First Solar, Inc. and Southern California Edison have agreed to build two large-scale solar power projects in Riverside and San Bernardino counties in Southern California that together will generate enough electricity to provide power to about 170,000 homes.

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Pope Benedict XVI added to his growing reputation as the “green Pope” yesterday (July 7) with the release of a new encyclical Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth). A call for sustainable development in the broadest sense, the Pope’s letter addressed the human and environmental costs of “business as usual,” and established “doing well by doing good” as the business philosophy most consistent with Church doctrine and Biblical teaching.

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In May, Toronto became the first city in North America to enact a green roof mandate: “…any new development with floorspace of more than 2,000 square meters devote between 20 and 60 percent of its roof to vegetation.” A centuries-old technology, green roofs provide a wide range of benefits!

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Are you looking for information on lightening your neighborhood’s or town’s environmental footprint? Want to figure out how to reduce your own energy and material consumption? Or, just need facts on hand for that annoying climate-change denying brother-in-law? Michigan’s largest universities have released new online tools that may have you covered in all of these situations.

The Michigan Citizen Planner, a project of the Michigan State University extension, the Land Policy Institute, and MSUGlobal, has rolled out a new online training program titled “Growth through Green Development.” While targeted for planners, the non-credit instructional module addresses topics that would be useful for anyone interested in green development (or redevelopment). Issues covered include “Green Infrastructure,” “Design the Community on a Human Scale,” and “Green Site Development.” The complete training module costs $69.99.

If you’re looking for more general information that won’t cost you anything, the University of Michigan’s Center for Sustainable Systems has released “Sustainability: Learn It, Live It.” Based on a series of fact sheets from the Center, the site offers quick facts, and more detailed sets of information, on waste, buildings, energy, water, food, and other topics. While university web sites can be notoriously difficult to navigate, this one has a very intuitive interface… you’ll be able easily find what you need.

Know of other useful information repositories? Share them… leave us a comment.

Via WWJ News Radio 950

Image credit: ItzaFineDay at Flickr under a Creative Commons license