Posted by Kaid Benfield in Curbing Pollution , Environmental Justice , Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably
Earlier this month I began a series of posts about Indianapolis's Smart Growth Redevelopment District, which I have had the honor of advising. The area in question is a distressed part of the city, two miles northeast of...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Curbing Pollution , Green Enterprise , Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Lee County, Florida (Fort Myers) is moving forward with an innovative plan to use clustered, dense development instead of large-lot zoning to protect its water supply. Under current zoning the southeastern portion of the Gulf coast county has been threatened...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Curbing Pollution , Living Sustainably
Via Volkswagen's thefuntheory.com ("This site is dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people's behaviour for the better"), the Bottle Bank Arcade Machine: Kaid Benfield writes (almost) daily about community, development,...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Curbing Pollution , Living Sustainably , The Media and the Environment
I've written before about how rural utopias usually aren't as environmentally benign as they seem, while urban places - compact, walkable cities, suburbs, and towns - encourage lifestyles that are very low-impact on a per-capita basis. It's one of the...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Curbing Pollution , Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , The Media and the Environment
As some of you probably know, Smarter Cities is an initiative that ranks US cities on a number of key sustainability criteria as well as on overall sustainability. The system has been developed, managed and staffed independently of NRDC, but...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Curbing Pollution , Health and the Environment , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming
This isn't usually my beat, but as someone who grew up in western North Carolina, the southern Appalachians (pronounced with a flat "a" in the third syllable, thanks) mean a great deal to me. And, like a lot of normal...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Curbing Pollution , Green Enterprise , Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably
My NRDC colleague Rachel Sohmer has produced a wonderful slide show illustrating how low-impact-development techniques for reducing stormwater runoff (sometimes called "green infrastructure") can successfully be integrated into the kinds of smart, urban environments that we need to revive cities...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Curbing Pollution , Green Enterprise , Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming
Earlier this week I highlighted Copenhagen's experience with creating car-free streets and a welcoming environment for walkers. This latest short video from Streetfilms focuses on another international leader, Curitiba, Brazil. Mostly known for its pioneering bus rapid transit system, Curitiba...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Curbing Pollution , Green Enterprise , Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably
I've had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Howard Frumkin, MD, director of the National Center for Environmental Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (at least) a couple of times and enjoyed the encounters. I definitely enjoy Howie's...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Curbing Pollution , Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably
One of the slides I've prepared for an upcoming presentation to the North Carolina chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects juxtaposes these two images to show how a trolley or light rail line might be made greener, literally:...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Curbing Pollution , Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
Yesterday I wrote about how Arlington, Virginia’s redevelopment along one of the Washington, DC region’s Metro subway lines has created an amazing amount of new mixed-use development - all without expanding the region’s development footprint, while preserving the community’s single-family residential...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Curbing Pollution , Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
The image you see above, of Arlington, Virginia looking north to the Potomac River and Washington, DC, shows one of the country’s most stunning smart growth success stories. With amazing foresight and gifted planning, Arlington has transformed itself in...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Curbing Pollution , Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming
After so many wonky posts in a row, this time I'm going to lighten up with one of those fun internet quizzes that I can do more or less all day when I have something I want to procrastinate. This...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Curbing Pollution , Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy
When faced with a situation where rapid growth is occurring, such as I discussed yesterday, the best thing to do environmentally is to manage and shape it so that a good quality of life is maintained with the least environmental harm. This...
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Curbing Pollution , Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably
The federal Environmental Protection Agency has released important new research detailing the benefits of smart growth on transportation emissions and air quality. In particular, the report reviews the effects on traffic and pollution that would occur if new growth and land development...
