Governments take action

Any politician who believes that green is inconsistent with a robust economy may soon be unelectable. In stark contrast to the Bush administration, which failed to lead on global climate change and many other key environmental matters, the Obama administration is fast changing the green rules by making green jobs, green energy, and green infrastructure a focal point of its national agenda. Among its first out-of-the-box initiatives: the 2009 Economic Stimulus Package, which included more than $30 billion in funding focused on energy efficiency grants for state and local budgets, weather-ization for low-income housing, retrofitting and modernization of federal buildings, investments in the “smart grid” for electrical power, and “clean coal” carbon capture and sequestration projects. The highly successful Cash for Clunkers program launched in July 2009 aimed to take inefficient, high-emission cars off the road and to stimulate the struggling automobile industry through the purchase of newer, more fuel-efficient cars. A special White House office for green jobs spearheads a national initiative that actively works to educate, train, and prepare a labor force prepared for tomorrow’s green technologies.

Although mostly symbolic in nature, it is still telling that in one of her first acts as First Lady, Michelle Obama planted a “slow food” garden at the White House to help educate Americans about the benefits of healthy, locally grown fruits and vegetables.

In response to Americans’ sustainability concerns, leaders at the municipal, state, and federal levels are creating more sustainable cities and towns characterized by more green spaces for city dwellers and reduced inner-city congestion (e.g., closing Broadway to traffic in New York City); bike paths and hiking trails built over old railroad tracks (including New York City’s new High Line); mandated hybrid taxis and natural gas “clean air” buses; composting by residents (in San Francisco among others); and giving a boost to farmers’ markets and community-supported agriculture.

With a history of internal mandates on green purchasing, governments at all levels are now taking steps to skew the mammoth consumer economy toward a greener shade by creating (or promoting more established) eco-labels that favor energy-efficient (ENERGY STAR), organic (USDA [U.S. Department of Agriculture] Organic), and water-efficient (WaterSense) goods; and as of this writing, the USDA is readying a voluntary consumer label to accompany its BioPreferred program for federal purchasing of biobased products. If California’s Senator Dianne Feinstein has her way, the U.S. will one day soon have a multi-attribute eco-label resembling Europe’s Eco Flower, Japan’s EcoMark, and Brazil’s “Qualidade Ambiental.”

The specter of rising sea levels is fast changing the rules in the many cities that have banned bottled water (whose transportation-related fuel use is now linked to global warming), from government meetings or are incentiv-izing the construction or upgrade of green buildings and the products (office equipment, carpeting, etc.) that furnish them. With an eye toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions linked to energy generation, many government buildings must now be benchmarked according to the EPA’s ENERGY STAR building guidelines or meet the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification.