Resource of the Week: Sustainable Development Database
Resource of the Week: Sustainable Development Database
By Shirl Kennedy, Senior Editor
The SustainLane Government Knowledge Base was open only to government officials until just recently, which it became accessible to the general public. As Warren Karlenzig, SustainLane director, explained in an e-mail to us earlier this month:
Now you can read full documents submitted by urban planners and sustainability managers from across the country. Find out what cities, counties, and states are doing to improve their carbon footprints, quality of life and resource efficiency. Find the latest programs in urban ecology.
We anticipate that several different audiences will find this database valuable, including journalists and citizen activist groups. It's easy to use. Halfway down the front page is a listing of topics, each of which links to relevant materials in the database:
Just below this listing are links to the most recent materials added to the database, including things like the Philadelphia Local Action Plan for Climate Change, a document about Heat Island Effect Mitigation (from the City of Houston), a Plastic Bag Reduction Ordinance from San Francisco, and more. New materials via user submission are added on a continuing basis. A search form allows keyword and fielded searching -- e.g., by author, city, county, state, category, city size, document type.
SustainLane, founded in November 2004, is an "internet and media company dedicated to empowering consumers, businesses and government to go green." It provides an annual ranking of the largest 50 US cities by sustainability factors. In addition to the Government Knowledge Base, it also offers:
+ SustainLane.com, a "community-powered directory of green products and businesses and user reviews."
+ The Unsustainables, "an original new series of animated episodes produced by SustainLane! The Unsustainables depicts the lives of a blended family in a modern urban environment. Each segment centers around our characters who, like many of us, stumble towards the future in an attempt to live green. Sometimes they fail, sometimes they don't."
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