April, 29 2010, 12:54pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Suzanne Struglinski, 202-289-2387, sstruglinski@nrdc.org;
Josh Mogerman, 312-651-7909, jmogerman@nrdc.org
LEED for Neighborhood Development Rating System Launches as Benchmark for Green Neighborhood Design
Environmental Leaders Partner to Advance Walkable, Sustainable and Economically Thriving Communities
WASHINGTON
The Natural Resources Defense Council
(NRDC), The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and Congress for the
New Urbanism (CNU) announced today the launch of the LEED for
Neighborhood Development green neighborhoods rating system. LEED for
Neighborhood Development integrates the principles of smart growth, new
urbanism and green building, and benefits communities by reducing urban
sprawl, increasing transportation choices and decreasing automobile
dependence, encouraging healthy living, and protecting threatened
species.
The rating system encourages development within or near
existing communities and/or public infrastructure in order to reduce the
environmental impacts of sprawl. By promoting communities that are
physically connected, LEED for Neighborhood Development conserves land
and promotes transportation efficiency and walkability. A 2008 study
entitled "The Economic Value of Walkability" found that households in
automobile-dependent communities devote 50 percent more money - more
than $8,500 annually - to transportation.
The correlation between transit-oriented development and
proximity to services, amenities and jobs to human health benefits and
economic capital has been found by numerous studies and is advocated by
the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Health and
Human Services. Furthermore, the connectivity to neighboring communities
with existing transportation and thoroughfares or local retail and
services greatly benefits the citizens, businesses and local economy of
the surrounding regions.
"Half of the buildings we will have in 25 years are not yet
on the ground," said Kaid Benfield, Director of the Smart Growth Program
at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "Where we put them is even
more important to the environment than how we build them, and NRDC is
proud to stand alongside our partners with a system that helps guide
them to the right places while avoiding the wrong ones."
LEED for Neighborhood Development strives to create healthy,
safe neighborhoods in which people from a wide range of economic levels
and age groups can live and work together. Green neighborhoods foster
social inclusivity as they provide accessibility to transportation,
jobs, resources, education and promote healthier lifestyles. LEED for
Neighborhood Development projects include or are sited to have good
access to schools, businesses, residences, shopping, dining and
entertainment.
"Sustainable communities are prosperous communities for the
occupants and businesses which inhabit them," said Rick Fedrizzi,
President, CEO & Founding Chair, U.S. Green Building Council. "LEED
for Neighborhood Development projects are strategically located in or
surrounding metropolitan areas - often times revitalizing brownfields,
infills or other underutilized spaces, opening new revenue streams,
creating jobs opportunities and helping to drive the local, state and
national economies."
NRDC helped to establish LEED for Neighborhood Development by
soliciting the help of Smart Growth America, a national coalition of
organizations working for better communities and recruiting smart growth
experts to participate on the committee of volunteers that authored the
rating system. The principles of smart growth focus on the importance
of considering location, transportation alternatives, equity, and
community form when developing land use plans.
"LEED for Neighborhood Development contains the components
for compact and complete neighborhoods. With walkable streets,
appropriately-scaled schools, and a mix of amenities close by, residents
can lower their environmental impact while improving their quality of
life," said John Norquist, President and CEO, Congress for the New
Urbanism.
CNU brought a number of leading planners and architects from
the New Urbanist movement to help shape the new rating system. New
Urbanism promotes compact neighborhood form, a wide range of urban
housing types from multi-unit buildings to single-family homes, a
vibrant mix of uses within close proximity of each other, humane public
spaces and well-connected streets and blocks serving users ranging from
pedestrians and cyclists to transit riders and drivers.
"LEED for Neighborhood Development projects are designed to
highlight the best in a community," Fedrizzi continued. "By bridging
together adjoining districts, neighborhood developments take advantage
of the greatest things a community has to offer - the people and
amenities which enrich our lives on a daily basis."
The consensus-based process that drives the development of
the LEED rating systems ensures and encourages the very best in
building, design and development practices. The scope of LEED for
Neighborhood Development projects can range from small projects to whole
communities and encompasses a broader set of stakeholders in the
process. Because of the scale of neighborhood development, projects are
measured on acreage - the first LEED rating system to use a measurement
other than square footage.
This is the seventh LEED rating system released by USGBC and
is the first comprehensive benchmark for green neighborhood design.
Projects certifying under LEED for Neighborhood Development must achieve
points in three major environmental categories: Smart Location &
Linkage, Neighborhood Pattern & Design, and Green Infrastructure
& Buildings across a 110-point scale.
Also launching this spring is the LEED Accredited
Professional (AP) Neighborhood Development (ND) credential for
professionals participating in the design and development of
neighborhoods. To read more about the LEED AP ND credential, go to www.usgbc.org/credentials
or to learn about the neighborhood development educational offerings,
visit www.usgbc.org/leedcurriculum.
Read more about LEED-ND on Kaid
Benfield's blog.
NRDC works to safeguard the earth--its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. We combine the power of more than three million members and online activists with the expertise of some 700 scientists, lawyers, and policy advocates across the globe to ensure the rights of all people to the air, the water, and the wild.
(212) 727-2700LATEST NEWS
'Make Polio Great Again': Alarm Over RFK Jr. Lawyer Who Targeted Vaccine
"So if you're wondering if Donald Trump is trying to kill your kids, yes, yes he is," said one critic.
Dec 13, 2024
Public health advocates, federal lawmakers, and other critics responded with alarm to The New York Timesreporting on Friday that an attorney helping Robert F. Kennedy Jr. select officials for the next Trump administration tried to get the U.S. regulators to revoke approval of the polio vaccine in 2022.
"The United States has been a leader in the global fight to eradicate polio, which is poised to become only the second disease in history to be eliminated from the face of the earth after smallpox," said Liza Barrie, Public Citizen's campaign director for global vaccines access. "Undermining polio vaccination efforts now risks reversing decades of progress and unraveling one of the greatest public health achievements of all time."
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Although Kennedy's nomination requires Senate confirmation, he is already speaking with candidates for top health positions, with help from Aaron Siri, an attorney who represented RFK Jr. during his own presidential campaign, the Times reported. Siri also represents the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN) in petitions asking the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) "to withdraw or suspend approval of vaccines not only for polio, but also for hepatitis B."
According to the newspaper:
Mr. Siri is also representing ICAN in petitioning the FDA to "pause distribution" of 13 other vaccines, including combination products that cover tetanus, diphtheria, polio, and hepatitis A, until their makers disclose details about aluminum, an ingredient researchers have associated with a small increase in asthma cases.
Mr. Siri declined to be interviewed, but said all of his petitions were filed on behalf of clients. Katie Miller, a spokeswoman for Mr. Kennedy, said Mr. Siri has been advising Mr. Kennedy but has not discussed his petitions with any of the health nominees. She added, "Mr. Kennedy has long said that he wants transparency in vaccines and to give people choice."
After the article was published, Siri called it a "typical NYT hit piece plainly written by those lacking basic reading and thinking skills," and posted a series of responses on social media. He wrote in part that "ICAN's petition to the FDA seeks to revoke a particular polio vaccine, IPOL, and only for infants and children and only until a proper trial is conducted, because IPOL was licensed in 1990 by Sanofi based on pediatric trials that, according to FDA, reviewed safety for only three days after injection."
The Times pointed out that experts consider placebo-controlled trials that would deny some children polio shots unethical, because "you're substituting a theoretical risk for a real risk," as Dr. Paul A. Offit, a vaccine expert at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, explained. "The real risks are the diseases."
Ayman Chit, head of vaccines for North America at Sanofi, told the newspaper that development of the vaccine began in 1977, over 280 million people worldwide have received it, and there have been more than 300 studies, some with up to six months of follow-up.
Trump, who is less than six weeks out from returning to office, has sent mixed messages on vaccines in recent interviews.
Asked about RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine record during a Time "Person of the Year" interview published Thursday, the president-elect said that "we're going to be able to do very serious testing" and certain vaccines could be made unavailable "if I think it's dangerous."
Trump toldNBC News last weekend: "Hey, look, I'm not against vaccines. The polio vaccine is the greatest thing. If somebody told me to get rid of the polio vaccine, they're going to have to work real hard to convince me. I think vaccines are—certain vaccines—are incredible. But maybe some aren't. And if they aren't, we have to find out."
Both comments generated concern—like the Friday reporting in the Times, which University of Alabama law professor and MSNBC columnist Joyce White Vance called "absolutely terrifying."
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Ryan Cooper, managing editor at The American Prospect, warned that "they want your kids dead."
Author and musician Mikel Jollett similarly said, "So if you're wondering if Donald Trump is trying to kill your kids, yes, yes he is."
Multiple critics altered Trump's campaign slogan to "Make Polio Great Again."
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) responded with a video on social media:
Without naming anyone, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a polio survivor, put out a lengthy statement on Friday.
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"It's a big slap in the face for us once again," Amanda Lorah—who was sentenced by Conahan to five years of juvenile detention over a high school fight—toldWBRE.
Sandy Fonzo, whose son killed himself after being sentenced to juvenile detention, said in a statement: "I am shocked and I am hurt. Conahan's actions destroyed families, including mine, and my son's death is a tragic reminder of the consequences of his abuse of power."
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Many of Conahan's victims were first-time or low-level offenders. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court would later throw out thousands of cases adjudicated by the Conahan and Ciaverella, the latter of whom is serving a 28-year sentence for his role in the scheme.
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Others have called on Biden—who earlier this month pardoned his son Hunter Biden after promising he wouldn't—to grant clemency to people including Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier and environmental lawyer Steven Donziger.
"There's never going to be any closure for us."
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As Israel continues to decimate the Gaza Strip with American weapons, 77 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives this week demanded that the Biden administration "provide a full assessment of the status of Israel's compliance with all relevant U.S. policies and laws, including National Security Memorandum 20 (NSM-20) and Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act."
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