GREENING GUILFORD

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?

Group pushes for "No Child Left Inside"

President Bush and many educators have worked over the past several years to close the academic achievement gap between groups of students. Should his educational legacy also include closing the nature gap as well?

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) is gathering support for the No Child Left Inside Act, a federal bill that would offer states incentives to develop Environmental Literacy Plans and integrate environmental education across K-12 curricula. The No Child Left Inside Act aims to ensure that schools have the resources and training necessary to help the next generation understand and address the challenges of protecting the environment.

Connecting children with nature is a goal that is beginning to gain steam here in Greensboro. Last Saturday, about 30 people viewed a documentary at The HIVE in Glenwood about the disconnect between today's generation of children and nature and unstructured play.

Given that No Child Left Behind has been underfunded since its inception and criticized for faulty implementation, I'm not sure another federal law is the best approach toward this issue. However, a healthy dialogue about the children's lack of exposure to the outdoors is needed.

Greensboro Beautiful protests budget cut

The organization outlines the impacts of a proposed $400,000 cut from the city of Greensboro. You can speak out at a public hearing on June 3.

NC poll shows support for global warming solutions

N.C. Policy Watch: "Seventy-five percent of North Carolina voters favor the state taking action now to reduce global warming pollution, according to a recent statewide survey by Raleigh-based Public Policy Polling.  The poll, commissioned by Environment North Carolina, also shows that voters support the Clean Cars Program—one way of reducing global warming pollution—by a three to one margin."

Guilford County Rep. Pricey Harrison to the rescue: She is pushing for clean car legislation. Harrison is co-chairwoman of the Legislative Commission on Global Climate Change.

City Council appoints environmental advisory group

Another update (May 26): Joel Landau is featured in the News & Record's 10plus column.

Update: I forgot to mention that Landau told me last week that EPA folks met with local government officials at N.C. A&T State University about the possibility of Greensboro applying for a Sustainable Skylines grant. The application deadline has passed, so I am assuming folks here would apply next year. Sounds interesting. FYI, initiatives in Dallas and Kansas City.

A new environmental advisory group hopes to start meeting by June after the Greensboro City Council appointed it last week. Members are still crafting the mission but preliminarily it would "present City Council with specific proposals for reducing local carbon emissions, reducing energy usage, and conserving resources.  Proposals will include projected costs and funding options."

Following is the most recent message sent out to some in the community by Joel Landau, one of the co-chairs of the group:

"Last Wednesday Mayor Johnson appointed, and City Council approved, the members of a newly formed Advisory Group on the Environment! The Group's mission has not been specified, but it will be in the areas of bringing forth initiatives for reducing pollution, conserving resources, improving energy efficiency, and moving towards a more sustainable local economy.

"The group's co-chairs are Bob Powell and Joel Landau. Its members are primarily people who have been active in local sustainability efforts. Our thanks go to Mayor Johnson for initiating the idea and moving forward with it. Steve McCollum [of Environmental Stewardship of Greensboro] was also instrumental in bringing the idea to fruition. One of the hopes for this group is that it will be a focal point for coordinating and publicizing the various sustainability efforts now underway around the City."

In a previous message, Landau mentioned the following folks would be serving on the committee: Art Davis, Maurice Allen, Dr. Debbie Leiner, Derrick Giles, the Rev. Joe Venable, Carolyn Allen, Eric Hoekstra, Bob Powell, Tom Duckwall, Tom Clary, Valerie Vickers, Kim Yarbray, Joel Landau, Marlene Sanford of TREBIC, plus an unspecified representative from both the Chamber of Commerce and one from the Greensboro Merchant Association. They represent each district and include educators, business people, retired city planners, a medical doctor, a reverend, a former mayor and experience in sustainabililty activities.

This grassroots-initiated group will create its own charge instead of relying on a preoccupied council to set the path. It will be interesting to see if these members will have the necessary focus, camaraderie and singular vision to bring the council some innovative proposals and get them funded and accomplished (rather than be overtaken by infighting or self interest). Committees often have the tendency of simmering on the political backburner but I hope that is not this group's fate.   

North Carolina's transportation problem

This following comes by way of an Environmental Stewardship Group of Greensboro listserv post this week from the N.C. Conservation Network:

"North Carolina is facing a major transportation problem. Since 1989, our state has focused heavily on creating new roads, expanding existing roads, and building sprawl-inducing highways. Now, the combination of increasing construction costs, greater awareness of climate change, and a growing maintenance backlog within the Department of Transportation shows that North Carolina’s over-the-top emphasis on building new roads can’t last.

"The NC Conservation Network has joined with a broad coalition of groups—North Carolinians for Transportation Reform and Modernization (NC TRAM)—to promote a better transportation future for North Carolina. This week the group released a set of five principles to help guide North Carolina in creating a new transportation future. The five principles are: (1) prioritize projects using objective standards, not political patronage; (2) build different kinds of projects, not just roads; (3) dedicate a larger share of spending to maintenance; (4) link transportation and land use planning; and (5) pay for our transportation system fairly, not by raiding education and health programs or by privatizing our public roads. Help protect North Carolina’s future by asking your state legislator to support investment in maintenance and public transit!"

The group also has a blog.

North Carolina's transportation practices are a big ship that is going to be hard to turn around, given the amount of financial and social investment North Carolinians have in seeing highways expand. I remember when I worked for the Gaston Gazette writing articles about the Garden Parkway and how an investment company (with a state legislator on staff) had bought up land around the proposed toll highway back in the 1990s with an anticipation that the land will become highly valuable for residential and commercial development. N.C. DOT can't exactly get religion about more sustainable transportation practices and renege on its road-building promises without creating a firestorm. But at some point the state will have to prioritize maintenance. Is a moratorium on building necessary?

By the way, I have heard a couple times that truckers are starting to drive slower on highways to conserve fuel with the $4 diesel prices they are facing (and apparently some want U.S. taxpayers helping to pick up the tab). I would argue they should be driving slow anyway for safety reasons, but there is an incentive to drive faster to get products to their destination on time. If fuel prices keep going up, truckers may have to do more than drive slow (park, perhaps?).

Group seeks to reduce car emissions

Find here a meeting summary for the Triad Mobile CARE Partnership, which met in Greensboro on March 4.

At these quarterly meetings, local government, business fleet managers, fuel and technology providers, environmental groups, non-profit organizations and concerned citizens discuss ways to address mobile emission reduction efforts through the use of alternative fuels and advanced transportation technologies.

How NC legislators stack up on environmental issues

The N.C. League of Conservation Voters released in late February its annual scorecard for our U.S. Congressmen and women from North Carolina. Question: Why did the Republicans score so poorly?

Group seeks to overcome minority vulnerability to climate change

Did you know that African-Americans faced a higher immediate unemployment rate following the Middle Eastern oil embargos during the 1970s? Or that American families earning $10,000 or less per year spend 29 percent of their income on energy versus 13 percent for families with incomes between $10,000 and $25,000 and 4 percent for those earning more than $50,000?

Energy professionals and students from N.C. A&T State University gathered for a one-day conference on Thursday to discuss ways to overcome the vulnerability of minorities, particularly low income blacks, to climate change and environmental damage. The American Association for Blacks in Energy and the university co-sponsored the conference and the two hope to work together to provide internships and mentoring in the energy sector for engineering students.

Read more about the conference in Saturday's Monday's News & Record.

One of the reoccurring questions at the conference was the balance between innovation/technology and actual downsizing and sacrifice. For example, Carl Wilkins of Advanced Energy brought up the point that many newer model televisions use more energy than the older models and on top of that people just move the old tv to another room, not reducing energy consumption at all. Another issue is the paradox of energy efficiency in the fact that it can actually help increase consumption. So are we just kidding ourselves that Americans can actually have declining per capita energy consumption (let alone declining consumption as a population)?

One of the funnier points made was by Leslie Fields, director of environmental justice with the Sierra Club on how difficult it is to change the mindset of the American consumer:

"It is a huge disconnect," Fields said. "There is a disconnect in my own family. I'm a failed environmentalist. My brother drives an Escalade and he doesn't care what I think."

At lunch, Hilda Phinnix-Ragland of Progress Energy asked who in the room was driving an energy efficient vehicle. Only one person out of about 50 raised his hand (Read my reflection on that issue here). She asked who was conserving water? More hand went up, but there were several untouched glasses of water on the tables. Hello.

"We're so accustomed to heavy flows," Phinnix-Ragland said. "We expect to have water on the table whether we drink it or not."

But many at the conference aren't giving up hope. As Morry Davis of Peabody Energy Corp. cleverly put it: "There's no silver bullet. There's silver buckshot."

On a lighter note, UNCG had a strong turnout of about 175 people at the showing of Power of Community last night. After the showing, Joel Landau, owner of Deep Roots Market and former city council candidate, announced that he and others are working with Greensboro Mayor Yvonne Johnson to try to establish an environmental working group for city council. Let's hope for progress there.

Could district 1 get a 'green fair'?

City Councilwoman T. Dianne Bellamy-Small has expressed an interest in holding a green fair in her district during Earth Day in April. I spoke to her briefly about it this afternoon. Bellamy-Small has only had preliminary conversations with folks, but thought the fair could be held as a pilot before becoming a city-wide event. I don't have details, but Bellamy-Small said she was looking for someone who could coordinate it. So if you are interested, give her a shout-out.

By the way, find out about the city's green initiatives here.