Cool Trends: Ten Things Cities are Doing Now to Reduce Greenhouse Gases
  Cool Trends: Ten Things Cities are Doing Now to Reduce Greenhouse Gases PDF (5 mb) 
During the summer of 2008 the International Society of Sustainability Professionals (ISSP) set out to answer this question for our members: What strategies can communities and municipalities in the developed world implement now to reduce greenhouse gases that can be easily retrofitted into an existing community (i.e., not require major redevelopment) that offer multiple benefits (social, economic and environmental)? Through a combination of research and interviews with experts in the field, ten strategies emerged. These are not the only strategies that are possible but instead are ones that seemed to be the most widely applicable while yielding significant carbon savings. We focused on energy, transportation and waste as major sources of greenhouse gases. Issues related to larger system issues like land use are implied but not addressed specifically. This research is in no way intended to be a prescription for a single path that all municipalities should take, but rather a simple toolbox filled with strategies that have worked for others and might just work in your city. This toolbox is primarily meant for municipalities, but can also be valuable to business leaders, sustainability professionals, or interested individuals. Many of the following suggestions benefit from the participation of all of these parties. It is also important to note that this report is neither the first nor the only report of its kind, and has no intention of asserting that it is more valuable or comprehensive than any other. Instead, it provides another set of tools and advocates for a more central, comprehensive, easily accessible database for such tools. Once a community decides that it is time for a change (and time for sustainability), such information must be readily available so they can take action.
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