From Cool Cities to Green Guilford: People push for county-level change

The city of Greensboro had its day in the spotlight last year when former mayor Keith Holliday signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, a first step toward it becoming a "Cool City."

Now, local residents are working to expand sustainability efforts at the county level. The group, called Green Guilford, is working with Rob Bencini, the county's director of economic and community development. They aim to educate the public about environmental issues, support governmental purchases of environmentally-friendly products, create a neighborhood sustainability advisory board (Ahem... homeowners associations), and tap into existing soil and water conservation groups.

Now, the group must win over the public and county commissioners. I anticipate this plan could get a lot of resistance from businesses that stand to lose money if the county switches products and services. But many "green businesses" are willing and eager to take their place.

What do you think about this group?

Comments

[TriadFreedom]

You do realize that the Green Movement as its called is a scam right?

I agree we must not let it go to crap, but to make money off of people needing to "upgrade" to green products is insane. Of course wal-mart wants you to be green, they will sell 340 million light bulbs at $3 a piece, almost a BILLION dollars in their pockets.

Al Gore has the an energy bill PER MONTH that I could use for the WHOLE YEAR on my house. And he has the nerve to tell me I better use less?

Notice how it changed from "Plunging into another Ice Age" back into the ninety's, and then we were getting so warm that we were going to melt the ice caps, and now, for the past 7 years, we are in a decline in global temperature, thats right, research it, we are COOLING DOWN, and have been for 7 years. I encourage you to watch Penn and Tellers piece on climate change, its an eye opener.

triadfreedom.blogspot.com

[GreenGiant]

I support the county's efforts to educate the public about environmental issues and offer alternatives to massive consumption of our natural and depleting resources. The very notion that the "Green Movement" is a scam is obserd and that's all the attention I'll give to that letter from triadfreedom. Dennis Quaintance, a successful business owner in Greensboro, has put his heart and money on the line when he built the Proximity Hotel. He had already built the O'Henry conventionally but chose eco-friendly and sustainable construction for his new venture. Why? Is it perhaps he had done enough research and spoke to veteran users of the new methods that he garnered enough data to make a fiscally prudent decision? I don't think an icon of his calibler would be brain washed into thinking that "green" was an unecessary upgrade. WE CAN, all of us, make small changes in our every day living to save money on fuel usage, gas and heating expenses, water for bathing and yard water. No one has to bear incredible expense; infact, many people will, if not most, save money while saving resources! That's no scam!

[Morgan]

I think the case can be easily made that county government, or individuals for that matter, should not jump on any consumer bandwagon or waste money chasing unproven and misunderstood "solutions." At the same time, some products can get the same job done without exposing their users to harsh chemicals, polluting the environment or consuming more energy than they need to (both in the production and disposal stages).

Much of the fuss made about green living being more expensive comes from people trying to protect their interests or current lifestyles. This is a case where people who are educated, think critically, use common sense, and know how to manage their money have the advantage. The fact is there is a lot of "low hanging fruit" that most people can afford, such as switching out paper towels with cloth napkins and phasing in CFL or LED lightbulbs (If the price tags seem high, ask yourself, do I really need all these lamps in my home?)

Shopping at farmers markets is often cheaper than the grocery store and even natural foods stores have deals if you know how to shop. You apply the same comparision shopping with Earth Fare and Whole Foods as you would between Food Lion and Walmart. In terms of household cleaining products, you can go with the "green" version at the store, or just use vinegar and baking soda, saving both money and time.

It certainly gets more complicated when you start switching out vehicles and heating and cooling systems, but as I said before, comparison shop the same way you would with conventional systems. And many low-income households have a lower carbon footprint to begin with, because they cannot afford clothes dryers or cars and have to use clothes lines and public transportation.

The problem is many communities have been designed to make these easy choices difficult, for example, homeowners associations that prohibit outside clothes drying, or automobile-centered roads that crowd out pedestrians and bicyclists. Thus, the argument boils down to spending the money and time up front to change the laws, policies and infrastructure or waiting it out and risking the chance that people will "vote with their feet" by moving elsewhere.

[Nikki]

I have a friend who has a green blog too: http://vergelimbo.com. He's got a community garden, video, links, a host of other information, too.