Published: October 15, 2008 05:53 pm            

Will Z’ville follow in the carbon footprint of our neighbors?

On Friday, Oct. 10, Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard took the plunge and went “green.” Offering a new SustainIndy initiative, he committed Indianapolis to a course that will make it “one of the Midwest’s most sustainable cities.” True, “one of” and “Midwest” are the operative words that give a lot of cushion. Still, it’s a huge undertaking since we’re talking about a city/region/state that has consistently been at the bottom of, or has received failing grades in green list rankings by several formidable organizations.

Bottom ranking

Indiana Ranked 49th in Forbes’ list of green states in late 2007, suffering “from a mix of toxic waste, lots of pollution and consumption and no clear plans to do anything about it.” West Virginia was the only state with a worse record, while Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama ranked directly above us.

(http://www.forbes.com/2007/10/16/environment-energy-vermont-biz-beltway-cx_bw_mm_1017greenstates.html)

The Metropolitan Area of Indianapolis ranked 99th of 100 in a Brookings Institution study for the “Average Footprint for the

100 Largest Metro Areas.” (http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2008/05_carbon_footprint_sarzynski.aspx) The ranking was released in May of this year and was based on carbon emissions from highway transportation and residential energy consumption. Indianapolis ranked so poorly in part because of lack of decent mass/rail transportation, our dependency on cars, suburban sprawl, and the carbon content of our electricity sources. Indiana is 95 percent dependent on coal for electricity, the dirtiest of all sources. This dependency is also a major contributor to our poor air quality in Indiana.

Limiting the challenge to the Midwest may seem to help make Mayor Ballard’s goals for Indy more accessible, but think again. Consider Chicago — one of the greenest cities across America. It was ranked No. 4 in a 2008 U.S. City Sustainability Ranking done by SustainLane.com. Chicago’s abundant green space and green roofs (nearly 500 green/live roofs in place or in development, more than any other city in the United States) are trademarks of our green neighbor to the north, and both lessen air pollution and the urban heat island effect. Chicago also ranked high on city commuting, an area in which Indy ranked 44th of the 50 rankings, the same overall ranking Indianapolis received in the study based on 16 categories (http://www.sustainlane.com/us-city-rankings/overall-rankings).

Failed

According to the American Lung Association’s State of the Air 2008 report, the Metropolitan Area of Indianapolis received failing grades for air quality for particle pollution. Indianapolis ranked 18th for “People at Risk in 25 U.S. Cities Most Polluted by Short-Term Particle Pollution.” That’s 18th worst of the most polluted — or worst of the worst (http://www.stateoftheair.org/2008/most-polluted/most-polluted-short-term-pm.html).

Another category in which our Big Bro Indy ranked poorly was in Waste Diversion. A lack of “free” curbside recycling is a major reason. As the report states, “All cities recognize the need to reduce garbage hauling and garbage creation in general. Many cities have already officially adopted “zero waste” goals or plans; others are working on them.” Is Indy? Is Zionsville? Before implementation of such a program, it would be wise to consider Bloomington’s long successful waste management program: recycling is free; waste pickup is charged by the bag. Makes total sense when you think about it.

Green efforts

Affordable housing was the only category in which Indy placed well in the SustainLane ranking; so there is a long road ahead for Mayor Ballard. However, his newly offered SustainIndy program will get the ball rolling quickly with actions toward tree plantings and bike lanes, which all residents and visitors to the city will enjoy. Another initiative in this plan will include energy reduction efforts. These would be excellent initiatives for Zionsville to consider as well. Zionsville has the potential for becoming a walkable community, one of the standards for green. But more efforts by the town council toward sidewalks, bike lanes, and bike racks are needed to achieve this goal.

Another Zionsville neighbor, Carmel’s Mayor Jim Brainard, was recently recognized by the U.S. Conference of Mayors with a climate-protection award for installation of the many roundabouts in Carmel. Each roundabout saves 24,000 gallons of gas and 228 tons CO2 emissions annually, and also contributes to the significant (78 percent) drop in accidents involving injuries (www.carmelgreen.org/roundabouts.htm). Roundabouts should absolutely be under discussion as the Village grows. Farsighted politicians will see the benefits of such innovative models as well as the ideas of bike lanes, sidewalks and free curbside recycling.

None of our neighbors’ chambers of commerce are ignoring green either, and I’m not referring to St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago! That city’s chamber recently hosted a green business and green tech economy conference to foster new green business. The Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce now has a Green Business recognition and the Carmel Green Initiative is working with their chamber to award those businesses that show going green is part of the new triple bottom line: profit, planet and people.

Kudos to Indianapolis Mayor Ballard, especially given his politics and budget constraints, for establishing Sustain Indy. This is great testimony to the fact that sustainable living follows no politics, and as the mayor so astutely stated, “this is mainstream … it’s not ‘out there’ any more.” The challenge now rests with the Zionsville Town Council, chamber and community to follow our neighbors in reducing our carbon footprints.

Lynn Jenkins is a Zionsville resident and publisher of Indiana Living Green. E-mail her at Lynn@IndianaLivingGreen.com.

        

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