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Educating Local Governments and Communities about the Environment
Some of the sites
listed on this page are not on the EPA Web site. Please
see our disclaimer information.
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Highlights:
ENERGY STAR for Local Governments
While most Environmental Education programs focus on children, EPA understands the importance of educating our local leaders and adult citizens about local environmental issues as well. The resources below are designed for citizens, community leaders and local government officials. These resources can help citizens and local governments make better decisions about the future of their community.
| Title | Description | Link |
| Smart Growth Strategies, Protecting Water Resources: Local Government Roles and Options for the Rocky Mountains and Northern Great Plains | Smart Growth
Strategies, Protecting Water Resources: Local Government Roles and Options
for the Rocky Mountains and Northern Great Plains (2001) Provides an overview of how local governments can use land use tools to protect water resources. While case examples are specific to the Rocky Mountains and Northern Great Plains region, counties across the country may benefit from the tools, resources and a ‘smart growth check-list for water resources protection’ available nationwide. |
http://www.naco.org/Template.cfm? Section=Publications&Template =/cffiles/pubs/publications.cfm &PubCat=WMWP |
| AWARE Colorado | What is
AWARE Colorado? Quite simply, it's a statewide program to educate local decision makers about the impacts of land use choices on water quality. Why was the program
started? How does AWARE do
it? |
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| Colorado Office of Smart Growth | http://dola.colorado.gov/ dlg/osg/index.htm |
|
| Envision Utah | http://www.envisionutah.org/ | |
| This
Is Smart Growth |
This publication
shows how communities can turn their visions, values, and aspirations into
reality, using smart growth techniques to improve the quality of development.
Thirty-two Smart Growth Network partners — national organizations representing
housing, environmental, community design and development, public health,
transportation, local government, and other interests — have approved
or endorsed This Is Smart Growth. |
http://www.epa.gov/smart growth/tisg.htm |
| Getting to Smart Growth: 100 Policies for Implementation | The policies and guidelines presented in this primer have proven successful in communities across the United States, and range from formal legislative or regulatory efforts to informal approaches, plans, and programs. | http://www.epa.gov/smar tgrowth/getting_to_sg2.htm#1 |
| Getting to Smart Growth II: 100 More Policies for Implementation | This primer provides states and communities with policy options that can be mixed and matched to fit local circumstances, visions, and values, and highlights steps that the private sector can take to encourage more livable communities. This document follows the format of the first volume, but with an entirely new set of 100 policies and more examples and case studies. | http://www.epa.gov/smart growth/getting_to_sg2.htm#1 |
| What Is Smart Growth? A Smart Growth Fact Sheet | A brief
summary of smart growth basics, including the ten smart growth principles. - Fact Sheet |
http://www.epa.gov/smart (2 pp, 101 K, About PDF Files) |
| Protecting Water Resources with Higher-Density Development | Helps communities
better understand the impacts of higher and lower density development on
water resources. The findings indicate that low-density development may
not always be the preferred strategy for protecting water resources. |
http://www.epa.gov/smart growth/water_density.htm |
| Growing Toward More Efficient Water Use: Linking Development, Infrastructure, and Drinking Water Policies | Focuses
on the relationships among development patterns, water use, and the cost
of water delivery, and includes policy options for states, localities, and
utilities that directly reduce the cost and demand for water while indirectly
promoting smarter growth. |
http://www.epa.gov/smart growth/water_efficiency.htm |
| Protecting Water Resources with Smart Growth | Growth
and development can have adverse effects on water resources, including loss
of woodlands, meadowlands, wetlands and increased polluted run-off. Increases
in impermeable cover and vehicle traffic also can negatively impact water
quality and quantity. To address these and other impacts, local governments
are developing smarter approaches to growth. They are looking for, and using,
policies and tools that enhance existing neighborhoods, improve schools,
protect drinking water, and provide attractive housing and transportation
choices. |
http://www.epa.gov/smart growth/water_resource.htm |
| Strategies for Successful Infill Development | Strategies
include building a common vision, outlining steps for action, demanding
good design, and addressing transportation issues. This book also includes
case studies. |
http://www.nemw.org/ infillbook.htm |
| Schools for Successful Communities: An Element of Smart Growth | Explains
why and how communities can employ smart growth planning principles to build
schools that better serve and support students, staff, parents, and the
entire community. |
http://www.epa.gov/smart growth/schools.htm |
| Teaching Smart Growth at Colleges and Universities | Colleges and universities can help local governments with technical ability, and intellectual and institutional resources. In particular, faculty members, including adjunct faculty, in applied programs often can organize courses that give students hands-on experience in helping communities meet their environmental, economic, and other goals. | http://www.epa.gov/smart growth/courses/ |
| Solving Environmental Problems Through Collaboration: A Case Study of the Sustainable Environment for Quality of Life | Summary
of how this successful multi-party organization works to resolve environmental
concerns related to rapid growth in the Carolinas. |
http://www.epa.gov/inno (PDF 2pp, About PDF Files) |
| Choosing Our Community's Future: A Citizen's Guide to Getting the Most Out of New Development | Focuses
on the visioning and planning efforts that set the stage for smarter growth
and how citizens can engage and make suggestions for better growth and development
through collaborative stakeholder meetings and workshops. |
http://www.epa.gov/smart growth/communitys_future.htm |
| Creating
Great Neighborhoods: Density in Your Community |
Highlights nine community-led efforts to create vibrant neighborhoods through density, discusses the connections between smart growth and density, and introduces design principles to ensure that density becomes a community asset. | http://www.epa.gov/smart growth/density.htm |
| Green Building | As the environmental impact of buildings becomes more apparent, a new field called green building is gaining momentum. Green or sustainable building is the practice of creating healthier and more resource-efficient models of construction, renovation, operation, maintenance, and demolition. Research and experience increasingly demonstrate that when buildings are designed and operated with their lifecycle impacts in mind, they can provide great environmental, economic, and social benefits. | http://www.epa.gov/greenbuilding/ |
| Community Cultural and the Environment: A Guide to Understanding a Sense of Place | The Guide
offers a process and set of tools for defining and understanding the human
dimension of an environmental issue. It gives leaders in government agencies and in nongovernmental organizations and tribes (such as directors of watershed groups, public health officials, outreach coordinators, environmental educators, and environmental justice workers) technical tools for more effectively working with the public on environmental protection efforts. |
http://www.epa.gov/CARE (PDF 293 pp, 10mb, About PDF Files) |
