Recently in Leadership for Sustainable Community Category

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

In his book, "Heatstroke: Nature in an Age of Global Warming" (Island Press, 2009), University of California, Berkeley, biologist Anthony Barnosky. says that because of climate change, wilderness left to its own will no longer look like the natural areas we see today.

Our conservation strategies must be rethought, he adds, because business-as-usual will not preserve all the aspects of nature we have come to know, love and respect.

Setting aside preserves, for example, puts animals and plants in a bind: As global warming makes their current habitats unsuitable, surrounding human development prevents them from moving to more hospitable places. The alternative, assisted migration, smacks of creating wild zoos - quasi-natural areas like the dinosaur wonderland portrayed in the book and movie "Jurassic Park."

"The new twist in preserving nature is that we might have to come up with a separate but equal system, where we actively set aside some tracts of land as wildlands where people can experience this feeling of 'wilderness,' but recognize that the species that live in those places and the landscape are not going to be the species and landscape we are used to," he says. "Our kids are going to see very different things in those kinds of places than we do."

Warming already altering patterns of migration

Barnosky describes in his book how global warming is already causing shifts in the ranges of animals and plants, disrupting migrations and spawning, and stressing animals confined to parks and reserves.

While ecosystem change and extinction are normal, Barnosky reminds us that past climate change, such as cooling at the beginning of glacial periods and warming with the onset of interglacial periods, took place over thousands of years.

The current warming is happening faster, by a factor of about 10.

Global warming multiplies impacts of human activities

Global warming comes on top of many other environmental impacts that have been stressing the environment, Barnosky notes in his book. He wrote "Heatstroke," in part, because he "wanted to raise awareness that global warming is not just an add-on consequence as far as impacts on ecosystems and nature are concerned.

We are all aware of habitat fragmentation, invasive species, growing human populations, and the tradeoff between resources needed to sustain us versus resources to sustain other species.

People tend to think those are the big problems, and that global warming is going to heat things up a bit.

"In reality, global warming, as far as how it is going to change nature, is as big or bigger a problem than all of those other four, and especially when you put it together with all of the other four.

There are feedbacks that make everything much more severe. It is like multiplying rather than adding everything up."

Solutions to protect both species and wilderness

Wilderness must be protected, he says, if for no other reason than that it acts as a canary in a coal mine, "a barometer of how healthy the Earth actually is."

But imperiled species must also be protected as biodiversity resources, he adds, even if this requires assisted migration of not only the endangered species, but also the plants and animals these species interact with in their ecosystem.

One alternative that some scientists have put forward is Pleistocene rewilding, a wild idea to re-establish the large "megafauna" that dominated Earth during the planet's last major bout with global climate change, the period of on-and-off glaciation that took place between 2 million and 10,000 years ago.

Read more details about Barnosky and Heatstroke

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.

The Mayors' Alliance for Green Schools, a coalition of mayors seeking to strategically harness the leadership and creativity of mayors across the country has been formed to promote the benefits of green schools in their communities.

Developed in partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the Alliance will work to accelerate implementation of programs supporting the 2007 U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) resolution calling for green schools for all children within a generation.

"As mayors, we know all too well that schools are the heart of our communities, as they represent the promise we make to our children and future generations, a promise of learning and of opportunity," said Mayor Diaz, President of the US Conference of Mayors. "With this alliance, we are coming together and reconfirming our promise to the health and learning of our children, and ensuring that future generations are mindful of the importance of protecting our environment."

"I've seen the enormous impact mayors have when they unite around a common goal," said Mayor Greg Nickels of Seattle, who launched the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement in 2005, which advances the goals of the Kyoto Protocol and now boasts nearly 900 mayor signatories. "This new coalition of mayors will shine the light on the countless opportunities to make our schools greener, our students and teachers healthier and our communities stronger."
 
"As first responders to the needs of their communities, mayors are the vanguard of sustainable development in our country," said Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO and founding chair of USGBC, "and USGBC wants to do all we can to support them, especially in this critically important initiative. "We have Green School Advocacy Committees in 80 local USGBC chapters throughout the country, and we are putting them at the mayors' disposal to advance opportunities, programs and initiatives that champion green school causes and help them publicly celebrate their successes."

Together with Mayor Diaz and Mayor Nickels, Mayor Gavin Newsom, San Francisco, Cal; Mayor Will Wynn, Austin, Texas; Mayor Sheila Dixon, Baltimore, Md., Mayor Frank Cownie, Des Moines, Iowa; and Mayor George Heartwell, Grand Rapids, Mich.; have put forth a call to mayors around the country to join this important effort to support green schools for all children.

"This new Alliance dovetails perfectly with Baltimore's new Sustainability agenda," said Mayor Sheila Dixon. "It also will provide more ways to support our ongoing efforts to promote the health and well-being of our students as we improve the energy efficiency and reduce the carbon footprint of our school facilities."

Mayors across the country are leading efforts to deliver the benefits of green schools to their communities. For example, EcoMedia is working with mayors in Miami and San Francisco to leverage innovative public‐private partnerships that create new opportunities for green school projects.

Other Alliance initiatives will work to:

• Develop and create public‐private partnerships with a local business to allow schools to plant a green roof, install a solar garden or start a recycling program.
• Help school districts green their existing facilities through the Clinton Climate Initiative's K‐12 Retrofit Program.
• Encourage state legislatures to create policies and incentives for green school improvements.
• Engage in a national dialogue about green schools, green jobs and green infrastructure.

Trade associations are taking a leadership role in developing sustainability standards for their member companies and often leading the charge with their own association operations. One such association is the OFA.

OFA is an Association of Floriculture Professionals -- a national organization of greenhouse growers, garden center operators, nurseries, retail and wholesale florists, interior plantscapers, green industry suppliers, students, and educators.

They have implemented sustainable methods in their own offices, promoted the topic in education courses and cosponsored a national conference on sustainability.  

On October 29-30, 2007, the Leonardo Academy and Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) co-hosted a meeting to start soliciting stakeholder input on SCS-drafted language to create a national standard for producers and handlers (including retailers) who want to make a claim of engaging in sustainable agriculture (includes ALL crops, including greenhouse and nursery crops) practices.  The intent of SCS is to get these draft standards adopted by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) no later than April 2010. However, plans sometimes go awry.  The US Department of Agriculture has challenged the process undertaken by Leonardo Academy. 

OFA's website also provides a wealth of information about sustainable practices for their member companies.

And the OFA Short Course, July 11-14, 2009 has a theme of "Make It Your Business". The Monday sustainability sessions will cover everything from the proposed sustainability standard to methods for marketing sustainability to practical ideas for becoming more sustainable.

Trade associations are taking a leadership role in developing sustainability standards for their member companies and often leading the charge with their own association operations. One such association is the OFA.

OFA is an Association of Floriculture Professionals -- a national organization of greenhouse growers, garden center operators, nurseries, retail and wholesale florists, interior plantscapers, green industry suppliers, students, and educators.

They have implemented sustainable methods in their own offices, promoted the topic in education courses and cosponsored a national conference on sustainability.  

On October 29-30, 2007, the Leonardo Academy and Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) co-hosted a meeting to start soliciting stakeholder input on SCS-drafted language to create a national standard for producers and handlers (including retailers) who want to make a claim of engaging in sustainable agriculture (includes ALL crops, including greenhouse and nursery crops) practices.  The intent of SCS is to get these draft standards adopted by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) no later than April 2010. However, plans sometimes go awry.  The US Department of Agriculture has challenged the process undertaken by Leonardo Academy. 

OFA's website also provides a wealth of information about sustainable practices for their member companies.

And the OFA Short Course, July 11-14, 2009 has a theme of "Make It Your Business". The Monday sustainability sessions will cover everything from the proposed sustainability standard to methods for marketing sustainability to practical ideas for becoming more sustainable.

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.

Weather and Climate Extremes in a Changing Climate. Regions of Focus: North America, Hawaii, Caribbean, and U.S. Pacific Islands. The U.S. Climate Change Science Program and the Subcommittee on Global Change Research today released a scientific assessment ("Weather and Climate Extremes in a Changing Climate") that provides the first comprehensive analysis of observed and projected changes in weather and climate extremes in North America and U.S. territories. Among the findings reported in this assessment are that droughts, heavy downpours, excessive heat, and intense hurricanes are likely to become more commonplace as humans continue to increase the atmospheric concentrations of heat-trapping greenhouse gases. Global warming of the past 50 years is due primarily to human-induced increases in heat-trapping gases, according to the report. Many types of extreme weather and climate event changes have been observed during this time period and continued changes are projected for this century. Specific future projections include: Abnormally hot days and nights, along with heat waves, are very likely to become more common. Cold nights are very likely to become less common. Sea ice extent is expected to continue to decrease and may even disappear in the Arctic Ocean in summer in coming decades. Precipitation, on average, is likely to be less frequent but more intense. Droughts are likely to become more frequent and severe in some regions. Hurricanes will likely have increased precipitation and wind. The strongest cold-season storms in the Atlantic and Pacific are likely to produce stronger winds and higher extreme wave heights.

Real education is about HOW we learn as much as it is WHAT we learn.  And we can now add WHERE we learn to that equation.

The Donald BREN  School of Environmental Science & Management at the U. of California, Santa Barbara is making where students learn and explore a very green environment.

Greening Bren Hall                                                                                         

Bren Hall, which earned recognition as the "greenest" laboratory building in the United States shortly after it was completed, is a physical manifestation of the School's mission and provides a world-class arena for scientific and academic initiative, leadership, invention, and research.  By combining cutting-edge technology with environmentally sound principles, products, and services, Bren Hall has set a new standard for sustainable design. 

Opened in April 2002, Bren Hall is the only laboratory building in the United States to have received the U.S. Green Building Council's Platinum LEEDTM accreditation - the highest level possible - since the USGBC established its LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program.  Bren Hall sets the highest standard for sustainable buildings of the future, and is being used as a model for other facilities and operations, particularly throughout the campuses and institutions in the state of California. In July 2003, the UC Regents adopted a Green Building Policy for all ten of its campuses, and in November of that year UCSB committed to constructing all new buildings to the level of LEEDTM silver. This represents an extraordinary benchmark and demonstrates a serious commitment to sustainability. UCSB's new Marine Science Institute (also designed by Bren Hall's architects, Zimmer Gunsul Fransca) has obtained a silver LEEDTM rating. 

The total cost of the building was $26 million. Building in a sustainable manner with sustainable materials added only 2% to the overall costs, which will easily be recovered through energy savings over time. Bren Hall is proof that cost is not a significant deterrent to green construction.

For descriptions and images of individual building spaces in Bren Hall, please visit our Rooms & Halls, Teaching Labs, and Research Labs web pages.

Awards & Honors

Flex Your Power Energy Efficiency Award (February 2004)

International Interior Design Association Environmental Award (May 2003)

Parade of Green Buildings featured site (April 2003)

Goleta Valley Beautiful Award (November 2002)

LEEDTM Platinum Award, USGBC(April 2002) Commendation from former California Governor Gray Davis (2002)

Commendation from the County of Santa Barbara (2002)

Case Study for the California Energy Commission

Case Study for the California State and Consumer Services Agency

LEED Rating

The USGBC's LEEDTM program is a credit system. The pilot program in effect when Bren Hall was being built (version 1.0) specified a total of 44 available credits, 6 bonus credits, and 10 prerequisites, arranged in the following five categories describing major areas of sustainable design: sustainable site planning, improving energy efficiency, conserving materials and resources, enhancing indoor air quality, and safeguarding water. Click here to view or print the Acrobat pdf document that itemizes Bren Hall's sustainable features in these areas.

Bren Hall achieved a score of 37 points to receive a Platinum rating, the highest available. It surpasses the new Title 24 requirements for energy efficiency standards by more than 31%.

Click here to view the document that itemizes each LEEDTM category and credit, and how it was achieved.

 

Waste is our nemesis -- and solid waste is filling our cities not only with trashy debris, but it also causes water pollution, air pollution and land contamination.  Prevention would be nice!  But in a consumables society, that's not a robust answer to the problem of excess packaging, throw-away product design and planned obsolescence. How we handle solid waste is a critical issue for our decade.  Here's an overview of how Minnesota and The Netherlands differ...and are finding solutions to this community quality of life issue.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) recently (Feb 2008) issued a "2007 Solid Waste Policy Report"
(DOWNLOAD HERE: www.pca.state.mn.us/publications/reports/lrw-sw-1sy08.pdf )

Some points:

• Incineration is unhealthy and makes global warming worse;
• Incineration is not a source of "green" or "renewable" energy;
• incineration is very expensive and diverts investment from better options such as "zero waste;"

The MPCA agrees that it cannot be silent on such a high-profile issue, particularly following the Supreme Court's decision in Oneida and following landmark legislation in 2007 on the urgency of building up renewable energy sources and cutting down greenhouse gases. In fact, MPCA believes that Minnesotans can no longer afford to discard the energy embodied in solid waste.

Impact on recycling and organics recovery: The MPCA looked into concerns about WTE plants interfering with Minnesota's recycling and organics potential. The stated concern was that such plants usually require some form of "put or pay" commitments that guarantee a given daily tonnage of garbage to the WTE plants, before investors will commit capital; and that the locked-in tonnages will discourage materials that are burnable from going to recycling or composting. While the concern is reasonable and must be addressed, it is not inevitable that WTE hinders the recycling effort. Rather, residential recycling rates have typically been higher in communities with contractual commitments to WTE facilities than those without WTE. It is worthy of note that the highest waste-diversion achiever in the European Union is the Netherlands, which recycles and composts 65 percent of its waste but also sends 30 percent of its waste to combustion.

One reason for this counter-intuitive state of affairs may be that committing to WTE plants has persuaded those communities to pay attention to their waste rather than relying on distant landfills that are "out of sight, and out of mind." For example, those that operate WTE plants look for ways to keep metal and glass out of combustion chambers, because metals, such as aluminum that melts to slag steal heat from the furnace, interfere with furnace equipment and then add to the tonnage of ash that must be managed at considerable expense. One proven way to divert that metal and glass is source-separated recycling, which keeps the materials out of mixed municipal solid waste, maintaining its value as a marketable commodity.

The MPCA has benchmarked with the world's best achievers in solid waste management and does not find an inherent conflict between WTE and recycling, even at the highest rates of recycling achieved by states and nations.

Minnesota has included WTE in its waste-management mix since the 1980s and its recycling performance is well above average for the United States and is on par with Germany.

The Netherlands is the Pace Setter in Solid Waste  Solutions

The pace-setter is the Netherlands, which landfills only 5 percent of its waste, compared to Minnesota, which landfills 36 percent.

If the Netherlands is taken as one example of how a region with both rural and urban populations allocated efforts within its waste management hierarchy, Minnesota still has good opportunities to move waste up from landfilling. (The Netherlands adopted its hierarchy in 1979, called Lansink's Ladder.)

Lansink's Ladder has these rungs, in order of decreasing preference:

1. Prevention
2. Design for prevention and design for beneficial use
3. Product recycling (reuse)
4. Material recycling
5. Recovery for use as fuel
6. Disposal by incineration