National Geographic Society

By Wendy Gordon
A couple of Fridays ago, George Soros, the author of The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008 and What It Mean, suggested that efforts to build a green economy could be the "motor of the world economy in the years to come."

I certainly hope so, and hope that it can start here and now. Our economy is in such clear distress, and hundreds of thousands have lost their jobs in the last nine months. Perhaps it is already beginning. In cities and towns around the country, Van Jones, founder and president of Green For All, believes that corporate and civic entrepreneurs are seizing opportunities to revitalize the economy by creating jobs and improving the environment at the same time. Here are a few examples from his book The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems:

* The Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS), hoping to move workers in the Rust Belt into the clean-energy economy, has developed a program to retrofit all of Milwaukee's buildings and create thousands of green-collar jobs in the process. A new building-efficiency service, Milwaukee Energy Efficiency (Me2), is being created in the process, and there is no upfront payment. You sign up for a retrofit, and when it's completed you pay it off a little bit at a time as part of your reduced electricity or utility bill.
* Andy Lipkis, founder of TreePeople in Los Angeles, saw an opportunity to solve a major water-runoff problem by building cisterns to capture the rainwater. L.A. officials were so impressed by TreePeople's demonstration cisterns, which collect, on average, 1.25 million gallons of water for every inch of rainfall, that the city gave the green light to a $200-million cistern project in Sun Valley, a flood-ravaged community mostly populated by low-wage workers. TreePeople predicts about 300 jobs will be created, including manufacturing and installing water-capture systems, adapting landscaping to function as watershed, and maintaining the landscape, trees, berms, cisterns and other elements of the system. Better still, some city sanitation workers will be transformed into watershed managers, a job that takes more time and has more dignity.
* A nonprofit in Baltimore called Second Chance launched its architectural salvage and deconstruction services in 2003. Over the next 4 years, the company grew quickly, filling a 120,000-square-foot warehouse space and engaging more than 50 employees-three deconstruction crews and a retail store crew-all drawn from local low-income neighborhoods. The nonprofit's founder, Mark Foster, has established contracts with Baltimore that provide for worker-development funds for training. After satisfying the training requirements, workers are guaranteed permanent jobs with company benefits.

Jones provides numerous other examples involving major resource systems--water, energy, food, materials--where rethinking and retooling society can help communities save money and generate new jobs.

With our national deficit in the trillions, and our economy in recession, how can we manage a New Deal-type investment in a green economy? Jones replies, "How can we not?"

It's an inspiring, empowering book, by a course-changing social entrepreneur. I urge you to read it.

By Wendy Gordon

What if you could be rewarded for recycling? Just think about it: a frequent-flyer program for recyclers. Put your recyclablest in an electronically tagged bin for pickup by a truck, which weighs how much you are recycling--and transmits the data to a web site. By the time you've reentered your home, you can retrieve the points online and redeem them for discounts at stores like CVS and PETCO, or on brands like Stonyfield Farms, Sun & Earth and Green Mountain Coffee.

That's the simple idea behind RecycleBank, the brainchild of two high-school science-lab partners and one of the "hottest plays" among venture-capital firms. In a word, or four, by "turning garbage to gold," RecycleBank has changed the economics of recycling. In cities and towns where it's operating, like Wilmington, Delaware, recycling rates have jumped tenfold, from 3 percent to 32 percent.

The program has many winners, including the recycler, who stands to get as much as $45 a month in redeemable points. With all the belt-tightening that is happening right now, that could translate into a lot of free yogurt, pet food or personal-care supplies. The cities and towns that participate stand to benefit too. There are considerable savings when municipalities divert trash from the dump to facilities that sort, crush and ship it out for reuse. Since RecycleBank arrived in Everett, Massachusetts, 11 tons of trash have been diverted from landfills every day. Everett has saved $300,000, which -has been split with RecycleBank.

RecycleBank is expanding rapidly. Currently operating in 13 states, they expect to be serving a million households by the end of 2009, and are planning for ten million households within the next five years. If you are interested in bringing the RecycleBank to your community, sign up online and they will contact you. RecycleBank will work with your hauler or municipality to develop the program locally. You can help the process by contacting your hauler or city council and explaining why the program is worthwhile. And get your friends and neighbors to do the same. If you have more questions about the program, you can also call them at 888-727-2978.

By Wendy Gordon

If you want to bike to work but have met resistance from your employer, this may help your cause - the massive bailout bill passed by both houses of Congress a couple weeks ago includes a Bicycle Commuter provision. No, not a nickel of the $700 billion the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 will go to you or your employer, but the measure will provide a $20 tax credit per month to employers of bike commuters--that could go toward adding biker-friendly provisions like racks and locker rooms. Hopefully in the case of renters like us, the credit could go to the building manager.

The bailout package included other "green pork" (not just an unflattering expression but a bit of an oxymoron): A $2500 tax credit for owners of electric cars and the extension of the production tax credits and investment tax credits provisions for renewable energy. In the case of the latter, wind power tax credits have been extended for one year; other types of renewable energy, like small-scale hydro or tidal power, have been extended for two years. The best news is that solar tax credits for businesses and residential installations have been extended for eight years. The entire package amounts to $18 billion in tax credits which will be partly paid for by a change in the tax code for the oil and gas industry--and is expected to create and save a half million jobs. These provisions may be "green pork," but the U.S. has already lost over 760,000 jobs this year, according to the Labor Department. There are many among us hoping that the economy helps fuel a source of new "green collar" jobs on a scale not seen since the New Deal.   

By Wendy Gordon

"While climate change is a worldwide issue, 75 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions are generated in the world's urban areas. Reducing energy use and emissions in cities is therefore fundamental in any effort to reverse the trajectory of global warming." So reads page six of the Chicago Climate Action Plan, released in September 2008.

Cities, by their very nature, have great potential to be green. A compact environment means many shared services. A rich transit infrastructure results in fewer automobile miles traveled per person. Smaller dwelling units, such as apartments, especially when they are attached, result in lower energy use per person. Local governments and agencies have great influence over their city's greenhouse gas emissions. They can enhance the energy efficiency of buildings through codes and ordinances. They own or manage landfills and waste treatment plants, a significant source of methane gas. They operate public transport and maintain its infrastructure. They often determine land use policies. City purchasing power can affect markets for vehicles, new technologies and eco-friendly equipment and practices.

When it comes to greening a city, Chicago's Mayor Daley sets a high bar for mayors and governors around the country. In Chicago, businesses have made huge strides in energy efficiency. Unions have trained workers to install new renewable energy technologies, architects have built award-winning green buildings, environmental organizations have helped develop innovative green policies, schools and universities have incorporated environmentally friendly practices in both their facilities and their programs.

But much more is needed. Mayor Daley commissioned a multi-stakeholder task force to produce a Chicago Climate Action Plan. The plan was released September 2008. The task force looked at a variety of outcomes from several possible future greenhouse gas emission levels. For example, if current emission levels were held steady, by the end of the century, the number of days over 100 F could increase from the two days per year to as many as 31 days per year. The task force agreed that Chicago needs to achieve an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2050, with the sharpest reductions occurring over the next 12 years--by 2020--in order to do its part to avoid the worst global impacts of climate change.

A team of researchers analyzed Chicago's building stock, transportation systems and energy infrastructure to identify emissions reduction actions. The task force and several hundred stakeholders reviewed all the research findings on climate impacts, greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation and adaptation strategies. After extensive analysis, the Chicago Climate Task Force settled on 26 actions for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and nine actions to prepare for climate change. They are calling upon a range of government bodies, companies, organizations and all Chicagoans to step up and be a part of the solution.

In tough economic times, cities like Chicago certainly have the will to make change. But will they find the money? I certainly hope so. The truth is, as with the Treasury's bailout plan, the stakes are too high to stay the course. It's time now to invest in the green economy. Let's start with our cities.