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Reviews: This Place Called Home: Tools for Sustainable Communities Wealth, Ecology & The Evolutionary Corporation Updated Sustainable Community Indicators Released Aspen Institute Releases Report on Sustainable Business enCompass: Recycled-Content Building Products Seniors Focus on Livable Communities Business Benefits of Sustainable Practices Summary of Open-Space Ballot Measures
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This Place Called Home: Tools for Sustainable Communities
The National Wildlife Federation’s Action Link is the "quickest and easiest way to take action for wildlife and the environment." This site identifies key issues, suggests useful comments and advocacy tips, provides e-mail links to lawmakers, and offers an e-mail notification service for when your voice is needed the most. Visit Action Link at http://www.nwf.org/action/index.html. Wealth, Ecology & The Evolutionary Corporation
Updated Sustainable Community Indicators Released An updated 1999 edition of Sustainable Community Indicators is now available to assist communities in creating a better future. The indicators are for people working on community economic development, grassroots activists, municipal and state agency staff, nonprofit organizations, and local businesses. The intent of the guide is to explain both sustainability and indicators, and to encourage the reader to begin to use indicators or improve indicators already in use. For more information, click here or e-mail mhart@tiac.net. SustainableBusiness.com is based on the idea that we are in the midst of a transformation of business values from the "divide and conquer" industrial era to the more spiritual, community-oriented, holistic age. Businesses large and small, regional and international, are discussing sustainability, creating and sharing tools to measure it, and participating in organizations to implement it. SustainableBusiness.com supports these efforts with four major sections:
Visit SustainableBusiness.com at http://www.sustainablebusiness.com. Aspen Institute Releases Report on Sustainable Business The Aspen Institute has published a report entitled Uncovering Value: Integrating Environmental and Financial Performance. Prepared by a diverse group of corporate, financial, governmental and environmental officers, the report highlights for corporate and financial decision makers the important linkages between strategic business decisions and environmental performance. A print version of the report is available for purchase from the Aspen Institute. For more information, contact The Aspen Institute, Suite 700, One Dupont Circle, NW, Washington, DC 20036. Phone 202-736-5800, FAX 202-467-0790, or e-mail publications@aspeninst.org. enCompass: Recycled-Content Building Products A new web site created by King County, Washington, profiles buildings and construction products made from recycled materials. It provides visitors a virtual tour of the Northwest to see installed products. The site will soon offer information for architects and builders who want to specify recycled-content construction materials. To take the tour or access the other information, visit http://www.metrokc.gov/market/encompass. The Energy Information Administration (Department Of Energy) is offering a new kids' page (grades 3-8) that includes an assortment of energy facts and educational amusements. Seniors Focus on Livable Communities The American Association of Retired Persons has released Livable Communities: An Evaluation Guide. It offers a tool to assess a community's livability as well as resources to assist with improvement efforts. For a free copy, send your name, organization, and street address to Consumer Team, Public Policy Institute, AARP, 601 E Street, NW, Washington, DC 20049. When City and Country Collide, published by Island Press, "examines the fringe phenomenon and presents a workable approach to fostering more compact development and better, more sustainable communities in those areas. It provides viable alternatives to traditional land use and development practices, and offers a solid framework and rational perspective for wider adoption of growth management techniques." For more details, click here. The Sustainable Communities Network (SCN) has updated its guide Sustainability in Action, which profiles communities working on sustainable development issues. To check out the updated case studies, click here. Business Benefits of Sustainable Practices The Next Bottom Line: Making Sustainable Development Tangible by Matthew B. Arnold and Robert M. Day. Published by the World Resources Institute. "Business people all over the world are developing new products and services that solve environmental problems and create business value at the same time. But many more are wondering how to proceed and where to find the new resources, knowledge, and energy that will make development truly sustainable." For more details, visit http://www.wri.org/pubs/bottom.html. Making Business Sense of Energy Efficiency and Pollution Prevention, published by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. "Some believe that protecting the environment will hurt the U.S. economy and put us at a disadvantage with foreign competitors who have less rigorous environmental standards. This may have been true years ago when ‘tailpipe’ technologies were the primary solution to minimizing pollution...." For more details, visit http://www.aceee.org/p2/index.htm. The Principles of Smart Development, published by the American Planning Association’s Planning Advisory Service. "The principles of smart development consider: the efficient use of land resources; full use of urban services; mixing of uses; transportation options; detailed, human-scale design; and means of implementation." For more information, visit http://www.planning.org/pas/pas479.htm. To fill the need for dependable, comprehensive information on sprawl and solutions, Global Environmental Options is offering its clearinghouse on sprawl. The site offers a list of online resources, including case studies, definitions, articles, toolkits, and books. It also hosts an online discussion forum. Visit at http://www.greendesign.net/sprawl. Best Development Practices: A Primer for Smart Growth, by Reid Ewing and Robert Hodder. Published by The International City/County Management Association, this primer is based on a book prepared for the Florida Department of Community Affairs. It focuses on development patterns, and shows how changes in current development patterns can help stop sprawl. Recommendations are geared to developers and local officials. For more details, click here. Summary of Open-Space Ballot Measures At least 135 measures related to open-space preservation appeared on ballots across the country in November 1998. Voters approved 85 percent of them, and the successful measures will collectively raise $3.8 billion to protect or acquire open space. The Land Trust Alliance has summarized the results, which may be reviewed by visiting http://www.lta.org/refernda.html. A documentary titled Placemakers: Bringing Back Our Neighborhoods illustrates the power of individuals to make a difference in the "livability" of their communities. For more information, click here. |
A
CD-ROM package produced by the Alliance for Community Education. "A
rich resource library to stimulate ideas for positive action in home
places everywhere. Evocative and inspiring, the CD includes video, still
photographs, audio, and hundreds of pages of text from books, articles,
interviews, and speeches." For more details, visit 
SustainableBusiness.com
calls the new book The Natural Step for Business: Wealth, Ecology
& the Evolutionary Corporation By Brian Nattrass and Mary Altomare
(New Society Publishers, 1999) "a very readable, engaging book."
The book explains "the theory and method of The Natural Step and
how to integrate it with an environmental management system. The business
cases describe each company's process of evolution step-by-step."
For the complete review, |
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