Smart Growth Pilots for Sustainable Communities

By Carolyn on February 5, 2010 2:58 PM

Sustainable Environment, Transportation and Housing

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced three steps to support communities' efforts to provide economic opportunity while reducing impacts on the environment. The actions will encourage state and local government to make their communities more sustainable by strategically aligning their environmental, transportation and housing investments.

The steps EPA announced for 2010 are:

The creation of a new EPA Office of Sustainable Communities to encourage communities to take an integrated approach in making environmental, housing and transportation decisions.
A new pilot grant program designed to help three states - New York, Maryland and California - use their clean water funding programs to support efforts to make communities more sustainable.
A pilot program to clean up and redevelop contaminated sites, known as brownfield sites, in coordination with communities' efforts to develop public transportation and affordable housing.

Today's announcements build on the work EPA is doing with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of Transportation through the Interagency Partnership for Sustainable Communities. The partnership is focused on ensuring that housing and transportation goals are met while simultaneously protecting the environment, promoting equitable development, and helping to address the challenges of climate change.

Brownfields Pilot Program

The brownfields pilot program announced today represents a key step in that partnership. Together, EPA, HUD, and DOT have selected five pilot sites across the country where there is a convergence of public transit and the need for affordable housing.

Cleaning and reusing this land and providing new housing choices will create jobs and new economic opportunities. The five sites selected for the Sustainable Communities Partnership Pilots are the

Fairmount Line in Boston
Smart Growth Redevelopment District in Indianapolis
La Alma/South Lincoln Park neighborhood in Denver
Riverfront Crossings District in Iowa City, Iowa
Westside Affordable Housing Transit-Oriented Development in National City, Calif.

The Office of Sustainable Communities that EPA announced today will help create neighborhoods that offer good jobs, educational opportunities, safe and affordable homes and transportation options while minimizing their impact on the environment. The Pilot Technical Assistance Program for Sustainable Communities will further that goal by encouraging states to use their Clean Water State Revolving Fund loan program to better support communities that adopt sustainable strategies, like transit-oriented, mixed-use development.

More information on the Partnership for Sustainable Communities: www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/partnership.

More information on EPA's Smart Growth program

Green Living Choices for Homes and Offices

By Carolyn on June 23, 2009 12:53 PM

Green means sustainable -- healthful, affordable, and easy on the planet. We bring you solutions that are not only about buying more products, but things you can do without to give you more time with your family and loved ones.

Green living is about making choices...and finding solutions to your specific needs for food, shelter, companionship and productive, satisfying work. We talk straight about green building, and green products. We have real solutions for real families. Stay tuned for practical green tips and techiques as well as resources to help you make going green a whole lot easier.

Green Living Solutions for Offices

Most people think it's hard to green your office -- but with our resources and tips, you'll breathe easier in not time! We make going green easier, fun and definitely better for our greater workspace and playspace, the earth.

Green workspace is about reduction, recycling and making good purchases of the everyday things like paper and paperclips, computers and travel. We'll get you started and you'll enjoy the creative potential of green living -- and we think you'll even want to take your new green expertise home with you!

Eco Psychology a new approach to mental and physical health

By Carolyn on June 23, 2009 12:51 PM

Sometimes the ancient tug of the arts is the best way to get in touch with our deepest insights. Ecopsychology is a new approach to understanding nature as our habitat and part of our very being. It's an intriguing journey of discovery for modern professionals who are immersed in concrete, speed and business stresses.

Ecopsychology is on the cutting edge of a shift in how we see the world and ourselves. It views many of the problems we face today as being caused by our separation from our roots in the natural world. It finds many useful solutions through reestablishing connections to those roots. As a discipline, eco-psychology studies the interaction of human beings and their environments. As a therapy it seeks to return people to a balanced relationship with their environment.

-- Allison Ewoldt

Professional and In-depth Sources

Ecopsychology, or eco-psychology as it is sometimes called, is situated at the intersection of a number of fields of enquiry, including environmental philosophy, psychology, and ecology, but is not limited by any disciplinary boundaries. At its core, ecopsychology suggests that there is a synergistic relation between planetary and personal well being; that the needs of the one are relevant to the other.

International Community for Ecopsychology

A Novel about Ecopsychology

Sitting with the Enemy by Sarah Edwards

After years of pulse pounding stress and ambition, Rose and Mark Whitman's universe is rich, glamorous, high speed - and empty - a run-a-way train about to crash. They've lost meaning, magic, and soon each other ... until an unexpected turn on the tracks takes them to a remote mountain village and a community struggling to preserve an idyllic, but endangered way of life. Mark and Rose are drawn into a circle of friends who are confronted with painful decisions about what they're willing to do to save their community. When the village breaks into factions, violence erupts fed by fear, greed and prejudice and the group learns the true meaning of community - what destroys it and what preserves it and its role in the quality of their lives and the future of their children.

Enjoy a journey of gentle exploration...you'll smile a lot ... I guarantee it!

Carolyn

Ray Anderson Learned Ecology of Commerce from Paul Hawkins

By Carolyn on June 23, 2009 12:44 PM

The use of natural resources in an unsustainable way is, in essence, "plundering" and the result is the rapid destruction of the very earth that sustains millions of species of interwoven species...life.

Ray Anderson, citizen and corporate leader, has come face to face with his role in today's industrial role in unsustainable business shares his thought process and his solutions in this excerpt from "The Corporation".

This is an inspiring look at business's role, and the paradigm shift that is needed to be responsible for the world we leave for our children and the millions of species who are part of this delicate biosphere of life.

The book Ray Anderson credits with opening his eyes to the free-fall to earth that is better known as "business as usual" is "The Ecology of Commerce" by Paul Hawkins.

He calls for a paradigm shift of how we view business. That we look at how we are plundering our natural resources and natural processes and leaving a mess for our grandchildren. And we need to create a new revolution -- moving beyond the industrial revolution to a new revolution. One that could be called a "productivity revolution" or a "sustainability revolution."

Green Jobs not Prisons is Van Jones' Solution

By Carolyn on June 23, 2009 12:38 PM

More money is spent in California for prisons
than all 4-year colleges combined.

Van Jones helps kids in trouble get out of trouble and into jobs. Helping mothers find alternatives for their kids in prison. Jones got burned out when he confronted all the problems in the community. Facing the culture shock between Oakland and Marin County also brought healing that showed him that green jobs and a green economy could be strong enough to lift people out of poverty and improve community and health at the same time -- these new workers could retrofit the nation!

Jones saw these new workers as the rescuers of their nation -- reallocate the money from prisons to green jobs. Practical, applied, in the real world.

Green For All 2008 (VIDEO Clip)
with Van Jones. Watch video.

He was inspired by Majora Carter from South Bronx and worked for a couple years to bring green jobs to Oakland. They created "GREEN FOR ALL" for cities across the country

Green-Collar Jobs in America's Cities New publication outlines strategies for developing green-collar job initiatives and pathways out of poverty at the local level. Co-authored by Green For All, this report describes a 4-step approach for local initiatives and highlights a dozen great efforts already underway around the country.

Green For All, in partnership with the Apollo Alliance, Center for American Progress, and the Center on Wisconsin Strategy, recently released this guide to help cities across America develop strategies to spur the creation of green-collar jobs and opportunity in their communities.

The new guide, Green-Collar Jobs in America's Cities: Building Pathways out of Poverty and Careers in the Clean Energy Economy, is a first-of-its-kind publication that addresses the demand for this information and outlines a strategic framework in which local policymakers and advocates can develop a green-collar job initiative that responds to the realities of their local economies and communities.

"Our green future will be invented at the local level," said Van Jones, founder and president of Green For All. "This report offers those leaders some of the best thinking and models currently available for building green-collar jobs and the training pipelines necessary for city residents to fill those jobs and claim the promise of living wage careers."

The guide encourages cities to take a four-step approach.

First, set a baseline to start from. Identify your environmental and economic goals, and assess local and regional opportunities for achieving those goals.
Second, develop a green economic development plan. Enact policies and programs to drive investment into targeted green economic activity and increase demand for local green-collar workers.
Third, ready your workforce. Prepare your green-collar workforce by building green-collar job training partnerships to identify and meet workforce training needs, and by creating green pathways out of poverty that focus on recruitment, job readiness, job training, and job placement for low-income residents.
And fourth, build on your successes. Leverage your program's success to build political support for new and bolder policies and initiatives.

Green-Collar Jobs in America's Cities also includes 14 case studies of successful green-collar job training or policy in 11 communities on both coasts, the Midwest, and the South.

Green For All
414 13th St, Suite 600
Oakland, CA 94612
510-663-6500
http://www.greenforall.org/

Download "Green Collar Jobs in America" Report

Sustaiinable Energy Policy High on Obama's Agenda

By Carolyn on November 23, 2008 10:43 AM

Renewable energy is a high priority for President Elect Obama. His jobs program emphasizes rebuilding the infrastructure, including roads and bridges, schools and weatherizing homes. This slideshow synthesizes the energy priorities established by Obama during his campaign and in the days of the transition. Renewable energies, including energy efficiency figure prominently in his energy plan.

Obama Energy

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

Sustainable Personal and Community Relationships Rank Higher than the Environment

By Carolyn on April 30, 2008 7:18 PM

Conscientious Innovation conducted a survey of 5,000 North Americans and found that people are concerned about the environment...but not at the expense of the very human side of sustainable survival!

North Americans' top issues about sustainability include global change and the environment; which rank over 50%, but the top issue is feeling connected to friends, family and community: at 90%

Followed closely by:

Sense of personal well being 90%
Balanced life 89%
Being paid a living wage 88%

Other high ranking issues include Fair trade; Personal relationships and Buying local to support locally based business.

Tips to stay connected... (Watch the videos)
    Throw a block party with local food, of course.
    Have a group yard sale.
    Make a little extra food and share it with a neighbor who might be harried...like a new parent!
These are all also great for the environment!

Earth Day is April 22, 2008

By Carolyn on April 8, 2008 5:54 PM

What do you plan to do -- or not do -- for Earth Day?

Remember how your own mother just wanted you to be healthy and happy? You didn't need to make a fuss over her, just be good kids!

Okay, a fuss was okay...and appreciated -- but making a fuss wasn't enough if she caught you being naughty at the same time!

That's kind of how I look at Earth Day. Mother Nature just wants us to be healthy and happy. And stay out of trouble. So what can we do to be healthier and happier...and just get along? And what can we NOT do that will make us healthier, happier and kinder to our mother? Kinder so she doesn't have to clean up after us?

Here are just a few ideas of things to do that would make your Mama proud:

Eat your organic veggies.
Clean your room with nontoxic cleansers.
Use water sparingly.
Tell someone something kind and loving about your Mom!

And here are a few things NOT to do that will make your Mama equally proud:

Don't drive if you don't have to -- and drive a little slower! :-)
Don't throw all that great paper into the trash -- recycle it!
Don't use toxics. Remember, everything goes into our water supply...and you wouldn't want to drink that junk, would you?
Don't leave the screen door open! Or the refrigerator door!

Isn't it amazing that so many of your mother's lessons apply on the global scale? Hmmmm, maybe there's something to this living within our means, caring for others like we care for ourselves...and being responsible for our own mess!

Thank you, Mama!
Carolyn

Environmental Volunteers Contribute $200 Million a Year to California

By Carolyn on April 7, 2008 2:33 PM

California counts on hundreds of thousands of volunteers to help preserve its environmental legacy.

Statewide, 54% of the counties and 10% of the cities responded to a survey which revealed an annual cost of $34 million for litter and illegal dumping abatement costs.

Representatives from the federal government, which owns over 50% of the land in California, estimate their illegal dumping and abatement costs match that of local governments.

Caltrans’ annual costs are over $62 million, not including enforcement costs, nor does that take into account the volunteer efforts by Adopt-A-Highway Volunteers, which are estimated at a value of approximately $15 million.

A conservative estimate of the cost of litter and illegal dumping to Californians would be $200 million.

This legislation would allow the continued involvement of volunteers supporting local efforts, saving both state and local government valuable resources.

Why is this important?

Senate Bill 1345 will permanently remove the requirement that volunteers on public works projects, such as river cleanups, be paid prevailing wages!

In 2004, the Governor signed legislation to remove this constraint, but without further legislative action this year, this legislation will expire. The Governor is committed to empowering the state's robust volunteer force and will continue to call on the legislature to take action.

SOURCE: April, 2008, Keep California Beautiful

Green Collar Jobs in America's Cities -- Can Rebuild America's Urban Neighborhoods

By Carolyn on April 6, 2008 8:59 AM

Based on the field experience of Sustainable South Bronx, the Ella Baker Center in Oakland, CA and 14 case studies across America, this new guidebook for cities can turn convicts into citizens with skills and dignity as they rebuild their communities with green collar jobs that rebuild urban forests, clean the air, restores green belts and upgrade buildings with solar energy, green roofs and energy efficiency savings.

Green-Collar Jobs in America’s Cities -- This practical strategy publication outlines strategies for developing green-collar job initiatives and pathways out of poverty at the local level. Co-authored by Green For All, this report describes a 4-step approach for local initiatives and highlights a dozen great efforts already underway around the country.

Green For All, in partnership with the Apollo Alliance, Center for American Progress, and the Center on Wisconsin Strategy, recently released this guide to help cities across America develop strategies to spur the creation of green-collar jobs and opportunity in their communities.

The new guide, Green-Collar Jobs in America’s Cities: Building Pathways out of Poverty and Careers in the Clean Energy Economy, is a first-of-its-kind publication that addresses the demand for this information and outlines a strategic framework in which local policymakers and advocates can develop a green-collar job initiative that responds to the realities of their local economies and communities.

“Our green future will be invented at the local level,” said Van Jones, founder and president of Green For All. “This report offers those leaders some of the best thinking and models currently available for building green-collar jobs and the training pipelines necessary for city residents to fill those jobs and claim the promise of living wage careers.”

The guide encourages cities to take a four-step approach.

First, set a baseline to start from. Identify your environmental and economic goals, and assess local and regional opportunities for achieving those goals.
Second, develop a green economic development plan. Enact policies and programs to drive investment into targeted green economic activity and increase demand for local green-collar workers.
Third, ready your workforce. Prepare your green-collar workforce by building green-collar job training partnerships to identify and meet workforce training needs, and by creating green pathways out of poverty that focus on recruitment, job readiness, job training, and job placement for low-income residents.
And fourth, build on your successes. Leverage your program’s success to build political support for new and bolder policies and initiatives.

Green-Collar Jobs in America's Cities also includes 14 case studies of successful green-collar job training or policy in 11 communities on both coasts, the Midwest, and the South.

Launched at the Clinton Global Initiative in 2007, Green For All grew out of Van’s work creating a ‘Green Job Corp’ in Oakland, California, as part of a program at the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. Van founded the Center in 1996, which promotes alternatives to violence and incarceration, including its successful “Books Not Bars” campaign that has helped reduce California’s overall youth prison population by more than 30 percent.

Green For All
414 13th St, Suite 600
Oakland, CA 94612
510-663-6500
http://www.greenforall.org/

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