Its Not That Easy Being Green

Its not easy being green

Its not that easy being green.

Four years after then candidate Obama announced his enthusiastic campaign to make green jobs and alternative energy R+D a key fixture of his presidency, city leaders are realizing their high expectations of a green revolution have fallen short. Cities across America are struggling to maintain their ambitious local efforts to fight global warming, in part due to a continually sluggish economy. Many are being force to abandon their green-at-all-costs approach.

College Station, home of Texas A&M, is one of the most recent communities forced to retreat. The College Station City Council decided last month that its green efforts should be "fiscally responsible" and create "a real and tangible return of investment to the city."  They have abandoned their goal to be a leader in energy efficiency and the reduction of green house gases.

In Paolo Alto, CA, the city is struggling to support their environmentally conscious residents.  After initiating a recycling program, the city  was forced to hike trash rates twice in one year.  Paolo Alto uses money from collecting garbage to pay for the recycling process, but since residents have been so supportive of the recycling program the solid waste management department has gone broke keeping up with demand.

Thousands of communities of all sizes and scales have signed the U.S. Conference of Mayors' agreement which asks for cities to reduce their CO2 emissions below 1990 levels over the coming years.  In return for the counties and states to receive grants specifically to fund energy-efficiency projects. Recently, however, those funds have run dry. College Station for example, received $791,000 from the federal government in 2009 to enact some of their green initiatives, including purchasing a fleet of hybrid cars.

A study of 396 cities highlighted financial constraints as the biggest obstacle to their ambitious environmental agendas. Uncertainty on the return rates of new technology coupled with high initial infrastructure costs have further thwarted community efforts. In addition, a recent uprising against sustainable initiatives packaged as Agenda 21 have drawn negative attention to the topic.

Being "green" has become a catch phrase for residents and politicians alike, but the realities of climate change in an economic recession are stark.  Many cities. like Albuquerque, for example, have relaxed their environmental standards until the economy recovers in a hope to encourage development.  Regions of Ohio are embracing natural gas fracking, a topic once avoided for its detrimental and immeasurable environmental outcomes.  One can't help but wonder if these communities are abandoning sustainable practices that don't only help the planet but their budgets as well.

Not everyone is giving up on the green dream.  Popular Science recently released a survey highlighting model communities who are producing successful and rapid sustainable change.  Small, incremental policy changes can have significant results without burdening cities in a financial crunch. Changing light bulbs, turning off unneeded electronics, and limiting the use of indoor climate control in public buildings not only reduces the carbon footprint but saves the city money! It might not be flashy or come with a banner that reads, "We are the best," but it works.  Electric cars are relatively new to the market and don't have much infrastructure to support an entire fleet. Maybe College Station could have allocated their grant into a better developed form of sustainable innovation?

The fact remains, climate change isn't going away and neither will the green movement.  Residents and businesses can continue to minimize their personal impact while communities sturdy their treasuries and plan for smarter, more effective change. As one fine green friend of mine once said,

"When green is all there is to be
It could make you wonder why, but why wonder why?
Wonder, I am green and it'll do fine, it's beautiful!
And I think it's what I want to be."
-Kermit the Frog