Resources for a Green Government

Is your city or county serious about greening its operations? Here are some resources for the journey toward a green government.

The National Association of Counties' Green Government Initiative offers information, resources, webinars, a database of green county initiatives, and much more to help governments green their operations. They also sponsor the Green County Competition. Counties can choose to enter one of the two separate competitions, one to encourage county employees to reduce home energy usage and one to encourage county employees to save gasoline.

The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe discusses the characteristics of sustainable cities, barriers to implementation, and provides case studies of successful projects.

The SustainLain Government website links to numerous best practice documents. SustainLane covers (and ranks) the greening of 50 of the most populous U.S. cities. The rankings cover 16 categories of sustainability which are explained, along with methodology, to help understand what constitutes a sustainable city.

Ecocity Builders provides publications, conferences, and educational information on "reshaping cities, towns and villages for long term health of human and natural systems."

The USC Center for Sustainable Cities conducts research and offers publications in 5 major areas related to urban sustainability.

The SUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities conducts research and shares information related to urban sustainability.

The United Nations-Habitat Urban Environment Section has two programs. The Sustainable Cities Programme focuses on environmental planning and management of urban areas while the Localizing Agenda 21 Programme focuses on environmental planning and management of smaller cities and towns. The site offers a number of tools, reports, and publications.

The International City/County Management Association offers several reports and resources on green and sustainable government.

The UK Center for Sustainable Cities offers research and information on sustainable cities.

The Office of Sustainable Development in the city of Portland OR (often ranked among the most sustainable cities) offers a website detailing its various sustainability initiatives and offers a plethora of information.

And finally, the Alliance for Innovation allows county and city government members to network and share information on innovation and green strategies.