Other Resources

This information will help you learn more about the research that is being done to date to further the Aging Initiative including a summary of EPA projects or supported projects and various fact sheets and reports developed by EPA.

Other Resources

Community Greens Shared Parks in Urban Blocks

Ashoka's Community Greens is working to restore communities and neighborhoods across the country, enhance the environment, and empower citizens by integrating citizen-managed, shared green spaces into places where people live and work. Due to historic legislation that Community Greens helped champion, Baltimore residents now have the right - for the first time ever - to gate and green the alleyways behind their homes, therefore transforming neglected alleys into resplendent neighbor greens. "Baltimore's Alley Gating and Greening program is an innovative approach to making our city cleaner, greener, healthier and safer" says Baltimore Mayor Shelia Dixon. "Neighbors who pursue these projects make their blocks more attractive and livable. As residents create vibrant usable alleys, they also enhance community vitality by working together." Over the next five years, Community Greens plans to help residents beautify at least 50 alleys, impacting the lives of approximately 6,000 people.

Alley gating and greening contributes to a cleaner, greener and more sustainable Baltimore while improving the lives of its citizens across all generations. Alley greens decrease illegal dumping and rat infestations to improve health conditions, deter crime and make neighborhoods safer, and improve the health of Chesapeake Bay by reducing pollution and storm water run-off. The creation and use of alley greens brings residents of all ages together thus forming strong social connections and bonds. These unique urban gardens are new places for kids to play while parents and grandparents unwind and relax together. These spaces are making Baltimore a more attractive place to live and work and pushing the city's renaissance to potentially all neighborhoods in the city.

The Baltimore Story (PDF) (22pp, 4.9MB About PDF)

Negative Trends in Lung Disease Affecting Diverse Populations
American Lung Association Examines Ongoing Disparities Driven by Socioeconomic and Genetic Factors

The American Lung Association State of Lung Disease in Diverse Communities 2007, presents analyses of data from various surveys and reports across many ethnic and racial groups, illustrates African Americans’ particular vulnerability to lung cancer, COPD, and other lung diseases. It found that while over the past 20 years, air quality levels for pollutants have improved in the United States, about 141 million tons of air pollution were released into the air in 2005 and approximately 122 million people in the United States lived in counties that did not meet standards set by the U.S. EPA. For more information http://www.lungusa.org/site/pp.asp?c=dvLUK9O0E&b=326027

Estimating the Impacts of the Aging Population on Transit Ridership. (PDF, About PDF) Transportation Research Board

Workshop on Disability in America - A New Look Institute of Medicine Summary and Background Papers

Environmental Factors, Outdoor Air Quality and Activity Level Results form 2005 Kansas Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (PDF) (22 pp, About PDF)

Signs prepared by the Alliance for Healthy Homes and Environmental Health Watch who were funded by an EPA Aging grant.

Don't Feed Pests Spills (PDF, 1 p., 768 kb, About PDF)

Don't Feed Pest. Secure Lids On Cans (PDF, 1 p., 59 kb, About PDF)

Report Water Leaks (PDF, 1 p., 61 kb, About PDF)

Keep Dirt Outside...Remove Shoes (PDF, 1 p., 709 kb, About PDF)

Costs of Illness for Environmentally Related Health Effects in Older Americans - Complete Report (PDF, 95 pp., 2,709 kb, About PDF)

Broken into chapters: Title (PDF, 2 pp., 64 kb, About PDF), Table of Contents (PDF, 4 pp., 81 kb), Chapter 1 (PDF, 2 pp., 71 kb, About PDF), Chapter 2 (PDF, 5 pp., 91 kb, About PDF), Chapter 3 (PDF, 7 pp., 70 kb, About PDF), Chapter 4 (PDF, 19 pp., 456 kb, About PDF), Chapter 5 (PDF, 2 pp., 48 kb), Chapter 6 (PDF, 2 pp., 47 kb, About PDF), Appendix A (PDF, 35 pp., 1,620 kb, About PDF), Appendix B (PDF, 4 pp., 121 kb, About PDF), Appendix C (PDF, 13 pp., 279 kb, About PDF)

Costs of Illness for Six Major Health Conditions Among Older Adults (PDF, 33 pp., 221 kb, About PDF)
This is a paper summarizing the report Costs of Illness for Environmentally Related Health Effects in Older Americans

Environmental Health Perspectives

Induction of Asthma and the Environment: What We Know and Need to Know, Environmental Health Perspectives Volumne 114, Number 4, April 2006 (PDF, About PDF)

Toward A New Understanding of Aging - NIEHS news
PDF version of Toward A New Understanding of Aging (PDF, About PDF)

Aging Research: The Future Face of Environmental Health
PDF version of Aging Research: The Future Face of Environmental Health (PDF, About PDF)

Homebuyers Prefer Smart Growth Communities

A new national poll conducted for Smart Growth America and the National Association of Realtors (NAR) shows 86% of Americans want government to fund improvements in existing communities over new development in the countryside. Significant numbers believe communities have too little affordable low- or moderate income housing, insufficient public transportation or shops within walking distances, and not enough places to walk, bike or exercise.

Asked to choose between two communities, six in ten prospective homebuyers chose a smart growth neighborhood - that offered a shorter commute (most important), sidewalks and amenities like shops, restaurants, libraries, schools and public transportation within walking distance -- over a sprawling community with larger lots, limited options for walking and a longer commute.

NAR President Walt McDonald observes that realtors have seen a trend toward smart growth communities, which "are the wave of the future, especially since they're heavily favored by prospective buyers and minorities, who represent a growing share of the homebuying market."

The survey also found that Americans are more likely to see improved public transportation and changing patterns of housing development as the solutions to longer commutes rather than increasing road capacities.

The full 24-page report, graphs of the numbers and a summary are available at no cost on the web site of Smart Growth America, whose site houses many excellent community development reports, news items and handbooks such as:

Smart Growth Fosters Job Growth Study.

Making the Case for Mixed Income and Mixed Use Communities.

Our Graying Suburbs.

How businesses and local economies profit from smarter use of tax dollars for smart growth.

How smarter growth land use policies and practices offer a viable way to reduce U.S. energy consumption.

The benefits to state economies of fixing and enhancing existing infrastructure rather than building new.

Demand for compact housing near transit.

Form-based zoning.

Generations United for Environmental Awareness and Action

The EPA Aging Initiative is pleased to release a new publication, Generations United for Environmental Awareness and Action (PDF) (61pp, 732K, About PDF) that is a result of a cooperative agreement with EPA and Generations United. This publication provides a theoretical framework and program development tools as well as examples and activities to help those interested in developing intergenerational environmental programs begin. It describes a variety of promising strategies for bringing children, youth, and older adults together as partners to explore, study, and work to improve the natural environment. The publication was prepared by Matt Kaplan and Nike Liu.

Institute of Medicine of the National Academies

January 11, 2006: New report by The Institute of Medicine's Committee to Evaluate Measures of Health Benefits for Environmental, Health, and Safety Regulation, Board on Health Care Services

"Valuing Health for Regulatory Cost-Effectiveness Analysis"

Aging Initiative Home | Customer Satisfaction Survey

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