epa posts, articles, and infographics | Sustainable Cities Collective

Exploring the New EPA Greenhouse Gas Emissions Database

January 19, 2012 by Planet Forward
with 117 views

Yesterday I told you about an informative new U.S. EPA greenhouse gas emissions database detailing the nation’s larger sources of greenhouse gas emissions. In total, the database contains information on facilities that account for about 80 percent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. It excludes the agricultural sector and transportation. [read more]

E.P.A. Offers $1.8 Million in Urban Green Infrastructure Grants

December 22, 2011 by The Dirt ASLA
with 206 views

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.) is offering up to $1.8 million in new grants for urban green infrastructure projects that both improve water quality and support community revitalization. Projects that support the restoration of canals, rivers, lakes, wetlands, aquifers, estuaries, bays and... [read more]

Does The Sustainable Communities Agenda Have Something to Offer Rural America?

December 8, 2011 by Kaid Benfield
with 134 views

Much of the thinking among those of us concerned with how to accommodate a growing US population in a sustainable way focuses on our metropolitan regions – our bigger cities and suburbs. Indeed, that is such a significant part of my own work and writing that my editors at The Atlantic Cities have started characterizing... [read more]

New HUD Grants Helps Communities In Pursuing Sustainability

December 5, 2011 by Kaid Benfield
with 169 views

This is exactly how the federal government should be supporting sustainability: helping communities who want to do the right thing for their environments, economies, and residents. Congress in its stupidity wisdom may have just used the federal budget to zero out the sustainability assistance program of the Department of Housing and Urban Development but, in what may be its last round of major grants for a good while, HUD yesterday awarded $97 million dollars for planning and other efforts in 27 regions and 29 communities across 32 states. The residents of those communities will be the better for it, and so will the planet. [read more]

Presentations From The Smart Growth Awards

December 2, 2011 by Ben Schulman
with 137 views

The EPA announced the winners of the 2011 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement today, and CNU's fingerprints left a heavy imprint this year. Congrats to CNU Board Chair Victor Dover and Dover-Kohl Partners for recognition of their work on Plan El Paso, and to CNU Board Member Doug Farr for his work on the Uptown Normal... [read more]

Chronic Polluters Endanger Public & Worker Health

November 25, 2011 by Marc Gunther
with 50 views

Today’s guest post comes from Elizabeth Grossman, a gifted environmental journalist who is the author of Chasing Molecules: Poisonous Products, Human Health, and the Promise of Green Chemistry, High Tech Trash: Digital Devices, Hidden Toxics, and Human Health, and other books. Her work has appeared in Scientific American,... [read more]

The U.S. Needs a National Renewable Energy Standard

November 17, 2011 by The Dirt ASLA
with 159 views

D.C., Carol Browner, who was very recently climate change “czarina” at the White House and once head of the Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.); Jim Connaughton, Constellation Energy, and former head of the Council for Environmental Quality under President George W. Bush; David Hawkins, Natural Resources Defense Council; and Dave McCurdy, American Gas Association, all emphasized the need for a national renewable energy standard given no big climate change and energy legislation will be coming out of Congress in the next 18 months to 2 years. [read more]

UN Rio+20 Agenda Galvanizes Sustainability Community on Cities

October 31, 2011 by Warren Karlenzig
with 431 views

As Rio+20 takes shape (officially, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, follow-up to the historic UN 1992 "Earth Summit," held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), the issue of sustainable cities appears to be taking center stage in planning for the June 2012 event dedicated to marshalling the global Green Economy. "Cities... [read more]

How Brownfield Redevelopment Reduces Pollution

September 29, 2011 by Kaid Benfield
with 205 views

The federal Environmental Protection Agency has released a comprehensive research report demonstrating that redevelopment of contaminated industrial sites in inner cities brings substantial environmental benefits. The agency studied 163 brownfield sites in five cities, comparing their impacts with those of sites... [read more]

ASLA Releases More than 475 Green Infrastructure Case Studies

September 27, 2011 by The Dirt ASLA
with 415 views

The Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.) recently started a national rulemaking process, with the goal of creating a new, comprehensive program to reduce stormwater runoff. The E.P.A. announced that during this rulemaking it will evaluate green infrastructure design techniques that mimic natural processes to evapo-transpire, infiltrate and recharge, and harvest and re-use stormwater. Typical green infrastructure systems for managing stormwater include green roofs and walls, bioswales, rain gardens, bio-retention ponds, and permeable pavements. Street and park trees also provide great stormwater management benefits. [read more]

How Environmental Justice Influenced Current Public Consultation Processes

August 22, 2011 by Hardy Stevenson and Associates Limited
with 135 views

The beginnings of the Environmental Justice Movement in the US in the early 1980’s This is part one of a three part series on the evolution of public consultation, written by Environmental Planner, Danya Al-Haydari. Environmental justice is defined as “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color... [read more]

New Forms of Public Space: Parkmobiles

August 19, 2011 by The Dirt ASLA
with 348 views

With the exception of maybe New York and Philadelphia, San Francisco may be the most innovative city in the U.S. when it comes to creating new forms of public space. In contrast with those east coast cities, though, San Francisco is also remodelling its public space at very low cost, with lots of support from its local business... [read more]