GreenPRO news

While people young and old are preparing to go off to college, I’ve been steeped in “college education” all summer long!  I’ve spent a great deal of this summer perusing the website’s of colleges and universities all across the continent in search of resolutions, policies and programs to add to GreenPRO.

If you think about it, a college community is very similar to a city or county.  Each has its own governing bodies and its citizens are its students.  Therefore, many of the same issues being address by local governments are being addressed on college campuses.

In fact, in many areas, colleges are leading the way!!  Some of the most innovative policies and programs found in GreenPRO come from the college world.  Their action often spurs area local governments to get with the program.

Because most college websites focus on academics and student life — their #1 goal is to convince potential students to apply for admission — finding information for entries in GreenPRO often takes a lot of searching. While some schools trumpet their initiatives in areas congruent with green values on their home page, most of the things I find are buried deep within the policies and procedures of the institution.

For this reason alone, our standard for Notable Colleges is lower (5 entries) than for Notable Cities or Counties (10 entries).

As of today, there are 20 Notable Colleges.  Among this list are public and private institutions, large and small schools, and traditional and non-traditional ones as well.  You will find prestigious Ivy League schools like Cornell, Harvard & Princeton.  You will also find some innovative, non-traditional colleges like Berea College and the College of the Atlantic.  You will find schools on the east coast (Colby College), west coast (Stanford), and the middle of the country (Colorado State).

~Trey, GreenPRO Senior Researcher~

I don’t know about you, but when I hear the term “study circles”, I think of men and women studying the bible in church or college students tackling a meaty subject for school. It means something altogether different in Columbia, Missouri!

“Let’s Talk, Columbia!” is a city program that brings people together from all walks of life to discuss issues concerning “diversity, race and community.” The city provides trained staff to facilitate the circles and locations for the meetings.

It’s certainly not a revolutionary idea — except for the fact this program is developed and financed by a municipality. In my opinion, every city and county in the country should create a similar program.

By meeting and talking with each other, we gain better empathy and understanding. More importantly, it should breakdown the proverbial “us vs. them” mentality that permeates our society.

~Trey, GreenPRO Senior Researcher~

When GreenPRO was first begun, most entries merely featured a brief description plus a link to the original source. However, as we moved forward, we began to realize that we needed to provide more information. Therefore, the decision was made to include all the text of the specific legislation or policy (as long as it wasn’t too large) in addition to the link.

The reason for this shift should be easily understood by any frequent web surfer — links change. Sometimes pages get moved to new sections of a website. Sometimes an entire website is ported somewhere else. And sometimes pages are simply deleted.

I don’t know about you, but one of my great frustrations with many web sites is to find a link to something I’ve been searching for only to receive an error message when I try to open the link! When this occurs, I feel like pulling my hair out!

To alleviate this problem, we decided to house the text or a graphic of the text on our own server so YOU won’t meet with this same kind of frustration too. We still feature the link to the original source so you can check to see if we copied it correctly and because it will allow you the ability to do more research and/or find current contact information, if you’d like to get even more information.

~Trey, GreenPRO Senior Researcher~

Gandhi once said, “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” With this idea in mind, I decided today to look for local legislation that embodied this sentiment.

While I’ve certainly found quite a few resolutions and ordinances that deal with your run-of-the-mill animal cruelty concerns, one in particular stands out. The City of Austin, Texas passed an Anti-Chaining Ordinance last summer.

From the background tab,

The new Anti-chaining ordinance:

• Prohibits fixed point tethering or chaining of dogs. This means that dogs may not be chained or tethered to any object.
• Clarifies that an outdoor enclosure used to keep six or more dogs, other than puppies less than 6 months old, must be the required distance of 50 feet from an adjacent residence or business.
• Mandates when the outdoor enclosure is the primary living area for a dog or used as an area for the dog to regularly eat, sleep, drink, and eliminate, the enclosure must be a minimum of 150 sq. feet for each dog 6 months of age or older.
• Provides for the temporary tethering of a dog under certain situations (i.e., lawful animal event, veterinary treatment, grooming, training, or law enforcement activity, to protect the safety or welfare of a person or the dog, and if the dog’s owner or handler is presenting during the period of restraint.

WHY CHAINING AND TETHERING IS BAD FOR DOGS:

• Dogs have been bred for thousand of years to form a strong attachment to a human family. They can’t do this if they are chained or tethered in the yard.
• An otherwise friendly and happy dog, when kept continually chained and isolated, often becomes neurotic, unhappy, anxious, and/or aggressive. Studies show that chained dogs are much more likely to bite than unchained dogs.
• Chained dogs may unintentionally hang themselves if they are tethered too close to a fence or an object near the fence and attempt to jump it.
• Chained dogs are at risk of attacks by other animals or cruelty from others.
• Chaining your dog outside will likely worsen existing behavior problems and create new ones.

Personally, I think Gandhi would be downright pleased!

~Trey, GreenPRO Senior Researcher~

Since October 2007, I’ve spent far more time than the average person studying local government websites. Too many of them make it downright difficult to find things. They feature broken links and dead end pages. They make mention of some wonderful progressive programs, policies, ordinances and resolutions, but I’ve been thwarted time and time again in trying to find the document they allude to.

But you won’t hear me say a bad word at all about the City of Fort Collins, CO website! What a joy!! This city has gone out of their way to make information easy to find and accessible.

And here’s a secret to one aspect of GreenPRO’s methodology. We decided early on to award special recognition to cities with ten or more entries — Notable Cities. In almost every case, each of the 14 cities listed in this subcategory feature quality websites that make it easy for visitors to access critical information.

As of today, these cities are:

• Austin, TX
• Berkeley, CA
• Denver, CO
• Fort Collins, CO
• Kansas City, MO
• Madison, WI
• New York, NY
• Nashville, TN
• Oakland, CA
• Portland, OR
• San Francisco, CA (with 37 entries!)
• Santa Cruz, CA
• Seattle, WA
• Taos, NM (the smallest municipality on the list)

~Trey, GreenPRO Senior Researcher~

If you’ve ever taken a look at the Notable Cities category (Noted Cities in Canada), it’s easy to discern that each one — with the exception of Taos, NM — represents a large metropolitan area. This may lead one to think that the size of the city is what matters most, that large metro areas have a leg up on their smaller counterparts.

If you think this is true, take a look at the sustainability plan for Dawson Creek, British Columbia! This rural community of 12,000 souls in northeastern BC has put together a well thought out strategy.

For me, this goes far to illustrate that it’s not the size of the community that counts most. It’s the political and social will to change nonsustainable behavior that matters most.

~Trey, GreenPRO Senior Researcher~

I spend a great deal of my time visiting governmental websites. In many cases, I don’t have to look very hard for innovative and cutting edge initiatives as the site trumpets what the particular community is up to. There are other sites that need a bit of digging to uncover the gems of local legislation.

Then, of course, there are those communities that seem to shy away from anything that one might consider even a tad bit progressive. As of today, there is only one entry from the State of Alabama! I have searched high and low to try to come up with another entry or two, but I’ve been stymied thus far.

I know I’m likely to find a dead end when I type something like “climate change”, “global warming” or “environmental policy” in the site’s search engine and get nary a result. It’s like I’m visiting Mars!

One would think — in this day and age — that every local community would have a thorough environmental policy or mission. Unfortunately, I’ve found far too many communities that, aside from a rudimentary recycling program, simply do not pay much heed to environmental concerns. There’s no department, commission or board that advises the elected leaders and staff about the implementation of environmental policy.

As shocking as this may be, for some communities it’s even worse than that. While our database currently features over 50 topic categories, I too often can’t find one resolution, ordinance, program or policy from a given locale to add…and so, I keep searching.

~Trey, GreenPRO Senior Researcher~

With only 1,000 entries in the GreenPRO database, it’s not uncommon for me to find the first such listing of a particular program, resolution or specific topic. It is, however, uncommon to find two firsts in one locale! Tonight, while visiting the City of Rochester, MN website, I learned about the city’s Early Defibrillation Program and Riverside Concerts.

The first entry on defibrillation is interesting because the world-famous Mayo Clinic is located in Rochester. I’m certain that its presence has a great deal to do with the impetus for this life-saving program.

The second entry marks the first one under the topic of “Culture” which deals specifically with music. Up to this point, every other entry for this category has focused on public art.

~Trey, GreenPRO Senior Researcher~

Today I ran across a term I’d never heard of before — “greenprint”. It’s a play on the word “blueprint”, albeit from a green angle. I discovered it while perusing the site for Blue Earth County, MN — see “Blue Earth County, MN Creating a Greenprint for Tomorrow“.

According to the Minnesota Sustainable Communities Network,

Greenprinting is the term used by the Trust for Public Land (TPL) for a smart growth strategy that ensures quality of life, clean air and water, recreational opportunities, and local economic health. TPL’s 2003 publication “Local Greenprinting for Growth” is a four-volume workbook for guiding communities as they create a greenprint conservation program. The four volumes, each about 35 pages long, are titled:

* Using Land Conservation to Guide Growth and Preserve the Character of our Communities.

* Defining a Conservation Vision (includes creating dialogue among civic, business, and local government leaders).

* Securing Conservation Funds (exploring federal, state, and private funding sources, partnerships, and incentives; researching local fiscal alternatives and needs; and designing public opinion polling and public financing ballot measures).

* Acquiring and Managing Park and Conservation Land

Published in partnership with the National Association of Counties, these guides are available for purchase or free downloading at the web site below. The volumes are $15 each or the whole set may be purchased for $40. To download or purchase, search for “Local Greenprinting for Growth” using the search function on the left menu or click directly on http://www.tpl.org/tier3_cd.cfm?content_item_id=10648&folder_id=175

~Trey, GreenPRO Senior Researcher~

From time to time, I run across information that — while interesting — doesn’t genuinely fit in the GreenPRO database. Tonight, I came across an effort by a nonprofit organization that intersects with several California universities: The Alliance to Save Energy’s “Green Campus” program.

Here’s some brief information from their website:

Our nation’s institutions of higher education spend a significant portion of their annual operating budgets on utility services, diverting funds from valuable programmatic and community-building activities. The Alliance to Save Energy’s Green Campus Program is leading the way towards campus sustainability by bridging the divide between students and institutional energy costs. Through Green Campus, students are working to save energy on campuses by building general campus awareness, incorporating energy conservation and efficiency into course curricula, and implementing projects targeting energy use, student purchasing decisions, and operational changes.

Learn more about the Green Campus Program.

The Green Campus Program currently serves twelve University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) campuses: Humboldt State University, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, CSU Chico, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Barbara, CSU San Bernardino, UC Irvine, UC Merced, UC San Diego, UC Santa Cruz, San Diego State University, and Cal Poly Pomona. In January 2008, Stanford University will become the thirteenth Green Campus.

~Trey, GreenPRO Senior Researcher~