Portland's Sewers Right as Rain

By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY
The most surprising tourist attraction in Portland, Ore., is its storm sewer system.

Eco-friendly tourists flock to the city to understand how Portland's innovative system of curbs, gutters, roofs and rain gardens sharply cuts water pollution.
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http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2010-03-28-portland-sewers_N.htm

Brentwood Noon Rotary 4th Annual Little Harpeth River Cleanup

The Brentwood Noon Rotary Club 4th Annual Little Harpeth River Cleanup, held Saturday, March 6th, was a tremendous success because of the many volunteers and organizations that participated in the event. The Williamson County Parks and Recreation Department allowed us to use the Indoor Sports Complex to organize the event. Keep Williamson Beautiful provided the vests, gloves, and trash bags. The City of Brentwood helped coordinate the on street parking at various locations along the river. The Brentwood Police and Fire departments were on hand in the event that emergency services were needed.

There were 91 volunteers divided into 9 teams that cleaned 20 miles of river bank (10 miles each side). We collected 73 bags of trash and some miscellaneous items totaling approximately 2,400 pounds.

In addition to the Rotary Club membership participation, we had volunteers from the following organizations:

Overton High School Interact Club
Brentwood High School Interact Club
Boy Scout Troop 86
Boy Scout Troop 93
Girl Scout Troop 1660
Cub Scout Pack 297
Numerous individual volunteers

Skip Heibert, organizer of the event says:
"It was great to see all the volunteers come together for such a worthy cause, but really is a shame that we have to coordinate this event at all. The amount of trash we find each year should be an embarrassment to all the citizens of Brentwood. Too many people are using our river as a dumping ground with no regard for our neighbors downstream. I hope this event helps people realize that just one soft drink can or plastic bag they toss really adds up on just our short 10 mile stretch of river. We removed 2,400 pounds of trash this year which is about the same amount we removed last year. Our goal is to educate our citizens to be better stewards of this wonderful resource. Then, hopefully, in the not too distant future, this event will not be necessary."

Chattanooga: Future of Green Infrastructure

The city had made a concerted effort to pursue a course of creating “green infrastructure” as an alternative of ‘gray infrastructure’: below ground and impervious surfaces above ground. Green infrastructure is the method of collecting stormwater above ground with natural vegetation and systems that are attractive, less expensive and accomplish multiple objectives; this effort will become the central theme for neighborhood and commercial revitalization. The Public Works Department has been tasked by the Mayor to provide the resources and support for this and the Water Quality Program has targeted our water quality credit system to give heavy incentives for development of green infrastructure to address stormwater issues. Water Quality Program is also in the process of developing a Retrofit Plan for private and public properties focusing on implementing Low Impact Development and green infrastructure practices and monitoring the change in the water quality from the landscape.

Keep Williamson Beautiful: Environmental Leader Class

Keep Williamson Beautiful is sponsoring a six week class, on how you can be an Environmental Leader. Classes start March 30 and are held every Tuesday evening from 6:30 - 8:30 for six weeks.


The goal of the class is "To increase awareness of the beauty of Williamson County and Tennessee and to promote keeping that beauty intact by stopping litter and encouraging recycling and to get more people involved."

There are two speakers during each session with area specialist in their fields. Classes include education and awareness about individual responsibility regarding proper waste handling practices and the minimization of waste, recycling, reuse, litter prevention, beautification and community improvement, and saving natural resources.

The cost of the class is thirty five dollars. The class will be held on Century Court in Franklin. A tour to the Williamson County Landfill will also be planned. Call 790-5848 for information and to sign up for the class. Or visit www.KeepWilliamsonBeautiful.org for speaker schedule.


http://www.keepwilliamsonbeautiful.org/

Alex Noble: Transportation woes need regional fix

For Brentwood Home Page
I have been reading with some considerable interest and, yes, a good deal of excitement, coverage of Nashville Mayor Karl Dean’s latest initiative regarding regional transportation. I can only say, “Wow!
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http://www.brentwoodhomepage.com/news.php?viewStory=1705

Creative Discovery Museum Getting Chattanooga's Largest Green Roof

A new green roof is being installed this week over the existing roof of the at the Creative Discovery Museum.
Randy Whorton with Engineered Verdant Solutions (EVS), a division of Stein Construction, is installing the sedum green roof system and says “this will be the largest green roof in Chattanooga to date with over 3,000 square feet of sedum plants, planting boxes and even small trees. It will provide a multitude of benefits for the museum and the environment.”
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LEEDuser.com: Overview page for LEED v3 Rating system

The USGBC launched the new LEED 2009 rating systems in April 2009 as part of its LEED version 3 initiative. LEEDuser provides an overview page on on each credit in each of the LEED 2009 rating systems, with background information and key tips for success, such as which strategies are most likely to work well under which conditions. Many credit pages are supplemented with primary design strategy pages.
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Home Depot Shoots for 20% Reduction in Supply Chain Emissions Over 5 Years

In a review of its progress so far, the retailer said it has saved 2.6 billion kilowatt hours at its U.S. operations since starting an energy efficiency program in 2004. In Canada, the chain has saved 220 million kWh since 2005, according to a press
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New LEED Credential Maintenance Program

If you are a LEED AP or want to be a LEED AP, here is an archived Webinar recorded Feb. 23, 2010 called "LEED AP Credential Maintenance—Cracking the Code."
It is a well done presentation that will help you understand the new LEED credential requirements.
http://www.leeduser.com/strategy/video-leed-ap-credential-maintenance