By: George B. Brooks, Jr. Ph.D.
Owner, NxT Horizon Group

There is a problem with “sustainability.” It seems everyone has a different definition or is unsure of the meaning of it, so there are widely different expectations of what the pathways and outcomes should be. Let me explain what I am talking about.

I recently had the pleasure of joining former Phoenix Mayor and former Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, Architect Taz Loomans (see previous blog), New York University Professor Andrew Ross and a number of other great people on a panel for the State of Sustainability in Metro Phoenix Arizona Forum at the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center. Presented by the Downtown Voices Coalition, the focus of this standing room only event was to discuss the current state of sustainability in Phoenix using Ross’ book “Bird on Fire: Lessons from the World’s Least Sustainable City” as the catalyst.

To say the least it was a great evening and something very important happened there. In reading the media reviews of the forum and also interviewing some of the participants in preparing an article for my own magazine NxT Horizon, I saw a trend develop.  There was an almost universal desire for what the writer J. Seth Anderson called “a holistic, grassroots approach to sustainability, which includes personal initiative and responsibility.” In my interviews everyone I talked to wanted a “takeaway skill.” Something they could take home to help them to leverage sustainability to bring value to their families, now without waiting for governments or leaders to say yes or provide the money. These comments closely echoed the words of Michael Pops who during the event’s question and answer session stated, paraphrasing here, that while we speak of solar panels and light rail, in South Phoenix where both he and I live, communities are being poisoned and elders can’t get a break on a water bill. In summary, people want “bottom up” sustainability.

The results of the evening confirm something I have been seeing for years and spoke of in an earlier Valley Forward blog “Grandma’s Green,” in NxT Horizon magazine and in other locations. If we wish sustainability to be sustainable, it needs to be useful and aligned to the needs of the people. The first challenge in doing this however, is as stated above, to get a workable definition.

To me, sustainability means what it always has, the ability to last. Better yet, when looking at it from the context of “Bird on Fire,” it means, “to survive and prosper for the short and long term.” Using these words though stark, gives the concept a very different context does it not? It gives real weight to Michael Pops’ comments and allows one to see why so many are concerned with the subject. It explains and clarifies the real “why” of our actions as we seek solutions. Imagine how many feathers Ross would have ruffled if he had used this definition in his title. Say, “Bird on Fire: Lessons from the World’s City Least Able to Survive and Prosper.”

When you look at sustainability from this perspective, all the definitions we have heard for the term now describe the processes we can use to achieve it. The one I like best comes from the Board of Trustees for Sustainability at Arizona State University, “Promoting human prosperity and well-being for all, while protecting and enhancing the earth’s life support systems.”  So doing a small rewrite, sustainability (the ability to survive and prosper) can be achieved by promoting human prosperity and well-being for all, while protecting and enhancing the environment.

The cool thing about this concept is that it really is nothing new. Our grandparents and great grandparents used it back during the Great Depression. George Washington Carver used it when he helped sharecroppers in the South to recover by growing soil enhancing crops like peanuts, soybeans and sweet potatoes and then innovating hundreds of new products from them. They all harnessed and most importantly enhanced their local social, environmental and economic resources to create value for their families or people. This is the kind of “bottom up” takeaway the participants at the downtown forum were looking for. It is why when the question was asked, “How many of the nearly 400 people present have a garden,” nearly all hands went up. Now as we near the end of the Great Recession we have come full circle. Once again people are looking for “grass roots” ways to survive and prosper. All we need to do is teach them.

By: Taz Loomans
Principal, Blooming Rock Development

How car-dependent is your city? That is a question that is being asked more and more nationwide. I recently read an article in Sierra Magazine (a magazine put out by the Sierra Club) by Tom Vanderbilt called “Living Large Driving Less,” which talks about the national trends that are happening regarding transportation in cities.

Vanderbilt points out that between 1969 and 2001, the number of vehicle miles traveled increased more than 150 percent. And he noted that obesity rates began to spike upwards at the same time as vehicle miles traveled. This meant that kids were no longer walking to school, people were no longer walking to the grocery store and fewer and fewer people were taking transit to work.

Just recently, though, in 2007, the total number of vehicle miles traveled dropped for the first time since 1980. Plus, even the federal government seemed to change gears (no pun intended) on whether our driving culture is ultimately good for our communities. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood recently said livability means, “being able to take your kids to school, go to work, see a doctor, drop by the grocery or post office, go out to dinner and a movie, and play with your kids at the park – all without having to get in your car.”

But many recoiled at this notion and asked what business the federal government had in defining livability in the first place and that everyone can choose what it means for themselves. But Vanderbilt points out that a great deal of people don’t have a choice at all. Many of our cities, and Phoenix is one of the worst offenders, are designed so that people have to get around in a car. “We have created a vehicle monoculture”, cries Vanderbilt.

But what are some solutions to our “petrovore” lifestyle? Vanderbilt names a few:

Smart Growth: Shaping future growth so that cars are accessories and not necessities.

Complete Streets: Designing and building roads that are not only made safe for, but made attractive to, pedestrians, cyclists and public-transit patrons.

Pedalers and Pedestrians: Installing bike and pedestrian-friendly infrastructure.

High-Speed Rail: Energy efficient substitutes for personal vehicle or short-haul jet trips between cities.

Local Transit Systems: Light Rail systems, Bus Rapid Transit, Street Cars, Traditional buses.

Incentives & Fees: Tax breaks and rebates for high-mpg cars, taxes based on annual miles driven, higher tolls on crowded roadways and at in-demand parking meters, pay-as-you-drive insurance pricing, oil security fee to be levied per barrel or at the fuel pump.

Except for the last solution proposed by Vanderbilt, which would take a radical political shift for Arizona, all the other five solutions are very doable here in Phoenix and some are already happening. Smart growth is being encouraged by an emerging transit-oriented development mind-set. Complete streets have made it into many local jurisdictions’ zoning ordinances. Bike- and pedestrian-friendly infrastructure is finally making its way into Phoenix proper, following cities like Tempe and Scottsdale that have taken a lead in that department previously. And the advent of the Light Rail system has been a catalyst not only for the way people get around, but the way people think here in the Valley.

Vanderbilt’s article shows that cities all over the country are racing hard to become more livable, less car-dependent and more economically viable. Where are we in the race? Is Phoenix going to be caught sleeping at the wheel or are we going to wake up and press the metal to the pedal (bike pedal, that is)?

By: Craig Hughes
CEO and Founder, Total Transit

I was originally going to entitle this post “Sustainability as a Business Strategy”. The last time I posted I talked about the ROI of sustainable practices and this time I wanted to expand that further and describe how sustainability can have more than an ROI, it can actually give you control over a part of your business that you currently have no control over. We all know that our profit comes from sales minus expenses. The marketplace determines how much you can price your goods at and the suppliers determine how much you have to pay for your cost of goods. We lease taxis through our Discount Cab division. Our drivers pay us a lease and they pay for fuel and the remainder is what they net. We used to only have control of our internal cost of goods, but when we transitioned to the Prius (we have purchased more than 500), we suddenly could reduce a cost item to our drivers that we couldn’t previously couldn’t. We cut our drivers fuel expense of $60 per day by more than 2/3rds. We split these savings with the drivers allowing both parties to make more money without raising prices to our customers. So this is the story I was going to elaborate on, but the more I thought about it, I could see where the use of sustainable practices applies across many areas of our lives.

An area that immediately comes to mind is nutrition. My daughter Danielle is a nutrition consultant so I get to hear quite a bit about eating the right foods during the right times of the year for the part of the world you live in and how this is better for you and the planet. Here all some of her thoughts on the subject:

“Produce starts to lose its nutrition when it is harvested, so I love going to local farmer’s  markets to buy food right from the farmer, knowing that it was picked that morning, or the day before. Not only does it taste better and have more nutrients than non-local choices, but I also like to support the local economy, and I feel better about eating something that has been grown within 100 miles of my home rather than eating something that has been shipped in from Brazil or China, or even another state. Also, farmer’s markets only sell what is in season, and eating with the seasons allows for better health since nature knows what to provide for us as the year goes on (For example, citrus is in season here in the winter time as the weather gets colder, and all of the vitamins and nutritional benefits that fresh citrus provide will naturally build our immune system to block colds and sicknesses that come with the season). If you do not have time to go to a farmer’s market, most grocery stores have a local section or local produce available. You can also grow your own herbs, fruits, and vegetables at home, gaining the satisfaction of eating something that you cared for throughout a season, and homegrown food tastes amazing. Conventional produce tends to lack in flavor due to mass-production, pesticides, and depletion of nutrients in the soil, so as a culture, we have steered away from fruits and vegetables. However, I encourage you to try something new at a farmer’s market or grow it yourself, and you might be surprised at the great taste, and a sudden boost in your immune system and energy to boot!”

So, like our Prius model, there is a little more investment in time and money up front; however, this investment will pay you back over the long run in more energy, better health and an alignment with the earth and its seasons that is often missing from our modern artificial lifestyle. So often I see sustainable practices simply require us to live more like we lived on this earth for centuries before we were able to fly in fresh fruit from halfway around the world just because we can. Simplifying our daily lives can pay us huge dividends.

By: Janette Coates
Communications Manager, Waste Management

When you recycle the products you use every day, like cardboard boxes, milk jugs, water bottles and soda cans, you give new life to items that used to be thrown away, saving energy and helping lower greenhouse gas emissions in the process. By participating in your community’s recycling program, together we all make the best use of our planet’s natural resources.

Single-stream recycling programs have made it easier on all of us to recycle. Advanced sorting technologies allow us to place all recyclable items together in one container. Whether your community has a curbside program or a drop-off collection site, recycling is the right thing to do for our environment. Being a “green” resident helps us create a brighter and more sustainable future for our current generation and those to come.

As North America’s largest recycler, Waste Management extracts the maximum value from the waste stream by diverting recycling materials from the landfill. Recycling is a key component of our business and educating the community on the benefits of recycling is an important responsibility as a leading provider of environmental solutions.

Locally, Waste Management operates the Arizona Community Ecocenter, a state-of-the art recycling facility in the City of Surprise. The Ecocenter, also known as a Material Recovery Facility or “MRF”, is where recyclable materials are sorted and baled before being sent to new end-users. Capable of processing up to 500 tons of recyclables per day from residential and commercial sources, the $20M facility opened in January 2011. The building also obtained USGBC LEED Silver Certification.

The Arizona Community Ecocenter utilizes a state-of-the-art recycling sorting system, employing more than 10 different methods to sort recyclable materials. The use of four optical sorting machines in one facility creates a more accurate sorting for large quantities of materials, and workers are engaged in the quality control process.

The facility features an Environmental Education Center offering tours to promote recycling and highlight the single stream products, which are sorted, separated and sold to reuse markets. Television screens show live video from cameras inside the Ecocenter that zoom in on the machinery and sorting process. Visitors get an up-close look at the process without ever stepping foot on the processing floor. Display cases showcase the types of materials that the machinery can process. A large mural also highlights credits achieved through LEED design and construction.

Tours of the Arizona Community Ecocenter recycling facility can be scheduled by contacting AZCommunityEcocenter@wm.com or 602.328.5897.

Waste Management of Arizona is actively contributing to the sustainability of our region though the innovative recycling process at the Arizona Community Ecocenter to ensure materials that would normally end up in a landfill are recovered from the waste stream, recycled and sent back into the community where they can be reused. Think Green.

By: Colin G. Tetreault
Faculty Associate & Master of Arts, Sustainability
Arizona State University | School of Sustainability

Dear, Future Elected Official,

First and foremost, congratulations. You made it. Take a moment to pat yourself on the back. Your skills, background, and acumen have demonstrated your capacity to make positive change. The citizens of (insert your city/Arizona), look forward to your service. Now, let’s get to work.

You have no small task ahead of you. I know you’re aware – that’s why you ran for office, isn’t it? – that there are pervasive concerns that affect our city/state. Just for posterity, let’s recap some of the issues that we will have no doubt addressed several years from now:

• Nascent alternative energy blossoming into a robust opportunity for economic development and energy security;
• Advancing a sustainable and equitably priced system of water use and availability;
• Redefining what “growth” is in (City/Arizona) to provide for a habitable environment with a vibrant and active culture;
• Preserving our stunning open spaces and parks while making us a leader in environmental tourism;
• Promoting integrated transportation systems that simultaneously foster economic opportunity, while lessening our environmental impact.

We thank you for agreeing to champion – indefatigably, no doubt – our city’s/state’s issues. Your tireless commitment to public service and the greater good will not go unnoticed.

Fret not; you have an entire team at the ready. (Insert City/Arizona) brings you a robust group of individuals, businesses,  organizations, and educational systems that are standing by to be your partners in bringing a better tomorrow to fruition.  There are stakeholders, who can act as honest brokers of information, that can partner with you in advancing our shared vision.

With the above, we truly believe that you will be able to forge the bonds and alliances that will transcend the political milieu and find a common ground that will benefit all of us.  We look forward to not only your strong leadership, but your proactive engagement and specific involvement of us in the process of making (insert city/Arizona) better.

That’s where we stand at the ready; involvement. Leverage that collective capital that is embodied in your constituency. I think that you will be amazed at what we have to offer. As we sincerely want your leadership, we hope that you will equally inspire us to be the agents of our own positive change.

Sincerely,

Your Constituency