Native Gardening

Landscaping can be overwhelming and difficult to start but with the following resources, you can't go wrong with your next home project!

Rainscaping Iowa is the perfect place to start for your landscaping needs. Their website includes links for all sorts of helpful information. Native landscaping has many benefits including the architecture of the native roots which enables the soil to infiltrate water and withstand erosive conditions. Native plants are easy to maintain once established and also reduce the amount of local pests and disease.

One of the best ways to maintain water more sustainably is to strategically install landscaping that includes a tall grass prairie region. The Urban Conservation Program has more information on native landscaping as well as other projects with the goal of improving urban areas. With a long history of experience with working famers they are eager to help other communities. They assist installing systems and modify existing framework to accomplish keeping water off the roads and soil out of our waterways!

For more on Native Gardening check out Rainscaping Iowa's Facebook page and continue to get updates on their recent activity.

COSC Summer Internship Leads to Cystainability

Iowa State University student Ashlee Clark

Every college student has been there, it is April and the excitement of summer hasn't hit yet because you don't have a summer job or even landed an interview. There is no light yet at the end of the tunnel. 

Then May rolls around and I am still vigorously searching for a job. After weeks of researching numerous public relations firms in Des Moines and looking for assistance in my job hunt, I came into contact with Siobhan Spain, the communications director here at COSC. I was not quite sure what COSC was, or what they stood for, but I was eager to get my foot in the door with any experience.

Siobhan gave me the opportunity to jump right in, helping to write press releases, blogs and updating COSC's social networks from time to time. I have really enjoyed the hands on work experience that I received. After about a month I realized how many people I was meeting and the doors that this internship was opening for me. 

One door in particular is my yearning to learn more about sustainability.  I look forward to conveying the knowledge I acquired this summer when back on campus. So, what better way to do so than to research, write and publish it for the students at ISU?

COSC has taught me the bulk of what I know about sustainability and there is so much more to learn. As I am running out of time in my internship, I plan to continue my quest for gaining knowledge about the green initiative. To do so, I proposed to the Daily, ISU's campus newspaper, a regular green feature section focused on campus and local sustainability. Staff was eager to embrace this new initiative.

I'm excited to announce the launch of the Daily's new special section and website called "Cystainability" coming this fall. I look forward to steering this pilot project into a reliable source and interactive forum for students and faculty. My goal for the section is to promote awareness of diverse sustainable practices that influence the way we live, learn, work and play.

With the section being a very positive outcome of my internship, I was also able to learn a lot about the Public Relations/Communications field. It is not at all what I thought it was going to be - it was better. It is fast pace and always presents something new. I learned quickly that if there are five items on the to-do list for a certain day, those five items would be taking place at the same time and would all get done. This internship was a great learning experience for me that I plan to incorporate it into my education as well as whatever job comes next.  

COSC has influenced communities across Iowa to take on a sustainable lifestyle and I look forward to bringing these principals to Iowa State.

Look for the link to Cystainability's website by the end of August!

- Ashlee Clark

Iowa State University | Journalism and Mass Communications
Iowa State Daily
Government of Student Body | Director of Public Relations

Greensburg GreenTown Home

Greensburg, Kansas, is continuing their hard work of rebuilding after the 2007 tornado, destroying almost ninety-five percent of the town. The most recent efforts is focused on the Meadowlark House, designed by Steven Learner Studio.

Led by the nonprofit Greensburg GreenTown, the eco-friendly house is made of wood blocks and filled gravel, 100 percent toxin-free. It is very durable, tested by the German team from HIB, it should withstand winds over 180 mph and 8.0 earthquake. The wood block walls started going up on June 24, 2011 and they are continuing with great progress.

Follow the progress on Greensburg GreenTown Blog. After the home is completed later this year it will serve as a second home in the town to be a 'living laboratory' to show off sustainable technologies.

Clean Coalition Announces Local CLEAN Program Guide

The nonprofit Clean Coalition has released a Local CLEAN Program Guide to encourage more effective policies for the timely and practical development of clean local energy.

The first of seven modules of Clean Local Energy Accessible Now (CLEAN) Guide gives an overview of the programs and key considerations in assessing what a CLEAN program can do for communities and local utilities across the United States. Starting in Gainesville, Florida CLEAN programs have been implemented at the local, state and national level around the world to stimulate renewable energy deployments.  

To download the first module and more information on the Local CLEAN Program, please visit the Clean Coalition website.

Portland Green Homes Outperform Non-Certified Homes For Fourth Straight Year

June 22, 2011 - Press Release
Green Building Elements
Matter Network

The desire for homes that conform to the green building standards of organizations such as Earth Advantage, ENERGY STAR, or LEEDS is growing throughout the world, and nowhere is that more evident than Portland, Oregon. For the fourth straight year in a row, green certified homes have outperformed non-certified homes in the Portland metro region, according to a study by the Earth Advantage Institute.

The annual study found that existing homes with a sustainable certification sold for 30 percent more than homes without one, according to sales data provided by the Portland Regional Multiple Listing Service. This finding is based on the sales of existing homes between May 1, 2010 and April 30, 2011 in Multnomah, Clackamas, Columbia, and Washington Counties in Oregon and Clark County in Washington.