EPA Awards Sustainability Grants

The Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it is granting $3 million to nine universities and one state agency to study and create ways to promote sustainability in the United States. The grants will be given out under the Collaborative Science and Technology Network for Sustainability (CNS) program.

The funding will be given to institutions to study the way people and businesses think about how decisions impact the environment. The CNS works to understand organizational behavior and how to better work sustainability into the planning of such things as urban landscapes and transportation infrastructure, as well as assessing what keeps people from accepting that sustainability is beneficial to the community and the economy.

George Gray, the assistant administrator for the Office of Research and Development, said in the EPA press release, "The CNS program enables citizens from all sectors -- local governments, nonprofits and universities -- to work together on practical projects for communities and states to achieve the economic and environmental benefits of green building and smart growth."

Dartmouth College will receive $300,000 to study what motivates the promotion of sustainability by those involved in the decision-making process. Ohio State University is also receiving $300,000 to develop a toolkit to reduce waste in Central Ohio by 15 percent. The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, will receive $300,000 to create a list of "green" materials for pre-fabricated housing.

Other schools that are awarded $300,000 include the University of Maine for an impact study of housing developments on lakes, the University of California at Irvine for methods to determine the true value of urban green space, and the University of Maine in Amherst to develop models to increase energy sustainability. The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor is also getting $300,000 to study transportation planning and land use.

The New Jersey Institute of Technology is awarded $200,000 to study and develop community-based ways to protect water resources, and University of Maryland will receive $275,000 to build a "blueprint" for Maryland in terms of land preservation, water resources, energy, and economics. Finally, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife is slated to receive a quarter of a million dollars to draw up maps that focus on land development in Maine over the last four years in order to assist land trust planners.

The CNS was launched in 2004 as a way to build and promote collaboration between the EPA and organizations to develop new methods to promote sustainability and environmental protection. Last year, twelve projects were chosen as grantees. The CNS focuses on the "Built Environment" and "Industrial Ecology and Organizational Behavior."

Source: Environmental Protection Agency