The Summer Institute in Sustainability is an intensive professional development program targeted to administrators in corporations, local and provincial governments, and universities and colleges who wish to integrate sustainability as a core value in their organization. Academic experts and working professionals will help you understand how to develop sustainability policies and procedures that are mindful of public policy, stakeholder interest, and the bottom line.

"We've got nearly 2 million people living out here in the middle of the desert...maybe this is something planners should be concerned about?" Program Manager Daniel Lerch returns from the APA conference in Las Vegas, where climate change got a little more attention than last year, and peak oil barely any at all.

The Washington Chapter of the APA is offering a training series on climate change and sustainability issues. For those who can't make it to the University of Washington, the sessions will be available as webcasts for three months after they take place.

Presentations and reports presented at the 2007 Challenge of Global Warming and Peak Oil for Local Government conference, sponsored by the Municipal Association of Victoria (Australia), illuminate many aspects of the issue for local governments.

The aim of "Resilience, adaptation and transformation in turbulent times - preparing for change in social-ecological systems" is to bring together scientists working with the complex dynamics of interconnected social-ecological systems and to present, discuss, and if possible, summarise the current understanding of resilience, adaptability and pathways of transformation in such systems. Representatives from government, business and other major actors will be invited to discuss the challenges facing societal development, and together with scientists propose directions to go and pathways to avoid.

Program Manager Daniel Lerch starts a two week trip to the British Isles at a symposium for local officials, planners, architects and builders in Kilkenny, Ireland.

The compact, walkable neighborhood built around public transit rather than the private car has long been one of the ideals of new urbanism. Now significant new research confirms with hard numbers the advantage of transit-oriented development over conventional suburbia. With the United States in the midst of a light-rail building boom, it’s a great time to be finding this out.

The state of California is offering a series of workshops for mayors, local planning directors, and county supervisors about what cities and counties can do to reduce the climate impact of their planning decisions. According to the California Attorney General, "these workshops will launch the first statewide movement to reduce the negative impact of local planning decisions on global climate."

As transportation costs and wasted resources become more dear, greater attention to appropriate scales may well offer better solutions and prevent harmful ones. Post Carbon Cities staff Laurel Hoyt considers the problem of scale in producing two of our most basic needs: energy and food.

Japan is known for innovation, and the contents of the Japan for Sustainability newsletter don't disappoint. There's a lot going on in the field of sustainability in Japan; both social and technical advances are documented here. Read for inspiration, edification, and a global perspective.