CitiesGoGreen - February 2009 - (Page 5) From the Editor the sustainability magazine for people in local government February/March 2009 Issue 7 Daimon Sweeney Publisher & Editor Daimon@CitiesGoGreen.com Judith Sult Publisher & Marketing Director Judith@CitiesGoGreen.com Stephanie Hopkinson Creative Director Stephanie@CitiesGoGreen.com Page Buono Editorial Assistant Page@CitiesGoGreen.com Anna Koeppler Production Assistant Anna@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. 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 © 2009 by Verde Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved ISSN #1944-4664 Cover photograph: Coutesy Pam Louks Practice Thinking Big W e have big solutions to the big problems we face, as a culture and as a world. What’s keeping us from applying big solutions to our big problems and having a world in balance? Small thinking. Habitual thinking. Thinking that today ought to be pretty much like yesterday, which was pretty much like the day before, because that’s the way it’s always been. Actually there’s not a lot of thinking involved in that, just operating on autopilot, which often passes for conventional wisdom. But what if, as we go about solving our small daily problems, we are making the big problems worse? If we keep on that way, the big problems will grow until they are insoluble. Our gift in this moment is that we can realize we have big problems, and we can use our resources and imaginations to apply big solutions, build on them and invent new ones. To do that requires a deliberate decision that the usual is not good enough, followed by action. Fortunately more and more people at all levels of responsibility are making that decision. If that includes you, you’re a leader. Thank you. We need to think inside reality and outside the status quo. Thinking inside reality means understanding and respecting the natural systems we are part of and contribute to. Roya Stanley, Director of Iowa’s Office of Energy Independence, has something to say about the status quo: “There is no status quo.” The old systems are not working; they cannot be relied on. Something new must take their place. Thinking big takes practice, but it can be fun. One way to stretch your thinking is to imagine how local solutions you might contribute to could function if fully developed, then how they could link up nationally and internationally to make increasingly powerful solutions. Looked at this way, Pam Louk’s article on the urban forest, in this issue, would lead us to imagine fully developed urban forests in every city and town. It could happen in a few decades, and time flies. Ramesh Buch, Program Manager of Alachua County Forever, shows us the necessity of an Ecological Level of Service. It’s worth stretching the mind to absorb. The Village of Orange, Ohio, asked how to do recycling better and found a new way to think about waste. Nearly overnight, almost all residents began participating and the Village is saving money. What if every community did that? Ann Hancock had a new thought that resulted in all nine cities in Sonoma County developing a coordinated Climate Protection Plan, with one of the boldest targets in the US. She’s happy to have you use what they developed. What if every county did the same? Big thoughts are for sharing. Another example of big thinking is a billion dollar project that public/private partnerships could emulate in many places, transforming abandoned industrial or office parks into zero carbon, energy-efficient, lively communities. Techno-fixes might not save us but if they fix techno-problems, that’s a good thing. Cool Earth’s solar balloons, with minimal, elegantly conceived structure, could help replace fossil fuels and bring clean electricity to many, at virtually any scale. Modular, scalable ideas can make a big difference. I could go on about other brilliant developments you’ll find in this issue, such as Iowa’s plan to become energy independent by 2025, high speed rail linking up the country, ways to minimize the impact of cars, and so on. Instead I’ll just suggest you keep reading. Remember, practice thinking big, do something and congratulate yourself. You are a leader. Warmly, February/March 2009 5 http://www.CitiesGoGreen.com http://www.CitiesGoGreen.com
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