San Francisco has approved the strictest composting law in the US, aiming to increase recycling from today’s 72% to 90%, save landfill space and costs, reduce methane generation, and create compost to return to gardeners and others. According to SFGate, this is part of fulfilling the city’s aim to be sending nothing to landfills or incinerators by 2020.

Eco Alternative Solutions, LLC is looking for 25 large US cities to participate in a no-cost 90-day trial of its Integrated Solar Series (ISS). ISS is an innovative solar-powered street light system. The company says ISS lights have been “vigorously tested” over the last year and half and placing lights in 25 selected cities will provide data from different ambient conditions.

The solar unit replaces the city’s current lighting system on 30 foot utility poles commonly used on residential and busy streets. Solar power is stored in batteries, and at dusk the the unit powers up white or yellow LEDs for 8 to 12 hours of lighting. continue

ICLEI Webinar: How to Make Your School Buses Cleaner

ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability USA has a free webinar for anyone in local government  on How to Make Your School Buses Cleaner this Friday, June 5 at 1-2 p.m. Eastern

You can learn how to make your school buses cleaner, more efficient, and reduce harmful pollution associated with diesel exhaust. Get the tools and resources needed to start a program in your school district to:

• Complete technology retrofits on school buses to burn diesel more efficiently;
• Switch from petroleum diesel to a biodiesel blend; and
• Reduce vehicle idling around school buildings.

The webinar will introduce three toolkits (click to get them immediately) designed to help your school district.  Each toolkit contains a step-by-step guide, fact sheets, outreach materials, case studies, and more.

A few days before the event, participants will be sent an email with instructions on how to participate in the webinar.  You will need a computer with internet access and a phone.

The Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) sponsored a video contest and the clever+profound winner is Built to Last

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGJt_YXIoJI&feature=player_embedded]

Here’s an interview I did with Don Borut, Executive Director of the National League of Cities, at the Green Cities Conference in Portland, Oregon. Points of interest include rating the success of the conference as a “grand slam home run,” noting that sustainability is the new lens through which cities are starting to look at themselves, displacing economic growth and growth for its own sake, and Don’s statement that sustainability is fundamental to the NLC.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsU1Izmuig8&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00]

Patrick Konopnicki has a question:

As Director of Career and Technical training for Virginia Beach I am trying to help train a green workforce. Can anyone point me to curriculum in this arena as these seem to be 21st century skills for all students and adults i.e. sustainability etc.

Please put your suggestions as a comment so everyone can see them.

by Ken Moore, MD
Alderman at Large
Franklin, Tennessee

The City of Franklin, Tennessee has long been recognized as a desirable place to live because of its respect for history, its vibrant economy, and its educational excellence.

Just this year it was recognized by the National Historic Trust as a “top twelve” destination in America; Southern Living Magazine also rated Franklin one of the top ten in the nation for best small town, and Business Week Online named our city the best in Tennessee to start a small business.

However, with the associated rapid growth, issues of a lag in infrastructure and congestion have become more of an issue.

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A program in Philadelphia is the most successful in the US at preventing foreclosures, according to Acorn’s description in its new report on the program, Road to Rescue: How the Philadelphia Model Can Reduce Foreclosures Across the Country

An excerpt: Almost a year into its existence, the Philadelphia Foreclosure Diversion Program, a pre-foreclosure mediation process that is preventing more than three in four owner-occupied foreclosures, has proven to be the best model in the nation.  Other jurisdictions are following suit and adopting mediation programs, which are less successful because they are not mandatory, lack effective community outreach, are difficult for homeowners to access, or do not make effective use of housing counselors.  As President Obama called for in his foreclosure speech in February, the federal government must invest in successful foreclosure prevention programs at the local and state level as a necessary complement to the Administration’s foreclosure plan.

This report provides a detailed review of the Philadelphia program and its successes, as well as other less effective mediation programs, and analyzes the positive impact on local economies of adopting successful mandatory mediation programs.

Here is Van Jones, Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, with  Sara Loveland of DC Greenworks, on the site of a green roof installation. They introduce green roofs and discuss the grant funding the work. If building owners along a corridor who already have to replace their roof membranes put up the money for that, the city will add on a green roof, cutting energy expenses some 30%, cooling the city, mitigating stormwater, and training people in how to do the work.  Green roofs in this case mean green jobs, environmental, economic, engineering and energy-saving benefits, and a potential food source: one solution to many problems.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iYIY9XHOUg&feature=player_embedded]

Don Voigt has a question:
Hi, I’m a resident of a city which is struggling to get a resolution passed at the city council level wherein the city states that it wants to be a “green” community. We attempted to get a resolution passed last week but it failed to get a majority on the basis that it was too general in nature and that it did not have any specific items or targets in it.

What do you find as the first level of “position statements” for communities who are going green?

Don Voigt,
Port Washington, WI

What’s your advice?