Austin has long been a home for friendly folk- friendly to each other, friendly to animals, and friendly to the environment. What used to be considered as only the concerns of hippies and the bohemian sect, environmentalism is now at the forefront of commercial and residential design, and “green” businesses are popping up nationwide. Austin, however, was the first city in the United States to establish a local green-building program, laying out environmentally friendly and sustainable guidelines for home builders and its interested citizens back in 1991.

Since the Austin real estate market is known nationwide as the leader of these green building methods, the National Association of Home Builders chose the city as its hub to launch an industry-wide effort to establish green-building guidelines in 2004. These guidelines now provide a practical nationally recognized framework for builders to follow to reduce a home’s environmental impact by making them more energy efficient, improving indoor environmental quality, and so on. Though Austin has already been using similar guidelines for over a decade, now the rest of the country is following suit.

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Government agencies are no longer exempt from environmental laws and a city or municipality must know those laws if they are to make decisions without getting themselves into trouble or cut off from County or Federal Funding. Thus, every city must understand that the water and air pollution they create, they are legally responsible for. It’s time for cities to clean up their act.

To help further illuminate this topic, I would like to recommend a very good book to read, especially if you are a city council person, attorney, industrial business owner, city employee or environmental non-profit member:

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We Sussex Countians are fortunate in many ways as we have a wonderful quality of life here.

Climate:

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Does it make sense to put smart dust into window cleaner buckets, squirt bottles or on squeegees for distribution onto interior and exterior windows? Why would we do this you ask? Well perhaps we wish to help better acclimate the interior of the building to the perfect temperature?

Perhaps we wish to enhance indoor cell phone reception? Maybe we wish to help judge wind speed outside buildings, sample the weather or collect information on the environmental quality in the room or outside? Why windows? Why not coat the entire building with the smart dust? Indeed that is another concept worthy of thought. Embed the smart dust into the paint or building coatings.

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Many non-profit groups are feeling upset that they are allowed to do car wash fundraisers in some California Cities. It is not that the government officials are against your groups raising money, it is that they worry where are the soapy dirty water is going. It is a problem and it might be good for you to understand some of the history behind the rules rather than get upset over it.

HISTORY

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Programs in Online Environmental Studies Schools, colleges and universities prepare students for solving environmental problems with studies of various applicable sciences. Oceans, rainforests, the ozone layer, and the local landfill are all important issues of the discipline. Environmental Studies concerns itself with the condition and quality of the air, soil, and water that sustain life on Earth.

Online studies are available in Environmental Studies at associate, bachelor, master, and doctorate levels, as well as for gaining advanced certification. However, laboratory studies often require some onsite coursework. Online Environmental Studies curriculums include courses in environmental geology, biodiversity, ecology, conservation biology, international environmental issues, and global environmental sciences, and much more. Environmental Studies degrees are flexible, allowing students to choose specialties.

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In the late 1960’s air pollution clouded our cities with toxic fumes spewed out by cars and factories. Air pollution in New York, Los Angeles and other major cities were linked to disease and death, thus leaving city life barely breathable. Another concern was the large-scale use of pesticides, which were often used in highly populated areas. Additionally large amounts of dead fish were reported on the Great Lakes, and the media carried the news that Lake Erie, one of America’s largest bodies of fresh water, was in its death throes. Ohio had another jolt when Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River, an artery inundated with oil and toxic chemicals, burst into flames by spontaneous combustion.

In addition to the media coverage about the Great Lakes, the media coverage of the massive youth rallies of 1969 - as well as the ghetto riots of 1965 to 1968 - helped to impress on the American public that the United States had become an urban country with complex problems compounded by huge numbers of people. In the 1960’s most talk was about conservation and preservation of our parks and recreational areas. Talk of environment or sustainability did not come into effect until the early 1970’s.

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The voluntary Model Green Home Building Guidelines are designed to move environmentally friendly home building concepts further into the mainstream marketplace. Currently, there are approximately thirty communities throughout the U.S. that have green home building programs in place or in development. By developing the set of voluntary national guidelines, NAHB intends to help facilitate the adoption of green home building practices and the formation of additional local programs in the parts of the country not currently served by programs.

In the spring of 2003, NAHB approved a resolution supporting green building. In response to NAHB member’s requests to provide the membership with technical guidance to support the new green building policy, NAHB tasked the NAHB Research Center to manage a project to develop national green home building guidelines.

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