Over the past several decades, numerous planning movements have taken root within the United States. With names like "Urban Renewal," "Garden Cities," "Healthy Cities," "Smart Growth," "Eco-Cities" and "Sustainability," these programs promote ways to create, protect, preserve, enhance, and restore the quality of life in cities, towns and suburbs, especially in regards to the natural environment. This guide to the best practices of these programs introduces the rapidly evolving field before presenting more than 40 case studies of communities that are effectively "going green." An assessment of the future of these towns and cities and resources for citizens and officials seeking additional information conclude the work. By compiling these success stories, this handbook makes an excellent resource for anyone seeking to facilitate the restoration of the natural environment within their community.

This three-volume encyclopedia explores the evolution of green ideology and eco-friendly practices in contemporary American culture, ranging from the creation of regional and national guidelines for green living to the publication of an increasing number of environmental blogs written from the layperson's perspective. Evidence of humanity's detrimental impact on the environment is mounting. As Americans, we are confronted daily with news stories, blogs, and social media commentary about the necessity of practicing green behaviors to offset environmental damage. This essential reference is a fascinating review of the issues surrounding green living, including the impact of this lifestyle on Americans' time and money, the information needed to adhere to green principles in the 21st century, and case studies and examples of successful implementation. America Goes Green: An Encyclopedia of Eco-Friendly Culture in the United States examines this gripping topic through 3 volumes organized by A–Z entries across 11 themes; state-by-state essays grouped by region; and references including primary source documents, bibliography, glossary, and green resources. This timely encyclopedia explores the development of an eco-friendly culture in America, and entries present the debates, viewpoints, and challenges of green living.

The environmental movement and the rising awareness of global warming have spiked an interest in green living. It's not just recycling now. People want to know what they can do to live sustainable lives. What changes do they need to make as consumers and citizens? What are the relative impacts of the changes-that is, which will have the greater impact? They've made up their minds that green living is their goal, so they're not asking for a sermon. They just want simple, how-to facts.

Significant reduction of local, regional, national and international greenhouse gas emissions in homes, businesses, industries and communities has become an international priority. This book describes in clear, concise, and understandable terms the nature and scope of the climate change problem. The authors combine their considerable expertise to offer guidelines for defining and applying effective carbon reduction policies, strategies, and technologies. They propose a well-defined road map which can be implemented to help control and abate the alarming increases in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions.

This edited volume discusses smart cities and smart governance within the framework of the 22nd century sustainable city. Written by members of the Smart Cities Smart Government Research Practice Consortium (SCSGRPC), an international multidisciplinary consortium of researchers and practitioners devoted to studying smart governance, this book provides a foundation for global efforts to envision and prepare for the next generation city by advancing understanding of the nature of and need for novel policies, new administrative practices, and enabling technologies required to advance urban governance, governments, and infrastructure. The chapters focus on practical models and approaches, theoretical frameworks, policy models, emerging issues, questions and research problems, as well as including case studies from different parts of the world. A valuable addition to the body of knowledge on smartness in urban government, this book will be of use to researchers in the fields of public administration, political science, information science, and information systems, as well as policy makers and government officials working on implementing smart technology in their cities.

This edited volume centers around the concept of BioCities, which aim to unify nature and urban spaces in order to reverse the effects of global climate change and inequity. Following this principle, the authors propose multiple approaches for sustainable city growth. The discussed concepts are not only relevant for newly constructed cities, but offer transformative perspectives for existing settlements as well. Placing nature at the forefront of city planning is not an entirely new concept, so the authors build on established ideas like the garden city, green city, eco-city, or smart city. All chapters aim to highlight aspects to develop a city that is a resilient nature-based socio-ecological system. Many of these concepts were formed in an effort to copy the best traits of a forest ecosystem: a home for many different species that build complex communities. Much like many of our forests, urban areas are managed by humans for multifunctional purposes, using living and abiotic components. This viewpoint helps to understand the potential and limitations of sustainable growth. With these chapters, the authors want to inspire planners, ecologists, urban foresters and decision makers of the future.

Black and Green is a call to action for the Black community to join the green movement. The book offers insights, ideas, and strategies that demonstrate how Black people can benefit from this movement and also fuel the go-green effort. Ali builds on the premise that the call to 'go green' has not quite resonated in the Black community and discusses several reasons as to why. Ultimately, he offers tangible benefits that Black colleges, churches, and even cities should be eager to embrace. These include better health, neighborhood crime reduction, and new jobs. This book clearly broadens the 'go green' discussion to include the Black community in a way that is both compelling and engaging.