Environmental Issues: Sustainable Communities

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Sustainability Achievements of the 2011 NCAA Final Four in Houston, Texas
Overview

In an effort to reduce their carbon footprint, the producers of the NCAA Final Four have integrated ecologically intelligent practices into the event’s planning and production. The paper products and other supplies we have bought and the facilities and services we are relying on have all been selected with a sensitivity towards reducing the threats we all face from global warming, deforestation, toxic wastes, and hazardous chemicals in our water and food. This year the NCAA teamed up with LG Electronics USA, Waste Management, Reliant Park, the City of Houston, George R. Brown Convention Center, and the Natural Resources Defense Council to launch the long journey they need to take to reduce their collective ecological footprint. This document explores their achievements.

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Picturing Smart Growth
Visions for Sustainable Communities Across America
Guide

Cities and towns across the country are embracing smart growth as a better solution to meet the needs of their growing populations. Smart growth principles accommodate growth and development while saving open space, revitalizing neighborhoods and helping cool the planet. See visions created through photo-editing software for how 70 communities across the country could apply smart growth principles to improve their streets and neighborhoods.

Environmental Characteristics of Smart Growth Neighborhoods
Case Studies in Sacramento and Nashville
Issue Paper

These studies, published in October 2000 and February 2003 for NRDC in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, suggest that the environmental benefits of smart growth are real and can be measured.

Solving Sprawl
Models of Smart Growth in Communities Across America
Report

Sprawl is taking a grave toll on our environment and the way we live, giving us mind-numbing traffic, ugly strip development, fragmented communities, and loss of open space. This November 2001 book from NRDC, Solving Sprawl, offers an inspiring contrast to these grim trends. Through 35 real-world stories, the book illustrates how people in cities, suburbs, and rural areas have found profitable, community-oriented alternatives to sprawl.

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Jobs that Build a Better Future
Clean energy investments will create millions of manufacturing jobs and whole new industries
Overview

Investing in clean energy can help heal the environment and boost the American economy.

The NRDC Greening Advisor
Guide

The NRDC Greening Advisor can help any business or organization to reduce the environmental impacts of its operations and events.

Pollution Unchecked: A Case Study of Greene County, Pennsylvania
Report

Southwestern Pennsylvania's Greene County suffers from serious air and water pollution, and cancer rates in the predominantly low-income Appalachian community are substantially higher than state and national averages. This December 2004 report finds that despite the obvious health risks county residents face, state and federal officials have made no significant effort to collect data on possible health effects linked to pollution in Greene County.

Ocean Protection Case Studies
Marine ecosystems and fish populations are in trouble, but proven solutions exist to restore the health of the oceans.
Overview

Marine ecosystems and fish populations are in trouble, but proven solutions exist to restore the health of the oceans. These brief case studies illustrate a few and the results they can achieve.

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