My granddad used to tell me that “old habits die hard,” and that if I wanted to make a personal metamorphosis that it would take hard work and constant consciousness of my actions. For some cities in the world, the same is true for environmental action. Whether a city’s start lied in the era of coal mining or its history a time piece of industrial development, there is always a time to make the transition to support a greener planet. I have discovered five cities that are just beginning to reset their focus to renewable energies and environmentally positive habits, and their efforts demonstrate that it is never to late to make a change for the better.
1. New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
After Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans truly understood that no city, no matter how historic or accustomed to bad weather, could be victimized through its own attempt to control mother nature. The failure of the levees, which had held by the mighty Mississippi for decades, showed the whole world that man needs to work harmoniously with the environment instead of trying to control it. And New Orleans got the message loud and clear. Out of the ashes of Katrina is the vision of a city entirely sustainable and more succinct with its natural surroundings.
Global Green USA has partnered with the United States government to recreate the city of jazz in a sustainable matter. Formally known as the Holy Cross Project, the plan is to create five single family homes, an 18 unit apartment complex, a community center in the 9th ward, as well as a climate action center.1 The ambition is for all of the buildings to meet the platinum LEED standard, the highest honor awarded to a green building. Using passive solar design, environmental architecture, and photovoltaics, the structures would be carbon-neutral and have zero-net energy, meaning they would be self-sufficient for energy. Global Green has also put “Green Seed Schools” into design. Using a two million-dollar grant, five schools will be refurbished with cleaner water, and increased energy efficiency and air quality. Plus, two schools are in the works of becoming “green schools.” 2
The U.S. Department of Defense is also providing the historic city with energy programs and strategies while also implementing their Building America project along with a philanthropic organization’s Project Home Again. Both challenge the home building industry to build a lot of homes in an energy-efficient and environmentally smart manner. Global Green is helping out homeowners as well, passing out grants to those who want to rebuild their homes in a green way. 3 Although many of these projects are still in the works, with Brad Pitt as its spokesperson and advocate, New Orleans is expecting to get a well deserved fresh new start.
2. Los Angeles, California, USA
Los Angeles gets a lot of negative comments for their horrible levels of pollution and overpopulation of concrete but the times sure are a changin’. Not only did the city of angels get bumped down to the number two most polluted city in May 2008, sorry Pittsburgh, you reached the top,4 but the city’s re-elected Mayor is using all of his effort to implement renewable energy policies as well as to boost public transportation funding and use.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has launched a series of plans to transform the Californian power city into one bustling with trees and electric busses. You may be laughing, but I am one hundred percent serious. Villaraigosa’s plans include Solar LA, an initiative that would have the sun producing 10% of the city’s energy by 2020.5 There is also the “Million Trees LA” project which sounds just like it is: a city-wide effort to plant a million new trees in the metropolitan area, through the city, non-profits, businesses, and volunteers.6 And because the city is slightly frugal about its foliage, the city is working with the U.S. Forest Service to ensure that these plants are drought-resistant, native, and will be planted in an area where they are most needed.
Not only that, but an underground guerilla gardening group, appropriately titled LA Guerilla Gardening, is working overtime to transform the city’s bleakest landscape into something beautiful and alive. (See the Greeniacs article for more information: http://www.wordpress-837916-4114959.cloudwaysapps.com/GreeniacsArticles/Guerrilla-Gardening.html) Change for Los Angeles is turning green using both the top-down and the bottom-up approach. Though the majority their efforts are still in the early stages of development, one of America’s largest cities is ready to step up to the plate and show the other metropolises of the world that this is how you do it.
3. Kalmar, Sweden
This Northern European city has decided that enough is enough. Coal and oil are out and bio-fuels are in. With only a quarter of a million citizens, the small city has personally witnessed the effects of global climate change, and though many are excited for the warmer weather, citizens are aware that their method of energy consumption needs to change if they want to keep their reputation as a quaint, snowy city. Today, the region already gets 90% of its electricity and 65% of its total energy from renewables that include wind, hydro, and nuclear power. Though the spread-out city is highly dependent upon personal transportation, cars run on ethanol from Brazil as well as a biogas made from the timber companies’ extra woodchips and shavings. There are also a number of city wide initiatives including “green driving,” using energy-efficient light bulbs on streets, plus a maze of biking paths throughout the city.
The switch not only allowed Kalmar to do its best to fight off glacier melting and to power 20,000 of its own homes, but it also allowed it to become more self-sufficient and less dependent on foreign markets and expensive energy companies for its well-being.7
4. New Songdo City, South Korea
South Korea isn’t a country known for anything environment-related, besides its breathtaking landscapes. But come 2018 the world will see the small island nation in a different light. In construction since 2004, South Korea has teamed up with private investors to build the Songdo International Business District, less formally known as New Songdo City.8 Large and unique metropolises such as New York, Sydney, and Venice were the inspiration for its innovative infrastructure. The idea is to build a city that centralizes businesses and homes to build a walkable and sustainable area.
Sustainability designer the Whitman Strategy group is overseeing the Korean project and working with the U.S. Green Building Council to implement green design comparable to the U.S. LEED standards. Comparable to Portland, Oregon’s walk anywhere in 20 minute idea, Songdo centralizes commercial, educational, and residential buildings in order to reduce the need of private transportation and maximize walkability. The plans include a massive central park mimicking that of New York City’s, a windturbine farm adjacent to the bay, a Venice-inspired water way that weaves throughout the city’s interior and is navigable by small boats, and streets edged with an ongoing line of trees. Songdo was also the first ever recipient of the Sustainable City award, given out by the Urban Land Institute and the Financial Times.9 Though it is idifficult to say how all the plans will pan out, New Sondo City definitely deserves a spot on the top five list because it’s being built in a part of the world that doesn’t get enough recognition for its accomplishments as it should.
5. Andasibe-Mantadia National Park, Madagascar
Okay, so even though I’m blond, I know the difference between a national park and a city. However, Andasibe-Mantadia National Park (AMNP) is a prime example of how conservation can save a place from ecological collapse. Madagascar is a beautiful island nation off the coast of southeastern Africa, but like Easter Island which experienced the collapse of a civilization, Madagascar began to notice the extreme effects urbanization was having on its environment and it was close to a dreadful end. The thing about islands is that you start to notice when things are disappearing a lot faster than if you are on a mainland, it’s all about proportion. Seventy-percent of its native species are not found anywhere else in the world,10 and with ecotourism springing up everywhere, people began to realize that the country had a good opportunity to save itself and make some moolah while at it. The area around AMNP doesn’t have a lot of money, so when ecotourism came about, impoverished people got jobs. The government also gives half of all revenue from the national park to the local communities, which is a fabulous melding of social and environmental sustainability.
Madagascar has had a very dim past when it comes to protecting the environment. Locals improved slash and burn agriculture to produce cash crops for a small economy leaving the soil eroded, altering the climate to produce less rainfall, and destroying precious ecosystems for wildlife. Astronauts have even observed that the country looks like it is “bleeding to death” from the starkness of the red sand plagued by logging and misuse.11 In 2006, the environmental world couldn’t take it any more and the nation implemented the System of Protected Areas of Madagascar (SAPM). From there has come an explosion of social and environmental synergy to create areas like AMNP and as of last year the government is working to triple the number of national parks throughout the nation. Although 90% of the nation has been deforested, the government and people are working hard to make AMNP a source of life and income.
