Green infrastructure to take center stage at annual Park Pride conference

e Atlanta Botanical Garden will play host to this year’s Park Pride Parks and Greenspace Conference on March 31.

e year’s theme is “Pipes to Parks: Creating Greenspaces with Rainwater.” e conference will focus on rainwater and the bourgeoning eld of green infrastructure, a set of techniques used to divert rainwater runo from overwhelmed sewers and drainage pipes and into parks as water features, into bioswales, or into roo op gardens. e nationally recognized Historic

Green infrastructure is the hot topic in sustainability as businesses and cities race to take advantage of both the scal and societal bene ts presented by its implementation.

“Municipalities nationwide are discovering the economic, social, and environmental value of green infrastructure as a way to create and expand the reach of parks and greenspaces in communities,” sad Carlos Perez, the Chairman of the Parks and Greenspace Conference.

Fourth Ward Park is one such example, built around a water retention basin doubling as a lake that collects excessive rainwater runo , ending the recurring ooding in the surrounding area.

Walt Ray, Park Pride’s Director of Visioning, feels that green infrastructure elevates parks from being ‘optional community amenities’ to vital components of healthy communities.

“ e topic rede nes how decision makers approach community planning, and is especially relevant with the record amount of rainfall Atlanta is experiencing this year; the existing infrastructure has been overstressed and there is a great opportunity to leverage green infrastructure for improvements in city parks.” e Southface Sustainable Atlanta Roundtable convenes once a month to discuss the region’s current environmental issues – from water to energy, urban planning to policy and much more. Members of the audience are encouraged to ask questions, make comments, network and learn about Atlanta’s current and future opportunities for sustainable development. e next meeting dates are March 7 and April 4 from 7:30 to 9 a.m. at All Saints Episcopal Church, 634 West Peachtree St. For more, visit southface. org/sart. e Atlanta Chapter of the American Association of Blacks in Energy (AABE) organization has announced its 2014-15 o cers and executive board: Rodney J. Russell, President; Willie L. Palmer, Vice-President; Cantrell Watts, Treasurer; Marleen Metcalf, Assistant Treasurer; Jo Holliman; Secretery; Alisha Hargett, Assistant Secretary; and Trevor A. Quarter, Parliamentarian. For more about the organization, visit aabe.org.

To register and nd out more about the conference, visit parkpride.org.

Cox Enterprises today announced expanded goals for Cox Conserves, the company’s national sustainability program. e program originally focused on carbon reduction and now includes waste and water goals. Expanded goals include sending was to land lls in the next decade and becoming carbon and water neutral in the next 25 to 30 years. Since Cox Conserves launched in 2007, the company and its a liated foundations have invested more than $100 million in sustainability and conservation through operations projects and grants to environmental nonpro ts.

Atlanta has joined a 10-city e ort to signi cantly reduce energy use in commercial buildings across the city. Atlanta’s participation in the City Energy Project (CEP) comes on the heels of a White House announcement in December that the city had also been invited to participate in the Better Buildings Energy Data Accelerator program. Buildings are responsible for roughly 40 percent of Atlanta’s carbon emissions, and more than half of this pollution in most U.S. cities – more than either the transportation or industrial sectors. Improving building e ciency couold lower energy bills by as much as $146 million annually and could cut about 1.1 million tons of carbon pollution from buildings in Atlanta, equivalent to the carbon footprint of 55,000 homes every year.