Seattle has “America’s Greenest Mayor”. Where’s Rochester on the list?
Newsweek profiled Seattle’s Mayor Nickels recently, naming him “America’s Greenest Mayor”. I saw the effects of that environmental leadership during my recent visit. So my mind immediately wondered how we’re doing by comparison.
Mayors Take the Lead
CITIES: The federal government has been dithering on climate change and energy conservation for years. Lucky for us, America’s local leaders are filling the vacuum.
So what are these mayors doing, exactly?
The resources they bring to the task vary widely. In San Francisco, the city’s Department of the Environment tackles sustainability with a staff of 70 people and a budget of $20 million. In Fayetteville, Ark., Mayor Dan Coody just hired his city’s first sustainability director. Still, a remarkable patchwork of programs is emerging, from the creation of car-sharing schemes on the West Coast to a new initiative in Cambridge, Mass., that aims to green at least half the buildings in town.
Holy crap! Note: Fayetteville, at 60,000 people, is a little over a quarter of Rochester’s 220,000. But if there is a Sustainability Director in Rochester’s City Hall, they sure aren’t advertising it on the official Rochester City website. I’m pleased that Duffy is one of the close to 500 US mayors that signed the “U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement” that Nickels initiated, but dag nabit, I want to see more environmental leadership here!
It’s a freakin win-win:
…city officials are discovering that these measures save money, reduce demands on overstretched utilities and make cities more pleasant places to live and work. “We’re not talking about some broad international policy that doesn’t trickle down,” says Coody. “Cities are where the rubber meets the road.”
We even have institutional support for sustainability, in our local universities, like RIT’s Sustainability Institute, or this weekend’s “Pathways To A Sustainable World” conference held by UR.
So come on, Mayor Duffy, don’t be shy! I want someone of your height to be able to see a long ways down the road– to where cities like Seattle are, already.
Related posts:
Newsweek’s cover this week is all about the environment with “Ahnold” on the cover.
RIT has been fairly visible around the community in that it really seems to try and help out the city. I’d like to tip my hat to their efforts, and also ask that the city and university work together on projects like this. That’s also win/win.
Not to belittle UR, Nazareth, MCC, St. John Fisher, or any other college I missed.
I was recently in SanFran, CA and their electric company PG&E and gov’t officials have a really cool website http://www.letsgreenthiscity.com I think it would be good for Rochester and maybe RG&E needs to take some initiative as well. Another good site is http://www.onebillionbulbs.com I recently changed all my bulbs to flourescent. Hey at this point, everything helps.
[...] comparisons with Rochester. But if Fayetteville, Arkansas, at 1/4 the size of Rochester, can hire a sustainability director to realize savings and revenue, what are we waiting [...]