Sustainable communities raise questions about the compatibility of capitalism and environmentalism and how we can green our way of life in a capitalist economy that values short-term production and consumption over long-term conservation and simple living. If capitalism and its drive towards consumption has produced social and environmental degradation, is it the best medium to identify solutions? Sustainable Communities and Green Lifestyles examines one ecovillage as it attempts to create a sense of community while reducing its impact on the natural environment. Through extensive participant observation, the book demonstrates how ecovillages are immersed within a larger discourse of class, race, and lifestyle choices, highlighting the inseparability of environmental sustainability and social justice. Sustainable communities are confronted by the contradictions of green consumption and must address social inequality or risk focusing inward on personal green consumerism, creating mere green havens for the few who can afford to live in them. This book, cautious of redirecting environmentalist efforts away from structural solutions and onto personal environmentalism, offers a critical perspective on the challenges of an emerging green lifestyle. This book offers a critical perspective on the direction of US environmentalism and contributes to debates in environmental studies, anthropology, and urban planning.

Questions of how the design of cities can respond to the challenge of climate change dominate the thoughts of urban planners and designers across the U.S. and Canada. With admirable clarity, Patrick Condon responds to these questions. He addresses transportation, housing equity, job distribution, economic development, and ecological systems issues and synthesizes his knowledge and research into a simple-to-understand set of urban design recommendations. No other book so clearly connects the form of our cities to their ecological, economic, and social consequences. No other book takes on this breadth of complex and contentious issues and distills them down to such convincing and practical solutions.

Who says living a green lifestyle has to be a chore? Part reference, part lifestyle—with a dash of inspiration—Green Living is full of approachable, accessible, and easily implemented strategies to quickly and easily bring sustainability into all areas of your life and home.

In this immensely practical book, Timothy Beatley sets out to answer a simple question: what can Americans learn from Australians about “greening” city life? Green Urbanism Down Under reports on the current state of “sustainability practice” in Australia and the many lessons that U.S. residents can learn from the best Australian programs and initiatives. Australia is similar to the United States in many ways, especially in its “energy footprint.” For example, Australia’s per capita greenhouse gas emissions are second only to those of the United States. A similar percentage of its residents live in cities (85 percent in Australia vs. 80 percent in the United States). And it suffers from parallel problems of air and water pollution, a national dependence on automobiles, and high fossil fuel consumption. Still, after traveling throughout Australia, Beatley finds that there are myriad creative responses to these problems—and that they offer instructive examples for the United States. Green Urbanism Down Under is a very readable collection of solutions. Although many of these innovative solutions are little-known outside Australia, they all present practical possibilities for U.S. cities. Beatley describes “green transport” projects, “city farms,” renewable energy plans, green living programs, and much more. He considers a host of public policy initiatives and scrutinizes regional and state planning efforts for answers. In closing, he shares his impressions about how Australian results might be applied to U.S. problems. This is a unique book: hopeful, constructive, and filled with ideas that have been proven to work. It is a “must read” for anyone who cares about the future of American cities.

This book will teach you everything you need to know about sustainable living—from reducing your greenhouse gas footprint to making sure that you are part of the green economy. Along the way, readers will learn about the field of sustainability and the “three E’s” of sustainable living—environment, economy, and equity. We are in the midst of great environmental change and all of us need to do everything we can to try to live more gently on the planet. Robert Brinkmann provides a range of options for readers as to what they can do to try to make a difference. Some involve simple lifestyle changes - but he also challenges all of us to commit to make more difficult and more meaningful changes to create a greener, more sustainable world. The book also delves into how we can create more sustainable communities, schools, and organizations. It showcases many examples of people and organizations that are making significant contributions to improving our planet’s sustainability that serve as inspiration and guidance for all of us trying to live more sustainably.

Julian Agyeman once again pushes us all to think more critically about how to integrate two important political and intellectual projects.

The world faces a ‘perfect storm’ of social and ecological stresses, including climate change, habitat loss, resource degradation and social, economic and cultural change. In order to cope with these, communities are struggling to transition to sustainable ways of living that improve well-being and increase resilience. This book demonstrates how communities in both developed and developing countries are already taking action to maintain or build resilient and sustainable lifestyles. These communities, here designated as ‘Ecocultures’, are exemplars of the art and science of sustainable living. Though they form a diverse group, they organise themselves around several common organising principles including an ethic of care for nature, a respect for community, high ecological knowledge, and a desire to maintain and improve personal and social wellbeing. Case studies from both developed and developing countries including Australia, Brazil, Finland, Greenland, India, Indonesia, South Africa, UK and USA, show how, based on these principles, communities have been able to increase social, ecological and personal wellbeing and resilience. They also address how other more mainstream communities are beginning to transition to more sustainable, resilient alternatives. Some examples also illustrate the decline of ecocultures in the face of economic pressures, globalisation and climate change. Theoretical chapters examine the barriers and bridges to wider application of these examples. Overall, the volume describes how ecocultures can provide the global community with important lessons for a wider transition to sustainability and will show how we can redefine our personal and collective futures around these principles.

Social issues are, and need to be, a central part of environmental and economic sustainability efforts. Using stories of extraordinary communities across North America, Living Green showcases the social side of living green. The book features communities that explicitly integrate social and human factors into their design and planning, and examines the impact living in these communities has on personal health, well-being and the capacity for pursuing sustainability. It includes interviews with developers, architects and residents, highlighting personal ideals and efforts to pursue a sustainable lifestyle. The book's three parts explore: How community is central to sustainable living in everything from co-housing to communes Communities that specifically integrate green building design components with social justice politics such as racism, poverty and urban alienation. Housing options geared toward mainstream living that offer individual choices to those who wish to live green. Written for those desiring to hear a good news story, Living Green will appeal to individuals and communities living a sustainable lifestyle, green building activists, and academics in sociology, planning and design, architecture and environmental fields. Check out the authors' website and blog .

This book would not have been possible without the dedication and commitment of each of the chapter authors. For some authors, writing a chapter was beyond their “9–5” job, and this book re?ects their commitment to sustainability at the local level for their communities. To every chapter author and their staff, friends, and families, thank you. This dynamic and paradigm-changing volume on the topic of sustainable development is focused on communities such as cities, schools, and colleges where the future of our families and children are most at risk. We must act today as each of the chapters represents in their presentations. This book marks a new era: the Third Industrial Revolution. The new age of the Third Industrial Revolution has been labeled by some as the “green era” or “green economy,” but it had already started around the world, especially in Europe and Japan, for over a decade – since the end of the 20th c- tury. More signi?cantly, the book highlights people and communities who have a shared concern and vision along with the will and determination to enact programs and polices that make sustainable development real – not just political rhetoric or “branding” or even the current “buzz word” for obtaining funds and grants. The book presents “The Sequel to an Inconvenient Truth” – actual examples of how c- munities can and have changed in order to mitigate climate change. Again, thanks to everyone and their colleagues.

The objective of Sustainable Communities Design Handbook is to ensure a better quality of life for everyone, both now and for generations to come. This means creating a better and safer environment internationally through the sustainable use of natural resources, encouraging sustainable development which supports a strong economy, and ensuring a high quality environment that can be enjoyed by all. Sustainable Development Partnerships brings together in one reference today's most cutting edge technologies and methods for creating sustainable communities. With this book, Environmental Engineers, Civil Engineers, Architects, Mechanical Engineers, and Energy Engineers find a common approach to building environmental friendly communities which are energy efficient. The five part treatment starts with a clear and rigorous exposition of sustainable development in practice, followed by self-contained chapters concerning applications. - Methods for the sustainable use of natural resources in built communities - Clearly explains the most cutting edge sustainable technologies - Provides a common approach to building sustainable communities - Coverage of sustainable practices from architecture to construction