/ Sustainable Energy /
Energy systems have long been recognized as not only a primary driver for the economy, but also a major source of environmental impacts. The question arises whether it is possible to provide a high standard of living to all without causing environmental devastation, and if so, how to accomplish that. We believe that the key to accomplishing that goal is to have communities take charge of their energy future.

/ Pacific Northwest Sustainable Energy Demonstration /
This project evaluates converting an island community from importation of all energy to producing all energy locally from renewable resources. The first major report is Energy Independent Communities.

/ American Center for Life Cycle Assessment /
In 2001, the American Center for Life Cycle Assessment was formed under the auspices of the Institute for Environmental Research and Education to promote the adoption of Environmental Life Cycle Assessment among industry, government, and NGO's.

/ Life-Cycle Assessment /
Life cycle assessment or LCA is a method for looking holistically at the environmental impacts of products or services from cradle top grave which provides a science-based measure of environmental performance.

/ International Environmental Management Standards - ISO 14000 /
The ISO 14000 standards are a series of environmental management standards.

/ InLCA Conference /
IERE co-sponsored the meeting:
The International Conference & Exhibition on Life Cycle Assessment: Tools for Sustainability, April 25 - 27, 2000, Arlington, Virginia
with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Research and Development. The final agenda is available here. The agenda includes links to the abstracts. Many of the abstracts include links to the slide presentations in pdf format.

/ Sustainable Agriculture /
Our program is designed to help farmers produce meat, dairy and other farm products that are safer for people and for the environment, and that use that improved quality as a marketing tool. Ultimately, the produce of individual farmers will have an ecolable, which identifies the individual farm from which the produce came. Consumers will be able to check up on the environmental performance of individual farms through internet connections.

/ Sustainable Agriculture / Agricultural Environmental Management System /
The program is based on international voluntary standards for environmental management (the ISO 14000 series) and has three components: a farm and facility based environmental management system, ecolabels which give a marketing edge to environmentally friendly products, and a community environmental board, which links producers and processors to their communities. Each element can stand on its own feet, but together they make a complete community based program.

/ Sustainable Agriculture / Life Cycle Assessment of Agricultural Products /
IERE has been working with farmers to improve their environmental performance. We are measuring that performance with a technique called Life Cycle Assessment or LCA. An LCA evaluates the environmental impacts of products from cradle to grave in a holistic fashion.

/ Sustainable Agriculture / Integrated Pest Management Implementation Plan for the Nebraska Cattle Industry /
Substantial work on Integrated Pest Management in Livestock has provided technical resources for managing pests on livestock. However, up to now little has been done to develop a program that supports the adoption of IPM practices in this important agricultural sector. This work describes an IPM plan for the cattle industry in Nebraska. It is based on the use of a comprehensive environmental management system that includes conformance to international standards and the use of life cycle assessment to provide ecolabels.

/ Sustainable Agriculture / Grazing /
We are interested in grazing systems because many of the environmental impacts of farming are reduced when animals are grazed in near-natural systems.

/ Sustainable Agriculture / Grazing / Analysis of Grassfed Products /
Having a farm that is managed to protect environmental values provides foods that are better for you, too. This is especially true of animal products (meat, eggs and dairy) that are produced using intensive grazing methods, which protect and improve the fertility of the soil. Grassfed meats are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which have been shown to provide significant health benefits. Nutritional analyses can show these differences.

/ Vashon Island / Vashon Island Heavy Metals /
Elevated concentrations of lead, arsenic, and cadmium have been found on Vashon Island, Maury Island, and the surrounding mainland. The source appears to have been the Asarco smelter in Ruston (near Tacoma).

/ Vashon Island / GIS /
IERE is pursuing the use of GIS (geographic information systems) to support efforts on the island in conservation, environmental studies, and plannning.

/ Vashon Island / Land use maps /

/ Biodiversity-Landuse Indicators Workshop /
Changes in landscape due to such activities as agriculture, silviculture, fishing, urban sprawl and transportation infrastructure have been recognized for some time as one of the major causes of the loss of biodiversity planet-wide. The lack of a consistent measurement tool or tools (i.e., indicators) makes it difficult to assess relative impacts and direct programs towards better conservation practices. Recognizing this need, the Defenders of Wildlife and the Institute for Environmental Research and Education (IERE) organized a workshop at the Defenders of Wildlife's national offices in Washington D.C. held on 13 July 2000. The workshop was attended by representatives of environmental NGO's, the U.S. Government, university researchers and business. Interests ranged widely, but most of the participants had direct experience in developing or using indicators or standards for environmental performance.