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If You Are a Community Planner "Going Green"
National Information
- Sustainable Housing Communities - U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
- Protect the Environment: In Your Community
- Protect the Environment: On the Road
- Protect the Environment: While Shopping
- Protect the Environment: Act Locally
- EPA for Concerned Citizens
- Go Green! Monthly Newsletter
- Grants
- Green Power Partnership
- Greener Products
- Heat Island Reduction
- Hotlines & Clearinghouses
- How to Make a Community Green
- Online Resources for Building Green Communities
- Partnership for Sustainable Communities
- Pollution Prevention Information Clearinghouse
- Stormwater Runoff
- Sustainability
- Watershed Central
Links to Other Organizations 
Mid-Atlantic State Information
Sustainable communities have a vibrant economy, a healthy environment and a strong positive feeling of community among its citizens. Becoming a sustainable community doesn't just happen. It takes planning and continual input from those who live, work, and govern there. EPA can help.
EPA has created a Green Communities Toolkit which leads communities through 5 steps:
- Where Are We Now? (community assessment)
- Where Are We Going? (trends analysis)
- Where Do We Want to Be? (vision statement)
- How Do We Get There? (action plans)
- Let's Go! (implementation)
And, there are additional EPA resources and recognition programs. The links below include both mid-Atlantic and Agency-wide resources.
- Brownfields and Land Revitalization - convert contaminated land to productive economic and green space use
- Protecting Children's Environmental Health - keep your community's children healthy
- Clean Diesel Program - cleaner diesel engines
- Composting- turn organic waste, like fruit and vegetable waste and yard waste, into a product which will help gardens grow
- Energy Star - energy efficiency offers significant cost savings
- Green Building - have healthy buildings, protect the environment and save money
- Green Landscaping / GreenScapes - save money and time and conserve resources through your landscaping choices and techniques
- Green Conventions- reduce the environmental impact of your event
- Greener Products - select greener products for your community
- Low Impact Development - reduce stormwater running off your land and causing flooding; mid-Atlantic universities working on low impact development
- Pollution Prevention - reduce the amount and/or toxicity of the waste (air emissions, liquid discharges, or solid or hazardous waste) your community produces
- Recycling - separate, collect, process, market, and ultimately use materials that would have been thrown away
- SmartGrowth - develop and redevelop lands in creative ways to reduce the environmental impact
- Transportation Planning - good planning can reduce vehicle miles traveled and increase the use of public transit
- WaterSense - water-saving products
- MORE PROGRAMS