Atlanta’s going green!

Hey Atlanta, are you interested in participating in your green economy but don’t know where to start? Why not take a class or workshop at the Atlanta Green Expo this weekend to learn more on how YOU can go green!

The Atlanta Green Expo will be held this Saturday, May 30th, 2009 and Sunday, May 31st, 2009 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia.  The expo’s mission is to educate individuals, communities, businesses and policy makers on sustainable living through efficient, renewable energy, and the conservation of water and land resources.

The event will be held 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days, and it’s only $5 for adults (free for children).

Check out the classes and workshops being offered! You can’t afford to miss this:

Greening Your Home and Garden:
This track will include workshops that provide products, services and expertise that would be of interest by individuals for use in their homes and gardens. From solar panels and recycled glass countertops for your home to workshops on starting vegetable gardens in your back yard, this track will include a wealth of information for homeowners.

You’ll also learn how to make your yards into more sustainable and fruitful environments. The Atlanta Green Expo will show you how to create beautiful yards and gardens, done in ways that are environmentally friendly. Topics will include composting, conserving water, natural pest abatement and much, much more.

Green Building and Sustainable Development:
Architects, Developers, Builders, City Planners – this is your area! Here you will find seminars dedicated to illustrating the bottom line benefits of “going green” in your planning and development. Working with members of the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), this Track will present the latest trends and available products to help you design and build more LEED certified projects.

Energy, Conservation & Recycling:
The focus of this track is on alternative energy, conservation efforts, and the concept of “refuse, reduce, reuse and recycle”. Attendees can see for themselves the products, services and practices that can help them save energy, conserve resources and save money as well. Energy use is one of the areas with the greatest potential to improve one’s ecological footprint. The main goal for the Atlanta Green Expo classes and workshops is to help us learn how we can start making better choices, by using less energy, moving towards the use of renewable energy sources like solar and wind power, and reducing the environmental impacts to our air, water, and land from many of our current practices.

Food & Agriculture:
What’s better – locally grown or organic foods? What are C.S.A.’s? What’s all this talk about “Permaculture”? Come find out about these issues, the state of American agriculture and food production, and how you can help to make it better. A healthy, sustainable lifestyle is driven by choices about food. Making such choices involves answering questions about how our food is grown and how that growing process affects the environment, as well as who grows our food and how far our food travels. The Atlanta Green Expo classes and workshops will offer insights into the importance of how our food choices affect our health, and of discovering ways of raising foods that are less costly to the environment.

Sustainability Education:
What principles should we follow as we make dozens of small decisions each day to reduce our environmental impact? The Atlanta Green Expo seeks to empower families, businesses and communities toward the long-term ideal of sustainability. In addition to having a hands on, educational “Green Kids Zone”, this track consists mostly of Workshops and Seminars in topics ranging from reducing your Carbon Footprint to the importance of Socially Responsible Investing. Here the Expo classes and workshops will illustrate ways in which we can make our lives and our communities more sustainable.

Transportation:
Transportation is one of our society’s largest contributors to local air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as the problems associated with our country’s “addiction to oil”. The Atlanta Green Expo classes will highlight more sustainable options in transportation, and encourage us to find alternate ways to get around instead of continuing to rely on our personal, carbon-based vehicles. Bio-diesel, ethanol and electric vehicles are new technologies that are available today. And there are many under-used, yet “green” methods of transportation that need to be re-emphasized, such as car-pooling, public transit and riding bicycles more often.

Community Action & Involvement:
Come and find out how you can get involved with organizations that promote sustainable practices that affect our community. We will have representatives from religious communities, government, activist and non-profit organizations offering many ways to get involved and to help make a difference! The Atlanta Green Expo is also hoping to work with Habitat for Humanity to build a net-zero, green home which will be available for tours before it is given to a deserving family in the community.

Green Lifestyles:
Being green isn’t just about alternative energy and recycling. It’s about adopting and living a life that is in balance with nature. The Atlanta Green Expo seminars will focus on helping you find products, services and practices which will promote ways in which you and your family can live healthier, happier and more sustainable lives.

Visit the official website for more event details, and don’t forget to spread the word about this interactive, informative and inspiring event! Green Buzz depends upon people like YOU sharing the green news in your community!

For questions about the Atlanta Green Expo, call 904.236.9966 or email info@globalgreenup.com.

eat . live . think green

APA approves more Green Cities™ Florida courses for credits

Need another “green” reason to attend Green Cities™ Florida? Hold on to your blueprint!

The American Planning Association has approved 17 of the Green Cities™ Florida courses for AICP CMs (the Continuing Education designation for Planners) for a total of 20.5 hours of credits.

Turn your blueprint into a greenprint!

Here is a list of those courses:

Achieving Climate Neutrality: The LACCD Sustainability Plan Wednesday, 05/20/09 02:30PM to Wednesday, 05/20/09 03:30PM
Alternative Energy Innovations Thursday, 05/21/09 09:00AM to Thursday, 05/21/09 11:30AM
Building Florida’s Clean Tech Economy Wednesday, 05/20/09 02:30PM to Wednesday, 05/20/09 03:30PM
Effective Actions and Collaborations for Addressing Climate Change Wednesday, 05/20/09 04:00PM to Wednesday, 05/20/09 05:30PM
Federal to Local: Translating the Stimulus Package for local governments Wednesday, 05/20/09 01:00PM to Wednesday, 05/20/09 02:00PM
Green Roofs, Living Walls, and buildings as Green Space Thursday, 05/21/09 09:00AM to Thursday, 05/21/09 10:00AM
Leadership in Florida’s Green Local Governments Wednesday, 05/20/09 04:00PM to Wednesday, 05/20/09 05:30PM
Local Government: Setting a Course of Action Thursday, 05/21/09 09:00AM to Thursday, 05/21/09 11:30AM
Preserving Florida’s Water Supply and Quality with LID Practices Thursday, 05/21/09 09:00AM to Thursday, 05/21/09 10:00AM
Re:Visioning The American City Wednesday, 05/20/09 02:30PM to Wednesday, 05/20/09 03:30PM
Renewable Energy Policy and Programs Panel Wednesday, 05/20/09 04:00PM to Wednesday, 05/20/09 05:30PM
Self-sufficient Urbanism: Contraction of the American City Thursday, 05/21/09 10:30AM to Thursday, 05/21/09 11:30AM
Sustainable Hospitality: In Search of Low Hanging Fruit Wednesday, 05/20/09 02:30PM to Wednesday, 05/20/09 03:30PM
The Bridges: Sustainable Community Design Wednesday, 05/20/09 01:00PM to Wednesday, 05/20/09 02:00PM
Transit Oriented Design and Central Florida’s Sustainable Future Wednesday, 05/20/09 02:30PM to Wednesday, 05/20/09 03:30PM
Understanding the Dynamics of the Global Carbon-Climate-Human System Wednesday, 05/20/09 11:00AM to Wednesday, 05/20/09 12:00PM

Green Cities™ Florida, to be held May 20-21, 2009 in Orlando, offers a highly interactive, outcome-based portfolio of courses and workshops presented with practical steps and specific plans for participating in the growing $400 billion green economy.

Check out the full Green Cities™ Florida program and schedule and don’t miss the Planning Central Florida: Integrating Growth and Conservation panel with Jim Yawn, Walt Thompson, and Jeff Jones on May 20! Learn about The Walt Disney Company and The Nature Conservancy’s innovative partnership and model for planning. This presentation will provide insight for successful public and private partnerships that can be applied anywhere a balance is needed between growth and natural resource conservation.

For more conference details visit the official website or call 1-800-408-0002.

Glendale, CA gets its green groove on!

Graceland has Elvis. St. Louis, the Gateway Arch. And if things proceed according to Planning Commissioner Chang Lee’s vision, Glendale will soon join the ranks of iconic U.S. cities by establishing a high-tech corridor with enough unique features to draw people to the area and create a buzz that would sweep the nation.

Lee is scheduled to pitch the idea to his colleagues on the Planning Commission during their meeting today, May 6. While there is no designated location in the proposal, Councilman John Drayman, who chairs the Redevelopment Agency, said the most likely technology-centered area would be along San Fernando Road.

“The Redevelopment Agency has already embraced a lot of forward-looking ideas,” he said, noting that he was eager to learn more about Lee’s proposal in addition to Councilwoman Laura Friedman’s concept for transforming a portion of the San Fernando Corridor into an Arts District. “I believe our residents want innovative ideas.”

Friedman, who campaigned heavily on the concept of establishing an arts manufacturing district along San Fernando Road, said Monday that she did not think the two ideas were mutually exclusive.

“We’re trying to capitalize on that industry and bring more into Glendale,” she said, noting that she didn’t think a technology corridor would conflict with an arts district. “It’s not like we have to bring something here that doesn’t already exist.”

The state is currently targeting tax incentives to keep entertainment jobs in California — a crucial element in any plan, she said.

While both Disney and DreamWorks continue to transform the northern end of the San Fernando Road corridor, major swaths of the redevelopment area remain home to light industrial and service businesses.

Lee’s proposal would change that.

In addition to attracting companies and individuals who promote research, design and application of advanced technologies in information technology and green energy to a designated area, Lee said the designated area could become a leader in LED lighting use and other renewable energies. He said his presentation is aimed at sparking a conversation that will galvanize the city toward creating a corridor that addresses the needs of the city while increasing its competitive edge.

“The world is changing really fast,” he said. “I want this corridor to invite all the corporations that are involved in [green] and at the same time implement the technology so it can become an example. Once you do this, I think [companies] will move in.”

Lee said multiple companies have pledged to move to the corridor should it come into existence.

The proposal also calls for new “media poles” throughout the district that would draw consumers in with touch-screen games and the ability to take self-pictures, among other features.

“I think this will become that unique feature to draw people in,” Lee said.

After a trip to South Korea to visit Glendale’s newest sister city, Goseong, with former Councilman Bob Yousefian last year, Lee said he was inspired to replicate the country’s success in implementing available technologies in the United States.

“They already are way ahead of us,” Yousefian said. “What we saw in South Korea was more of the application of technology that was created in this country, but not really utilized to its fullest.”

For example, he said, of the financial incentives to employ green technology, converting Glendale’s streetlights to LED bulbs could save $9 million every year.

Officials also said having a technology corridor in Glendale would be particularly helpful in bringing jobs into the U.S. economy — a directive currently encouraged under President Obama.

“Being in a redevelopment area, there are incentives the city can take to help foster the movement of industries to that area,” Drayman said. “I’m all for discussion of attracting industries to our city.”

To view the original article, visit TheGlendaleNewsPress.com.

But California is not the only state creating green buzz! Florida stands on the cusp of a tremendous emergence in green building, clean technology, water conservation, innovative business growth and wise land use planning.

Join us at Green Cities™ Florida May 20-21 in Orlando, Florida, for a unique conference designed to equip business and government with practical steps, relevant case studies and strategic plans for getting started and transforming Florida’s green economy.

And don’t miss the presentation on “California’s Hot New Financing Tool: A Model for Florida?” by Paul D’Arelli!

D’Arelli will be speaking about this innovative financing tool and whether it could be a model for Florida to reduce greenhouse gas.

Learn more about this upcoming sustainability conference at the official website or call 1-800-408-0002.

Sustainable Development Podcast by Alex Hinds

Check out Alex Hinds’ sustainability podcast where he talks about why he hopes the Obama administration keeps the ‘yes we can’ attitude towards green building, sustainable development, and making sustainability a core practice of building.

“Its time, in my opinion, to rewrite our zoning codes, our building codes, our health and public work codes to really address what’s needed to have more renewable energy. Less use of fossil fuels, and to take into account how climate change is going to affect our public health systems, our agriculture, and infrastructure.” – Alex Hinds

Visit http://greencitiesmedia.com/2009/02/podcast-alex-hinds-interview/ to listen to this green podcast!

Alex Hinds is the president of the board of the California Planning Foundation and is currently the Interim Director for the Center for Sustainable Communities at Sonoma State University in California.

Alex will be a speaker at Green Cities Florida! To learn more, visit http://greencities.com/usa/florida/orlando/2009.

Top One Thing to Green Your Home or Office

By Mary Anne Bowie, FAICP Sustainability Director

and President of Sarasota Marketplace

Change a light bulb, recycle, build green, save the polar bears! Wow, what’s a person to do? What is the top one thing we need to do to promote the sustainable agenda?

Perhaps the most powerful way we can create a future that works for all is by supporting a green economy for our community.

When you want to focus on what you can do to green your home or office, the answer is to create a conscious choice whenever an option arises to purchase anything.

Support the green economy. What does that look like? It looks like buying green and buying local. Green cleaning, green investing, 100% recycled paper, green building, solar water heating, alternative health care, organic food, eco-tourism – all are examples of buying green.

Question is, when do we start the process? The answer is, of course, now. As a conscious consumer, question what you buy. Always look for the very best alternative. Spending your money in alignment with your values is sustainable and in these times of tight pocketbooks, spending wisely is even more important.

To read the full article, visit:

http://www.sarasotagreenconnection.com/article/top_one_thing_to_green_your_home_or_office.html

Mary Anne Bowie will be a speaker at Green Cities Florida. For more information, visit http://greencities.com/usa/florida/orlando/2009.

Natural Home Magazine Looks Ahead to The Next 10 Years of Green Building

Eric Corey Freed, who will be speaking at the Green Cities Florida Conference in May, interviews some of the biggest names in green building for Natural Home Magazine.

To mark Natural Home’s 10th anniversary, a visionary group of architects and educators were asked to predict what will happen to housing over the next decade. The insights they share are surprisingly full of optimism, creativity and hope.

Check out the interview at http://greencitiesmedia.com/2009/03/natural-home-magazine-looks-ahead-to-the-next-10-years-of-green-building/ .