Links

Some of our favorite sustainability resources online. Learn more here.

Sustainability Links

Tools

Local Organizations

    • Partnership For A Green CityPartnership for a Green City - A collaborative effort to improve sustainability internally and in the community by four of Louisville's largest public entities: Louisville Metro Government, University of Louisville, the Jefferson County Public Schools and Jefferson Community & Technical College. Follow on Facebook.
    • Louisville Sustainability Council - a non-profit public-private partnership that works to engage and collaborate with the community, and facilitate the achievement of Louisville’s sustainability goals. The LSC is the go-to organization coordinating regional sustainability efforts by hosting events, connecting partners, collecting and providing data, and facilitating community Action Teams.Follow on Facebook
    • Louisville Climate Action Network
      Organizations and individuals committed to fighting global climate change. LCAN offers many Simple Steps, Bigger Steps, Civic Steps, and Sharing Steps to help you on your journey to greater sustainability! Follow on Facebook
    • Forward RadioForward Radio 106.5fm WFMP Louisville
      A volunteer-powered, listener-sponsored community radio station dedicated to amplifying voices and issues that you won't hear on mainstream media. UofL students, faculty, staff frequently appear as guests and some host weekly programs/podcasts like Sustainability Now! Broadcasting 24/7 from downtown Louisville at 106.5fm, live-streaming online, and podcasting. Follow on Facebook
    • Citizens' Climate Lobby - Louisville Chapter
      A nonprofit, nonpartisan, grassroots advocacy organization empowering people to experience breakthroughs exercising their personal and political power. CCL is laser focused on a specific piece of legislation and a proven strategy to gain its passage i.e. Carbon Fee and Dividend, the climate change solution economists and climate scientists alike say is the “best first-step” to preventing the worst impacts of a warming world. Follow on Facebook
    • Sunrise Movement- Louisville Hub
      Part of the national, youth-led movement to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process. Follow on Facebook
    • West Jefferson County Community Task Force
      Working on the principles of research, education, information and validation to empower residents to make informed decisions on environmental justice issues in Louisville’s western neighborhoods. Follow on Facebook
    • REACT (Rubbertown Emergency Action)
      A grassroots organization of residents living near a cluster of 11 chemical plants in west Louisville commonly referred to as Rubbertown. Fighting since April 2003 against toxic air pollution and for full disclosure and the protection of residents. Contact. Follow on Facebook
    • YouthBuild Louisville
      An education, job training and leadership program that provides low-income young adults ages 16-24 opportunities to realize their potential as active community leaders and an educated workforce for Louisville. YouthBuild's Environmental Education Conservation Corps is a hands-on environmental education and career readiness program that engages young adults in meaningful projects while building workforce skills for the green job sector, particularly in the fields of: Landscape, Water, Agriculture, Waste Renewal, Remediation and Sustainability. Follow on Facebook
    • Sierra Club, Kentucky Chapter
      Environmental protection and appreciation organization. Follow on Facebook. Connect with the local Greater Louisville Sierra Club.
    • Sustainable Agriculture of Louisville
      SAL works to educate, train, empower and accompany the next generation of farmers for the rebuilding of a just and local food economy in Louisville and its regional foodshed. Video: Sustainable Agriculture of Louisville. Follow on Facebook
    • Louisville Grows
      A non-profit whose mission is to grow a just and sustainable community in Louisville through urban agriculture, urban forestry, and environmental education. Follow on Facebook
    • TreesLouisville
      Works to protect and expand Louisville’s urban forest through tree planting, public awareness, education and collaboration.
    • The Food Literacy Project
      Provides farm-based experiential education and entrepreneurial youth development programs that bring the Field-to-Fork experience to life for local youth. Follow on Facebook
    • Food in Neighborhoods (FIN) Community Coalition
      Supporting community efforts to build a just, healthy and sustainable food system. Follow on Facebook
    • Louisville Community Grocery
      Working since 2015 on a mission to open a community-owned grocery store, through a cooperative business model, to address food apartheid in Louisville's urban core.
    • Change Today, Change Tomorrow
      A Black woman led non-profit  that emerged out of the Black Lives Matter movement in response to the 2020 police killing of Breonna Taylor. Through four main pillars of Service, Food Justice, Community Engagement, and Public Health, CTCT provides for the most marginalized communities in the Louisville, because when you show up for the most marginalized, you show up for everyone.
    • New Roots
      A West Louisville-based non-profit organization that works to develop a just and thriving food system in Louisville. Follow on Facebook
    • Kentuckians for the Commonwealth
      A community of people taking action for justice. Follow on Facebook
    • Kentucky Student Environmental Coalition
      A network of students and student groups from across the commonwealth who are united in their concerns about environmental injustice and the impacts that climate change will have (and is already having) on our lives. Follow on Facebook or Twitter Icon.
    • Kentucky Resources Council
      Kentucky's only environmental advocacy organization offering free legal and strategic assistance individuals, community groups and local governments statewide. Follow on Facebook
    • Kentucky Conservation Committee
      Working to make sound environmental stewardship a priority for Kentucky's elected officials and voters.
    • Kentucky Solar Energy Society
      Promotes the use of renewable energy, energy efficiency, and conservation in Kentucky through education, advocacy, networking, and demonstration of practical applications.
    • Kentucky Interfaith Power & Light
      A religious response to global warming. Follow on Facebook
    • The Passionist Earth & Spirit Center on 21 acres of greenspace along Beargrass Creek (1924 Newburg Road, Louisville, KY 40205) offers sustainability programming throughout the year and an Environmental Leadership Program for people who are passionate about environmental issues and want to make a difference. Similar to an internship, participants choose from a range of projects that match their interests and inclinations.
    • Kentucky Waterways Alliance
      A statewide organization working to protect and restore Kentucky's waterways. Follow on Facebook
    • Project Warm
      Provides free weatherization services for the needy (both home owners and renters) to reduce utility bills and increase comfort through efficiency. Also provides Energy Management Workshops throughout the Louisville Metro area to help lower bills. Follow onFacebook
    • Olmsted Parks Conservancy
      Restoring, enhancing and preserving the historic Olmsted-designed parks and parkways, Louisville’s great natural and recreational assets. Follow on Facebook
    • Streets For People (formerly Bicycling for Louisville)
      S4P advocates for transforming Louisville’s streetscapes into vibrant, active places through people-friendly road design. S4P believes that biking is a fun and healthy way to get around, and that it should be safe and convenient for everybody in the city. Follow on Twitter Icon or Facebook
    • CART (Coalition for the Advancement of Regional Transportation)
      Advocating for integrated public transportation, bicycle, and pedestrian facilities since 1992.

    Speed students dedicate time to Supplies Over Seas (UofL News, 3/15/16)

    • Supplies Over Seas
      A Louisville-based, volunteer-powered Medical Surplus Recovery Organization, committed to responsibly recovering, sorting, and distributing unused, leftover, and “under-used” medical supplies and equipment, much of which comes from UofL-affiliated clinics and hospitals. With your volunteer help, SOS keeps useful things out of the landfill and gets them into the hands of the needy worldwide. Follow on Facebook
    • Louisville Timebank
      A network of individuals and organizations that support and empower each other, helping to build a social safety net that moves us towards being a more interdependent and resilient community. A modern-day bartering, sharing, mutual support, and skill-sharing network. A member run chapter of TimeBanks USA whose mission is to nurture and expand a movement that promotes equality and builds caring community economies through inclusive exchange of time and talent. Follow on Facebook
    • Wild Ones Louisville
      Working to make our city a wildlife sanctuary by promulgating high-functioning ecosystems based on native species. Follow on Facebook
    Earthrise by Amanda Gorman, U.S. youth poet laureate

    News, Articles & Stories

    • Kentuckiana Green - A local environmental news service of The Courier-Journal.
    • Forward Radio (106.5fm WFMP-LP Louisville, volunteer-powered, listener-supported community radio) - One of the best local sources for progressive thought and information on local events, activities and contacts within Louisville's sustainability, peace, justice and solidarity communities. Follow on Facebook
    • Radio Ecoshock - Latest science, authors, issues - climate change, oceans, forests, pollution, peak oil, the economy, and peace.
    • Sea Change Radio - a nationally syndicated weekly radio show and podcast covering the shift to social, environmental, and economic sustainability.
    • Yes! Magazine - Powerful Ideas, Practical Actions: A Journal of Positive Futures. Concerned with building a more just, sustainable, and compassionate future with articles about economic alternatives and peace options.Sustain Fall-Winter 2018
    • Sustain: A Journal of Environmental and Sustainability Issues - Published twice a year by the Envirome Institute at UofL.
    • GOOD Worldwide - a collaboration of individuals, businesses, and nonprofits pushing the world forward. "For people who give a damn."
    • Sustainable Kentucky - Going Green in the Bluegrass. Connecting sustainable living folks throughout the Bluegrass state with information, ideas, and events. Website.
    • Earthscan - A blogging community of the world's leading sustainability experts.
    • TreeHugger - A leading media outlet dedicated to driving sustainability mainstream.
    • EarthTechling - The place for green technology news and features.
    • Solar Tribune - News, analysis & education about the transition to renewable energy and decarbonizing our economy.
    • Inhabitat - Weblog devoted to the future of design, tracking the innovations in technology, practices and materials that are pushing architecture and home design towards a smarter and more sustainable future.
    • SmartBrief on Sustainability - a daily briefing on sustainable business.
    • Democracy Now! - A daily news program highlighting stories about social and economic justice, hosted by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, airing on over 850 stations, pioneering the largest community media collaboration in the U.S.
    • Sustainability Research & Policy Network - a worldwide, online community for research in all areas of sustainability and policy, featuring eJournals in 25 different sustainability subject matter areas.
    • NCSE Affiliate News Services - a daily feed of global environmental news from the National Council for Science & the Environment.
    • E&E Publishing - The premier information source for professionals who track environmental and energy policy.
    • 53 Sources for Climate Change News - published by George Washington University's Milken Institute School of Public Health.
    • 99% Invisible Podcast - "Undesigned" (4:31): Why are we so wasteful? Almost everything in modern life is designed to waste energy. The whole system evolved on a false premise that petroleum is cheap and plentiful and will be that way forever.
    • Going Green on Campus: How Colleges and Their Students Are Boosting Sustainability

    Climate Change & Energy

    Climate Fixes - tools and resources to help you communicate your support for climate solutions to policy makers

    • Project Drawdown - The most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse global warming. Our organization did not make or devise the plan—we found the plan because it already exists. We gathered a qualified and diverse group of researchers from around the world to identify, research, and model the 100 most substantive, existing solutions to address climate change. What was uncovered is a path forward that can roll back global warming within thirty years.
    • Atlas of Climate Change - A Czech team of experts visualizing the latest verified scientific climate data, produced this easy-to-understand, free booklet filled with graphics.
    • En-ROADS - An interactive simulator and scenario modeling tool from Climate Interactive and MIT Sloan’s Sustainability Initiative that allows you to see the global climate impact of making various changes to business-as-usual. Can you find a way to keep us under 2 degrees C of warming?!
    • National Renewable Energy Laboratory
      - Check out NREL's handy Interactive Mapping Tools, including the excellent Biofuels Atlas.
      - Considering Solar? Check out NREL's PVWatts Calculator - Estimates the energy production & cost of grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) systems throughout the world.
    • Energy Action Coalition - The hub of the youth climate movement and organizer of Power Shift.
    • 350.org - An international campaign that's building a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis—the solutions that science and justice demand. Scientists say that 350 parts per million CO2 in the atmosphere is the safe limit for humanity. Video: 350 Campaign in 90 seconds
    • The Solutions Project - Accelerating the transition to 100% clean, renewable energy for all people and purposes in the U.S. Through media, storytelling and events, you can see that 100% is possible, happening and for us all. Experience the benefits, join a growing community, and take action today as part of the 100% campaign. Check out the 100% Renewable Energy Vision for Kentucky!
    • Put A Price On It - A national campaign for pricing carbon pollution and seeking to gain endorsements from college presidents and other civic leaders to demonstrate to lawmakers that institutions shaping tomorrow’s leaders are committed to solving climate change.
    • Citizen's Climate Lobby - A national non-profit, nonpartisan, grassroots advocacy organization with local chapters, including Louisville, that is focused on national policies to address climate change.
    • Earth Deeds - Supporting local solutions to global warming through innovative online tools for understanding carbon footprints and then transforming them into sustainability projects. The site lets individuals, institutions, or groups (such as Study Abroad trips) "onset" carbon emissions by funding local projects.
    • Solar Action Alliance - Explore the power of the sun and learn what you can do to harness and promote solar power!
    • Climate, Adaptation, Mitigation, E-Learning (CAMEL) - A free, comprehensive, interdisciplinary, multi-media online resource of credible content and curricular tools to help educators more effectively teach about climate change.
    • The Climate Data Factory - Providing quick and easy access to future climate information over 4,300 cities and 70 countries worldwide, produced by an international team of climatologists working on making climate information more usable to a broader community.
    • Campus and Course Conversations - Offering a practical and powerful approach to support the rising spirit of citizens coming together, outside of the partisan bickering, to create new relationships, to spark opportunities and to encourage sustained engagement to address local and national challenges. It is an adaptation of Living Room Conversations where the conversation is taken one step further by converting the conversations students hold into action. The current topic of discussion is energy.
    • U.S. EPA's Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator - Did you ever wonder what reducing metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions means in everyday terms? This calculator can help you understand just that, translating abstract measurements into concrete terms you can understand, such as "equivalent to avoiding the carbon dioxide emissions of 183,000 cars annually."
    • Heliomap - An immersive, easy to use 3D solar estimator tool created by UofL alum, Sam Ellis. Users can quickly find out the solar potential of any property and connect to local installers.
    • House-Energy - Tips and information to help homeowners reduce energy use and carbon emissions.
    • Interactive Transparency: America's Energy, Where It's From and How It's Used - From GOOD Worldwide - "For people who give a damn."
    • Climate Feedback - A scientific reference to reliable information on climate change. Separate the facts from the fiction in media coverage about climate change.
    • Got Science? Test your global warming smarts and earn a free "Got Science?" sticker from the Union of Concerned Scientists.
    • Just Science - a free mobile app for translating the science of climate change into layperson's terms. The app takes two centuries of data from the comprehensive Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature (BEST) study, then converts it into a color-coded moving map that shows how today's monthly temperatures compare to historical averages since 1800.
    • Appalachian Solar Showdown - How does Kentucky stack up to Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia, when it comes to taking advantage of renewable energy opportunities? This handy infographic from the Renewable Energy Corporation compares states based on: number of solar jobs & solar homes, grading of net metering policies, renewable portfolio standards and ranking of each state’s electricity prices.
    • Tipping Point: Near-Term Systemic Implications of a Peak in Global Oil Production - a report by David Korowicz of Feasta and the Risk/Resilience Network which argues that the defining dynamic of our civilization is the withdrawal of energy from a complex and integrated system adapted only to growing. A managed “de-growth” is impossible; what is required is rapid emergency planning coupled with a plan for longer-term adaptation.
    • Tips for minimizing your digital carbon footprint (UC-Berkeley Extension)
    • Article by Brad Plumer (Vox, Sept. 2016): Yes, the climate has always changed. This comic shows why that’s no comfort.
    • Article by Andrea Thompson (Carbon Central, April 2014): Major Greenhouse Gas Reductions Needed by 2050: IPCC
    • Watch the planet warm with NASA's 26-second animation of global temperature changes 1884-2011.

    Economy & Investment

    • Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy - The positive, sustainable alternative to perpetual economic growth and recession. Follow on Facebook
    • Center for a New American Dream - Improving well-being by inspiring and empowering all of us to shift the ways we consume. Raising awareness of the negative impact of a hyper-consumer culture while focusing on the connections between consumption, quality of life, and the environment. Video: Visualizing a Plentitude Economy
    • GrowthBusters - Asking the most critical question of our time: How do we become a sustainable civilization? Follow on Facebook
    • Countries most exposed to the carbon bubble - An interactive map revealing which nations' stock exchanges are most exposed to the 'carbon bubble'.
    • Invest Your Values - In order to align investments with values, investors must first know what they own. But since most investment portfolios and retirement plans rely heavily on mutual funds, it is nearly impossible for investors to know what individual companies they actually own. But now that’s changed. As You Sow’s Invest Your Values free online tools screen mutual fund holdings against specific environmental, social, and governance issues. Mutual fund investors can know what they own, and can align their investments with their values.
    • Time to leave GDP behind (Nature, Jan. 16, 2014) - Gross domestic product is a misleading measure of national success. Countries should act now to embrace new metrics, urge Robert Costanza and colleagues.
    • What's behind a t-shirt? NPR's Planet Money Team follows the making of a regular t-shirt from cotton seed to your home. Find out what people, resources, technologies, machines, and shipping is required to make the things we take for granted.
    • Sustainability Career Resources - Offering information about green careers in sustainability with links to hiring organizations!

    Ecosystems

    • Native Plant Finder - An easily searchable database from the National Wildlife Federation to help you identify what plant species are native to your region.
    • Climate Positive Design's Pathfinder is an app to help estimate the climate impacts (both negative and positive) from various landscape design choices.

    Food

    • The Louisville Food Blog - Your home for food justice happenings in Louisville, KY!

    • Louisville Food Ecosystem Map - Discover food pantries, farmers’ markets, grocery stores, and other food providers and how they relate to income-poor ZIP Codes. Prepared in 2018 as part of the Community Foundation of Louisville's Hunger Innovation Fellowship which was funded to provide social, intellectual, and financial capital to research opportunities for systems-level change within Jefferson County, Kentucky’s food ecosystem, which could help elevate and accelerate current efforts to end food insecurity.
    • The Food In Neighborhoods (FIN) Community Coalition provides a wealth of resources, including those compiled by the Urban Agriculture Coalition (find gardens, calendar, directory, discussion forum, and resources for growers).
    • Real Food Challenge - Uniting students for just and sustainable food.
    • Eating Green Calculator - Get a handle on the impact of your eating habits and the benefits of eating differently! From the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
    • Factory Farm Map - A project of Food & Water Watch.
    • The Organic Green Revolution - A report from The Rodale Institute.
    • Meat is Horrible - An analysis of the environmental impacts of meat production (Washington Post).
    • How to win a Food Fight - Healthy choice comparisons from the YMCA of Greater Louisville.
    • Louisville Farmers Markets Association's Local Food Resource Guide - Find fresh, local food near you at area Farmers Markets, Fresh Stops, and Stores.
    • Louisville Farmers Market Directory - Dozens of seasonal and year-round farmers' markets take place all around town just about any day of the week.
    • Louisville Farm-To-Table - Bringing together area farmers and their locally-grown foods with Louisville consumers in their homes, schools, restaurants, and workplaces.
    • What's in Season? Check the Kentucky Proud Produce Guide!
    • Kentucky's Online Farm Market - Buy/sell/trade locally grown food.
    • Establishing Urban Agriculture in Your Community: What you need to know before you get your hands dirty.
    • EPA: Urban Agriculture & Improving Local, Sustainable Food Systems - Information for people pursuing agriculture projects as a part of brownfield redevelopment and reuse.
    • The Lexicon of Sustainability - A multi-platform project based on a simple premise: people can’t be expected to live more sustainable lives if they don’t even know the most basic terms and principles that define sustainability in relation to food and agriculture.
    • Natural Standard - is the only evidence-based source for complementary and alternative medicines. Its evaluations of therapies and supplements and are based on the medical literature and graded on an A-F scale. Provided by UofL's Kornhauser Health Sciences Library.
    • Ralph B. Knollenberg III Foundation - Youth Gardening Internships available!
      The Foundation’s mission is to introduce, teach and promote organic gardening among young people, focusing on practical approaches to sustainable living in an urban setting. We believe that helping children to develop perspective and sensitivity to their place in the natural world inspires them to be good stewards of the earth's resources, meeting today's needs without compromising the ability of future generations to do the same. Potentially interested interns should contact: Larry Raymond, Director <lraymond (at) louisville.edu>

    Networks

    • The Young Sustainability Network (TYSN) - An organization that connects and empowers students, graduates, and young professionals aiming to build a career in sustainability. A one-stop location to enable students, aspiring sustainability professionals, and career changers to connect with a US & global network of like-minded individuals, and point them to must-have connections, resources, and events.

    Products & Services

    Social Justice

    Sustainability in Higher Education

    • AASHE (Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education) - Established in 2005, AASHE is the leading association supporting this work and serving a full range of higher education faculty, administrators, staff and students who are change agents and drivers of sustainability innovation. 
    • HEASC (Higher Education Associations Sustainability Consortium) - a network of higher education associations with a commitment to advancing sustainability within their constituencies and the entire system of higher education.
    • Disciplinary Associations Network for Sustainability (DANS) - an informal network of academic associations with a commitment to education for a sustainable future. AASHE and the US Partnership on Education for Sustainable Development  coordinate this network.
    • Sustainability Education & Economic Development (SEED) Center - offers an online resource center featuring curricular materials and more. Organized around 7 sectors: Solar, Wind, Green Building, Energy Efficiency, Sustainable Agriculture/Food/Land, Transportation&Fuels, Clean Tech, and Sustainability Education.
    • Rachel Carson Campus Network - building and deepening critical connections between campuses, communities, and advocates with the goal of advancing environmental health and equitable policy through: Curricular development, Strategic research partnerships, Advocacy and policy trainings, and Calls-to-action to protect research and advocacy for the public interest.
    • Sustainability Improves Student Learning (SISL) - a select group of academic associations/disciplinary societies working together to increase students’ learning in undergraduate courses, and better prepare students for the 21st-century big questions that relate to real-world challenges such as energy, air and water quality, and climate change. Here you will find helpful teaching resources and information on workshops and events.
    • Potlux - An online platform for the free exchange of ideas and best practices in campus sustainability. Peruse a catalog of initiatives to learn about other colleges’ practices and their key contacts, or share your own!
    • The Little Book of Green Nudges: 40 Nudges to Spark Sustainable Behaviour on Campus - a quick guide from the United Nations Environment Programme to reducing your campus' environmental impact through behavioral change. It summarizes the evidence around what nudges work best while seeking to encourage more sustainable practices among students and staff. It also provides simple guidance on how to implement and evaluate behavioral interventions in a variety of contexts.

    Sustainability at other Kentucky Schools:

    Transportation

    Understanding Sustainability

    • The Lexicon of Sustainability - A multi-platform project founded by Douglas Gayeton and Laura Howard-Gayeton to use information art to help us all speak the same language when it comes to sustainability.
    • The Simplicity Institute - an education and research center seeking to seed a revolution in consciousness that highlights the urgent need to move beyond growth-orientated, consumerist forms of life; to envision and defend a ‘simpler way’ of life at a time when the old myths of progress, techno-optimism, and affluence are failing us; and to transform the overlapping crises of civilization into opportunities for ‘prosperous descent.’
    • Science and Technology for Sustainability (National Academy of Sciences)
    • Forum: Science and Innovation for Sustainability (American Association for the Advancement of Science)
    • Guide to Data Science and Sustainability - an overview of the intersection between Environmental Science and Data Science and how the two can be combined to better tackle sustainability issues. Includes recommendations on how to become a contributor to the sustainability movement as well as sustainability career resources.
    • The Living Principles for Design - A place for the global design community to co-create, share and showcase best practices, tools, stories and ideas for sustainable design across all disciplines.
    • Active Design Guidelines - NYC's exemplary manual of strategies for creating healthier buildings, streets, and urban spaces.
    • Sustainable Design - 99% Invisible podcast (4:30)
    • Encyclopedia of Earth - An electronic reference about the Earth, its natural environments, and their interaction with society.
    • Green Cities : Good Health - Evidence of the connections between human and ecological health in our cities.
    • Learning for Sustainability - Resources to help us address and manage the social and capacity building aspects of sustainable development and other related complex issues.
    • Worth Dying For - A 5-min video tribute to those who have died in defense of Planet Earth.
    • WiserEarth - The social network for sustainability. Follow on Facebook

    Waste & Recycling