Articles
People across the country were surprised last year when Bicycling magazine named Minneapolis America’s “#1 Bike City”, beating out Portland, Oregon, which had claimed the honor...
Credit: Thirteen of Clubs/FlickrMinneapolis is committed to creating separate rights-of-way for bikes wherever feasible, which helps explain why the city defies trends...
The nation’s first major bikesharing program hit the streets in Minneapolis in June 2010, quickly followed by Denver, Washington, D.C. Boston and Toronto—with Seattle, Chicago,...
A recumbent cycle on Martin Olav Sabo Bridge Credit: Livewombat/FlickrDuring the recent bicycle tour of Minneapolis, Mayor R.T. Rybak stressed that in these lean economic...
Credit: Edgar Zuniga Jr./FlickrSalt Lake City has the ignominious distinction of ranking as the country’s seventh most polluted city by short-term particle pollution,...
Photo Credit: Chicago Bicycle ProgramThe title of this post should really be "Bike lanes create jobs, duhhhhhhhhhh." A new study from the University of Massachusetts is...
Nandini Velho, a new arrival from the laid-back seaside town of Goa, rides the Delhi Metro every day to work. She boards the women’s-only compartment at Haus Khas station,...
Credit: Shanti MenonNandini Velho, a new arrival from the laid-back seaside town of Goa, rides the Delhi Metro every day to work. She boards the women’s-only compartment...
Credit: Shanti MenonNandini Velho, a new arrival from the laid-back seaside town of Goa, rides the Delhi Metro every day to work. She boards the women’s-only compartment...
Credit:Courtesy of the City of San FranciscoIn San Francisco, “we put transit first, ahead of the passenger car,” says Bridget Smith, acting principal engineer and...
Credit: Oconomowoc Transport Co.Partly rural, partly urban, and close to Sacramento without being under city jurisdiction, the Yolo metropolitan region (which encompasses...
Credit: Kevin H/FlickrRecently ranked the most tightly packed metropolitan region in the nation, the National Capital Region (4,000 square miles in the District of...
No Cars But Plenty of Life on Broadway. Credit: Paul McRandleThe Natural Resources Defense Council's Smarter Cities project has named fifteen U.S. metropolitan regions...
Credit:New HavenMore commuters walk or bike to work in New Haven, Connecticut, than in anywhere else in New England. One of the first planned cities in the country, New...
Credit:Wikipedia CommunityThe New York metropolitan region has one clear historic advantage when it comes to efficient transportation—population density like nowhere else...
Credit:Kyle Gradinger/FlickrDon’t see the link between transit and food? Philly does. The City of Philadelphia and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority...
Credit:Courtesy of the City of BostonIn fall 2009 Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino established the city’s Complete Streets program with the words, “The car is no longer the...
Credit:Chicago Tourism BureauHome to one of the largest and oldest transit systems in the country, the Chicago metropolitan region has long been a national transportation...
Credit:Portland Bureau of Transportation“In Portland it’s almost like cars don’t exist, right? They ride bikes! They ride double-decker bikes! They ride unicycles! They...
Jersey Central Terminal, Credit:Vilseskogen/FlickrJersey City easily captured a top spot among medium-size metropolitan regions in our transportation study. This densely...
Credit:NonsequitorlassBremerton lies in Kitsap County, Washington, just a ferry ride across the Puget Sound from Seattle. With its semirural population, the region is an...
Credit:DMFK/FlickrContrary to common perception, Boulder is not a bedroom community to Denver; it actually serves as a regional subcenter for surrounding cities such as...
Credit:Mary Logan BarmeyerFamous for urban sprawl, bumper-to-bumper traffic and seasonal smog, the Los Angeles region still has many challenges for integrating...
Credit:AreaRapidTransitThe Lincoln metropolitan region can thank the unique characteristics of its central City of Lincoln for its place among NRDC’s top 15 Smarter...
Credit:FHKE/FlickrThe Pacific island of Oahu, Hawaii, boasts towering mountains, gorgeous ocean views, and a dense metropolitan region that keeps on growing. Oahu Transit...
Credit:Wikipedia CommunityIn the Champaign-Urbana metro region in Illinois, the focus of the transit district is on getting people out of their cars by offering a full...
February 2011 Update: Bremerton has been named a 2011 Smarter City for Transportation. Bremerton is the largest city in Kitsap County, Washington. It lies just a 55...
February 2011 Update: Jersy City has been named a 2011 Smarter City for Transportation. Jersey City, the second largest city in New Jersey, sits on the Hackensack...
February 2011 Update: Lincoln has been named a 2011 Smarter City for Transportation. Nebraska’s capital city is home to 90 percent of the population of the Lincoln...
February 2011 Update: Davis, Yolo County, has been named a 2011 Smarter City for Transportation. Davis is the largest city in Yolo County, California. Davis is home...
February 2011 Update: Urbana has been named a 2011 Smarter City for Transportation. Urbana shares a border with the neighboring city of Champaign. Urbana is home to...
Credit: Zach VanderkooyIt’s become a cliché that Portland is America’s most livable city and a hotbed of innovations when it comes to green policies, public spaces,...
Credit: OPowerEvery morning, shortly after waking up, Bill Rowan checks to see how much electricity he used the night before.“I really want to cut my energy bills...
Credit: FlickrIn the United States 28 million tons of plastic and 250 million tons of trash are thrown away every year. This mountain of waste includes rich veins of old...
Credit: FlickrIn the United States 28 million tons of plastic and 250 million tons of trash are thrown away every year. This mountain of waste includes rich veins of old...
Credit: Oconomowoc Transport Co.The 11 new school buses in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin don’t look particularly special. They’re painted the same yellow, carry the same kids and...
Credit: danishwindindustry/FlickrOn the national level, America looks unwilling to come to terms either with its addiction to oil or with the need to address global...
Credit: cjzurcher/FlickrEvery year nearly 30 billion gallons of wastewater filled with untreated sewage and pollution overflows into New York City’s waterways. Last week...
Credit: Professor Bop/FlickrThe sun shines often on Florida, a fact that gave it bragging rights on license plates with the nickname, the “Sunshine State.” The northern...
One of 1.3 million compostable cups kept out of the stadiium's garbage this year. Credit: Gregory Luke SmithCertain things are essential at a ball game. Killer seats...
Kids getting ready to bike home at this primary school in Utrecht, Netherlands. Ninety-five percent of the older kids bike to school at least some of the time. Credit:...
With the growing popularity of cycling in the Netherlands, finding a parking place for your bike is becoming more difficult, as seen here in the Hague. Credit: Jay...
San Francisco board of supervisors president David Chiu looks out on Java Island, a new neighborhood in Amsterdam where bikes and pedestrians (and boats) take priority...
Credit Shira Golding/FlickrNew York and Connecticut families with school-age children can breathe a little easier. Earlier this year, Governor David Paterson signed...
Credit: Pantagrapher/FickrFive days a week, two skimmer boats known as TrashCats move along the Anacostia River, their front pincer-like gates opening wide to swallow...
Credit: Recompose/FlickrCourts have handed defeat after defeat to New York City in its effort to replace gas-chugging cabs with fuel-efficient hybrids. The latest blow...
Credit: Giant Ginko/FlickrThe smart grid, long past due, is getting closer to becoming a reality. In a digital age, where smart phones and other gadgets ensure we’re...
Lighter colored strata revealed by the decline in Lake Mead's water levels. For more on Las Vegas, read the city profile. Credit: Loop_oh/FlickrFor recent visitors to...
Flooding and sewer overflow in West Haven, Connecticut. Credit: Christopher ZurcherThe impervious paving with which we are so familiar—the asphalt and concrete that...
Credit: Mike Willis/FlickrDubuque, Iowa's city government has made a greener future a top priority for several years, but now they’re reaching out to citizens,...
July 2010 Update: Huntington Beach has been named a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article.Two things are of paramount importance to the typical Huntington Beach...
Reno, Nevada is known for its casinos and quick divorces, but this city at the foot of the Sierra Nevadas also has a flourishing green energy sector. In addition to a number of...
Twenty-two U.S. cities have been named "2010 Smarter Cities" for their investment in green power, energy efficiency measures and conservation by the Natural Resources Defense...
Credit: Martapiqs/Flickr In Santa Cruz, the residents are a powerful resource for preventing emissions of heat-trapping pollutants. Since 1996, emissions associated with...
The Electric Power Research Institute has estimated that power from tides and currents could generate 3,000 megawatts of power. In 2008, Verdant Power deployed these...
Illinois Capitol Building in Springfield Credit: Aka Keith/FlickrWhile Chicago has received more coverage for its green roof effort and its climate action plan, the...
Credit: Alkiol/FlickrSanta Clarita, California has a commitment to clean energy and conservation that is already making its mark: The city’s latest energy consumption...
In 2005, Local 103 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers installed the first commercial-scale wind turbine in Boston. All IBEW 103 apprentice...
Credit: Chicago Convention and Tourism BureausWhen it launched in September 2008, the Chicago Climate Action Plan was one of the country’s most comprehensive, aggressive...
Credit: Adrian World/FlickrUrban heat island effect takes a toll on Austin: In the middle of the summer, ubiquitous air conditioners dump heat outdoors while black-topped...
Credit: City of OaklandOakland has attracted nationwide attention for its efforts to couple solutions to poverty and environmental problems. “We believe in a...
Credit: Kevin Dooley/FlickrLong Beach is joining the front lines in the fight against global warming, releasing its first greenhouse gas emissions inventory in 2009 and...
Credit: CodyDean/FlickrEnvironmental reforms in Columbus, Ohio began in earnest in 2005, with the release of the city’s greenhouse gas analysis and the launch of a policy...
Credit: jcookfisher/FlickrKnown as “Surf City”, for its 8.5 miles of beaches and ideal waves, Huntington Beach can now add “NRDC 2010 Smarter City” to its list of...
Credit: KLINX/FlickrIt’s not just its proximity to green superstar Portland that makes Beaverton, Oregon, an energy leader. To be sure, it benefits from, for example,...
Credit: photokayaker/FlickrDespite a 5 percent growth in population, Fort Collins, Colorado’s annual greenhouse gas emissions haven’t increased since 2005, thanks in...
Credit: Mischiru/Flickr San Francisco’s dense urban core, located on the tip of a peninsula in the San Francisco Bay, translates into energy savings when it comes to...
Photovoltaics at Trinity River Audubon Center. Credit: Kevin Lefebvre One of the top municipal purchasers of renewable energy in the country, Dallas purchases a full 40...
Credit: Rich Anderson/FlickrAs a small city in a big state, Denton often struggles for priority in state and federal funding for environmental projects—but it also gets...
Credit: Hectore/FlickrWith 302 days of unadulterated sun each year, it comes as no surprise that El Paso (aka “Sun City”), Texas is aggressively pursuing onsite solar...
Mayor Tom Bates created Berkeley FIRST—the first program of its kind in the world—to allow residents to pay for solar installations as a voluntary long-term assessment...
Credit: Elephant Wearing Striped Pants/FlickrWet climate and Jimi Hendrix aside, Seattle is known for its ahead-of-the-curve energy conservation and production...
Credit: Conlawprof/FlickrPortland, Oregon—long a green frontrunner—has been named an NRDC Smarter City for its energy conservation programs and green energy production...
Credit: danishwindindustryassociation/FlickrLook out your window on a commercial flight across West Texas and you’ll enjoy plenty of clear views of the American landscape...
East of the Cascade Mountains in Washington state, the city of Ellensburg is the sunlit home of a America's first community solar project and provides easy access to hiking,...
Credit: Rob GoodierNew York City's underground beekeepers can come out of hiding. The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene voted unanimously today to lift a decade-old...
This article is the first in an upcoming feature series at Grist called "Cities of the Future," spotlighting cities that are taking innovative steps to build a sustainable future...
150 blocks that were once decaying in the heart of Kansas City, Missouri, are on the verge of a green renewal through government grants and local business investment. What’s...
View the Roots to Reentry photo gallery Credit: Margaret FunderbergJamie Oliver may have trademarked the idea of a food revolution with his recent reality show, but in...
Rising beside Lake Eyrie, Cleveland grew as a manufacturing center based on Great Lakes shipping traffic. Having weathered the decline of its manufacturing industry, the city is...
Situated on Bellingham Bay at the northern end of the Puget Sound, Bellingham is both a university town and an industrial center, home to an aging pulp mill owned until 2001 by...
Most of Washington's fuel for electricity comes from clean, renewable hydropower, the process of which emits almost no air-quality-damaging emissions after construction of the...
Tallahassee is going a long way to make its bus system, StarMetro, a popular means of transportation to get cars off the road. Florida State University and Florida A&M...
February 2011 Update: Washington D.C. has been named a 2011 Smarter City for Transportation. Based on the number of walkable urban places per capita, The Brookings...
The township of Wayne has a rehabilitation program to repair homes in substandard condition for those with low incomes.
Halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego in Orange County, Mission Viejo, like its green neighbor Irvine, is a young, master-planned community, which was only incorporated in...
Located in Silicon Valley just outside the San Francisco Bay Area, Mountain View is home to many high-tech companies—including Google and Intuit—whose local contributions have...
Founded as an industrial mill town, Nashua is refashioning its older structures into new ones that embrace the culture and history of the locale. Its brownfield remediation...
February 2011 Update: New York has been named a 2011 Smarter City for Transportation. New York is also a 2010 Smarter City for Energy.New York is a city of...
Forty miles northeast of the City of New York, Norwalk, Connecticut, is located on the Long Island Sound in an area with a long history of oystering. It is a city highly...
July 2010 Update: Oakland has been designated a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article.Long plagued by high levels of unemployment and poverty, Oakland is now working to...
The City of Phoenix has more than 70 sustainability initiatives and has had a citizen-based Environmental Quality Commission since 1987 that has helped to guide the city's...
February 2011 Update: Portland has been named a 2011 Smarter City for Transportation. Portland is also a 2010 Smarter City for Energy.Portland's status as one...
A suburb of green-frontrunner Seattle and situated between the Cascade Mountain Range and Puget Sound, Redmond is known as the Bicycle Capital of the Northwest and has 34 parks...
In March 2009, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded Riverside City and County with $7.1 million for local housing and service programs—a dramatic...
As the capital of California, a state with demanding environmental requirements, Sacramento works to lead by example in the state's push to lower energy emissions, conserve...
The City of Salem seeks to triple the share of bicycle trips among all transportation modes by 2015, thereby decreasing emissions from vehicles and enhancing air quality.
San Diego has gained a reputation as one of California's most sprawling cities but it's a reputation the city government is working to shed. By using "smart growth" principles—...
July 2010 Update: San Francisco has been named a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article.San Francisco has long been an incubator for progressive movements, and its...
San José's Clean Tech strategy aims to get progressive businesses to move to the city, which Mayor Chuck Reed calls "fertile ground for new technologies." With an established...
Santa Rosa, a gateway to California's wine country north of San Francisco, has adopted innovative energy practices—using unique sources such as algae and geysers—that have...
A vacation town on the Gulf of Mexico, Sarasota has a transient population that can be challenging to rally for the city's green plans. But the city has involved the public...
The rise of air-conditioning in the 1950s opened up swathes of the Southwest to development at an unheard of scale in extremely fragile desert ecosystems. One such community,...
Just west of the Idaho Rockies, Spokane straddles the Spokane River in the plains of Eastern Washington. A signatory to the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection...
For cities in the overcast, mountainous Pacific Northwest, hydropower provides the most feasible form of renewable energy and Everett is no exception. The Snohomish County...
As one of the fastest growing metropolitan statistical areas in the country, Fayetteville, Arkansas has sought to find a way to make that growth green. Set in the moderate...
July 2010 Update: Fort Collins has been named a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article.Although universities are vital to their locales, the distance between town and...
Fremont is ethnically and racially diverse, with around 46 percent of its population from Asian descent and more than 15 percent of Hispanic origin.
The Metropolitan Water District provides water to city residents and businesses. In 2009, it will begin providing California-friendly landscaping training for residents free of...
Hayward's Area Park and Recreation District, or H.A.R.D., is the biggest of its kind in California, maintaining more than 100 facilities and parks.
Huntsville, Alabama, may be best known for its aerospace, military and technology industries; it is home to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, the Army's Redstone Arsenal base...
Irvine is a new planned city—formally incorporated in 1971—that has been almost entirely developed by the Irvine Company, which owns one-fifth of Orange County known as the...
Like most of Southern California, La Habra faces a growing demand for water and a shrinking supply.
Laredo shares a metropolitan area with its neighbor across the Rio Grande, Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and is dubbed the "Gateway to Mexico." With railroad expansion in the 1880s and...
With close to four million residents, Los Angeles is the major player in Southern California, the world's 14th largest economy. Its municipally owned utility, the Los Angeles...
The capital of Wisconsin, Madison fans out from the isthmus between Lake Mendota and Lake Monona, providing the city with a natural landscape its citizens enjoy year-round and...
The City of Mesa's utility customers can donate a dollar or more with their monthly bill payments to a program called "ABC: A Better Community."
The Minnesota Valley Wildlife Refuge borders the city of Burnsville, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis/St. Paul. Because of the nearby natural resources—including the Minnesota...
Charleston, South Carolina, has a rich cultural past, and its historic architecture is one of its chief prides. Highly protected, these buildings form the backbone of Charleston...
February 2011 Update: Chicago has been named a 2011 Smarter City for Transportation. Chicago is also a 2010 Smarter City for Energy.Home to the world's first...
July 2010 Update: Dallas has been named a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article.Improving air quality is at the forefront of Dallas's environmental policy. Currently, 70...
July 2010 Update: Denton has been named a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article.As a part of the Dallas–Fort Worth greater metropolitan region, Denton, Texas, is one of...
Coloradans understand the value of water in their semi-arid state and there is nothing casual about their referring to it as "liquid gold." Seasonal snowmelt from the Rocky...
July 2010 Update: Dubuque has been named a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article.One of the first settlements west of the Mississippi, Dubuque has the oldest historic...
July 2010 Update: El Paso, Texas has been named a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article. In March 2007, El Paso's City Council adopted an Open Space Master Plan with the...
Green space makes up 16 percent of Eugene, including more than 3,000 acres of natural areas—and it is continuing to grow with the acquisition of 260 more acres of natural land...
Water conservation has been a major challenge for this northeast Georgia city, which relies almost entirely on surface water and has struggled with overdevelopment and an...
July 2010 Update: Berkeley has been named a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article. Berkeley, just across the Bay from San Francisco, has always been a city of green...
The village of Arlington Heights is Chicago's largest suburb in Cook County—and one of its oldest—and its proximity to the city has presented both challenges and advantages to...
Photo credit: Siebuhr/FlickrThere is no Shangri-la on Earth, but recent news stories say that Denmark comes the closest.
Photo credit: Wikipedia communityI count myself a lucky man this time of year because I always take a couple of days off around my birthday and bike all over town. I...
Photo Credit: Megapolis2024/FlickrIt feels a bit strange to be sitting in the middle of one of the world’s wealthiest neighborhoods, and to be so thoroughly engrossed in...
Freiburg, Germany Photo Credit: Gregorius Mundus/FlickrMy infatuation with cities began on a college-vacation visit to Montreal, where I was enchanted by...
Ever since I published the Great Neighborhood Book, almost everyone I meet asks: What's your favorite neighborhood? Until now I never had a ready answer.
Photo Credit: back stage/FlickrSmall is beautiful. That's been a motto of the green movement since the 1970s. And it certainly describes Rock Port--a town of 1,300 in...
Photo Credit: Denise Carbonell/FlickrOne of the worst things ever to hit our communities was the belief that homes, shops and workplaces should be strictly segregated...
Photo credit: Ashton Hayes Going Carbon NeutralGlobal climate change hits us as an overwhelming, yet distantly abstract problem. It’s worth losing sleep over, but with...
Totnes, England. Photo credit: street spirit909/FlickrThe coming threat of both global warming and diminishing oil supplies has spurred more than 150 communities to...
As wild as it might seem today, streets were once a commons used by everyone. People walked there, biked there, boarded streetcars there, even stopped there to have...
Photo credit: Emily Penguin/FlickrThere is a new fruit stand on the corner near my home. I think it’s terrific, but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t belong there. The cart...
North of New York City near the bank of the Hudson River there is fertile land for pumpkin patches, apple orchards and pastures. Here, near the town of Tivoli, Ben Shute...
Photo Credit: Ed Yourdan/FlickrIt’s been endlessly debated, does recycling make economic sense? In New York City, back in 2002, Mayor Bloomberg proposed cuts to the city...
New Yorkers share the boroughs with black bears, hawks, newts and other wildlife. Rob Goodier interviews biologists and citizen scientists engaged in studying species in urban...
July 2010 Update: Long Beach has been named a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article.Long Beach Transit is the first transit agency in the world to use electric-gasoline...
Much of Ann Arbor, Michigan's environmental progress owes its origins to the handiwork of grassroots organizations. In fact, Recycle Ann Arbor, a nonprofit organization that...
Irondequoit was one of the first cities in the country to sign the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement to advance the goals of the Kyoto Protocol.
The Kane Street Community Garden is on land owned by the City of La Crosse and is managed by the Hunger Task Force.
La Mesa is well served by San Diego's regional Metropolitan Transit System, which covers 3,240 square miles of service area and has 290,000 riders each weekday.
Each of the Hawaiian islands is on its own energy grid, isolated thousands of miles from the mainland. Transporting fuel for energy is expensive, and the state of Hawaii gives...
Merced contracted ECO:LOGIC Engineering for facility design and permitting of its upgraded wastewater treatment plant, which includes a new filtration technology and expanded...
Newton’s Health and Human Services Department includes commissions that focus on human rights, youth, seniors and those with disabilities.
In 1984, the City of Petaluma created the mission-driven Housing Program with a goal of making 10 to 15 percent of housing affordable; it has since exceeded this goal by...
Since 1977, Redwood City has had a Housing and Human Concerns Committee that is responsible for ensuring that the quality of life for all residents has been considered in the...
Roseville public schools benefit from the partnerships with large companies with a presence in the city, including Hewlett-Packard, SureWest, IBM, Xerox Corporation and Apple...
In 2008, the city launched a climate protection campaign called SMART, or San Mateo Acting Responsibly Together, to educate city employees and the community about the importance...
Pacific Gas & Electric supplies 40 percent of California with energy, including San Ramon.
July 2010 Update: Santa Cruz has been named a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article.Although much of California is known for smog, Santa Cruz County has consistently...
Santa Monica's Green Building Ordinance went into effect in May 2008 and will apply to all new construction, including single-family homes.
The Turlock Irrigation District is one of only four publicly owned irrigation districts in the state of California that also provides electricity to residents.
Union City's Tri-CED community recycling is the largest nonprofit recycler in California that is dedicated to employing needy adults and providing training for disadvantaged...
Union Township is a small city situated in the Highlands Preservation Area of New Jersey, with firm restrictions on future development.
Since the 1970s, the Warwick Wildlife and Conservation Commission has existed to protect the city's natural resources and work with the planning commission to create development...
Wheaton's park district maintains 829 acres of parks, pools and green space for recreation, and an online map shows bicycle paths connecting them.
The Vallejo Neighborhood Housing Services works to rehabilitate deteriorating neighborhoods in Vallejo while simultaneously creating affordable housing.
The State of California recognized Ventura for reducing the amount of waste the city sent to the landfill by 70 percent.
Westminster, a northwest suburb of Denver, lies in close proximity to mountains and trails. In 1985, voters approved a sales tax earmarked specifically for purchasing and...
Photo credit: Ladik/FlickrIt’s still early on a cold March morning that threatens rain, yet Rome’s Piazza Navona teems with life. Young men deliver boxfuls of wine,...
Because Antioch's tagline is the "Gateway to the Delta" of the San Joaquin and Sacramento Rivers at the San Francisco Bay, water management is a top priority for the city.
The twin cities of Bloomington and Normal rank among the top in the country for the least amount of ozone in the air, based on the American Lung Association’s 2008 State of the...
Boca Raton, which is known for having some of the most expensive gated communities in the country, is making strides toward developing more affordable housing opportunities.
February 2011 Update: Boulder has been named a 2011 Smarter City for Transportation. The City of Boulder has also been a pioneer in green building since 1980 when...
The City of Carlsbad has a five-member commission, appointed by the mayor, for the interests of seniors in the community.
February 2011 Update: Champaign has been named a 2011 Smarter City for Transportation. Like other cities in Illinois, Champaign–Urbana is subject to the Smoke-Free...
The independent nonprofit Hartley Nature Center at Hartley Park teaches Duluth youth about nature in an eco-friendly building, which has a geothermal heat pump and solar panels...
In April 2009, the township of Edison established the Clara Barton–Amboy Avenue Neighborhood Home Loan Program to revitalize this particular historic neighborhood while...
The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System provides trolley service on two lines to El Cajon, connecting it to nearby downtown San Diego, as well as to other cities and...
The Fall River Energy Enterprise (FREE) was started by the city’s mayor in effort to green the city, redevelop the downtown area, make it a renewable-energy leader in the region...
In June 2008, the City of Flagstaff adopted a resolution mandating that all new municipal buildings be LEED-silver certified and should seek platinum certification wherever...
Gastonia's Wastewater Treatment Division was the first government entity to win the North Carolina Environmental Stewardship Award in 2005, an award from the state's voluntary...
Hemet is a part of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which provides a "Be Water Wise" site with tips on conserving water and information on rebates, and a...
The Village of Hoffman Estates has a volunteer Environmental Commission that liases with state and county attorney generals' offices on environmental education and laws.
Arvada is constructing solar energy capacity at its water treatment plant in partnership with SunEdison, and will be the first city in Colorado to have a system of this size run...
Most of Washington's fuel for electricity comes from clean, renewable hydropower, the process of which emits almost no air-quality-damaging emissions after construction of the...
In 2008, Boise created the Excellence in Green Building Construction awards to encourage environmentally sound construction as a part of the mayor's charge to make Boise the...
Southern California has been suffering from the eight-year-long drought on the Colorado River, little local rainfall, and a judicial order to reduce pumping from the Sacramento-...
Because buildings account for nearly half of the greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., Cambridge has instituted a Green Building Policy, which includes maintaining a Green...
Cape Coral, like much of the country, is suffering from high rates of foreclosure. But the city has worked to make it an attractive place for relocation and for businesses with...
Chesapeake adapted eight and a half miles of the former Virginia Route 17 into a multi-use trail for walkers, bicyclists, horseback riders, naturalists and wildlife enthusiasts.
El Monte's electricity is provided by Southern California Edison, which obtains 16 percent of its energy from renewable sources and is the country's largest purchaser of...
The Cascade Engineering company's headquarters, known as the "Learning Community," was the first office building in Michigan to achieve LEED-platinum certification.
Energy in Henderson is provided by NV Energy, which has a long-term contract to obtain solar power from Nevada Solar One, the largest solar plant built anywhere in the world in...
The Massachusetts Smoke-Free Workplace Law prohibits smoking in workplaces, including restaurants, bars, taxis and private offices.
Naperville has a strong public school system, with both high schools in District 203 ranking in the U.S. News and World Report’s top 2 to 3 percent of the country’s schools.
February 2011 Update: New Haven has been named a 2011 Smarter City for Transportation. New Haven revolves around green space. When the city was developed in the...
In order to preserve potable water for drinking, the City of Ontario is actively pushing higher use of recycled water.
Palmdale's electricity is provided by Southern California Edison, which obtains 16 percent of its energy from renewable sources and is the country's largest purchaser of green...
July 2010 Update: Reno, Nevada has been named a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article.Each year, the City of Reno hosts a Green Summit inviting all residents to...
Energy East Corporation's upstate New York subsidiaries, Rochester Gas & Electric and New York State Gas & Electric, are together ranked tenth in the country on the U.S...
The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority runs 450 buses on 75 routes and 100 light rail vehicles on more than 42.2 miles of rail from Santa Clara, at the southern tip of...
July 2010 Update: Santa Clarita has been named a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article.The city diverts 54 percent of its waste from the landfill, and even offers...
In Stamford, the Mayor’s Youth Services Bureau has programs that teach life skills and leadership skills and build self-confidence in the city’s youth.
The city maintains an updated directory of recycling centers for hard-to-recycle items throughout the city and area, for everything ranging from diapers to mattresses to carpets...
Sunnyvale Works! is a unique initiative of the local government in Sunnyvale, California, that will fund more than $60 million in capital improvements in the city—augmented by...
Tempe's Transportation Department supports sustainability by promoting walking, biking and alternative modes of transit, and by building a Transportation Center, which opened at...
The City of Thousand Oaks maintains a Disabled Access Appeals and Advisory Board to represent the needs of physically challenged residents of the community.
Aurora focuses on the well-being of youth with its Office of Youth Development and Youth Commission.
Charlotte is known for its smart city planning and development, which plays a major role in its Environment Focus Area Plan, updated twice a year.
In early 2008, Government Fleet magazine named Colorado Springs the country's top municipal user of biodiesel for its fleet.
July 2010 Update: Columbus has been named a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article.Taking advantage of its flat terrain, Columbus aims to be the bicycling capital of the...
February 2011 Update: Honolulu has been named a 2011 Smarter City for Transportation. Being thousands of ocean miles away from any other major city gives Honolulu...
According to the Trust for Public Land, of the ten most populous cities in the U.S., none has more green space than Houston, with 56,405 acres.
Jacksonville has an Environmental Quality Division completely devoted to air and water quality protection.
Kansas City is serious about maintaining its good water quality, and it does so efficiently. The Water Services Department purchases 10 million pounds of carbon dioxide waste...
To keep Nevada's clean air clean, Las Vegas has an urban forestry initiative, continues to develop trails for non-motorized transportation, has an alternative fuels program that...
Louisville's Partnership for a Green City is a collaborative effort between the Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Government, the University of Louisville and the Jefferson...
Redeveloping brownfields (former industrial or commercial sites with possible environmental issues), rather than building on greenfields (unused rural or suburban land),...
In Minneapolis, all city departments are required to incorporate sustainability guidelines into their business plans through the Environmental Coordinating Team, which was...
February 2011 Update: Philadelphia has been named a 2011 Smarter City for Transportation. The City of Philadelphia's partnership with PhillyCarShare has resulted...
The City of St. Paul recently reclaimed and restored a 27-acre post-industrial site along the Mississippi River and transformed it into the Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary.
Tampa was the second city in Florida to be designated with the Gold-Level Certified Green Local Government status by the Florida Green Building Coalition.
Multi-story urban farms may feed city dwellers in the years to come. Rob Goodier interviews Dickson Despommier, a professor of public health at Columbia University, on the...
Photovoltaic testing at Underwriters Laboratory. Photo credit: City of San JoseMechanics construct windmills in Indianapolis while lab techs in Silicon Valley crank out...
July 2010 Update: Austin has been named a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article.One major advantage in climate change protection that Austin, Texas, has over other cities...
Of all the changes of language a traveler in distant lands must face, none equals that which awaits him in the city of Hypatia, because the change regards not words, but things
July 2010 Update: Seattle has been named a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article.Although Seattle has a long history of environmental action, global warming has spurred...
February 2011 Update: Boston has been named a 2011 Smarter City for Transportation. Boston is also a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Among large cities, Boston stands out as...
When voters passed the indoor smoking ban in November 2006, Ohio became the first Midwestern state and the first tobacco-growing state to outlaw smoking in public buildings,...
July 2010 Update: Springfield has been named a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article.Like many Midwestern towns, Springfield, Illinois, is faced with aging power plants,...
July 2010 Update: Beaverton has been named a 2010 Smarter City for Energy. Read the article.Beaverton, Oregon, lies just seven miles west of green leader Portland, and the TriMet...
Photo credit: Christina Spicuzza/FlickrIn the early part of the 20th century, rivers in industrial cities, laden with raw sewage and oil-soaked debris, would catch fire...
Photo credit: Paul McRandleWhen you hear that Bloomberg has shut down Broadway, it sounds like the morality police have muscled in to stamp out illicit pleasures. But...
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