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Using Sustainable Technologies To Recover From Disaster
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Home > Current Visions for Rebuilding Communities After Disasters
Current Visions for Rebuilding Communities After DisastersMississippi Looks to Restore Natural SystemsIn an Opinion piece in The Clarion-Ledger, the state director of the Mississippi Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, Robbie Fisher, notes the benefits of natural system restoration in Mississippi. He commends Governor Haley Barbour for not only appointing a Commission on Recovery, Rebuilding and Renewal to aid in rebuilding communities, but also announcing an agenda for restoring natural systems. This proposal addresses forests, barrier islands, coastal marshes, and oyster reefs, with plans to return them to long-term health that can support resource-based industries and attract recreation and tourism dollars. Fisher urges support for this plan that would make Mississippi a model of natural system restoration. - Posted: January 29, 2006 | Permalink
Considering the Soul of New OrleansA commentary piece in the Philadelphia Inquirer recently discussed the soul of New Orleans—what makes the city's residents love it so much. The author reported on a pre-Katrina Gallup survey of residents in 20 major metropolitan areas that found New Orleans residents the most satisfied with their personal lives of any respondents. Those responding to the survey cited churches, universities, and city nightlife as key attributes of the city that contributed to diversity and self expression. Another facet of New Orleans life that pleased its residents was "quality of place" that the survey respondents found in the beauty of the city, its environmental quality, and its green spaces. The commentary warns that the rebuilding effort cannot focus on the economics and logistics of recovery to the exclusion of the soul of the city. - Posted: January 24, 2006 | Permalink
New Orleans Principles PublishedThe New Orleans Principles, a collection of ten key principles to guide the planning and reconstruction efforts following Hurricane Katrina in a manner that embraces environmental, social, and economic priorities, have been posted on the Green Reconstruction Forum. The ten principles—along with policy recommendations and actions that chart a course for incorporating a context of sustainability into planning and reconstruction efforts—were developed during special charrettes held during the U.S. Green Building Council’s Greenbuild conference in early November. More than 160 people from the Gulf Coast and throughout North America participated in developing the principles, which are contained in a 27-page report available online in PDF. - Posted: January 09, 2006 | Permalink
GroHome Design Proposed for Housing Hurricane SurvivorsA feature in Metropolis magazine reports that the GroHome concept developed by Pliny Fisk III is being considered for housing for hurricane survivors in Shoreline Park, Mississippi. The GroHome is a flexible integrated housing system based on a series of joints that can be used to create many types of structures, and a thick wall system with several applications, made of local materials. The GroHome concept is meant to provide residents the option of expanding housing as needed, with minimal impact to the building site and local landfills. - Posted: January 05, 2006 | Permalink
Architectural Record Covers Rebuilding EffortsArchitectural Record is providing special coverage on its website with a section titled "After the Hurricanes." The site collects the magazine's print coverage and offers new material on the challenge of rebuilding. Topics addressed include government response to the situation, stories on how local architects are coping, and links to more resources for news and help, as well analysis of what should replace what has been destroyed. - Posted: January 03, 2006 | Permalink
Duany Introduces Mississippi Renewal ReportArchitectural Record recently posted Andres Duany's introduction to the Mississippi Renewal Report, which was released at the end of November. In his introduction Duany offers background on the process by which the 18 individual reports in the complete document were compiled. Duany writes that the devastation caused by the hurricanes has offered Gulf Coast communities to remake themselves at the beginning of an era when sprawl is being deemed unworkable. While other areas will have to undo decades of sprawling development, the Gulf Coast has in many ways a clean slate that will allow it to leap ahead to a new model of sustainable community design, if leaders maintain their will to do so. - Posted: December 27, 2005 | Permalink
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Consider donating to the ongoing Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. The following two organizations are examples of nonprofits that are helping farmers in the South.
Federation of Southern Cooperatives: Land Assistance Fund Southern Mutual Help Association - Rural Recovery Fund Hurricane Assistance for Agricultural Producers
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