sustainability

Sustainable Cities Making Headlines This Week

It's been a action-packed week for sustainable cities, who are making headlines with their innovative initiatives and success stories.

• Cincinnati Becomes First Major City to Offer 100% Green Electricity to Residents

• Houston Mayor Annise Parker Launches Public Bike Share Program

• NYC Takes the Red Tape Out of Building Green

• Manhattan Beach, CA, Wins Water Conservation Challenge

• Killer tornadoes: 2 Resilient Cities 1 Year Later in Joplin and Tuscaloosa

• Jim Johnston: Assessing sustainability in Springfield, IL

• NYC Rides Green Wave to Clean Up Stormwater

• Houston Mayor Parker Announces Green Office Challenge Winners

• Bellingham, WA, Recycles Toilets into Sidewalks

• Portland City Council Unanimously Adopts the Portland Plan

The Top Three Reasons Rio+20 Will Change the World

Vote for Maggie to be the official blogger for World Environment Day in Rio! Click “Vote Now” on the UNEP website below her picture or at the end of the blog and enter the security code. Please share with friends and colleagues! Voting ends April 30.

Though two months away, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development’s Earth Summit, better known as Rio+20, has already been labeled vital, momentous and historic. And while delegates, students and activists have yet to arrive in Brazil, we already know that Rio+20 has the potential to be a “big deal.”

It all begs the question, can the people engaging in Rio+20, in-person or remotely, really change the world?  My sage and inspiration for answering this question is Margaret Mead who said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Simply, Rio+20 is about being part of that thoughtful group committed to "getting it right" for future generations.  The outcome and commitments of the Conference will affect us all, from the farmer in Iowa to the IT specialist in India, and whether you attend the conference or not, your voice can and needs to be heard.

Sustainability Strengthens Our Communities

This article originally appeared in The Tennessean on March 19, 2012

The Unsettling Attacks on Green Cities and Counties

Back in 2010, when Colorado gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes accused Denver’s bicycle sharing program of being part of an insidious United Nations conspiracy to take over America’s communities, a nation chuckled at the absurdity. "Cities Engage in Vast Biking Conspiracy (Shh!)" read a New York Times headline.

More than a year later, the same bizarre conspiracy theory is no laughing matter for anyone who cares about their community’s future. Across the country, a loud minority of protestors, many aligned with the Tea Party, have made it their mission to derail not only the green programs of cities, towns, and counties, but the broader planning efforts of local governments to improve local transportation, safeguard public health, and increase economic competitiveness. Last week the success of their efforts landed them back in the Times, only now on the front page.

Urban Forests Create Vibrant Cities

Photo credit: City of Chicago

If you could create a new pathway that would guide cities to a more vibrant and healthy existence – with programs, policies, partnerships and resources to support thriving urban forest systems – what would it look like? A new report, Vibrant Cities & Urban Forests: A National Call to Action, establishes a vision, highlights emerging trends, and culminates with a series of recommendations that can be applied to urban areas across the U.S.

To craft the report, the Vibrant Cities & Urban Forests Task Force collaborated with New York Restoration Project (NYRP) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). Bringing together the observations and recommendations of 25 experts across multiple disciplines, the Report presents a new framework for understanding the benefits of urban and community forestry.  The ideas contained in the Report will be familiar to urban forestry practitioners; the innovation is in the approach.

How Urban Forestry Can Solve City Problems

The vision of the Report is to “explore the implications of integrated natural and built urban environments and their possibilities for the future.”  Put another way, the aim of the Vibrant Cities Report is to show how urban and community forestry can be used to solve problems that face our cities, particularly in areas that are not immediately obvious.

Read the Report

Davie, Florida, Leads on Urban Forestry and Sustainable Landscaping

Green open space in Davie, FL. Photo credit: bfraz via flickr

The Town of Davie, FL, is committed to expanding its community green spaces and protecting natural habitats.

About Davie: The Town is located in Broward County in South Florida, and has 90,000 residents. Davie contains lush, rural landscapes and numerous parks, where equestrian activities  are popular.

Through a range of sustainable practices, Davie is making its landscapes greener, creating a healthier community overall.

Sustainable Landscaping

• The Town Council adopted requirements for “Florida-Friendly” landscaping practices and irrigation systems, which promote water conservation and water quality improvement. 

The Town's Landscape Department:

• Promotes native plantings using Florida-Friendly landscaping principles
• Gave away 750 low-maintenance plants to Town residents during the 2011 Orange Blossom Festival

Siemens Sustainable Community Award Nominations Open

Nominate your community for a 2012 Siemens Sustainable Community Awards. The nomination period is now open, and will run until January 13, 2012. Click to learn more about the categories and criteria, prize information, past award winners, and the online nomination form.

(U.S. Chamber website)

From the Siemens Sustainable Community Awards website:

Categories and Criteria

What Is a Sustainable Community? A sustainable community has forged relationships with residents and the local private sector to set and achieve complementary economic, environmental, and social goals. Together, these goals will help the community realize long-term competitiveness and success.

Categories

•     Small Community (less than 50,000 residents)
•     Midsize Community (50,000 – 500,000 residents)
•     Large Community (more than 500,000 residents)

10 Tips to Increase Support for Your Sustainability Program

Guest Blogger: Cindy Tatham, Sustainability Manager for the City of Beaverton, OR

Starting a city’s journey toward sustainability is a challenging task. The goal of this article is to share lessons I learned with other local government sustainability professionals who are beginning the process of public engagement.
 
Most sustainability programs start with an internal operational focus on sustainability basics: an assessment, setting up a green team, starting green house gas inventories, establishing a committee and getting the momentum internally to institutionalize sustainability throughout the organization.

My city’s administration had different plans. The expectations were to focus externally, which ran contrary to the direction of typical sustainability programs of nearby cities and agencies.

My role was to make Beaverton, a first-tier suburb, a progressive sustainability leader through programs that reached the citizens in their homes. Though it was recognized that the basics of integrating sustainability into City operations were clearly important, this was not going to be my main role at the beginning. This left me to ponder:

Is it a good thing to first focus on reaching out to the residents of a city versus concentrating on a city’s internal operations?

This question created interesting discussion among my sustainability colleagues. A city focusing externally from the outset was not the typical path that government sustainability programs take. It was believed that a city government should concentrate on “walking the walk, not just talking the talk” and must “lead by example.” I heard it repeatedly. I was torn, but knew what the expectations were from my administration.

Two years into my role as a sustainability manager, I have been privileged to develop, witness, and celebrate a wealth of successful sustainability projects that have focused on the Beaverton community as a whole. My viewpoint has evolved:

It IS okay to engage the public in sustainability from the outset of a city program and shout it from the mountain top - loudly!

Below are 10 key points that I want to share with all government local sustainability professionals as they begin to engage the public -- and their municipal colleagues.

1. You don’t have to have your house “in perfect order” before you talk to the public about sustainability.

Will your organization ever truly be sustainable? Not likely. It is a journey, the destination unclear and ongoing. It is about doing the best you can, striving for improvement to make better choices and institutionalizing the thought process into everyday operations. To wait to “achieve” sustainability before reaching out to the public is not necessary. Your organization can simply declare where it is at and what it is doing to move forward.

Equity Guide for Sustainable Communities

From an email from PolicyLink, a national institute focused on economic and social equity:

PolicyLink has created a guide to help prospective Sustainable Communities applicants effectively address equity in their proposals. The 2011 Equity Guide for Sustainable Communities includes checklists and highlights for each rating factor as well as promising practices from the first round of grants.

Palm Bay, FL, Reaches Out "Down Under" to Share Greener Pastures

Warren Mortlock with Deputy City Manager Chad Shoultz, touring Palm Bay'
new city hall annex.

The two-year-old urban born koala never really had a chance.  But the black and white marsupial rescuers called "Pan Da" still managed to capture the hearts and minds of thousands of humans around the globe.  In 2008 Pan Da was orphaned when his "mum" was run over and killed by a car.  Pan Da was rescued, taken to a wildlife hospital in Redland City, Queensland, Australia and later released into the wild with a tracking device.  The Redland City Council created a Facebook page so the public could track the koala's movements and nearly 14,000 fans tuned in.  Pan Da later died but not without demonstrating the importance of sustainability.  "These koala almost run our lives," Warren Mortlock told the Palm Bay City Council during part of a two-week visit to Palm Bay from his home in Redland City.  "They are an important part of our sustainability journey and it really comes down to local government to do something about saving them."