Planning for Sustainability in Small Municipalities: The Influence of Interest Groups, Growth Patterns, and Institutional Characteristics

How and why small municipalities promote sustainability through planning efforts is poorly understood. We analyzed ordinances in 451 Maine municipalities and tested theories of policy adoption using regression analysis.We found that smaller communities do adopt programs that contribute to sustainability relevant to their scale and context. In line with the political market theory, we found that municipalities with strong environmental interests, higher growth, and more formal governments were more likely to adopt these policies. Consideration of context and capacity in planning for sustainability will help planners better identify and benefit from collaboration, training, and outreach opportunities

Sustainable cities : agenda setting and implementation of sustainability initiatives in U.S. cities

textPublic Polic

Growth Without (Emissions) Growth: State Progress and Drift on Decoupling​

Decoupling of GDP growth from growth in carbon emissions is taking on an increasing salience since it represents the squaring of the circle necessary to decarbonize the global economy while maintaining economic growth. Now the evidence says that since 2000 the United States has fully decoupled economic growth from carbon emissions: GDP went up by 30 percent over the past 15 years while carbon emissions decreased by 10 percent. This public lecture and presentation will discuss how the transformation of economic growth towards a lower dependency on fossil fuels and related carbon emissions is happening across U.S. states including in Nevada

(2005-2006) Assembly Resolution 26: ln support of students at The University of Texas at Austin who are seeking a meeting with the President of The University of Texas at Austin to write a letter to Dow Chemical Company to address its responsibility towards the Bhopal disaster and ask Dow Chemical Company to spend matching funds for the environmental clean-up in Bhopal

Governmen

Fusing subnational with national climate action is central to decarbonization: the case of the United States

Climate action from local actors is vital in achieving nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement. Here the authors show that existing commitments from U.S. states, cities and business could reduce emissions 25% below 2005 levels by 2030, with expanded subnational action reducing emissions by 37% and federal action by up to 49%