Kent Portney's "Our Green Cities" Blog

Summit on Sustainability in Grand Rapids

For those of you who are interested in what's going on in Grand Rapids, you might take a look at "The Community Sustainability Partnership Summit on "Elevating Environmental Integrity" to be held on July 11.  I have included a copy of the general invitation here. Download invitation_july.pdf

One of the highlights of the summit will be a talk by Toronto Mayor David Miller.  Of course, Toronto has been a real sustainability leader in North America.  I wish I could attend this summit, but will try to report on the proceedings sometime in late July.

Livability and Sustainability in Grand Rapids

My friend Norman Christopher from Grand Rapids forwarded to me a recent story from the Patriot Ledger (Quincy MA) about Grand Rapids written by Joann Fitzpatrick .  Check the article out at http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2007/06/16/opinion/opin03.txt

The article never mentions anything about sustainability, per se. Instead, it essentially talks about how livable the city is -- how it feels like a really decent place to live.  What the article doesn't say is that much of this is by design.  Everyone from the mayor on down, most of the city's institutions and nonprofit groups, and even many of the businesses (e.g. the Western Michigan Sustainable Business Roundtable) are basically on the same page with respect to how to do economic development, etc.  I have a short profile of Grand Rapids on the "Our Green Cities" (http://ourgreencities.com) web site, so check it out when you can.  Hopefully, I will have a chance to add some materials on Grand Rapids in the next week or so.

Why Cities are so Important

You may have seen the recent report conducted by the G8 Research Group Oxford on how well nations are doing in their pursuit of climate protection.  The bottom line is that they aren't doing very well.  You can see the report at:
http://www.g8.utoronto.ca/oxford/2006compliance-ox.pdf

This study looked at progress toward meeting greenhouse gas emission target reductions in the G8 nations of the US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the UK, plus the "Outreach 5" nations -- the Brazil, China, India, South Africa, and Mexico.  This "compliance assessment" showed that nations are not doing very well, with many moving in the wrong direction.  The US has achieved only a 20% compliance with its targets.  What a surprise.   

To me, this points to the fact that at the national level in many nations, including the US, there is not the political will to make a serious effort to combat climate change.  Ultimately, real change will require national commitments.  But there is now clear evidence that the political will to take actions does in fact exist at the local level.  Perhaps for a variety of reasons, local government does not necessarily face the high political hurdles that are faced at the national level.  So it is entirely possible that cities are now the level of government where the greatest change is achievable.  Obviously, there are limits to what cities can accomplish, but as I argued in my Taking Sustainable Cities Seriously book, we are very far from the point where cities have accomplished everything they can.  I'd like to hear what you think.  Post your comments for others to read.

Adil Najam on Bush's Climate Change Change

My colleague at Tufts Adil Najam had an opinion piece in the Boston Globe this morning talking about the Bush administrations apparent about-face on climate change.  The article can be found at:

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/06/08/climate_change_conversion/

Adil is one of the lead authors of the most recent scientific study from the Intergovernmenal Panel on Climate Change, on Mitigation of Climate Change.  The report can be found at:

http://www.ipcc.ch/SPM040507.pdf

His argument is that the Bush administration's change of heart probably has much less to do with the science of climate change than it does the politics of it.  Gasoline prices and the public discontent over them are probably what is driving the politics. Of course, no one believes that this president would ever read a scientific report, and the people around him would probably shield him from its conclusions.  Adil is absolutely right on the money here.

One of my more cynical students (who probably learned the cynicism from me) suggested to me the other day that the Bush administration is probably using its apparent change of heart on climate change as a tactic to delay real action until gasoline prices come down a bit. 

Five Cities that are Greener than you would think

I see that MSN's city guide has a posting called "5 cities that are greener than you think."  It has brief profiles of Grand Rapids, Albuquerque, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake City.  Check it out at: http://cityguides.msn.com/citylife/greenslideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=4848659  This is a five-slide slideshow, one slide dedicated to each of the five cities.

This MSN posting doesn't surprise me, at least not in terms of the how much these cities are actually doing to try to become greener.  I have been touting the great and impressive achievements of Grand Rapids for the last couple of years, and posted a "Rapid Progress" profile on the "Ourgreencities" web site. 

Albuquerque has had a sustainability program in place for a number of years, and that program has one of the two best environmental and social justice components in the country (San Francisco is the other). On my updated Index of Taking Sustainability Seriously, which measures how much city government is doing to become greener, Albuquerque ranks third, tied with Los Angeles and Minneapolis.

Salt Lake City's efforts have been more recent, spearheaded by mayor Rocky Anderson, who is something of a maverick in the region.  He and many others in Salt Lake City have pushed hard to develop the Salt Lake City Green program. Check it out at:  http://www.slcgreen.com/  Next time I revise my city rankings, Salt Lake City will be on the list.

Although Los Angeles has a reputation is being a supremely un-sustainable place because of its sprawl, heavy reliance on the automobile, and its air pollution, the fact is that as a matter of public policy, Los Angeles is a real leader. On my updated Index of Taking Sustainability Seriously, which measures how much city government is doing to become greener, LA is tied for third in the country.

The City takes a lot of heat for investing in its relatively new subway system, but it is a terrific start.  And its urban infill housing programs are really starting to take off.   Las Vegas is starting to work hard at becoming greener as well.  LV is in a very unique position in that the city and county have experienced unprecedentedly rapid population growth.  The city is now worried about the consequences of that growth, especially consequences for the environment.