GETTING IN STEP: A GUIDE TO EFFECTIVE OUTREACH IN YOUR WATERSHED http://www.statesnews.org/clip/policy/step.pdf

Watershed groups and public agencies conduct outreach activities every day, but often not in a planned, coordinated fashion. This guide provides some of the tools you will need to develop and implement an effective watershed outreach plan. Part I provides the overall framework for developing and implementing your outreach plan. Part II of the guide provides tips and examples for developing and enhancing outreach materials. Part III gives specific tips on working with the news media to get your message out through improved media coverage of water quality issues.

GREEN@WORK http://www.greenatworkmag.com

Described by the publisher as "compelling, contemporary publication dedicated to telling the stories of ecological pioneers, products and systems that are driving an important change in corporate and bureaucratic America." The premiere issue (January/February 2000) features a profile of William Clay Ford, Jr., Chairman of Ford Motor Co., and a conversation with Allen Hammond of the World Resources Institute. Published by L.C. Clark Publishing Co., founder of the EnvironDesign conference.

SETTING THE STAGE FOR SUSTAINABILITY: A CITIZEN'S HANDBOOK http://www.crcpress.com

The change represented by the divergence of humanity from the rest of the world is rapidly growing, and in need of transformation. Setting the Stage for Sustainable Community Development is a guide for that transformation, which can help to create a sense of "place" where it did not previously exist. This book looks at resolving environmental conflicts through a "transformative" rather than a "problem-solving" approach. The transformative approach emphasizes the capacity of facilitation for personal growth. The text analyzes good and bad institutionalized social patterns in an ecological sense. The authors believe that through positive thinking and the willingness to take risks, we can become creative forces in our communities and in the world.

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ENVIRONMENTAL PURCHASING STARTER KIT: A GUIDE TO GREENING GOVERNMENT THROUGH POWERFUL PURCHASING DECISIONS http://www.naco.org/programs/environ/purchase.cfm

A new publication from the National Association of Counties (NACo) designed to aid local governments and organizations in developing environmentally responsible purchasing practices. The kit guides users through the process of creating a workplace that is safer for employees and healthier for the community. It details how to work with vendors to identify environmentally preferable products. It outlines how to gain support for environmental purchasing programs. And it explains how to take advantage of the public awareness benefits these activities offer. The kit, developed with support from EPA's Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxic Substances, includes: an overview of greening government purchasing opportunities; four case studies; a comprehensive list of resources; a sample environmental purchasing resolution; and a model press release.

PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER: LOCAL GOVERNMENT COORDINATION OF BROWNFIELD REDEVELOPMENT http://bookstore.icma.org

The key to redeveloping brownfields is effective coordination. This report details the best practices for coordinating a brownfields redevelopment among different local departments, state and federal officials, community groups, private developers, and other stakeholders. The report gathers information from local governments in over 50 brownfields pilot communities, and includes four detailed case studies. Published by the International City/County Management Association.

BUILDING GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE: LAND CONSERVATION AS A WATERSHED PROTECTION STRATEGY http://www.tpl.org/tpl/watershed/index.html

A new report on the use of land conservation as a tool to protect water quality. Published by the Trust for the Public Land.

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MAKING COLLABORATION WORK: LESSONS FROM INNOVATION IN NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT http://www.islandpress.org/books/bookdata/makework.html

Across the United States, diverse groups are turning away from confrontation and toward collaboration in an attempt to tackle some of our nation's most intractable environmental problems. Government agencies, community groups, businesses, and private individuals have begun working together to solve common problems, resolve conflicts, and develop forward-thinking strategies for moving in a more sustainable direction. Making Collaboration Work examines those promising efforts. With a decade of research behind them, the authors offer an invaluable set of lessons on the role of collaboration in natural resource management and how to make it work. The book: explainswhy collaboration is an essential component of resource management; describesbarriers that must be understood and overcome; presentseight themes that characterize successful efforts; and detailsthe specific ways that groups can use those themes to achieve success.

VISION AND LEADERSHIP IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT http://www.crcpress.com

Effective leadership =96 or lack of it =96 makes a critical difference in the conception, implementation, and endurance of community endeavors. This book explores the seldom-considered philosophical basis behind the models and methods of leadership, pointing the way to the essential qualities it takes to establish a shared vision of community life. Divided into two parts =96 shared vision and leadership =96 author Chris Maser explores numerous issues and considerations to cultivate well-rounded leadership, and provide a more substantive blueprint for local activism.

CLIMATE CHANGE: STRATEGIES FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENTS http://bookstore.icma.org

This new report from the International City/County Management Association explains how and why climate change is relevant to local governments. It provides administrators and elected officials with the latest information on climate change and shares a wide range of strategies local governments are already putting in place to frame the issue for community discussion and to mitigate the potentially disastrous effects. Sample resolutions and an assessment of risk are included as appendices.

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SUSTAINABLE LANDSCAPE CONSTRUCTION: A GUIDE TO GREEN BUILDING OUTDOORS http://www.islandpress.org/books/bookdata/susland.html

Sustainable Landscape Construction re-evaluates the assumption that all built landscapes are environmentally sound, and offers practical, professional alternatives for more sustainable landscape construction, design, and maintenance. Packed with clear concepts and never-before-compiled resources on "green" landscape work, the book is an inspiring overview of important practices and concerns. Organized around ten key principles of sustainability, the book offers specific methods that can help accomplish those principles. Techniques and materials of landscape construction =96 both alternative and conventional =96 are evaluated, using criteria such as energy savings or non-toxicity and renewability in manufacture. Topics include: keeping healthy sites healthy; constructing for and with plants; working with a site's water regime; reducing the impacts of paving using local, salvaged, or recycled materials; estimating energy costs over time; respecting the need for darkness and quiet; and evaluating the resource costs of conventional landscape maintenance. More than 100 projects from around the world are described and illustrated, proving that sustainable methods are viable today -- economically, functionally, and aesthetically. The book's extensive lists of resources for further information are an invaluable tool for implementing the ideas discussed, and for adapting them to local and regional conditions.

CURRENT TOPICS IN COUNTY ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT: SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT AND THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT http://www.naco.org/pubs/catalog/environ.cfm

Detailed fact sheet describing the link between solid waste management and greenhouse gas emissions. Also provides examples of communities that are reducing solid waste and greenhouse gases through successful recycling and reuse drop-off and curbside collection programs. Published by the National Association of Counties in conjunction with the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives.

SPRAWL CITY: RACE, POLITICS, AND PLANNING IN ATLANTA http://www.islandpress.org/books/bookdata/sprawlcity.html

A serious but often overlooked impact of the random, unplanned growth commonly known as sprawl is its effect on economic and racial polarization. Sprawl-fueled growth pushes people further apart geographically, politically, economically, and socially. Atlanta, Georgia, one of the fastest-growing areas in the country, offers a striking example of sprawl-induced stratification. Sprawl City uses a multi-disciplinary approach to analyze and critique the emerging crisis resulting from urban sprawl in the ten-county Atlanta metropolitan region. Local experts including sociologists, lawyers, urban planners, economists, educators, and health care professionals consider sprawl-related concerns as core environmental justice and civil rights issues. Contributors focus on institutional constraints that are embedded in urban sprawl, considering how government housing, education, and transportation policies have aided and in some cases subsidized separate but unequal economic development and segregated neighborhoods. They offer analysis of the causes and consequences of urban sprawl, and outline policy recommendations and an action agenda for coping with sprawl-related problems, both in Atlanta and around the country.

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BUILDING COMMUNITIES FOR TOMORROW http://www.profiles.iastate.edu/bct/

A collection of tutorials and resource information intended to assist local planners in directing community change. Information in the Community Assessment directory of BCT provides reference materials and guides for inventorying community resources, assessing community strengths and weaknesses, and developing a community vision and action plan. The Community Data Analysis directory provides tutorials on analytical and presentation techniques to help planners make use of the reference data located under Community Assessment.

CONFRONTING SUBURBAN DECLINE: STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR METROPOLITAN RENEWAL http://www.islandpress.org/books/bookdata/subdecl.html

Sprawling commercial and residential development in outer suburbs and exurban areas has for a number of years masked increasingly severe socioeconomic problems in suburban America. In recent decades, income declines, crime increases, and tax base erosion have affected many suburbs to an extent previously seen only in central cities. In Confronting Suburban Decline, authors William H. Lucy and David L. Phillips examine conditions and trends in cities and suburbs since 1960, arguing that beginning in the 1980s, the United States entered a "post-suburban" era of declining suburbs with maturation of communities accompanied by large-scale deterioration. The authors examine why suburban decline has become widespread and how the "tyranny of easy development decisions" often results in new housing being built outside of areas.

FIGHTING BILLBOARD BLIGHT: AN ACTION GUIDE FOR CITIZENS AND PUBLIC OFFICIALS http://www.scenic.org/pubslist.htm

A guide intended to help protect the natural beauty and distinctive character of communities from billboards. Published by Scenic America.

EXPLORING OPTIONS FOR URBAN SUSTAINABILITY http://www.cnt.org/sustain/book.html

Intended as a resource to support the development of local and national networks to learn about and act on sustainability in densely populated industrial regions. Includes materials intended to help groups create a shared language about sustainability, explore some of the deeper questions and values around sustainability, map the important human and biological systems in their regions, measure and assess the sustainability of current use patterns, build ongoing networks, and organize for action. Created by the Urban Sustainability Learning Group, a project of The Tides Center.

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CUTTING THE WASTE STREAM IN HALF: COMMUNITY RECORD-SETTERS SHOW HOW http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/reduce/r99013.pdf

This report profiles 18 communities with record-setting residential or municipal solid waste reduction levels. It examines the policies and strategies used to reach high diversion levels and describes characteristics common to many of the programs. It provides methods for determining the cost-effectiveness of community waste reduction programs and presents tips to help communities replicate these successful programs.

OFFICIAL EARTH DAY GUIDE TO PLANET REPAIR http://www.islandpress.org/books/bookdata/earthday.html

Earth Day leader and renewable energy expert Denis Hayes describes how changes in individual, local, and national energy choices can slow or even stop the dangerous build-up of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, while at the same time saving us money, helping the economy, creating new jobs, and enhancing human health. A how-to home improvement guide for the planet, the book: describesthe problem of global warming today as well as its likely effects in the future; considersthe sources of energy available to us, and explains why one of them is the Earth's best hope; offersdozens of ways to painlessly reduce your own energy use; and providesaction steps to affect the world's energy use and help change policy.

EPA OFFICE OF GLOBAL WARMING http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/index.html

EPA's Office of Global Warming recently revamped its website, offering information on climate change and global warming in a way that is accessible and meaningful to all parts of society. The new site makes it easier to access information on a variety of global change topics. The site's =93Visitor's Center" offers information f= or specific stakeholders, including public decision-makers and concerned citizens.

OUR LAND, OURSELVES: READINGS ON PEOPLE AND PLACE http://www.tpl.org/newsroom/announce/ourland.html

A multi-year effort by the Trust for Public Land to help itself and the larger conservation movement to more fully understand and apply the core social values imbedded in land conservation. Authors include Aldo Leopold, Wendell Berry, Harry S. Truman, Gary Snyder, James Howard Kunstler, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Bill McKibben. To order, contact Chelsea Green Publishing at 800 / 639-4099.

STATE INVESTMENT STRATEGIES TO SAVE OPEN SPACE AND STEER DEVELOPMENT http://www.nga.org/Pubs/IssueBriefs/1999/Sum990221SmartGrowth.asp

A report from the National Governor's Association on state programs that invest in land acquisition and infrastructure to promote economically and environmentally beneficial development. The report features examples of programs developed with the strong support of Governors in Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, and Utah.

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GLOBAL SYSTEM FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT http://gssd.mit.edu/Gssd/gssd.nsf

A project of the Global Accords Consortium for Sustainable Development housed at MIT, the GSSD provides a cross- referenced index to some of the best resources and materials on sustainability to be found on the Internet. This project's major objective is to explore innovative responses to sustainability challenges at all levels of development, in all parts of the world and to involve a wide range of public and private stakeholder communities in this process.

TECHNIQUES FOR TRACKING, EVALUATING, AND REPORTING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF NONPOINT SOURCE CONTROL MEASURES -- AGRICULTURE http://www.epa.gov/owow/nps/agfinal.html

This guide is intended to assist state, regional, and local environmental professionals in tracking the implementation of best management practices (BMPs) used to control agricultural nonpoint source pollution.

GUIDE TO FEDERAL ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION AND STATISTICS http://yosemite.epa.gov/guide/guide.nsf/HomePage/Home?opendocument

A directory of national-level environmental information that is collected, analyzed, and disseminated by the U.S. Government.

IMPACTS OF TRANSPORTATION INVESTMENT ON EQUITY AND LAND USE http://www.transact.org/bib/bib.htm

An annotated bibliography covering fiscal capacity, land use and transportation, low-density development, spatial mismatch, and transportation and equity. Published by the Surface Transportation Policy Project for the Federal Transit Administration.

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