Research Resources

This new paper from Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson, a New York-based grassroots organization and member of the Right to the City Alliance, calls for “utilities justice”—the right to have affordable, accessible, healthy, and community-controlled energy. It examines the ways in which communities and families in Poughkeepsie, New York are burdened by energy insecurity and notes racial and income disparities. Recommendations put forth address affordability and access to renewables and weatherization resources, as well as local and common ownership of energy sources. The authors also list strategic advantages for utilities justice community organizing.  

The American Society of Landscape Architects' Sustainability Toolkit provides policy makers and design professionals with online toolkits, assessment tools, checklists, modeling software, and case studies to help them create sustainable projects at the regional, urban, and local levels. Designed to complement an earlier series of thematic resources guides, the toolkit will include environmental, economic and social models.

Established in July 2000, The Center for Land Use Education (CLUE) is a joint venture of the College of Natural Resources at the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Pointand and Cooperative Extension in collaboration with UW System institutions. The website provides publications, resources, and events related to the programming coordination for land use education.

The Climate and Energy Project (CEP), a project of the Kansas-based Land Institute, seeks through its programs and its website materials to support lively, informed conversations about the Midwest's energy future. The group aims to help halt the Midwest's contributions to global warming and climate change, and supports the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by increasing energy efficiency and developing renewable energies in a sustainable manner.

The Donella Meadows Institute (formerly named the Sustainability Institute), based in Hartland, Vermont, was founded in 1996 to apply systems thinking and organizational learning to economic, environmental and social challenges. The Institute works for change in three ways: through workshops, leadership development, and consulting; by targeting specific systems and issues, including natural resource economies, climate change, energy, and regional development; and by applying the consulting, workshops, and research work to develop conceptual frameworks for large-scale change. The site includes many papers based on the Institute's research work.

Created in 1996, the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise is a 50-50 partnership between the School of Natural Resources and Environment and the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Its main areas of research are: alternative energy and clean technology, climate strategy and carbon policy, mega-city mobility and accessibility, social enterprise, and green building/development.

The Green Power Network provides information on green power markets and related activities. The site provides up-to-date news on green power providers, product offerings, consumer protection issues, and policies affecting green power markets. It also includes a reference library of relevant papers, articles and reports. The Green Power Network is operated and maintained by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy.

The Gund Institute for Ecological Economics at the University of Vermont is a research center focused on shifting economic goals away from infinite growth to environmental sustainability. Dedicated to integrating community participation in the design and development of economic-decision making, the Gund Institute holds problem-solving workshops in local communities, or ateliers. The ateliers are flexible workshops that bring students directly into communities to tackle socio-environmental issues.

Established in Oklahoma in 1965, the Kerr Center (then the “Agricultural Division” of the Kerr Foundation) was established to provide farmers and ranchers in the area with free technical assistance and information on how to improve their operations, with an emphasis on wise stewardship. In the 1980s, the Center acquired its current name and added a specific focus on sustainable agriculture that preserves natural resources, protects the natural environment, and improves the quality of life for farmers and ranchers. The website contains a considerable number of articles on farmers markets and other forms of community-based food production.

The National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service lists news, events and funding opportunities and provides comprehensive publications and reports regarding sustainable agriculture and organic farming.  The site contains a section specifically dedicated to urban and community agriculture, providing resource links and downloadable reports.

The Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL) is a research, development, project implementation, and community outreach facility based at the University of California, Berkeley in the Energy and Resources Group and the Department of Nuclear Engineering. RAEL focuses on designing, testing, and disseminating renewable and appropriate energy systems. The Laboratory's mission is to help these technologies realize their full potential to contribute to environmentally sustainable development in both industrialized and developing nations while also addressing the cultural context and range of potential social impacts of any new technology or resource management system.

The UCSC Green Enterprise Initiative seeks to harness the research and energies of the university community to the planning and administrative capacities of the city in order to promote a range of green enterprises. With its existing advantages – people, environment, research capacity—Santa Cruz could build on these strengths to promote green enterprise. These enterprises could include industry, commerce, services, agriculture, and knowledge production. This site includes links to a wide range of other sites, including local green businesses, eco-industrial parks throughout the United States, green city programs, green university partnership programs, and many other information resources.