The Architecture Studies Library has several titles worth examining on the topic of landscape architecture and sustainability. Here are a few:

Regenerative Design Techniques: Practical Applications in Landscape Design by Pete Melby and Tom Cathcart [SB472.45 M45 2002]

Ecology Community and Delight: Sources of Values in Landscape Architecture by Ian H. Thompson [SB472 T48 2000]

Landscape Planning: Environmental Applications by William M. Marsh [HD 108.6 M37 2005]
Note: this title includes case studies such as "Modifying Urban Climate and Reducing energy Use Through Landscape Design."

Ecology and Design: Frameworks for Learning by Bart Johnson and Kristina Hill [SB472.45 E39 2002; also available as an e-book] Note: approaches to teaching ecology in landscape architecture studio and classes.

There is much more on this topic. and much more to say. For the moment let me just add one more citation, an article specifically on reducing carbon emissions: "Indirect Carbon Reduction by Residential Vegetation and Planting Strategies in Chicago, USA" in the Journal of Environmental Management 61, no. 2 (February 2001): 165-177. The abstract notes that "the effects of shading, evapotranspiration, and windspeed reduction were considered and were found to have decreased carbon emissions by 3.2 to 3.9% per year...."

Of course being average is none too admirable. The World Wildlife Fund issued its Living Planet Report Oct. 23. (The news release is at
http://www.worldwildlife.org/news/displayPR.cfm?prID=322 and contains a link to the actual report at the end.) One of the two indexes reported on is the Ecological Footprint for the world, which has "tripled between 1961 and 2003. This report shows that humanity's ecological footprint exceeded biocapacity by 25 per cent in 2003. In the previous Living Planet Report 2004 (based on data to 2001), this figure was 21 per cent." And the U.S. had the second highest ecological footprint.

In the better news category, the WorldChanging web site team, citing a Reuters article, reports Oct. 26 on the use of wind turbines in 80,000 single-family homes in Great Britain. http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/005162.html

We sure get a lot of wind in Southern Nevada.

The first is a subscription database/site to which UNLV Libraries subscribes: BuildingGreen Suite. Since it is by subscription the instructions on how to access it apply only to UNLV library patrons. Go to http://www.library.unlv.edu/search/databases/index.html#B and select BuildingGreen from the alphabetical list. On the BuildingGreen site is a substantial directory of green building products and Environmental Building News. The Suite itself is described on the site thusly: "The BuildingGreen Suite integrates online versions of GreenSpec, Environmental Building News, and a database of more than 100 high-performance building case studies."

The second is a freely available site from the University of Minnesota College of Architecture. Their Sustainable Design Guide http://www.sustainabledesignguide.umn.edu/default.htm is seen as a design tool. It provides goals and strategies in six areas: waste, water, materials, energy, site, and interior environment. Each section is divided into subsections. Each subsection has resources, actions, and examples. Students wanting to apply this guide to their projects will be rewarded with both guidance and information. There is also a documents section which provides the framework for project evaluation, in environmental terms.