Urban Legends

Cities run into roadblocks in attempts to reduce CO2

Posted at 8:21 AM on 08 Feb 2008

Announcing an ambitious plan to reduce a city's greenhouse gases is the easy part; when it comes to putting goals into action, local officials tend to run up against significant roadblocks. To take just a few examples: The subprime mortgage crisis has left taxpayers across the country unable to fund efficiency-minded proposals. Across the country, homeowners' associations have vetoed plans for home solar panels on aesthetic grounds. In one city, police pushed back against plans for less-polluting cop cars, saying it would restrict needed speed. And everywhere, individuals are resistant to changing their habits. "They've seen the Al Gore movie, but they still have their lifestyle to contend with," says Ann Hancock of the California-based Climate Protection Campaign. With that in mind, says Laura Fiffick of Dallas' office of environmental quality, "the idea is to figure out what emissions we are going to go after and what we can do and then set the goal. When you set the bar too high, it becomes demotivating."

source: The New York Times
see also, in Grist: Mayoral climate-protecting agreement hasn't necessarily translated into action

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Comments: (4 comments)

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Most People...

...are waiting for the American Soda Machine to come up with a new trick to bailout their butts.

As always.

Wake me up when there's fusion.

by jabailo at 11:06 AM on 08 Feb 2008

Luckily...

...the subprime mortgage crisis is havin' more of an effect on traditional suburban development than it is on eco-development.

by Tasermons Partner at 2:56 PM on 08 Feb 2008

What People Don't Want

If humans insist on maintaining their ecocidal lifestyles, they won't be around much longer (in geological terms). Good riddance to a species that would rather destroy life than put solar panels on roofs due to aesthetic concerns, or that would rather drive gas guzzling cars so they can go faster (or that would give cops the power to make that decision).

by Wolverine at 7:20 PM on 08 Feb 2008

clotheslines, anyone?

Try air drying your clothes from a clothesline! Homeowner associations be damned. Practice this guerilla environmental activism, one sheet at a time! You'll never sleep better at night than on sun dried linens. The air will be cleaner as a result of your actions, and your city will be cooler.
Open the windows and let the fresh air in, people-- during spring and fall, and during summer when the heat of the day is past.

Compost in your garden. Mulch your leaves, let the grass clippings lay. Grow your own organic food and share it with friends and family for special moments of sustainable local community. Cultivate an edible landscape using native plants for your region. In my small yard I have blueberries, grapes, apples and cherries, plums, strawberries, plus vegetables.

Suburbia is a broken model for so many reasons: its auto dependence, its homogeneous landscape of beige and gray conformity, its homes based around big screen TV glows emanating from family room windows in the back, and its lack of front porches up and down the street; faceless garage doors dominate the public street. The cul de sacs of isolation and SUVs with brush guard grilles, general lack of trees older than the homes that were plopped down there, coupled with the less visible lack of topsoil dating from older than the houses-- symbolizes the overall lack of respect for the landscape and pre-existing conditions, rivers streams wetlands etc. that suburban development represents. The windows are often sealed shut and air conditioners running nonstop from April to October serve only to further disconnect the residents from the landscape and nature, leaving them deficient and wanting when an it is time to tally up the sustainable ecological balance.

As someone who consciously chose to move back into the city, to within reasonable biking distance of work and many other destinations, I remain disappointed how virtually all the health care wellness and doctor offices are all still nicely scattered around the suburban fringe. What does that say about investment in the sustainable life, there is still so much more work to do.

Wherever you are, screw the associations and go with more subtle integrated solar shingles (vs. elevated panels), add insulation to your home from the inside-- there is still so much more you can do to lighten your carbon footprint regardless of whether a homeowner association or architectural review board is in the picture. Start with a comprehensive home energy audit and identify options with the best payback times.

Start looking for passive solar features (orientation on the lot, glazing, overhangs and daylighting) to be routinely designed into every home. Along with energy star insulation features and ratings for the structure.

This nation has barely begun to scratch the outer hide of the surface of this potential for making meaningful change toward sustainability from a carbon standpoint or any other similar metric.

Moving toward sustainability with hopefulness, one revolution at a time.

by 2wheeler at 8:48 AM on 11 Feb 2008

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