So, you want to help your community develop sustainably, but you don’t know how?

A new report takes a comprehensive look at the state of tools municipalities can use to model and evaluate relative climate change benefits earned by developing differently. The tools it explores can be employed at the project, neighborhood and metropolitan scale. It summarizes the relationship between urban form and climate change and features four case studies on how tools are being used today.

We won’t be able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with technology alone, we will need to combine technological change with changes in our behaviors, transportation priorities, building design and placement, economic development strategies, and fair housing policy. In Connecticut, most planning is done locally, these tools offer ways for volunteers and town staff to develop the analysis they need to plan successful and sustainable communities.

The tools discussed are:
• Athena Impact Estimator for Buildings;
• Community Energy and Emissions Inventory;
• Community Viz;
• Development Pattern Approach;
• Energy Demand Characterization;
• Envision Tomorrow;
• INDEX and Cool Spots;
• I-PLACE3S ;
• MetroQuest;
• Neighborhood Explorations the View of Density;
• Tool for Evaluating Neighbourhood Sustainability; and
• UPlan.

The report is Urban Planning Tools for Climate Change. Its authors are: Patrick M. Condon, Duncan Cavens, and Nicole Miller. It was published by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and is available for purchase in hard copy or free download at www.lincolninst.edu.

Saving Connecticut farms

Dairy farmers in Connecticut are in trouble. It is not something new, it is not something that should surprise anyone, and yes, it is time for the legislature to step up and make some changes. The situation is getting desperate, and some representatives are working hard to try to turn the tide.

The numbers are staggering. In 2007, 50 dairy farms closed in the state; there are only 157 left. Of course, we need all the help we can get; visit Save Daisy here, and join their Facebook group. Start calling legislators. This is an urgent problem.

Why is this important? Above all, it is part of a smart growth development strategy. When we talk about smart growth we are not only referring to helping the cities, increasing density, creating transit oriented development or building more and more railway lines. Smart growth is, above all, developing the state in a way that uses our resources rationally and efficiently, and this means going beyond where we build or where we do businesses. It is also about where we do not build, and how we ensure that that our incredibly rich soil is preserved when it makes sense so we can grow our dairy and produce close by.

For a change, however, most of the blame of the dairy industry current situation lays in the Federal government. Connecticut could help farmers in many ways, starting by a rationalization of the broken property tax system that tends to put pressure on development over open land or agriculture use. Head to the Connecticut Farm Bureau for more information.