News

EPA Awards Competitive Grants for Students to Design Sustainable Technologies that Help Environment and Economy. EPA has awarded 42 grants to teams of college and university students across the country who will design creative technologies to sustainability challenges in the developed and developing world.  The People, Prosperity, and the Planet (P3) Phase I awards for the 2009-2010 competition challenges students, working together on interdisciplinary teams, to design and build sustainable technologies that improve quality of life, promote economic development, and protect the environment. 

7th Annual P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet.  EPA, as part of the P3 Award Program, is seeking applications proposing to research, develop, and design solutions to real world challenges involving the overall sustainability of human society. The solicitation closing date has been extended to January 5, 2010.

Government Ordered to Lead Way on Sustainability. On October 5, 2009, President Obama signed a new Executive Order on Federal Sustainability, which challenges all federal agencies to lead by example in energy and environmental performance. The Order gives the agencies 90 days to set a 2020 greenhouse reduction goal and also sets targets for efficient, sustainable buildings, reduced petroleum use in vehicles, water efficiency, waste reduction, purchasing green technologies and products, and supporting sustainable communities. Council on Environmental Quality chair Nancy Sutley added that "...by putting Federal purchasing power to work – more than $500 billion per year in goods and services – the government can build on the momentum of the Recovery Act to help turn good entrepreneurial ideas into great American enterprises that create jobs."

Call for Papers: Environmental Policy: Past, Present, and Future (PDF). (76 pp, 2.8 MB, About PDF) A January 2011 special issue of Environmental Science & Technology will mark several ground-breaking events in the history of environmental protection. These include the 40th anniversary of the founding of the EPA (December 2, 2010), the first Earth Day (April 22, 1970), the Clean Air Act Extension (1970), and the National Environmental Policy Act (effective January 1, 1970). ES&T welcomes thought-provoking ideas and retrospectives or perspectives in a variety of formats exploring, for example, how the environment and environmental consciousness have changed. Submission deadline is May 1, 2010.

Interagency Partnership for Sustainable Communities. EPA has joined with the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Transportation in a partnership agreement and set of six guiding livability principles that will provide a vision for sustainable growth. The agreement, announced on June 26, 2009, will guide the agencies' efforts to improve access to affordable housing, provide more transportation options, and lower transportation costs while protecting the environment in communities nationwide.

Science and Technology of Biofuels. Complete videos and slides from this special session of the May 2009 annual meeting of the American Institute of Biological Sciences include presentations by Alan Hecht, Robert Larson and Donna Perla of EPA’s Office of Research and Development and John Regalbuto of the National Science Foundation. The overall theme of the AIBS meeting was Sustainable Agriculture: Greening the Global Food Supply.

For more documents related to biofuels and environmental sustainability, please visit More Resources.

Coming Events

2005–2015. UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. An educational effort that aims to encourage changes in behavior that will create a more sustainable future.

December 6–9.  Risk Analysis: The Evolution of a Science.  This annual meeting of the Society for Risk Analysis (SRA) will bring together nearly 1,000 international scientists and practitioners from a wide range of disciplines representing academia, government, industry, NGOs, and private firms. The meeting will include several plenary session as well as technical sessions. Alan Hecht, EPA Director for Sustainable Development, will speak on “Assessing Environmental Impacts of Renewable Energy Systems.” Baltimore, Md.

February 26--28, 2010, Green Earth Expo 2010. This green marketing and networking event aims to help businesses become more efficient, cut operational costs, and increase bottom lines while healing the planet, and to help all citizens learn about ways to live more lightly on the planet and save energy while also saving money, with the result that together we can build a sustainable future for each other and our children. Baltimore, Md.