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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.
America's Distinctive Dozen Destinations -- 2008
The National Trust for Historic Preservation has announced the 2008 List of America's Dozen Distinctive Destinations®. Each year since 2000, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has selected 12 vacation destinations across the United States that offer an authentic visitor experience by combining dynamic downtowns, cultural diversity, attractive architecture, cultural landscapes and a strong commitment to historic preservation and revitalization.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
Green City Partnership
Cities across the Puget Sound region are blessed with some of the nation's most extensive forested parklands. These public assets beautify and strengthen our local neighborhoods while providing vital green infrastructure.
Today, our forested parklands are in serious decline. Many of our trees are at the end of their lifespan. At the same time, invasive plants, such as English ivy and Himalayan blackberry, have choked out the seedlings that would replace today's forest.
Cascade Land Conservancy's Green City Partnership program works to reverse this trend while helping to protect our important legacy of beautiful parks and vibrant communities.
CLC partners with local municipalities to access the current state of their forests, develop long term management plans and engage the community in restoration through volunteer events. Modeled after the original Green Seattle Partnership, the Cities of Kent, Kirkland, Redmond and Tacoma have joined the program.
In just a few years, thousands of people have volunteered their time to plant tens of thousands of native trees and shrubs.
CLC's Green Cities connect people to nature, enhance the long-term sustainability of urban forests, improve the quality of life in cities and galvanize an active community around restoration and stewardship of urban natural open spaces.
Green Job Stories from NRDC
Natural Resources Defense Council's (NRDC) ''Jobs that Build a Better Future'' webpage describes how clean energy investments will create millions of manufacturing jobs and whole new industries that will provide an immediate boost to the U.S. economy. NRDC also includes profiles of individuals who are making a living with clean energy manufacturing jobs.
Institute for Comprehensive Community Development
The Institute for Comprehensive Community Development was established to advance the field of comprehensive community development and the positive impact it has in urban and rural communities across the country. This is done by:
- Building the capacity of community development practitioners;
- Providing on-site support and technical assistance to comprehensive community development initiatives in cities across the U.S.;
- Applying lessons learned through research and performance evaluation to continually improve on-going comprehensive community development initiatives and to develop new initiatives;
- Supporting the development of public policies which integrate government programs in order to effectively facilitate and support comprehensive community development;
- Communicating broadly the best there is in practice and theory in the field of community development.
The Institute is a place where the community development field can take what it learns from practice and use it as a base from which to provide training, to promote research in comprehensive community development, and to investigate the public policies that would best advance this work locally and nationally. The Institute is the locus where practice and theory meet, and where experimentation and innovation – grounded in real-world experience – flourish.
The Institute for Comprehensive Community Development is a venture of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC).
Low Carbon Urbanism Campaign
Low Carbon Neighborhoods, High-Quality Living is an initiative from the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) that emphasizes how neighborhoods are one of the best remedies for combating climate change.
Make Room for Parks: TPL's Parks for People Initiative
Make Room for Parks looks at the Trust for Public Land's (TPL's ) Parks for People initiative, a program that works in cities and suburbs across America to ensure that everyone -- in particular, every child -- enjoys access to a nearby park, playground, or natural area.
Making Land Development Regulations
Work for Smart Growth
This presentation discusses the kinds of land development regulations
found in many communities. It explains how outdated land development
regulations may inhibit smart growth and how such regulations can be
revised to promote it instead. The presentation and all images
contained in it may be used for non-commercial, educational purposes.
Available in PowerPoint, PDF, and HTML formats.
National Association of Local Government Environmental Professionals' ''Smart Growth for Clean Water''
The ''Smart Growth for Clean Water'' project, funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Forest Service, is helping states and localities use land conservation, watershed management, brownfields redevelopment, and other smart growth tools as key strategies for achieving water quality goals.
National Trust Public Lands Initiative
Through the Public Lands Initiative, the National Trust for Historic Preservation plans to enhance federal stewardship of cultural resources on public lands by educating the public about the importance of these resources, identifying ways to increase funding for their identification and protection, and ensuring compliance with existing historic preservation regulations and policies.
National Wildlife Federation's ''Smart Growth and Wildlife''
The National Wildlife Federation's Smart Growth and
Wildlife campaign is working across the US to protect and
restore species and habitats threatened by sprawl, by
promoting ''smart growth'' alternatives.
NRDC's Smarter Cities Rankings
Smarter Cities, a project of the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), is a multimedia web initiative that provides a forum for exploring the progress that American cities are making in environmental stewardship and sustainable growth.
Renewable Energy on Contaminated Land Resources
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is encouraging the development of renewable energy by identifying currently and formerly contaminated lands and mining sites that present opportunities for renewable energy development.
Reviving America's Front Yard
Reviving America's Front Yard is the title of the American Society of Landscape Architects' webpages that report on the National Park Service's proposed plans for renovation and maintenance of the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
Smart Growth Leadership Summit RFIP
The U.S. EPA is seeking proposals from eligible organizations to develop and convene a prominent annual summit for key public officials and civic or private sector leaders who are noted pioneers in implementing the principles of smart growth.
Smart Growth Maryland Blog
SMART GROWTH MARYLAND is a blog written by members of the Maryland Department of Planning (MDP). The blog serves as a great forum for the exchange of ideas and news about Smart Growth, sustainable planning, livable communities, historic and land preservation and the like.
About the bloggers
Andrew Ratner is director of communications and education for the Maryland Department of Planning. During a 24-year career at the Baltimore Sun, he wrote about Smart Growth and blogging, so marrying the two seemed to make a lot of sense.
John Coleman is Public Information Officer for the Maryland Department of Planning. He has been with MDP for more than a decade.
Steve Allan has been with the Maryland Department of Planning for more than 10 years in various capacities, including as policy planner for infill and redevelopment, Smart Growth education and urban design. He now serves as education coordinator for the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP), the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System and planning commissioners.
Smart Growth Network Members Forum
The Smart Growth Network offers an online forum for members to discuss issues of interest and share ideas on smart growth efforts.
The Montana Legacy Project
The Trust for Public Land and The Nature Conservancy have reached an agreement to purchase approximately 320,000 acres of western Montana forestland from Plum Creek Timber Company. This initiative, called the Montana Legacy Project, will keep forests in productive timber management and protect the area's clean water and abundant fish and wildlife habitat, while promoting continued public access to these lands for fishing, hiking, hunting and other recreational pursuits.
Top Ten Areas with Potential to Advance Smart Conservation
The Conservation Fund has identified America’s Top 10 Places with Potential to Advance Smart Conservation, providing national recognition to communities working to integrate land protection, development, infrastructure planning and smart growth.
Trails and Greenways Clearninghouse
The Trails and Greenways Clearninghouse provides technical assistance, information resources and referrals to trail and greenway advocates and developers across the nation.
Trust for Public Land's ''Greenprint for Growth''
Greenprint for Growth is TPL's effort to promote land
conservation as a smart growth strategy.
In 1999 and again in 2000, TPL singled out a half dozen
communities as models in using greenprint conservation.
Links to those ''Greenprint Galleries'' are found in this
section of TPL's website, along with other
conservation-for-smart-growth resources.
ULTRA Trails Program
Four trails in diverse corners of the country will benefit from a partnership launched by Anheuser-Busch, Michelob ULTRA and The Conservation Fund to raise awareness about the importance of preserving America's trails. From the high-desert trails of Arizona to the rugged trails of Staten Island, the ULTRA Trails program will support opportunities for millions of outdoor enthusiasts to enjoy active, nature-based recreation. In 2006, the ULTRA Trails program focuses its support on trails in Jacksonville, Florida; Phoenix, Arizona; New York, New York; and Washington, DC.
US EPA's ''Encouraging Smart Growth''
Are you looking for policy options that can make
smart growth happen in your community? The
Smart Growth Policy Database
may be able to help. This catalog contains
information on more than 225 policies and actions that municipalities,
counties, regions and states are undertaking to achieve smart growth
outcomes.
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