 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
The 2003 Regional Sustainable Development Forum was held at MIT on September 22, 2003. A growing number of organizations and municipalities across Massachusetts are undertaking innovative planning and development projects that embody sustainable development principles and, in the process, are fundamentally changing the way we develop our communities -- physically, economically, and socially. This year's Fourth Annual Regional Sustainable Development Forum focused on the "Resources for Achieving Sustainable Development." After three yearly forums, it was evident that many participants were knowledgeable about the basics of sustainability, eager to participate in more in-depth conversations on the topic, and wanted to identify resources to carry out their sustainable development projects. Given the challenging funding climate, practitioners and policymakers need to begin thinking outside the box when it comes to resources and become more creative about how to leverage them to achieve success. This forum provided the time, the space, and the expertise for these discussions to take place.
To view proceedings from the 2003 Forum, please click HERE.
King County Department
of Natural Resources and Parks, Solid Waste Division
http://dnr.metrokc.gov/swd/
King County, Washington encompasses the greater Seattle metropolitan region
and is widely recognized as a nationwide leader in innovative municipal
waste management programs. King County recently received the EPA “Partner
of the Year Award” for the WasteWise internal waste reduction and
recycling program, and their extensive knowledge of all manner of waste
management programs and strategies is available to learn from. Their excellent
and recently updated website provides a trove of information useful to
municipal governments, businesses, community development organizations
and private citizens alike.
Information covering waste prevention and reduction, composting and “natural
yards” programs, household recycling, hazardous waste disposal, “take
back” programs for home electronics, construction recycling, green
building, materials exchange and King County’s brownfields initiative
can all be accessed quickly and easily. An ambitious, and interconnected
set of waste management programs and policies, experimental education
efforts and detailed information on locations, hours, contacts, directories
of service providers, publications, templates for waste management and
other plans, fees and staff member contact information are all readily
available from the site.
Please stay tuned to this space for a listing of exciting sustainable development and green design events taking place around the country!
Did you know?
The following figures
are available from the US Green Building Council (www.usgbc.org)
and are reprinted from Environmental Building News, Volume 10, Number
5 (May 2001). Subscription information and additional green building resources
are available through Building Green (http://www.buildinggreen.com/)
-Percentage of U.S. CO2 emissions associated with residential- and commercial-sector
energy consumption, 1999: 36% (including CO2 emissions from cement production)
-Percentage of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions associated with residential-
and commercial-sector energy consumption, 1999: 30% (including building-related
share of methane emissions)
Source: “Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United States 1999,”
Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy, October
2000
- Number of U.S. commercial buildings constructed annually: 170,000
- Number of U.S. commercial buildings demolished annually: 44,000
Source: “A
Characterization of Building-Related Construction and Demolition Debris
in the United States,” U.S. EPA, 1998
- Number of new homes built annually (1999): 1.6 million (1.3 million
of which were single-family detached)
Source: National Association of Home Builders
-Number of housing units demolished annually: 245,000
Source: “A Characterization of Building-Related Construction and
Demolition Debris in the United States,” U.S. EPA, 1998
-Total annual U.S. C&D waste generation: 136 million tons (not including
any waste associated with infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, etc.)
Portion from demolition and renovation: 92%
Portion recovered (recycled or reused): 20 to 30%, mostly concrete, asphalt,
metals, and some wood
Source: “A Characterization of Building-Related Construction and
Demolition Debris in the United States,” U.S. EPA, 1998
-Average house size (1999): 2,250 sq. ft., up from 1,100 sq. ft. in the
1940s and 1950s
Increase in average house size, 1950 to 1999: 105%
Square area of living space per occupant (1997): 800 sq. ft., up from
290 sq. ft.in 1950
Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census
QUOTES:
"The ultimate test of man's conscience may be his willingness to
sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks
will not be heard." Gaylord Nelson, former governor of Wisconsin,
founder of Earth Day
"Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every
man's greed." Mohandas K Gandhi quoted in EF Schumacher, Small
is Beautiful.
"Recycling is a good thing to do. It makes people feel good to do
it. The thing I want to emphasize is the vast difference between recycling
for the purpose of feeling good and recycling for the purpose of solving
the trash problem." Barry Commoner, Orion Nature Quarterly,
1990
"The future belongs to those who understand that doing more with
less is compassionate, prosperous, and enduring, and thus more intelligent,
even competitive." Paul Hawken
"When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will
command the attention of the world." George Washington Carver
