...so go out...and...make...strong your stance. You were the best of them. Just breath out and in...and hold me again...
-remy zero

Some interesting points from an article about a potential "eco-new orleans":

Support renewable energy. Louisiana (and Alabama and Mississippi) could all benefit from retooling their practically invisible state energy departments. Although each gives lip service to conservation, few moves have been made toward developing a renewable-energy, conservation-oriented mind-set among citizens, or assisting those citizens who already "get it."

Using the experiences of other states and going a few steps farther, Eco New Orleans should be outfitted with solar-power systems, gas microturbines, combustion turbines, wind turbines, fuel cells, and cogeneration systems, so the region can begin the march toward independence from fossil fuels that is essential for the planet's long-term health. Much of this could be accomplished with tax breaks to consumers, manufacturers, and developers. Eco New Orleans should also put considerable effort into community outreach to teach people to become energy smart. Less affluent consumers should have access to subsidies so they can make the change along with everyone else.

Adopt "smart growth" concepts as regional policy. The smart-growth movement focuses on environment in the broadest possible way: quality of life, design, economics, health, housing, and transportation. Principles guiding smart growth include developing a range of housing types; creating walkable, architecturally distinctive neighborhoods; encouraging community participation in decision making; opting for mixed land uses; making development decisions "predictable, fair, and cost-effective"; preserving farmland and open space; providing for a variety of transportation modes; adopting compact building styles; and directing development toward existing communities.

The key to making smart growth work in Eco New Orleans would be making sure it doesn't merely mean gentrification, a greened-up version of urban renewal that forces out the poor.

Rebuild with Green Communities in mind. Green Communities, a partnership between the Enterprise Foundation and the Natural Resources Defense Council, is a five-year, $555 million program dedicated to building more than 8,500 environmentally healthy dwellings for low-income residents nationwide. Rehabilitation of rental and owner-occupied dwellings is also part of the agenda. Support for the projects -- like Seattle's new 50-unit Denny Park Apartments -- comes from housing authorities, corporations, and private foundations, as well as the Enterprise Social Investment Corporation.

Before Katrina, New Orleans was the fifth most densely populated city in America, filled with impoverished neighborhoods that would benefit from an expansion of the Green Communities program, or at least an imitation of it. In addition to those 8,500 green units nationwide, why not 85,000 units for Eco New Orleans?

Establish green building standards. More affluent dwellings in Eco New Orleans should also be built or rehabilitated with more than a modest concern for environmental effects. Regulations based on a system similar to LEED that assigns "points" for, among other things, energy efficiency, use of green materials, siting angles, landscaping, window glazing, and the like could make a big difference region-wide. New housing and rehabs that reach a minimum-point threshold would be the only ones approved, but nobody would be required to follow a strict architectural formula.

None of this is simple. For one thing, I've left out a lot of issues, both big and small: Cancer Alley, mass transit, park development, sewage treatment, and zoning issues, to name a few. And Eco New Orleans cannot, obviously, spring up full-grown. No great changes are ever accomplished overnight. But someday all cities must be "eco," or they will be dead. New Orleans and its battered neighbors have a chance to be pioneers.

other related notions and pipe dreams for NO