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Archived Feature Articles

Creating Livable 21st Century Cities
Fourth Of A Series
By Karen Walz

While the term 'livable community' often evokes an image of pleasant neighborhoods, inviting parks and friendly people, a city's economic health is equally important to its livability. Without jobs, few residents will choose to remain in those neighborhoods. Without thriving businesses, the local government will be unlikely to have the tax base to maintain those parks. Continuing economic vitality is also an important part of a community's sustainability over the long term. More…

Choosing Simplicity: Real People Finding Peace and Fulfillment in a Complex World
By Linda Breen Pierce

Shortly after World War II, we entered a period of great prosperity and material abundance - a prosperity that continues to grow unabated, except for minor fluctuations from time to time. But here we are, fifty years later, with many of us finding that our hearts and souls are hurting. The prosperity we have enjoyed is just not enough. More…

Creating Livable 21st Century Cities
Third Of A Series
By Karen Walz

As we begin the 21st century, it is clear that emerging technologies and changes in the economy will have a significant impact on the shape of our urban areas. At the same time, the long-term viability of these areas will depend on the locational choices made by millions of individuals and businesses, choices that will be based on the same question as in past centuries - is this city a good place to live and conduct business? This series of articles explores the factors that help answer that question. More…

Creating Livable 21st Century Cities
Second Of A Series
By Karen Walz

What makes a livable city? What lessons can be learned from today’s cities so the cities of the future are both livable and sustainable? In this article, the examination of major postwar cities in the United States continues with an assessment of the characteristics that define these cities and distinguish them from older major cities. More…

Art, Nature & Recycling
By Reena Kazmann

Whether you think of your household garbage or your local landfill, chances are good that what comes into your mind’s eye is not a pretty picture. But there’s beauty to be found everywhere, and so its not really surprising that a growing number of talented and committed artists, designers, architects, and builders are converting old stuff that would have gone to landfills into a wide array of useful and beautiful products. More…

Oil: More Costly Than You Think
By Lauren Poole

Every time gas prices rise, there is a public outcry to reduce the cost of oil. What most Americans don’t realize, however, is that they have been paying a very high price for oil - but only a fraction at the gas pump - for years. More…

Lightening: Protecting Your Family and Home
By the Lightening Protection Institute

Packing up to 100 million volts of electricity and a force comparable to that of a small nuclear reactor, lightning has the power to rip through roofs, explode walls of brick and concrete, and ignite deadly fires. More…

Ecologically Based Municipal Land Use Planning
By William Honachefsky

"I admit there was a time in my own early years as a young land surveyor (the pre-Earth Day decade at least) when I too regarded the land simply as a commodity, and not part of a larger continuum, intimately linked to the surrounding air, water, vegetation, and wildlife." More…

America Recycles More, Wastes More
By the GrassRoots Recycling Network

What goes into garbage cans is just the tip of a giant mountain of wasted resources, and while Americans are setting recycling records, product and packaging waste is also increasing steadily. These are among the key findings of a new study released in late March by the GrassRoots Recycling Network (GRRN). More…

Areas with Heavy Tree Cover Drop - Dramatic Tree Loss Costs DC Millions
By American Forests

Washington DC has experienced a dramatic loss of tree cover since 1973, including a 64 percent decline in the most ecologically valuable areas with heavy tree cover, according to a new report by the national conservation group American Forests. More…

NAHB Research Center Studies Disaster Resistant Housing
By the NAHB Research Center

Each year natural disasters wreak havoc on families and communities across the U.S., disrupting businesses and destroying lives. Natural disasters teach us a great deal, but the cost of the lesson often comes at an incredibly dear price. More…

Restructuring the Global Economy
By Lester R. Brown

There has been more growth in world population since 1950 than during the preceding four million years -- from when we first stood upright. I don’t think we have yet grasped the dimensions of the consequences of the sort of population growth that we are experiencing. More…

Internet & E-Commerce Have Major Environmental Benefits
By the Center for Energy and Climate Solutions

The emerging New Economy created by the Internet is producing more than just a business revolution: It is also generating enormous environmental benefits. By reducing the amount of energy and materials consumed by business - often dramatically - and increasing overall productivity, the Internet stands to revolutionize the relation between economic growth and the environment. More…

Livability and Community Renewal
By Congressman Earl Blumenauer

Recently (on the Charlie Rose show) Bette Midler was asked what she would do if she had an opportunity to start her career anew. What would she choose if she weren’t an entertainer? And without missing a beat, she said she would be an urban planner. More…

Creating Livable 21st Century Cities
First Of A Series
By Karen Walz

Livability. Smart growth. Sustainability. These are some of the phrases politicians, urban planners, developers and others use when describing the future of American communities. The words used by residents are more direct: safe, clean, affordable, friendly, with good jobs. More…

The Work To Be Done: Making A Living While Making A Difference
By Melissa Everett

You are walking down to the corner cafe at dusk to buy a local newspaper, and you notice: how pleasant it is to have a corner cafe and to be near it, rather than in traffic, as the sun sets; how reassuring it is to feel safe strolling in your own neighborhood, since you remember years when the streets were less welcoming. More…

Wind Power Surges Ahead
By the American Wind Energy Association

Installations of new wind projects and repowering of old ones should total more than 1,000 megawatts (MW) in the U.S. during the year that ended June 30, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) says, amounting to investment of more than $1 billion. 1,000 megawatts of wind energy capacity generates enough electricity in a year to meet the needs of 250,000 average American households. More…

Big Economic Benefits From Open Space
By the Trust for Public Land

Parks and the conservation of natural and agricultural lands contribute billions of dollars every year to local economies across the nation, according to a new report by the Trust for Public Land. More…

Livability: The Perspectives of Local Government
By Paul Helmke

When mayors speak of livability, they talk about reducing crime, improving public education, helping kids and adults secure better job and housing opportunities, improving the delivery of public services, recycling brownfields, enhancing the local environment, improving parks and libraries and making transportation systems work for people. More…

Urgent Infrastructure Needs Remain Unmet
By the American Society of Civil Engineers

One year after the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) outlined $1.3 trillion in critical infrastructure needs, the Society reports that urgent needs in the nation’s school buildings, airports, water infrastructure and waste disposal systems remain unmet. However, the Society says the federal government has responded to the nation’s surface transportation needs. More…

Economy Grows, Global Warming Gases Don’t
By the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy

Energy-related carbon emissions by the United States remained flat in 1998 despite four percent economic growth. According to newly available data from the Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy, this was the first year since 1991 that U.S. carbon emissions did not rise. More…

Right To Know To Grow
By the Environmental Protection Agency

Fulfilling Vice President Gore's 1998 Earth Day commitment to expand the public's right to know about toxic chemicals released into local communities, the EPA has proposed to increase public reporting of such releases by almost 25 percent. More…

Sprawl Causes Costly Tree Loss
By American Forests

A new study by the national conservation group American Forests documents a dramatic loss of tree cover in the southeast portion of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, including the greater Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area. More…

What You Can't See Could Cost You
By the American Society of Civil Engineers

With home mortgage interest rates at their lowest percentages in years, many people are jumping into the housing market. But really look before you leap, say civil engineers, otherwise you may miss the warning signs of a costly structural problem that strikes more homes each year than floods, tornadoes or hurricanes. More…

Progress In Sustainable Forest Certification
By the Certified Forest Products Council

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge has announced that his state is now home to the nation's largest certified forest. Citing global economic and environmental benefits, Gov. Ridge said that Pennsylvania's entire 2.1 million acres of state forest land have been certified as "well-managed" by an independent environmental review team. More…

Myths Impede Energy Savings
By the Utah Office of Energy Services

Four common energy myths cost homeowners, businesses and public agencies millions of dollars each year in utility costs. "These myths arose in 1940s and 1950s when energy was cheap and technologies were inefficient," said Utah Office of Energy Services Information Specialist Denise Beaudoin. More…

Brownfields Development A Success
By Carol M. Browner

"What you are doing for brownfields -- bringing business and communities together from the very start -- proves one of the basic tenets of all our efforts: through partnership we can protect both people and prosperity, our health and our economy." -- Excerpts from a speech by Carol Browner, EPA Administrator. More…

Environmental Applications For New Chemical Microtechnology
By the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Chemical processing systems are undergoing a transformation - and a dramatic reduction in size - that may soon allow groundbreaking applications in biohazardous conditions, fuel-cell-powered automobiles, and waste treatment. More…

Earth Day 2000: Launch of the Earth Day Network
By Denis Hayes

Earth Day Network will use cutting-edge information technology and traditional grassroots organizing to enlist half a billion people around the world to challenge the power of vested interests and protect the public interest. More…

A Powerful Tool for Sustainable Development
By the Environmental Law Institute

The 1997 Taxpayer Relief Act may be the most significant environmental legislation enacted by Congress in recent years, according to a new report by the Environmental Law Institute. More…

The Costs Of Auto Transportation High. . .
& Subsidized By Non-Drivers
By the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy

A new report finds that total transportation-related costs average more than $10,500 per household, and that many costs of driving are born by all households, whether or not or no matter how little they drive. More…

Your Personal Smog Alert
By the South Coast Air Quality Management District

Air quality information will be distributed using pagers in a test of an automated and personalized system for alerting people to unhealthful air. Likely users include coaches, teachers, joggers, parents, respiratory patients, and others. More…

Wind Energy Surges Forward
By the American Wind Energy Association

The largest wind turbines in the U.S. and North America -- reaching as high as 370 feet with rotors more than 216 feet in diameter -- are part of a surge in wind power's growth across the U.S. More…

Opportunities In Nonpoint Source Regulation
By the Environmental Law Institute

The recent outbreak of the dangerous Pfisteria microbe in the Chesapeake Bay area demonstrates not only the profound effect that agriculture can have on the health of waterbodies and the economies they sustain, but also the differences in how states respond. More…

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