiscal Year 2006 to address regional and state strategic priorities that meet national Regional Geographic Initiative (RGI) and Environmental Priorities Program (EPP) funding criteria.

EPA Region 6 Brownfields Job Training Grants -- EPA Region 6 (New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana)

This resource lists EPA Region 6 Brownfields Job Training Grants recipients from 1998 through 2007. Region 6 serves Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Texas and 65 Tribes. For Fiscal Year 2007, the U.S. EPA has selected the City of Camden, Arkansas, for a job training grant. Camden plans to train 30 participants and place at least 24 in environmental jobs. Students will be tracked using a specialized career planning system that will track graduates and provide them with support throughout their lifetime.

EPA Region 6 Brownfields Program -- EPA Region 6 (New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana)

As part of the U.S. EPA's initiative to reuse and revitalize contaminated property, the Brownfields Program provides funds and technical assistance to states, communities and other stakeholders in economic redevelopment to work together to prevent, assess, safely cleanup, and sustainably reuse brownfields. This resource provides information on the U.S. EPA's Brownfields Program, including the Brownfields Revitalization Act, grants, technical tools and resources, as well as information on Brownfields projects across the country.

EPA Videos Highlight Green Building Success

EPA has produced two videos highlighting some of the recent success in green building technology. Both videos focus on green buildings that reduce the effects of storm water runoff on the quality of downstream receiving waters.

EPA Water Quality Scorecard

Many communities across the United States face the challenge of balancing water quality protection with the desire to accommodate new growth and development. These cities and counties are finding that a review of local ordinances beyond just stormwater regulations is necessary to remove barriers and ensure coordination across all development codes for better stormwater management and watershed protection. Local policies, such as landscaping and parking requirements or street design criteria, should complement strong stormwater standards and make it easier for developers to meet multiple requirements simultaneously.

EPA’s Water Quality Scorecard was developed to help local governments identify opportunities to remove barriers, and revise and create codes, ordinances, and incentives for better water quality protection. It guides municipal staff through a review of relevant local codes and ordinances, across multiple municipal departments and at the three scales within the jurisdiction of a local government (municipality, neighborhood, and site), to ensure that these codes work together to protect water quality goals. The two main goals of this tool are to: (1) help communities protect water quality by identifying ways to reduce the amount of stormwater flows in a community; and (2) educate stakeholders on the wide range of policies and regulations that have water quality implications.

The scorecard is for municipalities of various sizes in rural, suburban, and urban settings, including those that have combined sewers, municipal separate storm sewers, and those with limited or no existing stormwater infrastructure. It can help municipal staff, stormwater managers, planners, and other stakeholders to understand better where a municipality’s2 land development regulations and other ordinances may present barriers or opportunities to implementing a comprehensive water quality protection approach. The scorecard provides policy options, resources, and case studies to help communities develop a comprehensive water quality program.

EPA Wetland Grants -- 2007

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is soliciting proposals from eligible applicants for projects that support and build state/tribal/local government wetland programs. Proposals must be received by EPA by August 10, 2007.

EPA’s Five Star Restoration Grant Program

The Five Star Restoration Program brings together students, conservation corps, other youth groups, citizen groups, corporations, landowners and government agencies to provide environmental education and training through projects that restore wetlands and streams.

EPA’s P3 Award Competition

The P3 Award program is a national student design competition for sustainability focusing on people, prosperity, and the planet. The program is a partnership between the public and private sectors to progress toward sustainability by achieving the mutual goals of economic prosperity, protection of the natural systems of the planet, and providing a higher quality of life for its people. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and its affiliates offer the P3 Award competition to respond to the technical needs of the developed and developing world in moving towards the goal of sustainability.

EPA’s Pollution Prevention Grant

EPA created the P2 grant program under the authority of the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990. The grant program provides matching funds to state and tribal programs to support P2 activities across all environmental media and to develop state programs. EPA believes state-based environmental programs have the best opportunity to promote P2 because states have closer, more direct contact with industry and are more aware of local needs.

EPA-NOAA Coastal Community Development Partnership

The EPA and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have agreed to work together to help coastal communities grow in ways that benefit the economy, public health, and the environment.

EPA's 6th Annual Clean Air Excellence Awards

Entries are currently being accepted for EPA's sixth annual Clean Air Excellence Awards. The Clean Air Excellence Awards Program is open to both public and private entities in the United States.

EPA's Brownfields Job Training Grants

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) offers job training grants to teach environmental-cleanup job skills to individuals living in low income areas near Brownfields sites. Grants go to non-profit organizations, educational institutions, community colleges, tribes, and state and local governments.

EPA's Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Model

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Model is a handbook for all stakeholders to understand how equitable development and local environmental and/or public health issues can be addressed through the Collaborative Problem-Solving (CPS) Model.

EPA's Smart Growth Implementation Assistance Program

The U.S. EPA's Smart Growth Implementation Assistance Program (SGIA) is an annual, competitive solicitation open to state, local, regional, and tribal governments (and non-profits that have partnered with a governmental entity) that want to incorporate smart growth techniques into their future development.

EPA's Smart Growth Implementation Assistance Program: 2007 Communities

EPA developed the Smart Growth Implementation Assistance (SGIA) program in response to communities' requests for help in achieving their development goals. Through this program, EPA provides technical assistance from private-sector experts to help communities find the best tools and resources to plan for growth in ways that sustain environmental and economic progress and create a high quality of life.

Equitable Renewal: Ten Points to Guide Rebuilding in the Gulf Coast Region

Equitable Renewal: Ten Points to Guide Rebuilding in the Gulf Coast Region is an outline of steps from PolicyLink to help ensure that restoration of hurricane-damage communities is fair and just.

Equity Insurance and Equity Mortgage -- Farmland Preservation

Equity Insurance and Equity Mortgage: Evaluating Two Potential Cost-Saving Farmland Preservation Tools for Michigan examines ways to protect and preserve Michigan's valuable and productive farmland. With development projected to claim nearly 40,000 acres of farmland annually, new funding mechanisms are needed to boost the farmland preservation strategy.

Essential Smart Growth Fixes for Urban and Suburban Zoning Codes

Across the country, local governments are searching for ways to create vibrant communities that attract jobs, foster economic development, and provide attractive places for people to live, work, and play. But many are discovering that their own land development codes and ordinances often get in the way of achieving these goals, and they may not have the resources or expertise to make the specific regulatory changes that will create more sustainable communities.

In response to this need, EPA's Smart Growth Program convened a panel of national smart growth code experts to identify the topics in local zoning codes that are essential to creating the building blocks of smart growth. The resulting document, Essential Smart Growth Fixes for Urban and Suburban Zoning Codes, presents the panel's initial work. This document explores 11 ''Essential Fixes'' that address the most common barriers local governments face in implementing smart growth. These actions are organized as modest adjustments, major modifications, or wholesale changes -- giving communities options based on their political will, financial resources, and organizational capacity.

This tool does not include model language, codes or ordinances. It can, however, help communities evaluate their existing codes and ordinances and apply that information to create more sustainable comunities. It is an evolving document that will be regularly revised and updated, and is intended to spark a larger conversation about the tools and information local governments need to revise their land development regulations.

Estimates of State and School District Funding by Green School Bill

The House Committee on Education and Labor posts estimates of the amount of funding that each state and school district would receive to modernize, upgrade and repair school facilities under the 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act, if it were to be enacted.

Estimating the Jobs Impact of Tackling Climate Change

The new report Estimating the Jobs Impact of Tackling Climate Change suggests that tackling climate change will be a major net job creator for the U.S. economy. According to the report, aggressive deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency can net up to 4.5 million new U.S. jobs by 2030 and provide the greenhouse gas emission reductions necessary to tackle climate change.

According to the analysis, renewable energy and energy efficiency deployment costs would be revenue neutral (or better), as costs to implement the technologies are offset by savings from lower energy bills, making total net costs near zero.

“The twin challenges of climate change and economic stagnation can be solved by the same action—broad, aggressive, sustained deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency,” said Brad Collins, ASES’ Executive Director, “the solution for one is the solution for the other.”

This jobs report offers the most detailed analysis yet on the potential role of the new energy economy in tackling climate change. It suggests that policy can play a significant role in both generating jobs and mitigating carbon emissions.

“For job growth the status quo is no match for innovation,” said Mr. Collins. “Congress can help get the economy back on track with smart energy policy - reduce energy consumption in buildings by 50%; adopt an aggressive national renewable portfolio standard; commit to end dependence on foreign oil by 2025; and implement an upstream cap and auction system to manage greenhouse gases at the points where they first enter the energy economy.”

This report analyzed the job potential of improving energy efficiency in buildings, transportation, and industry, and assessed six renewable energy technologies: concentrating solar power, photovoltaics, wind power, biomass, biofuels, and geothermal power. Estimates in this report refer to net jobs since advancing new energy technologies can both create new jobs and displace jobs from less efficient industries. This report suggests that, in total, more than 4.5 million more jobs can be created by tackling climate change than would be lost.

Europe 2005: The Ecological Footprint

This report to the European Parliament was produced with the World Wildlife Federation (WWF) to document Europe's demand on the world's ecosystems.

European Prize for Urban Public Space

The European Prize for Urban Public Space is a biennial competition that recognizes and encourages activities aimed at recovering and creating spaces of cohesion in cities.

European Solar Prizes -- 2009

European Urban Knowledge Network

The European Urban Knowledge Network (EUKN) shares knowledge and experience on tackling urban issues. Fifteen EU Member States, EUROCITIES, the URBACT Programme and the European Commission participate in this European initiative.

Evaluation of Smart Growth on the Ground

''Smart Growth on the Ground'' is an innovative program to change the way that development is done in British Columbia by creating real, built examples of smart growth. This unique program helps BC communities to prepare more sustainable neighborhood plans -- including land use, transportation, urban design, and building design plans. Extensive follow-up ensures that the plans become reality.

Every Drop Makes a Difference Campaign

HALLS® and The Conservation Fund have announced the launch of the “Every Drop Makes a Difference” campaign to preserve, restore and protect one of America’s most precious natural resources, its trees. The program features in-store promotions, a national sweepstakes and a virtual forest where participants can plant a tree online and learn more about how native forests help clean the air we breathe, filter the water we drink and enhance habitat for wildlife.

“Protecting and restoring America’s forests is perhaps one of the greatest and most important environmental challenges of our time”, said The Conservation Fund’s Jena Meredith. “Every year we lose nearly 1.5 million acres of working forest across the country, and the forests that remain are increasingly degraded. Support from HALLS and its consumers is making a critical difference to help restore these special lands for wildlife and people alike.”

With every entry in the HALLS® Every Drop Makes a Difference™ Sweepstakes, a $1.00 donation will be made to The Conservation Fund to help support its reforestation efforts across America, up to $100,000.

“At HALLS, we believe that doing good for the community is good for business—it's part of our Cadbury heritage and part of our Purple Goes Green program, a comprehensive environmental initiative. We’re pleased to partner with The Conservation Fund to help restore one of the country’s most important assets—our forests and the wildlife that take refuge in them,” said David Vivenes, HALLS Marketing Director. “With this program, we’re proving that every drop of HALLS does make a difference by helping consumers feel relief while helping to restore American forests.”

The Conservation Fund will launch the restoration efforts at Buckhorn Wildlife Management Area, a Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) property located along the lower Mississippi River valley. Restoring forests in this area greatly benefits the Louisiana black bear and helps improve air quality, control flooding and minimize damage from storms.

“With limited financial resources available during a period of budget reductions, assistance from a corporate partner that enables this agency to move forward with habitat restoration is greatly appreciated,” said LDWF Secretary Robert Barham. Restoring the nation’s forests is one of The Conservation Fund’s highest priorities, and the group supports numerous public natural resource agencies across the country.

“When many people think about deforestation, they think about the Amazon or even Central America,” said The Conservation Fund’s Louisiana state director, Ray Herndon. “What they may not know is that we have lost more than 20 million acres of bottomland hardwood forest over the last century along the lower Mississippi River valley alone. It’s time to turn that trend around.”

Excellence in Energy and Environmental Education Awards -- Massachusetts

The Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs is now accepting applications for the 2008 Secretary's Awards for Excellence in Energy and Environmental Education.

Excellence in Green Building Education Awards -- 2009

The U.S. Green Building Council's Excellence in Green Building Education Awards Program recognizes outstanding curriculum and teaching methods that incorporate the built environment to teach sustainability.

Excellence in Urban Journalism Award

Presented in partnership with The Freedom Forum, the Annual Excellence in Urban Journalism Award encourages and recognizes quality reporting on major issues facing the nation's urban populations.

Exploring Sustainability in Agriculture

Exploring Sustainability in Agriculture from Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) defines sustainable agriculture by providing snapshots of different producers who apply sustainable principles on their farms and ranches.

Facing Our Future

Western Resource Advocates, Trout Unlimited and the Colorado Environmental Coalition have released this report on how to satisfy demands for water along the Front Range for the next 25 years with less harm to the environment and less controversy than water projects have faced in the past.

Facing the Future

Facing the Future believes in the transformative power of widespread, systemic education to improve lives and communities, both locally and globally. The organization's positive, solutions-based programming is designed by and for teachers, and effectively brings critical thinking about global issues to students in every walk of life.

Fair and Healthy Land Use

Fair and Healthy Land Use, a report from the American Planning Association's (APA's) Planning Advisory Services, explains how the principles of environmental justice can be incorporated into land-use planning processes.

Farm to Cafeteria Connections

This handbook is designed to be a resource for farmers, food service professionals and community members in developing Farm-to-Cafeteria programs in Washington state. It provides locally relevant information and an overall look at Farm-to-Cafeteria programs from all across the country.

Farm to Hospital

Farm to Hospital illustrates how improving health care can be accomplished by supporting local agriculture. Linking local farms and hospitals can improve the freshness, quality, and nutritional value of hospital food while opening new markets for small and medium sized farmers.

Farm to Table New Mexico

Farm to Table, a Santa Fe, New Mexico non-profit organization, focuses on linking local food and fiber production to local needs by improving communities' access to nutritious, affordable, locally grown and culturally significant foods.

Farmers Market Promotion Program Grants -- 2009

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is accepting applications for competitive grants targeted to helping increase consumption of agricultural commodities by expanding direct producer-to-consumer market opportunities. This is the fourth year of the grant program, the Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP), which was authorized by the Farmer-to-Consumer Direct Marketing Act of 1976 and amended by the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 (the Farm Bill).

Farming on the Edge

The American Farmland Trust conducted a ground-breaking national study mapping the relationship between high-quality farmland and land development pressure in America.

An excerpt: ''We're needlessly wasting one of the world's most important resources. Less than one-fifth of U.S. land is high quality, and we are losing this finest land to development at an accelerating rate. U.S. agricultural land provides the nation—and the world—with an unparalleled abundance of food. But farmland means much more than food. Well-managed farmland shelters wildlife, supplies scenic open space and helps filter impurities from our air and water. These working lands keep our taxes down and maintain the legacy of our agricultural heritage. It makes no sense to develop our best farmland. Instead, we have a responsibility to protect this most valuable resource for future generations.''

The report shows the threat of sprawling development to urban edge farmland state by state.

Farming on the Edge

American Farmland Trust's Farming on the Edge conference brings together people from all across the country who want to create a sustainable future for America's working lands. It provides a forum for planners, land trusts, conservationists, farmers, ranchers and others to network and share their expertise and experience.

''Farming on the Edge'' State Maps Available

''Farming on the Edge: Sprawling Development Threatens America's Best Farmland'' uses the tool of compelling maps to lay out the threats and gives reasoned solutions-so communities, legislators and individuals can clearly see what needs to be done to protect the country's best farmland.

Farmland and Open Space Funding -- Michigan

The Michigan Department of Agriculture uses five methods for preserving farmland and open space in its Farmland and Open Space Preservation Program.

Farmland Information Center

The Farmland Information Center (FIC) is a clearinghouse for information about farmland protection and stewardship. It is a partnership between the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and American Farmland Trust.

Farmland Information Center Sample Documents

The Sample Documents Area of the Farmland Information Center's website provides easy access to tools used by communities to protect agricultural resources and support agriculture.

Farmland Protection Program Funding Availabe

On April 3, 2003, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for grants through the Farmland Protection Program (FPP). The RFP provides up to $100 million in funds in Fiscal Year 2003, using funds that were approved by Congress in the 2002 Farm Bill. Grant applications for specific farmland protection projects are due to state NRCS offices by May 19, 2003.

Federal Funding for Conservation

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) website offers a summary page featuring federal funding resources for conservation.

Federal Incentives for Renewable Energy

Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy (DSIRE) currently tracks a select number of federal incentives that promote renewable energy. The incentives provided on this site are financial incentives primarily for residents and businesses.

Feinstone Environmental Awards

The 2006 Feinstone Environmental Award will honor a New York state middle or high school teacher who works daily to instill in students a solid knowledge of science and the environment and who inspires them to work to make a positive impact on their local environment. Nominations must be received by March 1, 2006.

Fertile Ground

Fertile Ground is a report on the first year of Green Communities, a five-year, $555 million initiative to build more than 8,500 environmentally healthy homes for low-income families. The report states that the initiative exceeded expectations in its first year, as a diverse array of partners embraced the initiative’s holistic, cost-effective approach to sustainable development in low-income communities.

Fever of Development, Frontier of Recovery: Securing the Saugatuck Dunes Coastal Region

Fever of Development, Frontier of Recovery: Securing the Saugatuck Dunes Coastal Region is a July 2007 report from the Michigan Land Use Institute (MLUI) and the Saugatuck Dunes Coastal Alliance that provides guidance in understanding and responding to the purchase of 402 acres of Lake Michigan shoreline at the mouth of the Kalamazoo River in Saugatuck Township by an Oklahoma City energy company executive.

Field Guide to Green Homes and Green Mortgages

The National Assocation of Realtors® has produced an online Field Guide to Green Homes and Green Mortgages. This web digest of published articles covers many topics, including how to finance a green home, incorporating green home elements such as solar power and Energy Star appliances, and environmentally friendly building materials.

Financial Incentives for Building Green Affordable Housing in Massachusetts

The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC) has produced a two-page chart that provides information on funding resources for building green affordable housing.

Financial Resources for California Brownfields

Financial Resources for California Brownfields is a 2008 publication from the Center for Creative Land Recycling (CCLR) that provides an overview of the available financial mechanisms for funding brownfield redevelopment in California and describes several new and innovative programs.

Financial Resources for California Brownfields -- California

Financial Resources for California Brownfields is a packet that provides an overview of the available financial mechanisms for funding brownfield redevelopment in California and describes several new and innovative programs.

Financing Brownfield Cleanup and Redevelopment.

Washington DC: Northeast-Midwest Institute. What does it take to redevelop brownfields? Money, says the author as he explores the financial side of redeveloping brownfield properties. He also offers up some valuable resources for minimizing financial gaps and securing funding so that you cam maximize the economic value of your brownfield property.

Financing Brownfield Development in Small Towns and Rural Areas

The Northeast-Midwest Institute examines ways that how rural communities successfully finance the redevelopment and reuse of brownfield sites in their report Financing Brownfield Development in Small Towns and Rural Areas.

Financing Brownfields Redevelopment Projects: A Guide for Developers.

Washington DC: U.S. EPA, 1999 This guide provides information on brownfields financing issues and informs developers and property owners on the most crucial aspects of financing brownfields redevelopment: identifying potential financing sources, preparing project plans, approaching private lenders, minimizing the financial risks associated with liability, and understanding the site assessment and cleanup process

Financing Greenways

The Environmental Finance Center (EFC) at the University of Maryland features a web resource that includes trail-building cost estimates from several Virginia communities as well as techniques to help partner with community members, raise funds, and seek grants for greenway programs.

Financing Greenways in the Shenandoah

The Environmental Finance Center (EFC) produced this resource guide to provide information about establishing and financing greenways in the Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. The guide includes links to other online resources on the subject of greenways and trails, and is geared to the region's local government officials, nonprofit organizations, and citizen advocates.

Financing Small-Scale Urban Redevelopment Projects: A Sourcebook for Borrowers Reusing Environmentally Suspect Sites.

Louisville, KY: E. P. Systems Group, July 1997 This volume is intended to provide information to those seeking financing in order to redevelop small residential, commercial, or industrial projects on previously used properties. We have in mind the company wanting to invest perhaps fifty thousand to two or three million dollars in order to expand into neighboring properties, reclaim properties for clients needing central city locations, or regenerate a site "on spec" for an unknown future buyer or lessee. In particular, we are concerned with the issue of dealing with actual or suspected contamination when doing urban "infill" or development of underutilized or vacant properties within central cities.

Financing Stormwater Management in EPA Region 3

The Environmental Finance Center (EFC) offers a toolbox on its website that highlights the most relevant resources for financing stormwater management in EPA Region 3: Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.

First Green Communities Project

Green Communities is a five-year $550 million initiative developed through a partnership between The Enterprise Foundation/ Enterprise Social Investment Corporation (ESIC) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), along with leading corporate, financial, professional and philanthropic organizations to ensure smarter, healthier homes for Americans with limited incomes.

First Stop Shop for Water Resources

The First Stop Shop for Water Resources from the Local Government Commission (LGC) is a clearinghouse for information and resources related to the co-management of land and water resources. This website is dedicated to providing the most relevant, up-to-date, and useful information about water resource management and putting it all in one place that is easy to navigate so you can find what you need when you need it.

Five Connecticut Brownfields Projects Funded

Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell has announced five brownfield sites across the state will receive a total of $2.25 million to assist in redevelopment efforts under a pilot program proposed by Governor Rell and funded through the state Bond Commission.

Five Star Restoration Awards -- 2007 Call for Entries

The National Association of Counties, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Wildlife Habitat Council, in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and its newest partner, Southern Company, invite applications for the Five-Star Restoration Matching Grants Program.

Fix Our Energy Addiction -- Next Generation Design Competition

Win $10,000 in the ''Fix Our Energy Addiction,'' Metropolis Magazine's Next Generation Design Competition open to all designers in practice 10 years or less.

FLASLA Receives Florida Planning and Zoning Award for Publication

The Florida Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (FLASLA) has received The Florida Planning and Zoning Association's award for Outstanding Private Study at their annual conference, in Tampa, on June 12, 2009.

Flexible Design of New Jersey's Main Streets

The New Jersey Department of Transportation (DOT) asked the Voorhees Transportation Policy Institute (TPI) to investigate possible changes in design standards for highways passing through New Jersey’s communities.

Florida 2060

Florida 2060, a research project prepared for 1000 Friends of Florida by the GeoPlan Center at the University of Florida, is a population distribution scenario for the state of Florida. This 2006 report provides details on how the expected doubling of the Sunshine State's population between now and 2060 will affect land use, providing that land use policies do not change.

Florida Brownfields

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) maintains a website on the state's brownfield program, including information on state and federal initiatives, locations of active projects and designated brownfield areas, and more.

Florida Brownfields Funding

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection offers this list of state Brownfields Funding projects supported by state and federal EPA Pilots and Programs.

Florida Brownfields Grants

The Florida Brownfields Association (FBA) has announced that five Florida communities have received new U.S. EPA Brownfields Grants: Treasure Coast RPC, City of Clearwater, City of Homestead, City of Miami, and City of Tampa.

Florida Brownfields Redevelopment

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection maintains a website for the Florida Brownfields Redevelopment Program. Covered topics include Targeted Brownfield Assessment, Petroleum Storage Systems, Solid and Hazardous Waste, Waste Cleanup, and Publications and Reports.

Florida Brownfields Success Stories

The Florida Brownfields Association (FBA) offers this select list of success stories in its ongoing efforts to promote Brownfields redevelopment in the sunshine state.

Florida Department of Health -- Smart Growth Presentation

The Florida Department of Health (FDOH) offers a smart growth presentation that provides an overview of smart growth in the context of public health. This resource emphasizes the connection between public health and the built environment, and how following Smart Growth principles can benefit Florida.

Florida Parks in the 21st Century

Florida Parks in the 21st Century, a report from the Trust for Public Land (TPL), catalogues $8.3 billion in both land conservation and park development needs of local governments. Co-produced by the Florida Recreation and Park Association, Florida League of Cities, and TPL, the report catalogues the need for $8.3 billion in land conservation and park development as derived from locally-approved comprehensive plans prepared by Florida's cities and counties.

Florida Parks in the 21st Century: 2008 Report

Florida Parks in the 21st Century 2008, a report from Trust for Public Land (TPL) that is based on data provided directly from city and county park departments, suggests that the need for local parks in Florida is growing. Local park departments have documented $10.5 billion they'll need to acquire land for new parks and maintain existing parks.

Florida Smart Growth Advocates

1000 Friends of Florida has compiled this list of local advocacy groups that are dealing with the impacts of growth on a daily basis. This online resource contains contact information for more than a dozen organizations.

Focusing Our Vision: Planning for Sustainability in the San Francisco Region

The Vision was created in 2002 by individuals and organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area who believe that the region's population growth can be accommodated in a sustainable way. The Vision calls for the Bay Area to develop as a ''network of neighborhoods,'' where future growth is concentrated near transit and in the existing communities that surround the San Francisco Bay. Focusing Our V