News and Events

Sep 13, 2010 12:42 PM

Move over, Thomas Friedman.

The next generation of thought leaders is gearing up to lead America’s energy efforts—and biodiesel is front and center.

Student scientists from Dartmouth College to Oregon State University are leading the new Next Generation Scientists for Biodiesel initiative. The group has formed to demonstrate and grow support for biodiesel among tomorrow’s scientific leaders.

Lucas Ellis of Dartmouth, pursuing his Master of Science in Biochemical Engineering, is one of four co-chairs of the effort. “In college, there is an eagerness to become an advocate or have a cause, and mine was the environment, science and educating others about sustainability,” Ellis said. “Biodiesel combined all of those and became my passion.”

Since then, his passion has led him to create biodiesel education projects in three states, including organizing laboratories to teach students about the chemistry of biodiesel.  At West Virginia University, he created a biodiesel organization that hosts biodiesel events to help recruit children into studying science.

Selected by the National Biodiesel Board, the other co-chairs of Next Generation Scientists for Biodiesel are:
•Bernardo del Campo, Iowa State University (Biorenewable Resources and Technologies)
•Mikkel Leslie, Oregon State University (Environmental Engineering)
• Jason Strull, University of Nevada–Reno (Material Sciences  and Chemical Engineering) The campaign launched with 28 founding members signing an online declaration of support for biodiesel, which in part proclaims: Biodiesel from a variety of feedstocks can meet contemporary needs for environmental stewardship, economic prosperity, and quality of life without compromising the ability of future generations to meet these needs for themselves.

NBB also wanted to create a forum where students who support biodiesel can collaborate and share ideas.

Any student scientist can sign the declaration, found at www.biodieselsustainability.org. They will then have opportunities to learn from each other, including a virtual conference scheduled for Sept 28. A Facebook page also provides students with a forum to discuss biodiesel with each other and view profiles of other students and their biodiesel projects.

The Next Generation Scientists for Biodiesel initiative is modeled after the Scientists for Biodiesel campaign. Launched in February 2009, 125 scientists have signed the declaration.  Both initiatives are led by NBB and supported by the United Soybean Board and soybean checkoff.

Published: Tuesday, July 20, 2010, 4:27 PM     Updated: Tuesday, July 20, 2010, 4:54 PM

Joseph Rose, The Oregonian

View full sizeThese new signs are expected to start popping up around Portland in the near future.

The Portland City Council is expected to adopt a resolution Wednesday that would enact an eight-step plan to usher in an electric-vehicle future on the city’s streets and driveways.

Among other things, the resolution (PDF) calls for “supportive city policies” such as designated parking rules and streamlined permitting for public charging stations.Under the resolution, the city would also develop a program to make it easier for garage-less electric car owners to charge their eco-rides at home.

From the report accompanying the resolution:

“A significant number of homes, apartments and condominiums in Portland do not have off-street parking that is generally required to install a home charging unit. The city beleives every resident of Portland should have access to the benefits of EV’s if they choose.”

Additionally, the city says it is exploring partnerships to retro-fit and market underutilized parking spaces to serve EV owners who do not live within reasonable distance to a city-owned garage.

“Allowing residents that lack access to off-street home charging to use these lots to charge presents a unique opportunity to use the parking spaces that would otherwise sit empty at night.”

The report says City Hall is also pursuing a first of its kind relationship with Zipcar, allowing members of the car-sharing service to reserve time at charging stations.

Also, officials want to find ways to partner on “smart grid” development, delivering metered electricity to EV owners more reliably, economically and efficiently.

Hoping to meet meet emission-reduction goals outlined in the Climate Action Plan adopted last year, the city says electric vehicles must account for 13 percent of all non-commercial vehicle miles traveled in Portland by 2030.

Mayor Sam Adams wants the Portland Development Commission, the Portland Bureau of Transportation, The Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, the Bureau of Development Services and Fleet Services Bureau to act on eight steps.

• Adopt and update policies to facilitate to transition to electric vehicles. In addition to streamlining permitting, the plan recommends new charging station signs, special parking rules and  “clean taxi” priority at Portland International Airport and other major transportation hubs.
• Promote state and federal tax incentives for electric cars.
• Create a program for garage-less electric car owners to charge their cars at home.
• Create jobs linked to the electric-car industry.
• Create the most sustainable electric fleet in the country, with 20 percent of Portland’s 2,800-vehicle fleet going electric in the next 20 years.
• Work with the trucking industry to adopt electric and plug-in hybrid technology.
• Partner with Zipcar and other car-sharing companies “to ensure affordable access to electric car technology.”
• Foster existing public and private relationships to promote electric vehicles and build an extensive infrastructure to support them.

– Joseph Rose; Twitter, pdxcommute

PSU tackles plan to become ‘carbon neutral’ university

By Steve Law

Pamplin Media Group, Jul 8, 2010

L.E. BASKOW / Pamplin Media Group

PSU’s urban plaza symbolizes the university’s growth and its commitment to a non-auto-dependent future.

The climate-change conference in Copenhagen was a bust.

Cap-and-trade bills to lower greenhouse gas emissions are stuck in Congress and the Oregon Legislature.

And Americans are more worried about jobs these days and more leery of aggressive actions to avert climate change.

But Portland State University is plowing ahead anyway, adopting its own climate action plan that calls for making the campus “carbon neutral” in 30 years.

PSU is one of 685 American colleges and universities – including 16 in Oregon – that agreed to address global warming by signing the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment. On May 24, PSU took its most significant step to fulfill that commitment, releasing a 69-page plan that charts how it will do its part to address the planet’s most-pressing environmental threat.

“I don’t think there’s another country in the world where you could get this big, this major an effort coming from the grass roots, coming without a government mandate,” says PSU President Wim Wiewel, of the commitments by PSU and its peers.

Portland out ahead

Despite stalled progress at the state, national and international levels, Portland and Multnomah County enacted an ambitious climate action plan in October. They called for slashing countywide carbon emissions 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030, and 80 percent by 2050.

Those are audacious goals, but it’s what experts say is needed worldwide to avert the worst impacts of climate change.

PSU’s plan is even more aggressive. It calls for an 80 percent reduction in carbon emissions below current levels by 2030 and getting to carbon neutrality by 2040.

PSU, like the city where it’s based, is staking out a reputation for being ahead of the pack when it comes to sustainability.

“It’s kind of a Portland ethic,” says Mark Gregory, PSU associate vice president in finance and administration. He’ll oversee the nitty-gritty work needed to carry out the climate action plan.

PSU has earned a national reputation in urban studies and engaging with the community, Gregory says. “I think a next big one for us is sustainability, particularly as it relates to urban environments.”

PSU a growing player

That reputation leaped forward in 2008, when PSU received a $25 million challenge grant from the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation to support sustainability research and teaching. PSU must raise an equal matching amount over 10 years.

The university also is working on two cutting-edge projects of national import. The $90-million plus Oregon Sustainability Center, billed as the world’s greenest large building, will host PSU academics and environmental nonprofits and government groups. PSU also is plotting an “eco district,” a neighborhood built with the latest green transportation, sewage, energy and other features.

PSU’s climate action plan meshes well with student and faculty sensibilities. As the plan notes, PSU students are fascinated by studying the environmental merits of bathroom hand dryers vs. paper towels. About 160 students attended a town hall to review the climate action plan.

PSU faculty and students are researching the urban driving habits of motorists using electric vehicles, and looking for synergies between rooftop solar panels and planted “eco-roofs.”

PSU’s new goal of a “carbon-light future” is even more aggressive considering its expansion plans. With 28,000 students, it’s Oregon’s largest and fastest-growing university, and it expects to add 12,500 more students by 2039. It expects to expand from the current 4.1 million square feet of dorm, classroom and administrative space to 7.1 million square feet.

The biggest challenge to meeting the plan’s goals is money, Gregory says. In years when PSU’s budget is lean, there may be little available to spend.

But the public expects universities to be laboratories for solving problems, he says, and PSU will benefit even if it misses its ambitious targets. “If we fail, then we get most of the way there, and we learned a bunch of things.”

And collectively, the wisdom gained by more than 600 U.S. colleges and universities undergoing similar efforts could inform practices around the globe.

PSU’s path to ‘carbon neutrality’

Portland State University hasn’t detailed what it means to reach “carbon neutrality” or how to get there. But it vows to retool its climate action plan every one to three years.

Some ways it expects to reduce carbon emissions that contribute to global warming:

Buildings

• Erect more green buildings, on top of five current ones meeting silver or gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design or LEED standards.

• Add more dorms so fewer students drive or take transit to school. Long-term goal: house one-fourth of all students on campus.

• Building retrofits to improve energy efficiency.

• Hire a manager to craft energy-saving projects, and install meters pinpointing energy usage each 15 minutes.

• Long term, develop renewable energy, possibly with methane fuel produced from waste. Solar and wind won’t play a major role because of space and other considerations.

Commuting

• Keep building on past decade, which saw the share of students driving alone to campus plummet from 41 percent to 25 percent, and a greater reduction among employees.

• Keep adding bike racks at current rate of 100 per term; work to prevent bike thefts.

• Improve bike paths, particularly east-west routes that connect campus to city.

• Add electric-vehicle charging station and electric-car fleet.

• Get to 20 percent of all student trips by bike by 2030, up from 11 percent now; and 25 percent of all student trips by foot, up from 14 percent now.

Materials

• Reduce use of computer printers. PSU purchased 147 tons of copy paper in 2007-08; if stacked upright, that would almost reach the height of Mount Hood.

• Cut solid waste generated on campus one-fourth by 2030. Eliminate use of plastic water bottles at university events and launch a campaign to reduce trash disposed at athletic events.

• Longer term, explore building a digester, processing solid waste on site into methane gas that’s burned as fuel.

Travel

Plane travel is “the trickiest part of the whole puzzle,” says Mark Gregory, associate vice president in finance and administration. Faculty, staff and students flew 9.4 million miles in fiscal year 2007-08 – 17 times the miles driven by car. Air travel accounted for 50 times the carbon emissions of car travel.

• To get to “carbon neutrality” in this arena and other elusive areas, PSU likely will have to spend money for “offsets,” projects that reduce carbon emissions by, for example, producing renewable energy or planting trees.

Oregon colleges signing on to the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment

Oregon University System

Eastern Oregon University*

Oregon Institute of Technology

Oregon State University

Portland State University

Southern Oregon University

University of Oregon

Western Oregon University

Private colleges

Lewis & Clark College

Linfield College

Oregon College of Art and Craft*

University of Portland

Willamette University

Community colleges

Columbia Gorge Community College

Lane Community College

Portland Community College

Rogue Community College

*Failed to meet first deadline and demonstrate actions to meet program goals

For more information: http://acupcc.aashe.org/search

Portland Business Journal – by Matthew Kish Business Journal managing editor

Congressman Earl Blumenauer has introduced a bill that would give a significant boost to geothermal energy developers, a critical part of Oregon’s green economy.

The Portland Democrat’s bill, H.R. 5612, would give a 30 percent tax credit for investments in geothermal energy projects.

Geothermal energy is produced when extreme underground temperatures heat water to produce steam, much like a conventional boiler.

It becomes renewable when production facilities, which run the steam through a turbine, reinject the water back into the ground so it can reheat.

“We are literally standing on one of the best solutions to the energy equation, which is the natural heat of the earth,” Blumenauer said in a news release. “The United States has more geothermal capacity than any other country, and by harnessing this heat we can generate clean, homegrown energy that won’t spill into the oceans or exacerbate global warming.”

Oregon ended 2009 ranked third in total U.S. geothermal capacity under development, with 13 projects at various stages of development that together could yield 370 megawatts, according to a January report by the Geothermal Energy Association, a Washington, D.C., trade group. That’s roughly enough to power 370,000 homes.

mkish@bizjournals.com | 503-219-3414

Read more: Blumenauer bill would boost geothermal energy development – Portland Business Journal

by Lee van der Voo
Sustainable Business Oregon

Purveyors of green goods and services can expect increased pressure to avoid greenwashing in 2010, following a push by the Federal Trade Commission to retool its guidelines on environmental marketing claims.

That’s good news for green businesses eager to cleanse the marketplace of snake oil sales, increasingly common in an era of growing consumer interest in sustainable products.

The effort by the FTC to retool its Green Guides in 2010, however, also puts businesses on notice that inaccurate claims about environmental benefits could lead to trouble.

The FTC’s Green Guides are intended to serve as guidelines for businesses that make claims of environmental benefit in their marketing. The guides were last updated in 1998. The next update is expected to be complete by the end of the year, following a public comment period. Changes will expand the FTC’s reach from recycled, degradable and ozone-safe products to more sophisticated offerings like carbon offsets, renewable energy certificates, green packaging, textiles, building products and buildings themselves.

Though the Green Guides are advisory and not enforceable by law, their revision bolsters the FTC’s ability to take action against greenwashing as unfair or deceptive advertising, both prohibited by the FTC Act.

That could lead to trouble for businesses in Oregon that make false claims of environmental benefit just to lure business, according to Tony Green, director of communications and policy for the Oregon Department of Justice.

“It will make it easier for us, if the FTC toughens up its guidelines, to go after somebody who claims to meet them if in fact they aren’t,” Green said.

The FTC has signaled an intent to take similar action nationally since beginning the review of the Green Guides in 2008.

In August 2009, for example, the agency sued four clothing manufacturers — Sami Designs and its subsidiaries and The M Group Inc. — to bar them from claiming their rayon garments were made from bamboo in an eco-friendly way and contained antimicrobial properties. Six months later, the agency warned 78 retailers including Wal-Mart, Target and Kmart against selling similarly marketed products.

Also in 2009, the FTC sued Kmart Corp., Tender Corp., and Dyna-E International with making false claims that their paper products were “biodegradable.”

For companies already focused on sustainable business, they have little to fear from the Green Guides update if their claims of environmental benefit are true, according to Deborah Morrison, a distinguished professor of advertising at the University of Oregon. For those companies, the updated Green Guides offers greater benefits to building a responsible and ecologically friendly brand.

“The brands around them will be called out more often and try to find the wiggle room again and again,” she said, adding that tighter regulations will combine with increased consumer scrutiny to create a tougher environment for false environmental claims.

“I don’t know if we’re getting more honest but we’re getting more critical. We have more people, new tools, more agencies and effort and support for thinking about this area,” she said.

Among those tools is the Greenwashing Index, created by Morrison and colleague Kim Sheenan through a partnership with the University of Oregon and the Texas-based advertising firm EnviroMedia Social Marketing three years ago.

The web site allows consumers to post and rate advertising for purportedly green products, like green webhosting, battery-powered lawnmowers and green cleaning products.

Morrison said the site helps writers and advertisers work with clients on what sells to green-minded consumers and what doesn’t. For those stoking a green image, she said, the best campaign is an honest, straightforward one that provides truthful details about what an environmentally responsible brand does.

by Lee van der Voo
Sustainable Business Oregon

Portland Afoot — a self-described 10-minute newsmagazine aimed at an audience that espouses buses, bikes and the low-car life — hit the streets last week with its first monthly issue.

Michael Andersen, Portland Afoot

According to its publisher and editor, 29-year-old Michael Andersen, that’s good news for the 500,000 people predicted to be car-free in Portland in 20 years, and the hundreds of companies currently tasked with reducing the number of people that drive to work alone.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality requires companies with 100 employees or more to reduce the number of people that drive alone to work through its Employee Commute Options program. The rules currently affect 819 work sites in Oregon. Most use carpool programs, telecommuting, transit pass subsidies, compressed workweeks, awards and other promotions to reduce pollution created by employee car trips.

While much effort is spent on encouraging those new bus riders, cyclists and pedestrians, Andersen notes very little time is spent on retaining alternative commuters, an issue he calls “an under-appreciated problem” in the environmental community.

“You feel helpless or alone when you’re confronted with problems about the transit system,” said Andersen, who notes that approximately one-third of low-car commuters simply give up after a year, flustered with difficulties and a lack of ability to find information and influence change.

Thus, Portland Afoot is geared to create community around the low-car lifestyle. Car-free for half of his adult life, Andersen says he has a keen grasp of what Portlanders want to know about alternative transit and how much time they’ll spend learning.

At just 5.5 by 8.5 inches, Portland Afoot folds out into just one 11 by 17 sheet of paper, boiling content down to highlights. The first issue offers an overview of not-to-be missed stories and their online URLs, along with a preview of cycle-friendly Pedalpalooza, rankings of Portland bus lines, and a quick personal story about a commuter.

The uncertainty of the media publishing industry means profit is anything but guaranteed. Fortunately, Portland Afood is published by the Oregon nonprofit Portland in the Round, led by a board of five that includes former city council candidate and Portland planning commissioner Chris Smith, host of PortlandTransport.com, and Carrie Pederson, the Rider’s Club coordinator for Ride Connection. The product is a flagship for what Andersen hopes will become a broad selection of niche products targeting neglected audiences both in print and on the Internet.

Portland Afoot is bolstered by a Twitter feed and a wiki news site at PortlandAfoot.org, where readers can play a role in tracking issues affecting the low-car community. Andersen contributes resource pages to the web site to help bring new readers quickly up to speed on complex issues.

“I think this is hopefully an idea that, if it works, can be stolen by other media outlets around the country,” said Andersen.

Andersen is distributing the first 1,000 copies of Portland Afoot free to those with interest. He’s also looking for businesses to test the product among alternative commuters in their employ and plans to recruit ad sponsors to support corporate distribution.

So far several advertisers have come calling on the magazine, including transit-savvy real estate agents, attorneys with specialties in bike law, and other green businesses eager to reach the magazine’s first 90 subscribers.

Those subscribers pay $14 a year ($5 a year for the first 200 subscribers using the “charter200” code at the website, subscribers outside the Portland Metro pay $20) to have Portland Afoot mailed to their home.

Subscriptions fund the magazine’s printing and production time. Ad sales fund Andersen’s efforts while donations, including grants, are aimed at growth.

Lee van der Voo, lvdvoo@gmail.com, is a freelance writer for Sustainable Business Oregon.

With the popular trend that is emerging around the world for greener living and trying to be as eco conscious as possible recent moves made by the hotel industry have led to a number of establishments being classed as ‘green’. And now, in the heart of Czech Republic, even those travelling on a modest budget can benefit from the city’s newest eco hotel; Mosaic House.

As Eastern European cities continue to become increasingly popular with British tourists as an exciting destination to explore, it seems that Prague has taken the time to invest in what modern day travellers are looking for. Well located for a number of Prague’s most historic and cultural offerings, the Mosaic House offers private rooms and dorm bunks. Suiting those on various budgets the eco conscious are welcomed with an array of green practices to keep their global exploration as carbon neutral as possible.

With direct flights to Prague easily found from London airports such as Stansted and Luton as well regional airports including Manchester, tourists can enjoy the city and new hotel for a modest price. Incorporating solar water heating, computer controlled room temperatures and the first greywater recycling unit in the country into the hotels design occupants are treated to luxury standards without the carbon price tag. Meanwhile both showers and toilet include water saving features, whilst much of the furniture within the rooms have been locally sourced. And with the hotels restaurant donating used oil from the deep fryer to biodiesel shuttle buses, after an exciting trip to the city even the airport bus journey is eco-friendly.

Posted by James, 15 June 2010 12:39

By John Foyston, Special to The Oregonian

June 01, 2010, 2:35PM

View full sizeIt just makes sense that Portland State University would have its own beer, and thanks to Rogue Ales, you can now buy  Portland State IPA in 22-ounce bottles with the legend, “Think local, buy local, learn local (ly).”

“It’s a fun way to illustrate PSU’s commitment to sustainability,” said PSU President Wim Wiewel,  “as well as our efforts to engage the community and develop mutually beneficial partnerships.”

In 2008, PSU dedicated a $25 million gift from the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation  to strengthening its role as a national leader in sustainability education. Funds help support research into sustainable  food chains, bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, and green business practices.

“I don’t understand half the stuff they’re doing,” said Rogue CEO Jack Joyce, “but I do know that they’re teaching people to think local — local transportation and local products that are locally grown, locally produced, and locally sold. They call it being sustainable, but we just call it common sense, because we’re part of the community — we think buying local, using alternative transportation and just being a good neighbor are absolutely essential.”

Portland State IPA can be purchased in retail locations around Portland including the Rogue Ales Distillery and Public House, 1339 N.W. Flanders St. PSU receives no royalties from the sale 

The Newly Redesigned Courtyard by Marriott® Portland City Center is Just One of Nine U.S. Hotel Properties to Achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold Certification

Portland, OR (PRWEB) May 22, 2010 — Coinciding with Earth Day’s 40th year, Courtyard by Marriott Portland City Center now stands out among the Marriott family of hotels as the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold-certified Marriott Hotel in the United States. The hotel’s Gold LEED certification is the second highest certification possible, and only one of nine such hotels in the United States, of nearly 900 LEED-registered properties.

Hotel in Downtown Portland

To achieve this prestigious certification, the Courtyard by Marriott Portland City Center worked in under the guidance of hotel management and development group Sage Hospitality to incorporate a number of innovative energy efficient practices. The hotel officially launched its green initiatives along with other Sage Hospitality hotels during “Earth Hour” on March 27, 2010, encompassing consciousness-raising environmental efforts such as tree planting, Travel Green hotel packages, and complimentary valet parking for hybrid and electric cars at select hotels.

In addition to energy saving efforts, guests have recycling bins guest rooms, the hotel uses green housekeeping products and organic bath products, efficient fluorescent lighting and programs to reduce water usage. Even restaurant food waste is composted rather than thrown away as trash.

Other sustainability practices include:

In addition, the hotel was the winner of the 2010 Green Award, sponsored by the Energy Trust of Oregon. “Sustainability is much more than a corporate ethos at Courtyard by Marriott Portland City Center; as a LEED Gold hotel, it is just how we do business,” said Mike Castro, General Manager. “As Portlanders, saving energy, protecting the environment and adopting local suppliers, artists and vendors is a way of life. ” Visit Marriott International, Inc. (NYSE: MAR) for company information. For more information or reservations, please visit our web site at www.marriott.com, and for the latest company news, visit www.marriottnewscenter.com.

About Courtyard by Marriott Portland City Center
Whether you’re traveling for business or pleasure, the Courtyard by Marriott® City Center hotel in downtown Portland, near Oregon’s Pearl District provides you with everything you’ll need. From spacious guest rooms to a full-service business center and on-site restaurant with classic American cuisine, this hotel’s amenities and services offer the perfect Rose City experience in downtown Portland. Near the Pearl District area, this business hotel in Portland is ideal for corporate travelers attending conventions, conferences, seminars or board meetings with great group rates and stylish green meeting spaces, featuring seven meeting rooms and more than 5,300 square feet of meeting space. With the assistance of Portland City Center’s hotel meeting professionals, you can count on us to help you plan a flawless business meeting or social event. Find everything you’ll need at Marriott’s only LEED Gold Certified hotel near the Pearl District.
www.MyFavoriteCourtyard.com.

About Sage Hospitality
Founded in 1984, Sage Hospitality has strategically grown into one of the largest privately held hotel management and development companies in the nation operating a variety of large, full-service hotels and extended stay and select-service properties. Sage Hospitality’s comprehensive management portfolio includes major international brands for Marriott, Starwood, Hilton and IHG as well as the independent boutique hotels the Oxford. Sage Hospitality has further differentiated with the creation of the Sage Restaurant Group, which has created and is managing 8 unique restaurant concepts including the acclaimed Mercat a la Planxa in Chicago. The company developed the innovative CoCo Key water resort brand with 10 destination hotel and water resort properties. For more information, please visit www.sagehospitality.com

About LEED Certification
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a third-party certification program and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings. LEED certifies green practices by giving building owners and operators the tools they need to have an immediate and measurable impact on their buildings’ performance. LEED promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality. LEED ratings cover new construction, operations and maintenance, as well as waste water and trash disposal and more. www.usgbc.org.

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BY Greg LindsayThu May 20, 2010

On the afternoon of July 6, 1999, Dr. Richard Jackson was summoned to the office of his boss, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Jackson was then the head of the CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health, and he knew that his boss was preparing an editorial on the biggest health threats American would face in the 21st century.

As Jackson tells it today, he spent the drive across Atlanta mulling the contenders. Was it asthma, which now affects nearly one in 10 Americans? Asthma rates are closely correlated with air pollution — “the more we drive, the more asthma we get,” he said. Was it obesity? The proportion of people who are overweight in this country had climbed from 24% in 1960 to 47% in 1980 to 64% in 2000 (including 31% who are obese). Obesity begat diabetes, which has doubled in prevalence since 1980. One in three Americans is expected to contract it. Eleven percent of health care spending goes toward treating it (“2% of all the money in the United States,” Jackson says). As a percentage of GDP, health care spending on diabetes had climbed to 14% by 1999; has since risen to 17% and is headed toward 20%. “It has tripled over my career,” Jackson says.

But there was also climate change and auto fatalities, which vary by city and region. If the U.S. auto fatality rate shrank to New York’s level, we would save 24,000 lives a year. If Portland, Oregon’s rate were the national number, 15,000 fewer people would die in auto accidents. (Although if the nation had the auto fatality rate of Atlanta, where Jackson was driving while pondering all of this, an additional 15,000 people would die each year.)

Then at one intersection on his trip, Jackson noticed a woman in her 70s walking along the side of the road in the summer heat, carrying what looked to be a heavy plastic shopping bag. She was doubled over, presumably from osteoporosis. He considered offering her a ride, but didn’t, and the missed opportunity haunts him to this day. If she were to die before making it home, he realized, the official cause of death would be “heat stroke,” and not a lack of sidewalks and shade trees. If she were to be hit by a truck, she would be considered an auto fatality, not the victim of a lack of transportation alternatives.

“What public health is about,” he has since come to understand, “is the causes of the causes of death.” On Thursday morning at the annual meeting of the Congress of the New Urbanism in Atlanta, he informed a roomful of planners and architects, “You who create places that promote and protect health are probably doing more or health than those of us walking around in white coats.” In the 20th century, American life expectancy soared by 30 years. “How many of those years came from white coats, and how many more from public health?” Twenty-five years from public health, and only five from medical care — and we spend 17% of our GDP treating it,” he said.

His realization that day in 1999 led Jackson to embrace New Urbanism as a tool to improve public health. That led to the 2004 book Urban Sprawl and Public Health, written by Dr. Howard Frumkin (another former director of the National Center for Environmental Health) and Lawrence Frank, a landscape architect who now teaches about sustainable transportation at the University of British Columbia. The trio (Jackson, Frumkin, and Frank) noted that a quarter of all the developed land in the United States had been developed in just the last 15 years. The average American’s yearly driving rose from 4,000 miles in 1960 to 10,000 miles in 2000, and the average person’s time spent in Atlanta traffic had risen from six hours to 34 hours during that time.

They proposed that the way environment and transportation patterns were built caused many of America’s public health problems. They starting with the premise that the best way to combat an obesity epidemic, diabetes, and their attendant health problems (and health spending) is to encourage walking and physical activity–New Urbanist principles would help accomplish that. New Urbanists, in turn, embraced Jackson, Frumkin, and Frank in their effort to prove that their work was about more than personal preference; it possessed societal ramifications.

On Thursday, the three authors reconvened to offer their takes on what had changed since publication. Jackson offered his original epiphany, while Frumkin reflected on how much American culture had since come around to their point of view. Frank, meanwhile, delved into a few of studies supporting what he called “the hidden health consequences of transportation investment.”

One of those studies is the seminal, Atlanta-based SMARTRAQ measuring connectivity, proximity to amenities, and household transportation behavior which has since spawned off dozens of studies. It was SMARTRAQ which proved, as Frank put it, “that driving makes you fat.” (As a predictor of obesity, time spent in a car is undeniably significant.) Transit users in Atlanta are 3.42 times more likely to meet physical activity recommendations; ergo, “investing in public transit might be the best way to encourage physical activity.” Among teenagers, the data demonstrated that residential density, mixed-use planning, walkable commercial destinations and parks were all statistically significant in whether they were likely to walk enough to help stave off obesity. And kids in households with fewer cars were more likely to walk — the more cars at their fingertips, the more likely they would use them.

A once radical idea — that health and urbanism are so deeply entwined that investing in the latter may improve the former — is beginning to find broad adoption. The California Medical Association has adopted resolutions based on these principles, and a body of research is beginning to form. In 2003, the number of American Public Health Association reports that mentioned “land use” was approximately zero. Last year, there were 130 presentations on the subject. “There is a tsunami of interest,” Jackson said.