Landscape Architects Create New Sustainability Resource Guides

Healthcare Design magazine reports that: The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has announced a new series of comprehensive online resource guides on sustainable design and planning. Created for national and local policymakers, government agencies, design professionals, planners, and students, the guides include hundreds of project case studies, research papers, organizations, and other government resources on sustainable design aggregated for the first time: Green Infrastructure: A Comprehensive Meta-Resource from ASLA.

A new, comprehensive ASLA resource has been launched, the Green Infrastructure Resource Guide, which links out to resources all over the Web and aims to be a one-stop professional resource for planners and designers. "Green infrastructure can be considered a conceptual framework for understanding the "valuable services nature provides the human environment." At the national or regional level, interconnected networks of park systems and wildlife corridors preserve ecological function and create a balance between built and natural environments. At the urban level, parks and urban forestry are central to reducing energy usage costs and creating clean, temperate air. Lastly, green roofs, walls, and other techniques within or on buildings bring a range of benefits, including reduced energy consumption and dramatically decreased stormwater runoff. At all scales, green infrastructure provides real ecological, economic, and social benefits."

Green Design Institute at Carnegie Mellon University

Of interest:

1. Green Design Institute [pdf]
http://gdi.ce.cmu.edu/

The Green Design Institute is a "major interdisciplinary education and
research effort to make an impact on environmental quality through green
design." The primary goal of the Institute is to form partnerships with
industry, government, and other foundations in order to develop processes
that "can improve environmental quality and product quality while enhancing
economic development." Located at Carnegie Mellon, the Institute involves
faculty, students, and other partners in their efforts to develop practical
pollution prevention technologies and lower costs by recycling scarce
resources, using fewer raw materials, and creating better products. Visitors
to the site may wish to begin by reading the "About Us" section to learn a
bit more about the Institute. After getting acquainted with the goals of the
Institute, visitors to should visit the "Research" section to learn a bit
about on-going projects on sustainable infrastructure, energy and
environment, life cycle assessment, and environment. Perhaps the most useful
section of the site can be found by clicking on "Education". Here, a link to
eiolca.net can be found, which is economic input-output life cycle
assessment software. The model allows users to estimate the overall
environmental impacts of producing commodities or services in the United
States. In addition, courses and course materials on environmental issues
are available here. [KMG]

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2008.
http://scout.wisc.edu/

On Green IT

The intersection between IT and being green is something we pay a lot of attention to. A lot of what we know about systems thinking and sustainability would not be possible without the computing power of our electronic machines. It's really nice to see Cynthia Golden, EDUCAUSE vice president, writing this piece in EDUCAUSE Review:

The inability to effectively recycle this hazardous waste is one of a multitude of challenges feeding today’s “green” computing initiatives in government, industry, and higher education. The very real pressures of global warming, excessive energy consumption, and overdependence on fossil fuels, especially coal and oil, pose a serious threat to the planet. We must find ways to reduce our energy consumption, to provide power through alternative methods, and to deal with the electronics we produce, use, and discard: the “e-waste.” IT divisions in higher education can and should take a leadership role in improving the sustainability of their campuses by following environmentally friendly and responsible computing practices.

She goes on to concisely list several things that IT staffers can do. Be sure to forward this to yours!