By Helen LaFave
What will you do today? Over 1 billion people in 192 countries will participate in Earth Day activities, making it the largest civic observance in the world. It all started on April 22, 1970, when over 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, auditoriums and classrooms to demonstrate peacefully for a healthy environment and a sustainable way of life. This was the birthday of what many consider the ‘modern environmental movement.’
This year’s Earth Day theme is “Green Cities,”truly a relevant topic as over half the world’s population currently lives in major urban areas. As urban population grows, and the effects of climate change worsen, cities world-wide will be forced to reduce their carbon footprint. This can be done by reducing greenhouse gas emissions through more stringent building practices, investing in renewable energy, and legislating for better emission standards for vehicles.
Last week I attended the launch of an eBook by Earth Day Network India titled “Pathways to Green Cities – Innovative Ideas from Urban India”. This collection of inspiring case studies providesmodels for us to replicate. One of theKolkata case studies focussed on the survey conducted by The Centre for Contemporary Communications that indicated many city parks had ‘vanished’. Some of these urban areas have since been reclaimed. Otherparklands have avoided urbanisation through collaborative efforts between municipal authorities and local NGOs.Another innovative idea from Kolkata is Earth Day Network’s student-centric campaign ‘Backseat Buddies’, which encourages car-sharingas a way to ease traffic congestion around city schools. Elsewhere, Mumbai’s ‘Urban Leaves’, a volunteer-driven movement, runs community-run roof and water-tank top gardens growing organic vegetables and training people to develop their own gardens. In Bengaluru, the ‘Technology Informatics Design Endeavour’builds skills and develops livelihoods for low-income youth, women and the unemployed. That program trains “environmental stewards” who then conductcorporate and residential building inspections onenergyconsumption and waste management.
Cities in the United States are actively involved in projects to mitigate the effects of climate change and reverse environmental degradation. Municipal leaders use regulations, incentives, investments and public outreach to achieve their environmental agendas. In 2001, Chicago pioneered its first rooftop garden atop City Hall – fast forward to today and Chicago has about 418,000 square meters of high-rise greenery. Rooftop gardens save energy, help to control rainwater and ease unnatural temperature spikes in urban centers. Portland, Oregon boasts the highest percentage of bicycle commuters of any large U.S. city, with the most extensive networks of bikeways in the country. Portland also has a city bicycle coordinator, free cyclingmaps, ample bike parking, and even employers offering incentives for biking to work. Pittsburgh transformed itself, from a declining industrial metropolis with steel mills spewing black smoke, into a vibrant green city. Collaboration between city leaders, business, academia and non-profit groups, clean-energy projects and start-ups now drivesthe new economy and creates new green-collar jobs.
U.S.-India collaboration is keyto addressing global environmental challenges. Earlier this year U.S. and Indian scientists, entrepreneurs, and government officials met for the Energy Dialogue. These experts came together to discussour ongoing engagement in the areas of civilian nuclear energy, electrical grid and power generation cooperation, energy efficiency, oil and gas exploration, expanding markets for renewable energy technologies, and barriers to clean energy deployment. India has long-standing collaborations on environment and forestry issues with U.S. agencies including the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Environment Protection Agency (EPA), the Forest Service (USFS), and the Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). They actively partneron environmental governance and air quality, watershed management, wildlife conservation, improving forest health and productivity, and integrated forest planning and management. Our cities and states are also partnering more than ever before -for example, California and Maharashtra are sharing ideas on everything from how to improve fuel quality for India’s fast-growing vehicle fleets toimproving the health of urban citizens.
As the world’s population continues to migrate to cities, and the reality of climate change becomes increasingly clear, the need to work together to create sustainable communities is more important than ever.The good news is that we can do much to address these challenges that affect our communities. With smart investments in sustainable technology, forward-thinking public policy, and an educated and active public, we can transform our cities and forge a sustainable future. Nothing is more powerful than the collective action of people across the world working together to save our planet Earth.
(The author is U.S. Consul General, Kolkata and can be reached @HelenCGKolkata)