In June, EPA issued a comprehensive review on how the built environment directly affects the natural environment and public health. The publication, Our Built and Natural Environments, provides evidence that certain strategies can reduce the environmental and human health impacts of development.
“Researchers have estimated that as much as two-thirds of the development that will exist in 40 to 45 years does not exist today,” the report states, “meaning that decisions we make about how and where that development occurs could significantly affect our health and the health of the environment.”
The report summarizes trends in land use, buildings, travel behavior, population growth and the expansion of developed land; discusses the environmental consequences of these trends; and makes recommendations on ways to reduce these effects, including use of green building techniques.
Our Built and Natural Environments is online at www.epa.gov/smar tgrowth/buil t .htm.