Rezachek & Associates'
Energy & Environmental Resources

Sustainable Development - Page 6

Ten Principles of the New Environmentalism A quiet revolution has been under way during the 1990s as environmental sustainability has gradually become an important theme in policymaking around the world.

The Center for Livable Communities The Center for Livable Communities helps local governments and community leaders be proactive in their land use and transportation planning, and adopt programs and policies that lead to more livable and resource-efficient land use patterns. Center programs can help jurisdictions expand transportation alternatives, reduce infrastructure costs, create more affordable housing, improve air quality, preserve natural resources, conserve agricultural land and open space, and restore local economic and social vitality.

The Earth Network for Sustainable Development The Earth Council is an international non-governmental organization (NGO) created in 1992 as a direct result of the Earth Summit. Their mission is to support and empower people in building a more secure, equitable and sustainable future.

The Energy Yardstick: Using PLACE3S to Create Sustainable Communities PLACE3S is an urban planning method designed to help communities discern an effective path toward sustainability. It is unique because it employs energy as a yardstick to measure the sustainability of urban design and growth management plans. Using a Btu-based accounting system, PLACE3S can evaluate how efficiently we use our land, provide housing and jobs, move people and materials, operate buildings and public infrastructures, site energy facilities and use other resources.

The International Fund for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (IFREE) IFREE¹s goal is to promote the sustainable use of renewable energy and energy efficient technologies in less developed and transition economies. These technologies include, but are not limited to, commercial application of biomass, geothermal, hydropower, natural gas, solar photovoltaic, solar thermal, wind energy, and energy efficiency technologies. Inadequate access to capital is one of the most significant barriers faced by developers of energy projects in emerging markets. IFREE¹s Pre-Investment Funding Program is designed to ameliorate this situation by sharing the risk of project development with private sector companies by sharing the cost of pre-investment activities which will directly result in commercially financeable projects.

The Journal of Sustainable Product Design - Online The Journal of Sustainable Product Design covers economic, environmental, ethical and social issues in product design and development. SPD is a comprehensive quarterly journal guaranteeing high quality both in content and in presentation. It aims to be a pioneering publication that examines sustainability issues as they affect product design and development worldwide.

The QLN Network For everyone who would like to choose and enhance quality of life in their community, family, and personal directions while ensuring ecological integrity and social cohesion. The QLN Network will link "colleagues" who know there are abundant opportunities as we turn the millennium.

The Sustainable City Project The Sustainable City Project of the Urban Consortium Energy Task Force develops urban planning processes that identify, rank and implement energy policies and program options for promoting urban sustainability. Over the course of the two-year project, the city of San Jose (California) and two other cities used a common planning process to determine the needs, actions, costs and resources necessary to integrate long-term energy planning into the local policy-making framework.

The Sustainable Energy Guide: International Resources for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy The Global Energy Efficiency Initiative's Sustainable Energy Guide is a handbook intended to help individuals and organizations in developing countries find resources to carry out projects relating to energy efficiency or renewable energy. The Guide is intended for the variety of institutions (government agencies, non-governmental organizations, laboratories, private firms, and other organizations) which can use specialized assistance from experienced practitioners in the field.

Tools for a Sustainable Community - One-Stop Guide for U.S. Local Governments Use this guide to identify resources from the federal government and other agencies that can help your local government create a sustainable community. No single listing of resources can be exhaustive, their objective was to choose among the hundreds of internet sites and documents that deal with particular aspects of sustainability. They've included products and services that are easily obtainable and of direct use to elected officials or staff of U.S. local governments. This site is linked directly to specific websites that provide sustainability information.

Towards Greener Pastures Towards Greener Pastures is being developed to promote the environmental concepts of sustainable development, environmental justice & social ecological evolution. They will also focus their attention on environmental employment oppurtunities, environmental economics and the developing green global marketplace.

UNEP-WG-SPD: United Nations Environment Program WG on Sustainable Product Development They work in the area of: sustainable products and services related to policy and industry trends. They offer on this Site: a database of sustainable product and service examples, hundreds of contacts in 55 countries. A downloadable version of their magazine ‘Way Beyond’, reports and a Sustainable Development Agenda.

Values and Sustainable Development Sample Lesson from Making Global Connections in the Middle School Lessons on the Environment, Development & Equity. This Lesson is based on the longer version that originally appeared in A Sustainable Development Curriculum Framework for World History & Cultures by Tom Crop, Social Studies Supervisor, Bridgewater-Raritan Public Schools.

VirtualPresidio Journal of Sustainable Development An Online Review and Comment Journal focussing on issues related to social change.

World Sustainable Agriculture Association (WSAA) Science and technology have enabled agriculture to become increasingly productive, to produce abundant harvests by manipulating Nature, and to increase the quality of life in most areas of the world. However, a heavy price is paid for this abundance. Many modern agricultural practices harm the environment, impair human health, and destroy the social and economic well-being of rural communities. Sustainable food and farming systems that enable producers to work in partnership with Nature have been developed to correct these deficiencies. These economically- viable and environmentally sound systems have been successfully demonstrated throughout the world. However, their adoption has been slowed by lack of government support and difficulty in gaining access to new information. In 1991, a group of concerned and like-minded individuals and organizations, rising above their respective nationalities and religions, committed themselves to the task of trying to reverse these trends. They established the World Sustainable Agriculture Association (WSAA) and agreed to work together to restore harmony between people and nature.

World-Systems and the Environment This special issue of JWSR presents new research on the environment from a distinctly world-system perspective. World-system studies have recently discovered the environment. The turn toward the environment in any number of disciplines has resulted in the greening of this and that area of study. Now it is world-system studies turn.

Youth Sourcebook on Sustainable Development The Youth Sourcebook was written by an international working group to: increase their own awareness of sustainable development issues; strengthen global youth cooperation and networks; and contribute to the implementation of Agenda 21, the global plan of action agreed to at the Earth Summit. The Youth Sourcebook contains information on youth's concerns with sustainable development issues, case studies of youth action, together with advice on how to organize for action, useful resource lists, and finally a Directory of international and regional youth organizations.