Faced with the rising costs of business-as-usual, Seattle building owners and property managers are coming together to prove that sustainability is not only better for society and the environment, it’s profitable too! The Seattle 2030 District is creating a collaborative model for how to build a vibrant “green” economy, with the hope that other cities will follow their lead.
create a carbon neutral urban environment by 2030
Archives for posts with tag: climate change
NOAA’s mesmerizing and disturbing historic animated graph ticks back 800,000 years before 2009 to chart the rise and fall of atmospheric carbon on our planet, illustrating the unprecedented highs we humans are creating.
Currently at 391.76 parts per million (ppm), we are speeding further away from the maximum 350 ppm that many believe is need to arrest global climate change.
A new interactive map plots local commitments to fight climate change across the world…
ICLEI (local governments for sustainability) and the City of Copenhagen have joined forces to create The City Climate Catalogue and a corresponding map showing climate commitments of local municipalities all over the world. The full database lists 2,886 communities to date. Is your city on the map?
Grist reports that mayors from around the world signed a voluntary pact to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at a Mexico City meeting that is precursor to U.N.-sponsored climate talks in Cancun this week.
“We have to tell the international community that it’s in the cities that the battle to slow global warming will be won,” said Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard. (more…)
PlaNYC is a comprehensive strategy to reduce New York City’s greenhouse gas footprint, while accommodating a population growth of nearly one million, and improving its infrastructure and environment. In short, they aim to be “greenest big city in the world.”
They aren’t yet aiming for carbon neutrality, but what they’ve acomplished in just three years should light a fire under every city in North America to commit to their own, aggresive plan for sustainable, prosperous, high-quality living!
Seattle is poised to lead the race to create a new urban way of life, but can it overcome the obstacles it will face along the way? Will a competitor city, like Portland, San Francisco, Austin, New York, or Vancouver get to the finish line first? And whichever city first claims the Carbon Neutral title, will it happen soon enough to make a difference?
Why create a carbon neutral city? The short story is that carbon emitted into the atmosphere by human activities is jeopardizing the ability for people and other living things to live and thrive on the planet. With over (more…)
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