A very special site for your interior searchings is the "House of Breathings" (www.anamchara.com), created by Carl McColman. A quote from him is included in the ADVENT editorial.

David Gregory has sent the following as our first environmental web site recommendations. David is a Permaculture Design Course graduate and has been working for the greening of his home city, Paterson, this past year before returning to Rutgers in New Jersey for a Landscape Architecture degree.

“The Fundamentals of Environmental Planning class that I am in has a web page with information on course material and many links to informative pages, from the White House to local issues and everywhere in between.” - David Gregory

For information on practitioners of ecological design, building products, and resources; a beautiful page although the resource section is heavy on titles and thin on text: www.ecodesign.bc.ca  Ocean Arks International and the Center for Restoration of Waters have a web site related to their publication "Annals of Earth". Some articles from the journal are on line, and others are on line that haven't been published hard copy. A good read for anyone interested in aquatic waste water treatment, water body restoration, living machines, and other techniques of ecological design: www.vsp.cape.com/~bjosephs

One particularly interesting link is www.rtk.net, the Right-to-Know Network, which includes the toxic releases inventory where you can type in your zip code and get a list of all toxic releases being reported by industries in your area.

The larger site for the class is great starting place for anyone interested in environmental issues:

 http://deathstar.rutgers.edu/envplan

Context Institute in Washington recently underwent miosis, forming two entities: the hardcopy publication "YES! a journal of positive futures" and an online magazine with articles and links related to ecological design, from homes to urban systems. Well written, visionary work: www.context.org

For an on-line link to Permaculture Magazine (from the UK) and all its treats, go to www.gaia.org/permaculture/

For an on-line version of Permaculture International, go to www.nor.com.au/environment/perma/

For a link to Urban, Regional, and Environmental Planning Related Resources, go to www.geocities.com/SoHo/2278/index.html

Ecological Design Institute (www.trope.com/edi)-Based just north of the San Francisco Bay in Sausalito California, Sym Van Der Ryn, Stuart Cowen, and others have come together to, in their words, "create innovate design solutions that link nature, culture, and technology to reintegrate the needs of human society within the balance of nature". In addition to an outline of the 5 principles of ecological design, their page includes pictures and discriptions of many of their projects, which while being focused on architecture take the landscape fully into account. See especially Chino Hills, Cowell Ranch, Marin Solar Village, Ojai Foundation School, and Wisconsin Street. The page also contains links to other schools and students of ecological environmental design.

Bay Area Green Web-  www.best.com/~schmitty -This site contains, among other things, information on EcoCity Planning and the group Urban Ecology. UE publishes a journal of the same title, dedicated to Ecological Urban Planning from the Bay Area to all over the world. In addition to being a networking group, UE has, in cooperation with local and regional governments and businesses, produced a document titled "Blueprint for a Sustainable Bay Area", which outlines the goals, methods, as well as examples of EcoCity planning. An outline of the Blueprint is available online.

 Integrated Transport Planning in Curitiba Brazil-This site describes the transport system of Curitiba, possibly the worlds best example of ecological, sustainable urban design applied to an existing city. Included are pictures, diagrams, and descriptions of both process, implementation, and evaluation of the plans: zoning and land use, road infrastructure, the bus system, pedestrian facilities, and more. The shape of the city is similar to the lobes described on the Mokum page. This site is part of the larger page run by the Center for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology, which is also worth a visit.

Eco-Village Information Service www.gaia.org  This page contains information about existing eco-villages, environmentally responsible businesses and business practices, and related publications. The business iniatives are crucial, because the influence businesses and their processes have on the landscape. As Paul Hawken would argue, business got us into this mess, and is the only force powerful enough to get us out. From here you can access the pages of Permaculture Magazine in England (www.gaia.org/gaia/permaculture/news.html#PRECEDENT) which describes how a lady received zoning for residential permaculture, integrating ecological agriculture and landscaping with education on a home property.

EPA's Brownfield's Page www.epa.gov/swerosps/bf/- This site describes the government's work to deal with the problem of "Brownfields", that is, abandoned industrial or commercial sites where redevelopment is complicated by real or percieved environmental contamination. Included is a description of a $200,000 pilot project in Elizabeth, NJ for the economic revitalization of 5 sites.

Permaculture Resources (www.jumpnet.com/users/perma)- A New Jersey book distributer with titles on Sustainable Development, community and village design, ecological landscaping, natural farming, etc. Many important publications, and descriptions of them, as well as links to various and sundry related sites.

Car Free Cities www.mokum.com/city/index.html- A section of Mokum's page which presents a thorough description of radical, pedestrian-oriented urban design. While running the risk of extremism, going ever further than Christopher Alexander or the New Urbanists, it is a very well designed and informative site: includes lobed, radial design, an emphasis on neighborhoods, narrow streets, mixed use, fast free transit, new freight transport ideas, etc.

Sprawl Net (http://riceinfo.rice.edu/~lda/sprawl_Net)- Sprawl Net is a site through Rice University in Texas which is dedicated to the topic of urban sprawl. With solid book reviews and articles, and complementary graphics (book & magazine covers), this page is beautiful and professional. They take submissions, and are adding to it constantly.

Front Porch Column (www2.dcci.com/Frontporch/fpplanform.html)- Most governmental documents are difficult to wade through, the master plan of the city of San Antonio, Texas being no exception. This column helps sort through the first dozen-odd of 500 stated policies, interpreting them and discussing their possible effects, giving the reader a far clearer understanding of the intent of the new plan.

The Atlantic Monthly--Article on New Urbanism- A very thorough, well written article, clearly not objectively written. An invective against the dead patterns of our contemporary placeless cities and towns, the author discusses the emerging trends of Eco-Village Design and the New Urbanism as methods with which to heal our living places. The article contains a number of Hypertext links, making it a beautiful example of the possibilities for on-line journalism.

Resource Renewal Institute (www.rri.org/)- Through this site you have access to Green Plans world wide. This method of environmentally sensitive planning, which focuses on long-term and comprehensive strategies, is being implemented in New Zeeland, the Netherlands, Singapore, and many other countries. An atlas directory by continent is included.

New Urbanism (www.lawrence.edu/dept/anthropology/new_urbanism)- An addition to their Anthropology department's home page, two students have assembled pictures and discriptions of new urbanist planners and towns. Included are Jaime Lerner and Curitiba Brazil, Celebration and Seaside, FL, and Columbia, MD.

APA Current Issues in Planning article (www.planning.org/govt/statrole.html)- A full article, entitled "The State's Role as Actor and Enabler, In Planning for and Managing Change". From Nashville, TN. A little old, but about issues still in progress as the city continues to refine and develop their most recent plan.

Toward Ecological Architecture (http://pantheon.cis.yale.edu/~jluke313)- This page, while focused on architecture, includesideas and links to the larger issues of environmental planning. See especially 313/EcoArch.fin.html, an article titled "the Ecological Paradigmin Architecture" for a thorough description of the competing Cartesian & Ecological worldviews, their historical trajectories, and the hope for  (& evidence of) a shift to the latter.

Remember, that for all these sites, taking off some of the final sections will get you to the home bases of some of these sites, many of which will then have links to further resources. Good luck and happy grazing! (to use an edible landscaping metaphor...)

 Peace to you.

 David Gregory

 dgregory@eden.rutgers.edu

The Permaculture Activist

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 Publishes The Permaculture Activist journal (3x per year); distributes Pc Intl. Journal (Australia), Permaculture Magazine (U.K.), Agroforestry News (U.K.) by subscription. Back issues available. Books and videos on permaculture and related topics. Also, listings of events, referrals for service, consulting, and teaching.