sustainability (general)

Green Affordable Housing Resources

The following resource list provides links to organizations and websites that provide valuable information on green affordable housing. Many of these resources are focused on multi-family low-income housing developments, but some also apply to single-family affordable homes.

Global Green USA: Greening Affordable Housing Initiative *

Global Green USA, Holy Cross project

A few of Global Green’s projects and resources:

Holy Cross project, New Orleans
Blueprint for Greening Affordable Housing (2^nd Edition), edited by Global Green USA (Island Press, 2007) *
Solar Affordable Housing Assessment Calculator (for California LIHTC developments)

Affordable Housing Design Advisor

Architecture for Humanity

Energy Efficient Rehab Advisor (HUD / Energy Star)

Enterprise Green Communities *

Green Affordable Housing Coalition (Build It Green, CA)

Habitat for Humanity: Sustainable Building / Construction Technologies

Home Depot Foundation’s Affordable Housing Built Responsibly grant/awards program

LEED for Homes’ Initiative for Affordable Housing

LISC (Local Initiatives Support Corporation): Sustainable Communities programs

LISC Green Development Center

National Center for Healthy Housing

New Ecology, Inc.

Partnership for Sustainable Communities *

Tiny House Blog

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD): Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities , and
HUD Green Homes and Communities information

U.S. Interagency Partnership for Sustainable Communities (HUD/EPA/DOT)

* = I have worked on writing projects for the organizations that are marked with an asterisk. I also used to work for an architecture firm that specializes in designing green affordable housing projects in the Boston metropolitan area: Davis Square Architects.

If you know of other relevant resources, please mention them in the Comments below. Thanks!

July 25, 2011
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Daily Links and Good News Featured on The Green Spotlight’s Facebook Page

Please take a look at The Green Spotlight’s Facebook Page to see our daily green blurbs and links. You can view the page even if you don’t have a Facebook account. But if you do have an account, click on the “Like” button (if you’re not already connected to page); then you will be able to see The Green Spotlight’s posts in your Facebook news feed.

Visit the Page to get a sense of the wide variety of topics that it covers, and feel free to comment on the posts.

Here’s a sampling of topics that we’ve spotlighted on the page in recent weeks:

new films, including The Economics of Happiness; Bag It; Flow; and Queen of the Sun
a new environmental news website: This Week in Earth
videos about the achievements of this year’s Goldman Prize winners (from the U.S., El Salvador, Germany, etc.)
video about the NRDC’s Growing Green Awards winners
AIA’s Top Ten Green Projects award-winning buildings
organic gardening tips for weed and pest control
driving tips to save gas and money
a new Green Jobs report, and an interactive map of clean energy companies
online action to oppose uranium mining in the Grand Canyon
a summer tour of organic food and farming in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
dog and cat toys made from natural, renewable materials
new thin-film solar products, and a mobile solar power generator
the story of a North Carolina farm started by a family inspired into action by the film Food, Inc.
the story of two 15-year-old Girl Scouts who are calling Kellogg’s on its use of palm oil in Girl Scout cookies and other products

May 5, 2011
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Goldman Prize 2011: And the Winners Are…

The Goldman Environmental Prize is the world’s largest and most prestigious annual award for grassroots environmentalists.

Here’s a description of the Prize from the Goldman Environmental Prize website: “The Prize recognizes individuals for sustained and significant efforts to protect and enhance the natural environment, often at great personal risk. Each winner receives an award of $150,000, the largest award in the world for grassroots environmentalists. The Goldman Prize views ‘grassroots’ leaders as those involved in local efforts, where positive change is created through community or citizen participation in the issues that affect them. Through recognizing these individual leaders, the Prize seeks to inspire other ordinary people to take extraordinary actions to protect the natural world.”

The Goldman Prize ceremony (which is held in San Francisco) is one of the best events I attend every year. The recipients are models of courage, and their stories are powerful and inspiring. This year’s six prize winners (one from each of the six inhabited continental regions) are:

Hilton Kelley (Port Arthur, TX, USA)
Francisco Pineda (El Salvador)
Ursula Sladek (Germany)
Dmitry Lisitsyn (Russia)
Prigi Arisandi (Indonesia)
Raoul du Toit (Zimbabwe)

Click on each recipient’s name to read about—and watch a brief video about—their remarkable and selfless efforts and achievements.

Here’s the three-minute video about Hilton Kelley, who is leading the battle for environmental justice on the Gulf Coast of Texas:

Last year’s recipient from the U.S. was Lynn Henning, a family farmer in Michigan, who “exposed the egregious polluting practices of livestock factory farms in rural Michigan, gaining the attention of the federal EPA and prompting state regulators to issue hundreds of citations for water quality violations.”

April 11, 2011
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10 Wise and Witty Quotations

Of the many quotations that I’ve compiled over the years, I think that these ten are among the most witty, wry, and clever — and almost all of them have some relevance (directly or indirectly) to sustainability:

“The trouble with the rat race is that, even if you win, you’re still a rat.”
– Lily Tomlin

“Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.”
– Edward Abbey

“Urban friends ask me how I can stand living here, ‘so far from everything?’ When I hear this question over the phone, I’m usually looking out the window at a forest, a running creek, and a vegetable garden, thinking: Define everything.”
– Barbara Kingsolver (from her book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life)

“Always do right. That will gratify some of the people and astonish the rest.”
– Mark Twain

“I always wondered why somebody doesn’t do something about that. Then I realized I was somebody.”
– Lily Tomlin

“If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito.”
– Bette Reese (perhaps paraphrasing from an African proverb?)

“Eighty percent of success is showing up.”
– Woody Allen

“For every problem there is a solution that is simple, clean, and wrong.”
– Henry Louis Mencken

“Things should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.”
– (attributed to/paraphrased from) Albert Einstein

“The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.”
– Albert Einstein

If you enjoy these, share them with others. And please add your favorite funny quotations in the Comments below.

For more quotations, see The Green Spotlight’s Quotations page.

March 16, 2011
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Green Gift Giving: Ideas and Tips

Before the holidays (and other gift-giving occasions), I sit down and have a brainstorm session to try to come up with thoughtful, meaningful gifts that are well suited to each person on my list. Then, I run those ideas through my budget filter, as well as another set of filters that I consider to be just as important: In an effort to be an environmentally and socially conscious consumer, I strive to choose gifts that meet one or more of the following criteria—many of which also happen to be economical:

Non-Stuff: As Art Buchwald said, “The best things in life aren’t things.” Consider alternatives to material things, such as:
- Activities: Doing something special for/with someone or a group of friends or family (e.g., making a fancy dinner or going out to eat);

Giving a gift certificate for a restaurant, a service (e.g. spa/massage), an educational opportunity (such as an online solar training course), or music/movie downloads (e.g., iTunes gift code by email); a ticket to a special event (e.g., a concert); or a voucher for a personal favor (e.g., babysitting or a household repair task); or
Making a donation (or getting a membership) to a nonprofit organization on someone’s behalf.

Homemade, handmade, or homegrown stuff: e.g., baked goods, jam, art, crafts. Or, if you have been growing herbs or have saved flower or vegetable seeds from your garden, I think that fresh or dried herbs (like rosemary, thyme, or lavender) and seeds (like cilantro/coriander, which can also be ground for use as a spice)—or flower bulbs or seedlings—can make really nice gifts.

Locally-made or Fair Trade goods: You can help support your local economy/community by buying locally-made goods from small independent businesses in your town, or you could support a sustainable enterprise in a third-world country by purchasing Fair Trade goods. Whatever you do, try to avoid buying cheaply made (low quality, low durability) stuff that was manufactured with toxic materials in an overseas sweatshop; unfortunately, that description applies to a lot of the stuff sold in Big Box chain stores these days.

Products with green attributes or purposes: e.g., a solar charger for cell phones and gadgets; gardening supplies or non-GMO seeds (e.g., Baker Creek Heirlooms or the Sustainable Seed Co.); organic cotton clothing; organic food; soaps or bath products made with entirely safe and biodegradable ingredients, etc. (Beware of “greenwashing,” of course. Look for third-party assessments/eco-labels that verify manufacturers’ environmental claims.) Find stores in your area that specialize in green products. Or shop online to minimize your driving; many green companies have online stores, e.g.:
- Patagonia: Recreational clothing and gear
- Organic Bouquet: Eco-Elegant Flowers & Gourmet Gifts, including organic chocolate
- Gaiam: Eco-friendly and organic lifestyle products
- Viva Terra: On sale at VivaTerra. Save up to 70% on natural home décor, organic gifts and more.
- Powell’s Books: Books on sustainability topic

Re-gifted items or lightly-used finds: When I receive an item for which I don’t have any use, I don’t have qualms about re-gifting it (or donating it) to someone who would enjoy having it more than I would. In fact, I get great satisfaction out of redirecting things to the right recipients. You can also sometimes find a perfect and perfectly lovely gift for someone at a vintage/antique shop, yard sale, flea market, thrift store, or Craigslist. Some “pre-owned” items are treasures just waiting to be found.

Eminently useful things: There are certain things that almost anyone can put to use, such as consumables (favorite specialty foods or spices), cozy socks, a mini-LED light for a keychain, or a good book about a topic of interest to the recipient.

Small stuff: Try to choose items that don’t use a lot of resources, don’t require a lot of packaging/shipping material, and won’t take up much space in someone’s home. Sometimes the best gifts can fit into a stocking.

And if you still just can’t think of anything good to get for a certain person and you decide to get that person a gift certificate for a store, get one from a store that offers electronic/email gift notices (or else paper certificates) rather than disposable PVC plastic gift cards.

Lastly, minimize your use of store-bought/new wrapping paper. Some people like to use the cartoon section of their newspaper as wrapping paper. I keep a stash of reusable gift bags and ribbons that have come to me over the years. If the contents of a gift don’t need to be covered up, putting a nice ribbon or bow around it (sans wrapping paper) is an elegantly simple way to adorn it.

NOTE: See our newer posts, Greener, More Gratifying Gifts and Green Gifts (2.0), for more tips and suggestions.

For additional info on green gifts, products, and consumerism/over-consumption, take a look at these sites:

The Story of Stuff (and The Story of Electronics): short films/web videos
Green America: click on the Green Gift Guide, Responsible Shopper, and Fair Trade links
Center for a New American Dream: Simplify the Holidays
Good Guide: ratings of natural, green, and healthy products

Please share your own green gift ideas and suggestions in the Comments section below.

November 20, 2010
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The Green Spotlight’s Daily Links and Highlights

We post briefer and more frequent green blurbs on our Facebook page than we do on this site. Please visit The Green Spotlight’s Facebook Page. You can view the page even you don’t have a Facebook account. But if you do have an account, click on the “Like” button (if you’re not already a “Friend” of the page). Then you can get a daily dose of The Green Spotlight in your Facebook news feed, and you can share your comments and recommendations with a large audience.

Take a look at the Page to get a sense of the wide variety of topics that have been touched on or linked to. Here’s a sampling of past topics:

Biomimicry in product design
Solar window shutters
Ecovative’s alternative to petroleum-based plastics
Biofuel made from whiskey-distilling by-products
Dog poop converted into electrical energy
Landfill gas turned into fuel for garbage trucks
Organic farming programs in India, Mexico, Detroit, etc.
Gardening tips
Non-toxic cleaners and household products
Green-certified restaurants
Net-zero-energy and “passive” homes around the world
The Yes Men satirize Chevron
Daryl Hannah
Rachel Carson
The greening of corporate supply chains
Solar panel recycling
Electric cars, motorcycles, trucks, scooters, ATVs, and other vehicles (Green Lite Motors, Barefoot Motors, Mission Motors, Brammo, ZAP, Bright Automotive, etc.)
World Green Building Council
Living Building Challenge
Bioneers
Farm Aid
Teens Turning Green
League of Conservation Voters
Trees for the Future: Haiti
350.org
California Brightspot
Green Economy Roadmap
TED videos
New films: e.g., Big River; Dirt!
Interesting facts and stats
Quotation of the Month

November 5, 2010
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Green Curricula and Environmental Learning Activities

Whether you’re a teacher, parent, school administrator, or homeschooler, you might be interested in taking a look at some of these online resources related to green/environmental education. These websites provide ideas for curriculum, lesson plans, and hands-on activities for teachers and students. Many of these resources are related to K-12 education, but some also apply to higher education.

Alliance for Climate Education

Center for Ecoliteracy

Center for Environmental Education (University of Minnesota, Duluth)

Children & Nature Network

The Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education

Earth Day Network: Educators’ Network

Eco-Schools USA (National Wildlife Federation)

Energy Education: Teach and Learn (K-12 energy-related lesson plans and activities, from the U.S. Department of Energy)

Energy Kids (U.S. Environmental Information Administration)

Green Education Foundation (GEF)

Greening Schools project (Illinois EPA): “Green Your Lesson Plan” directory

National Environmental Education Foundation

North American Association of Environmental Education

U.S. Department of Education’s Green Ribbon Schools

U.S. EPA Environmental Education resources

U.S. Green Schools Foundation: Education/Curriculum

Outdoor education is an important branch of environmental education. The concept of “nature-deficit disorder” is described in the bestselling book Last Child in the Woods.

It’s especially important for urban youth, who may never have spent any time outside of their cities, to be given opportunities to explore and learn in nature/wilderness settings. At-risk and urban youth can benefit greatly from outdoor learning experiences provided by wilderness programs such as Outward Bound, as well as farm-based camps or programs like those offered by the Center for Land-Based Learning.

If you know of other useful resources related to environmental education, please share your suggestions in the Comments section below.

Related Post: Green Schools Resources and Links (mostly related to greening school buildings/facilities)

October 4, 2010
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Green Schools: Resources and Links

Green school buildings have multiple benefits and advantages, including:

reduced use of energy and water, and reduced materials waste;
lower operating costs, i.e., financial savings that can be used to fund other improvements or activities;
a healthier and more comfortable learning (and teaching) environment, resulting in better student performance (including higher test scores), improved health of all of the schools’ occupants (and therefore, fewer sick days), as well as more satisfied teachers and staff; and
new opportunities for on-site, hands-on environmental learning.

Whether you’re a teacher, parent, student, school administrator, or building professional, you may be interested in learning more about green schools. Here is a listing of many of the key websites, organizations, guidelines, and initiatives related to green schools, with a focus on school buildings/facilities (design of new buildings, retrofitting existing buildings, as well as the daily operations and maintenance of the buildings). Most of these resources are related to K-12 schools, but some of the information also applies to higher education facilities.

Key Organizations and Information Websites

Center for Green Schools (U.S. Green Building Council)

Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS)

Council of Educational Facility Planners International (CEFPI)

Earth Day Network: Green Your School

Eco-Schools USA (National Wildlife Federation)

EnergySmart Schools (U.S. Department of Energy)

Global Green USA: Green Schools program

Green Schools Alliance

Healthy Schools Network

High Performance Schools (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)

LEED for Schools (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Rating System, USGBC)

U.S. Department of Education’s Green Ribbon Schools

U.S. Green Schools Foundation

For information on getting financing for green / energy efficiency projects, check out these sites: the National Education Foundation/ U.S. Department of Education’s Qualified School Construction Bonds, the California Energy Commission’s Energy Efficiency loans, PG&E’s School Resource Program (for schools within the PG&E utility area), and the DSIRE Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency. For additional links related to funding for green projects, see my post on Green Tax Credits, Rebates, and Other Financial Incentives.

Examples of Local and Regional Initiatives

Related Post: Green Curricula and Environmental Learning Activities (i.e., environmental education)

October 1, 2010
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Fuel-Focused Films and Climactic Climate Cinema

In the past couple of years, several documentary films have come out that are focused on the folly of fossil fuels (such as oil, gasoline, and natural gas), and new films have also been made to bring attention to the broader climate crisis. Most of these movies have been critically acclaimed.

Recent fuel films include:

Gasland (2009): about drilling for natural gas by “fracking” (hydraulic fracturing) (Gasland is currently airing on HBO and via HBO On Demand.)

Crude (2009): about the lawsuit on Chevron/Texaco’s contamination of an Amazon community in Ecuador

Fuel (2008): about biodiesel made from waste vegetable oil

A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash (2007)

Also, in the years since the release of An Inconvenient Truth, several new films have been made about climate change; these include:

Climate of Change (2010: Coming Soon): This film was created to present inspiring, uplifting stories of regular people around the world who have spearheaded a variety of local initiatives to combat climate change.