Sustainable Neighborhoods

What's Next for Sustainable Neighborhoods?

2009-06-03T16:37:00.000-07:00

The Sustainable Neighborhoods initiative supports local / global organizing towards creation of sustainable communities worldwide.

Sustainable neighborhoods are born from both the positive hope and aspiration of community members to create ecological, democratic and genuinely humane neighborhoods and villages as well as from the harsh experiences of the dark side of human experience and communities out of balance with nature and society.

Over the next few months, we will be sharing more of our experience of networking for a new kind of neighborhood.

SN members will be posting regular updates here, and we will be undertaking a more systematic networking of local/global sustainable neighborhoods resources.

If you would like to contribute writing, resources or suggestions for this networking effort, please contact us to share your ideas and learn more.

The Next Generation of Green Building Thinking

2009-06-03T16:35:00.000-07:00

The Next Generation of Green Building Thinking - From Green At Work
LEED for Neighborhood Development – the pilot rating system launched jointly by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Congress for New Urbanism (CNU) is off to a promising start. A total of 238 developments have signed up to participate in the pilot program, which will be the first national certification system for sustainable neighborhood design and development. LEED for Neighborhood Development will integrate the principles of smart growth, new urbanism, and green building into the design and development of communities, moving beyond the single green building approach. The LEED for Neighborhood Development pilot is on track to be one of the largest launches yet for a new LEED program.

“The LEED for Neighborhood Development pilot program is the next generation of green building thinking,” said Rick Fedrizzi, USGBC President, CEO and Founding Chair. “By applying what we’ve learned about individual green buildings to entire neighborhoods, we’re linking urban planning and environmentally friendly design and construction in a whole new, beneficial and healthy way.”

“Tapping the greenest building potential today means stepping outside the four walls of a structure into the places where projects are situated. Taking a more comprehensive approach lets builders draw on a host of new opportunities for reducing the overall environmental footprint by making communities mixed-use and pedestrian friendly,” said NRDC’s Ashok Gupta. “Creating a neighborhood-based standard encourages architects, builders and planners to think bigger about energy savings, transportation impacts, and the overall shape of cleaner, healthier, more efficient communities.”

February, 2009, TBA: St. Catherine Street Neighborhood Association Strategy & Sustainability Workshop

2009-01-07T18:28:00.000-08:00

February, 2009, TBA:
St. Catherine Street Neighborhood Association Strategy & Sustainability Workshop
Louisville, KY, USA
Contact: Steve Sizemore, 502 290 7623
______________________________________________________

January, 2009 TBA - Sustainable Neighborhoods Organizing Workshop

2009-01-07T18:26:00.000-08:00

January, 2009 TBA
Sustainable Neighborhoods Organizing Workshop
Louisville Free Public Library, Main Branch
Fourth and York Streets
Louisville, KY, USA

Contact: Brent Tennel 502 619 4352

Jan 12, 2009: Ever Green -Clifton/Crescent Hill/Clifton Heights Sustainable Neighborhood Organizing Meeting - Neighborhood Organizing Meeting -

2009-01-07T17:36:00.000-08:00

Ever Green - Sustainable Neighborhood Organizing Meeting -
Clifton/Crescent Hill/Clifton Heights Neighborhoods network

Monday January 12th @7pm

Location:

Earthenirvana
2132 Frankfort Ave.
Louisville, KY 40206
Located on Frankfort Avenue right behind the Bike Couriers Bike Shop. Where the railroad tracks cross Frankfort. We face the Clifton Center
(502) 690-4224

RSVP: earthenirvana AT gmail.com
More info: http://www.earthenirvana.com/menu.html
Here are informal notes from the last meeting: The November Ever Green meeting was a great success, filling the conference room at Earthenirvana to overflowing with neighborhood activists who share a common commitment to sustainability in these neighborhoods that cover the major watersheds above the Butchertown confluence of Beargrass Creek.

Neighbors at the meeting committed to establishing sidewalk recycling bins on Frankfort Ave., and to exploring the use ofgreen maps as tools for everyone in the neighborhood to participate in neighborhood planning and action for sustainability. Matt Martin of Earthenirvana committed to placing the first few bins, Pat Brinson will be following up with contacting Metro Council, and David Silverman will be working on sustainable community maps for the next meeting.

Many other ideas were discussed, from the need for open and inclusive self organizing rather than more traditional forms as a model for Ever Green, to actions neighbors can undertake now, such as orcharding, edible landscaping, shared composting, co-op housing beekeeper training, solar retrofit, energy efficiency improvements and so on, to those activites which will require political commitment and longer term planning, such as light rail and more. Another action emerging from the meeting is to followup on the Community Ecology model for total recycling developed this winter, with members of FABA (Frankfort Av. Business Association) and SBCN (Sustainable Business and Community Networks) taking the lead.

Neighbors will continue to meet and take steps towards sustainability, to be further developed into action items in coming weeks.

Jan 9, 2009: Permaculture & Community Meeting 1 pm Friday Jan 9, 2009

2009-01-07T13:15:00.000-08:00

Permaculture and Community Meeting

1 p.m. Friday, January 9, 2009

Clifton Community Center,

2117 Payne St.,

Louisville, KY, USA 40206

www.cliftoncenter.org

This will be a short introduction to Permaculture with Peter Bane and Ann Kreilkamp of the Association for Regenerative Culture, who are visiting here to explore community support for permaculture training and collaboration in the Louisville area.

If you'd like to learn more about this world class ecological community training program, or if you would be interested in being a student in the ecological design of gardens, homes and communities, please attend! If you or your community agency, organization or business are interested in participating as students or sponsors in the eventual development of the Louisville Permaculture Guild, please encourage them to attend as well.

This meeting follows from an initial organizing meeting Jan 4 which convened some 20 local people to meet with Ann and Peter to discuss organizing support for permaculture training here. This includes finding 20-50 prospective students who can either pay for the course or find sponsorships or provide non-financial services in exchange.

Organizations are invited to participate and benefit not only by sending students and joining the sponsoring consortia as it develops, but by exploring participating in a site in upcoming courses. For example, if you or your garden, organization or community center would like to host or be one of the ecological design sites for the ten day / 5 weekend course this spring, you should attend this Jan 9 meeting to learn more. Similarly, permaculture certification can provide benefit through training in valuable green job skills and business opportunities for individuals and organizations.

For Louisville area students who have participated in the Ecovillage Design Education through Adena Center courses and practicums held at Webster University or Clifton or elsewhere globally, it is possible that there will be some credit reciprocity for Permaculture , Gaia and Sustainable Settlements design certification.

It is our hope that the ARC will serve as the educational umbrella for Louisville area trainings as we develop open and transparent democratically accountable sustainable neighborhood associations and work towards permaculture collaboratives and guilds here.

To learn more:

Permaculture Activist: www.permacultureactivist.net

Louisville Permaculture Listserv: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/louisvillepermaculture/

Open Louisville Living and Learning for Sustainability: http://groups.google.com/group/sustainabilityeducation

Sustainable Neighborhoods:

http://sustainableneighborhoods.blogspot.com

Jan 8, 2009: Old Louisville Sustainable Neighborhood Organizing Potluck

2009-01-04T19:43:00.000-08:00

Old Louisville Sustainable Neighborhood Organizing Potluck

7 PM Thursday

January 8, 2009

1370 S Third St., (rear entrance) Louisville, KY, USA 40208

Gathering to meet folks interested in organizing sustainable neighborhoods associations in Louisville, particularly in the Old Louisville area.

For more information call 502 608 3951 / or email sustainableneighbor@gmail.com

Link to Facebook Forum: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=37469879564

Here is the Agenda for the next Old Louisville Neighborhood Potluck - Feel free to use this and other materials from this website ( www.sustainableneighborhoods.blogspot.com ) and resource list in building your own sustainable neighborhood or ecovillage group.

Agenda For Old Louisville Sustainable Neighborhood Organizing Meeting
Thursday, January 8, 2008

Neighborhood Sustainability With Process in Mind

MORE INFORMATION:

www.sustainableneighborhoods.blogspot.com

Welcome
Introductions
Name, Neighborhood - Sustainable Idea or Project
Ecovillages and Sustainable Neighborhoods - Quick Overview

What is a Sustainable Old Louisville Neighborhood Network?
Media Presentation Draft by Christine Chisenhall

Discussion

Action Items:

1) Organizing the Louisville Permaculture Guilds: Old Louisville Permaculture Training Opportunity

2) Study Group First Chapter: Ecovillage Design Education ( http://gaiaeducation.org ) action / learning project for the neighborhood

3) Old Louisville Economic Alternatives: Membership committee for Falls alternative currency, cooperatives, and other neighborhood sustainable economics projects

4) Report back on Living Machines working group ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_machines ). Draft building schedule for demo units in neighborhoods throughout the region.

5) Community communications projects beyond Power Point: web and other media outreach for the January meeting.

6) Louisville Green Maps

6) Green Institute neighborhood training startup schedule

7) Green Convene networking and Sustainable Louisville community organizing.

Ideas
Ecovillages
Neighborhood Democracy
Living Machines
Placed Based Sustainable Neighborhoods Groups
Green Mapping
Urban Gardens and Urban Ecology
Neighborhood Ecology Tours
Cooperatives and other forms of organizations
Demonstration sites

Have an idea to suggest ?

Post it on the Comments section below.

Networking
Where do we go from here?
People and Places - Including our neighbors
Sister Neighborhoods
Building the Green Institute and other support systems

Next?
The long now
______________________________

Sustainable Neighborhoods Gatherings

2008-11-19T18:16:00.000-08:00

December 4, 2008:

Old Louisville Sustainable Neighborhood Organizing Potluck
6 PM Thursday, December 4th, 2008
1274 S Floyd, #2, Louisville, KY, USA 40208

Gathering to meet folks interested in organizing sustainable neighborhoods associations in Louisville, particularly in the Old Louisville area.

For more information call 502 432 7690 or email eternal3rdparty AT yahoo.com

Here is the Agenda from the first Old Louisville Neighborhood Potluck - Feel free to use this and other materials from this website ( www.sustainableneighborhoods.blogspot.com ) and resource list in building your own sustainable neighborhood or ecovillage group.

Agenda For Old Louisville Sustainable Neighborhood Organizing Meeting
Tuesday, December 4, 2008

Neighborhood Sustainability With Process in Mind

MORE INFORMATION:

www.sustainableneighborhoods.blogspot.com

Welcome
Introductions
Name, Neighborhood - Sustainable Idea or Project
Ecovillages and Sustainable Neighborhoods - Quick Overview

What is a Sustainable Neighborhood?
Discussion

Ideas
Ecovillages
Neighborhood Democracy
Living Machines
Placed Based Sustainable Neighborhoods Groups
Green Mapping
Urban Gardens and Urban Ecology
Neighborhood Ecology Tours
Cooperatives and other forms of organizations
Demonstration sites

Networking
Where do we go from here?
People and Places - Including our neighbors
Sister Neighborhoods
Building the Green Institute and other support systems

Next?
The long now
______________________________

The initial action outcomes from the December 4 meeting include:

1) Confirmed the organization of the Old Louisville Green Neighborhood Group
2) Scheduled next potluck and meeting for 6 pm, Tuesday, January 8, 2009 at 1370 S Third St, Louisville, KY, USA 40204
3) Started an Ecovillage Design Education ( http://gaiaeducation.org ) action / learning project for the neighborhood
4) Began exploring alternative currency, cooperative, and other neighborhood sustainable economics models
5) Formed a Living Machines working group ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_machines ) aimed at providing demo units in neighborhoods throughout the region.
6) Started a community communications project with notes and documentation from Old Louisville Green going towards powerpoint, web and other media outreach for the January meeting.
7) Confirmed interest in Green Institute neighborhood training, Green Convene networking and Sustainable Louisville community organizing.
__________________________________________________________

December 8, 2008:

Ever Green - Sustainable Neighborhood Organizing Meeting -
Clifton/Crescent Hill/Clifton Heights Neighborhoods network

Monday December 8th @7pm

Location:

Earthenirvana
2132 Frankfort Ave.
Louisville, KY 40206
Located on Frankfort Avenue right behind the Bike Couriers Bike Shop. Where the railroad tracks cross Frankfort. We face the Clifton Center
(502) 690-4224

RSVP: earthenirvana AT gmail.com
More info: http://www.earthenirvana.com/menu.html
Here are informal notes from the last meeting: The November Ever Green meeting was a great success, filling the conference room at Earthenirvana to overflowing with neighborhood activists who share a common commitment to sustainability in these neighborhoods that cover the major watersheds above the Butchertown confluence of Beargrass Creek.

Neighbors at the meeting committed to establishing sidewalk recycling bins on Frankfort Ave., and to exploring the use of green maps as tools for everyone in the neighborhood to participate in neighborhood planning and action for sustainability. Matt Martin of Earthenirvana committed to placing the first few bins, Pat Brinson will be following up with contacting Metro Council, and David Silverman will be working on sustainable community maps for the next meeting.

Many other ideas were discussed, from the need for open and inclusive self organizing rather than more traditional forms as a model for Ever Green, to actions neighbors can undertake now, such as orcharding, edible landscaping, shared composting, co-op housing beekeeper training, solar retrofit, energy efficiency improvements and so on, to those activites which will require political commitment and longer term planning, such as light rail and more. Another action emerging from the meeting is to followup on the Community Ecology model for total recycling developed this winter, with members of FABA (Frankfort Av. Business Association) and SBCN (Sustainable Business and Community Networks) taking the lead.

Neighbors will continue to meet and take steps towards sustainability, to be further developed into action items in coming weeks.
_____________________________________________________

December 9, 2008

Highlands Green Sustainable Neighborhoods Organizing Network Meeting
Louisville, KY USA

5:30 - 7 PM Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Ray's Monkey House
1578 Bardstown Road, Louisville,, KY USA 40204
502 459 4373

The Potluck will be followed by a meeting of the Green Convene -- Neighbors are invited to stay for that gathering and for the bluegrass jam later that night.

Contact: Josh Wilcox, 860 358 1283 or Lisa Carlon Underhill, enviroecoculture@bellsouth.net

______________________________________________________

6 pm Saturday, December 13 , 2008

Eastern Jefferson County and Oldham County Gathering: Pee Wee Valley Green - Sustainable Neighborhood Organizing Meeting / Potluck

212 Elm Ave,
Pee Wee Valley KY 40056
Contact: Angela Kortz Funke, 502 241 4631 / 502 241 8250, kortzfunkeatty@cs.com

A holiday potluck on greening our neighborhood and community -- What you can offer, what the community can do.

Bring your stories of what you are doing or would like to do to green your household or business, and ideas for the neighborhood. Bring examples, photographs, drawing - what you're doing, what you'd like to share.

We'll have good food and good conversation, with examples and ideas from:

Sustainable Louisville Working Group - Greening neighborhoods and growing ecovillages

Kim Robertson, LMT - Massage therapy and accupressure for self care; Starting winter gardens.

Grace Koenig - Realtor, Co-Founder, Amazing Grace Natural Food Store - Growing sustainable business and living green

Philip ? - Building your own biomass stove for home heating

Others invited - Have something to share? RSVP to Angela Kortz Funke, 502 241 4631 / 502 241 8250, kortzfunkeatty@cs.com
______________________________________________________

December, 2008 TBA
Park DuValle Sustainable Neighborhood Organizing Meeting
_____________________________________________________

December, 2008 TBA
Smoketown Green - Sustainable Neighborhood Organizing Meeting
______________________________________________________

December, 2008 TBA
Butchertown Green - Sustainable Neighborhood Organizing Meeting
______________________________________________________

December, 2008 TBA
Germantown Green - Sustainable Neighborhood Organizing Meeting
______________________________________________________

December, 2008 TBA
Portland Green - Sustainable Neighborhood Organizing Meeting
______________________________________________________

January, 2008, TBA:
St. Catherine Street Neighborhood Association Sustainability Committee
Louisville, KY, USA
Contact: Steve Sizemore, 502 290 7623
______________________________________________________

January, 2008 TBA
Sustainable Neighborhoods Organizing Workshop
Louisville Free Public Library, Main Branch
Fourth and York Streets
Louisville, KY, USA

Contact: Brent Tennel 502 619 4352

Sustainable Neighborhoods Organizing Workshop Sunday, November 16, 2008

2008-10-03T10:15:00.001-07:00

The November Sustainable Neighborhoods Organizing Workshop was a great success, despite the cold, and future events are now being planned (see the description below).

Thanks to the Brickhouse for hosting and organizing the event, and to the 40 plus people from all over Louisville who braved the cold to come together to learn from each other how we can organize sustainable neighborhood networks that work for our community and the planet.

The raw footage from the event has been posted at the Brickhouse site, and we look forward to making more of the event proceedings and outcomes available in time through the Adena Center.

Neighborhood Sustainability Forum Videos

In the meantime, take a look at these presentation documents - more will be forthcoming:

Making Sustainable Redevelopment a Community Movement in Louisville & KY - By Shameka Parrish-Wright for the Sustainable Neighborhoods Organizing Workshop 11-16-08.pdf

Sustainable Neighborhoods - Sustainability - A Place Based Approach - Gaia Education and LEED Synthesis - John Baker.pdf

_______________________________________________________

Here's the original announcement for the workshop:

WHAT IS SUSTAINABILITY AND HOW DO WE GET THERE?

NEIGHBORHOOD SUSTAINABILITY WITH PROCESS IN MIND.

The Brick House community center, in conjunction with the Adena Institute and other community partners and organizations, is hosting a workshop on neighborhood sustainability and urban ecovillage organizing

Sunday, November 16th
2 - 5 pm
@ The Brick House
1101 S. 2nd Street
Louisville, Ky
40208

John Baker, Clifton Community Council

Mark Isaacs, AIA, Legacy Homes (invited)

John Gilderbloom, Ph.D., Sustainable Urban Neighborhoods, University of Louisville
Doug Lowery, Beechmont Neighborood

Shameka Parrish-Wright, Community Activist, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth

David W. Silverman, Executive Director, Adena Institute

Jack Trawick, APA, Executive Director, Center for Neighborhoods

Kelly Thompson, Metro United Way (invited)

For more information: 502 619 4352
www.brickhouse.cc
www.sustainableneighborhoods.blogspot.com

(Organizational Info for Identification)

About the workshop:

We are moving towards ecological societies, with great opportunities to build a positive future:

Neighborhood democracy, renewable energy, real economic development, sustainable businesses, healthy local food, stronger families and social connections, and ways to act locally and globally everyday for a world that works for everyone.

What are your challenges in greening your neighborhood?
How are you and your neighbors crafting neighborhood sustainability?
How do we create urban ecovillages now?

This is an action-learning workshop, so we will have an opportunity to collaborate on real issues in Louisville neighborhoods. Participants will have the opportunity to work in groups on sustainability organizing and urban ecovillage planning for your block or neighborhood.

The workshop will highlight sustainability theory and organizing strategies, with brief case studies from Louisville and around the world, exploring the following questions and opportunities for action:

How have successful sustainable community organizers changed their neighborhoods for the better?
What are the challenges raised by the transition to sustainable societies?
How does sustainability organizing differ from and connect with traditional neighborhood organizing?
How do neighborhood ecovillages grow?
How do we measure our sustainability successes and failures?
How do we collaborate effectively and keep learning and action moving forward?
What resources are available to support neighborhoods moving towards sustainability?

Not only is this a discussion, it is a forum for all those who are interested, as well as a springboard for project-oriented groups to come together and actually achieve realistic goals.

Please attend, bring a friend or colleague, forward this announcement, and join us in exploring how to support community efforts to green our neighborhoods.

Free and open to the public.

Donations Welcome! Donations to the Sustainable Neighborhoods Workshop will go to support the sustainability efforts of Brickhouse and the Adena Institute.

Correction: Please note that the Center for Neighborhoods is not a formal sponsor of the event, as early fliers indicated.