CitiesGoGreen - November 2008 - (Page 5)

From the Editor the sustainability magazine for people in local governments November 2008 Issue 4 Daimon Sweeney Publisher & Editor Daimon@CitiesGoGreen.com Judith Sult Publisher & Marketing Director Judith@CitiesGoGreen.com Stephanie Hopkinson Creative Director Stephanie@CitiesGoGreen.com Anna Koeppler Production Assistant Anna@CitiesGoGreen.com Page Buono Editorial Assistant Page@CitiesGoGreen.com Sam McNeil Associate, Website Editor Sam@CitiesGoGreen.com Jennifer Karchmer Proofreader/Copyeditor Elizabeth Johnson Circulation Coordinator Elizabeth@CitiesGoGreen.com Letters to the Editor Editor@CitiesGoGreen.com Subscriptions (866) 686-8101 or www.CitiesGoGreen.com Digital subscriptions are free to those with a government email address and $20 to others Print subscriptions are $72 for 12 issues per year CitiesGoGreen is published by Verde Publishing, Inc. 1155 North State St., Ste 510 Bellingham, WA 98225 We can be reached at (360) 306-8101 or (866) 686-8101 © 2008 by Verde Publishing, Inc. Cover photograph: Kathy Collier, LEED AP Climate Wise program, City of Fort Collins Photo courtesy Mary Angell, Journey Magazine Sustainability, Sustainable Communities and the Power of Habit A conversation at the ICMA annual conference in Richmond, VA, changed how I think about sustainability. I was talking with Randall Reid, Chair of the ICMA Sustainability Advisory Committee. He’s interviewed in this issue, but in a different discussion he said he’d found that the word “sustainability” doesn’t work for some people, but “sustainable community” does. My take is that “sustainability” is abstract while “sustainable community” is grounded in the concrete dimensions of what community means, from organizational and financial sustainability to environmental and, as Reid points out, social sustainability. Real communities have many aspects. Thinking and talking about “sustainable communities,” each one different but every one of them grounded in local reality, helps make the concept real, both to ourselves and to others, and rounds out what may seem abstract, but is in reality the bottom line of how we can live well even in changing times. a At the same conference Biff Corning, Principle Consultant at Malcolm Pirnie, shared another perspective on sustainable communities that made sense. He asked us to look for connections across seemingly separate areas. He showed a slide with these words on it: land use • transportation • health • revenue • air quality • jobs • education infrastructure • poverty • energy • rate payers • natural habitat • water resources He asked us to think about decisions in light of how they relate to every one of those dimensions. Stating the effect for each one provides something approaching a full view of the total effect of possible decisions on the community. Actions that benefit all while harming none may be hard to come by, but better choices may be available if we use simple ideas like this to get us beyond habitual thinking. Habit, as Kit Keller, Executive Director of the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals, says in our chat with her, is huge. Fortunately, habits can change under the influence of new priorities. Kit points out that kids are making different choices and that communities can deliberately make room for better choices, which more people can then make more easily, leading to cumulative change. How can we make room for our own intelligence and good sense? She names a raft of ways to encourage walking and biking. One fascinating idea to me is including children as planners, and another is her point that a child-oriented city works for everyone. What would that be like? a Fort Collins, Colorado is on the forefront of the move toward sustainable community, and is profiled this issue. Among many other points of interest, FortZED is a smart grid project taking in downtown and the Colorado State University campus, where the aim is to become net-zero energy and place Colorado at the forefront of developments in this area. Their ClimateWise program is worth looking at and emulating, if you’d like more profitable local businesses which are reducing their resource impact, and we give you a good overview of how it works. In Fresno County, California, the most productive agricultural area in the US, “sustainability” is not the most common word. Fresno County Board of Supervisors Chairman Henry Perea explains how he nevertheless created the Fresno County Go Green program. This comprehensive program starts by addressing the major locally identified problems: air quality and cost containment, but doesn’t stop there. There are many ways for communities to take action, and local priorities are the key. No matter which you choose, every dimension touches each of the others. Develop a project that advances two or more dimensions and you’re probably on a path toward sustainable community. Warmly, Daimon Sweeney 5 November 2008 http://citiesgogreen.com http://www.CitiesGoGreen.com http://citiesgogreen.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CitiesGoGreen - November 2008

CitiesGoGreen - November 2008 Contents In Motion Disaster Housing for $200: The Hexayurt Coming Soon: A Code-Ready Green Building Standard from ASHRAE ICMA Embraces Sustainability Fort Collins, Colorado Interview: ClimateWise, Business Smart 12-for-1 Parking: Bike Corrals Fresno County More Biking and Walking for Better Communities

CitiesGoGreen - November 2008

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