In Business, Creating Sustainable Enterprises & Communities

EDITORIAL

In Business, July-August, 2006, Vol. 28, No. 4, p. 2

GREEN STREETS AND VITAL SIGNS
THE LATEST issue of Sierra has a special section on “Green Streets” - focusing on ideas that are transforming urban life such as the nation's largest green building as well as which cities are making their environs most pleasant for bikers and walkers, and providing access to healthy food. Salt Lake

City is revitalizing its downtown with 19 miles of light rail lines; Atlanta is allocating $1.7 billion to surround the city with a “Beltline” of parks; as we described in May-June In Business, Minneapolis is using its ReUse Center to resell old building materials; in Austin, Texas, Will Wynn is one of 230 mayors nationwide pledging to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by investing in renewable energy, such as adding biodiesel vehicles to city fleets.
For its Hall of Fame, Sierra cites these five cities for sustainable green leadership; Chicago - Besides a green roofs program, Chicago is the first to charge higher registration fees for SUVs while requiring all new city-owned buildings to meet green design standards; New York City - Mixed use development and public transit help two-thirds of New Yorkers get to work without a car; Portland, Oregon - Creates less greenhouse gases than it did 15 years ago, while saving $2 million annually on city energy bills; San Francisco - Initiatives include $100 million for solar power, phasing out toxic products and sending compost from food scraps to the region's vineyards; and Seattle - Launching the Mayors Climate Protection Agreement to reduce global warming and creating “urban villages” that cluster offices, stores and homes in walkable communities.
In its Vital Signs 2006-2007, Worldwatch Institute focuses on health of the global economy and stability of nations as we address “the huge imbalances in natural resource systems.” Of the 24 major ecosystem services that support the human economy - from providing fresh water to regulating the climate - “15 are being pushed beyond their sustainable limits.” According to Worldwatch scientists, more than 80 percent of the subsidence in the U.S. is related to withdrawal of groundwater.
When it comes to fossil fuel use, the U.S. remained the world's largest consumer of oil, using 20.8 million barrels a day - nearly one-fourth of the world total. The fact that much of the world's oil is produced in politically unstable regions in the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa puts future supplies at risk. Meanwhile, wind power capacity jumped 24 percent in 2005, while photovoltaic cell production last year increased 45 percent, six times the level in 2000. “Biofuels hit a gusher,” notes Worldwatch, with fuel ethanol production jumping 19 percent and biodiesel output up 60 percent in 2005.
World bicycle production increased by nearly nine percent to 101 million units, but 70 percent of plant diversity is endangered. And 2005 turned out to be the warmest year ever recorded on the Earth's surface. Finally, the project director for Vital Signs, Erik Assodourian gave this assessment: “Business as usual is harming the Earth's ecosystems. If everyone consumed at the average level of high-income countries, the planet could sustainably support only 1.8 billion people, not today's population of 6.5 billion. Yet the world's population is expected not to shrink but to grow to 8.9 billion by 2050.”- J.G.