The Greening of Virginia? If Chicago Can Do It...

By: Lowell
Published On: 5/14/2006 4:10:41 PM

Time Magazine currently has an article on its website entitled "The Greening of Chicago."  It turns out that in Chicago, the city of broad shoulders, they are planting hundreds of thousands of trees and working to become "the most environmentally friendly city in the U.S. +óGé¼GÇ¥ as well as the nation's center for environmental design and the manufacturing of components for the production of alternative energy."

According to Time Magazine:

If it works +óGé¼GÇ¥ and [Mayor Richard] Daley is betting a hefty sum it will, with promises to buy millions in solar panels, for example +óGé¼GÇ¥ the green movement here is expected to yield the city perhaps billions in saved energy costs and new business...

[...]

Chicago is now among the largest users of green energy in the country, with a goal of using renewable energy for roughly a quarter of city operations. To help reach that goal, it has already attracted two solar panel manufacturers to set up shop in the area.

Is there any reason why we can't we do this in Virginia?  Saving billions in energy costs and saving the environment at the same time sure beats the Republicans' vision - endless sprawl, a decimated Chesapeake Bay, and drilling for oil and gas off our beautiful coasts.  Whoops, I forgot, the reason we can't do in Virginia what they're doing in Chicago (and other cities) is that we've got a bunch of knuckle-dragging, reactionary Republicans running the House of Delegates.  Yet another reason to elect Democrats and boot Republicans every chance we get.

Comments



I think the Gov. of Illinois (summercat - 5/14/2006 6:16:21 PM)
has also insituted a lot of green energy use--biodiesel, natural gas and ethanol in government vehicles.  Some states--like CA--require builders to offer a percentage of solar, energy-efficient homes in every development.  They sell like hotcakes.
Yes, we can do some good stuff in VA.


Right, so why aren't we? (Lowell - 5/14/2006 7:02:06 PM)
I'm tired of talking while the planet goes down the tubes...


Arlington was just named top 10 (Josh - 5/14/2006 7:15:14 PM)
for green rooftops.


No excuses! (Kindler - 5/14/2006 10:39:41 PM)
The truly remarkable thing is that even some of the most conservative Republican states are well ahead of Virginia on this score.  Texas must have raised the state IQ by exporting their biggest morons to Washington, because their state ranks near the top in both renewable energy development and organic farming.  (See the Sunday Washington Post story on the biggest wind farm in the country being approved off the Texas shore -- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/13/AR2006051300921.html).

Republican governors that have signed on to support sustainability policies include Schwartznegger, Pataki, Whitman and Ridge.  You have to come to the painful conclusion that Virginia's problem is not only that we're weighted down with Republicans, but that we are cursed with some of the most retrograde Republicans in the entire country!

The good news is that we also have a lot of smart, concerned citizens who are building the foundation for a sustainable future.  Check out, for example, the Virginia Sustainable Building Network: http://www.vsbn.org.  We just need to start electing more leaders with the vision and wisdom to make Virginia once again the leading, cutting edge state that she used to be. 



I agree, we need to elect people (Lowell - 5/14/2006 11:05:16 PM)
who will take aggressive action in protecting our environment.


Drive Down Cost (Jon-Phillip - 5/14/2006 11:56:33 PM)
Every time demand is doubled for pv, the cost goes down another 10%.  The governments, local, state, federal, are major energy consumers. 

How better to drive down the cost of solar for the average consumer than to leverage government's huge buying power?

Solar was dead in the water until Japan and Germany started doing just that.  They have driven coasts down substantially.

Imagine what our economy could do!



This is a classic case for government involvement (Lowell - 5/15/2006 7:14:55 AM)
Given all the "externalities" associated with fossil fuel production and consumption - global warming, wars in the Middle East, threats of terrorism - the government should forcefully move to jump start the renewable fuel and energy efficiency industries.  How?  1) By slashing subsidies to carbon-spewing fossil fuels and instead pouring the money into renewables, safe nuclear power, and energy efficiency.  2) By putting projects like Cape Wind on a fast track. 3) By launching the nation on an Apollo project, but this time not to send a man to the moon, but to get us off of fossil fuels.  Why aren't we doing this?  Simple.  Because our political leaders, particularly the Republican Party. are in the pocket of Big Oil.  The first step, then, towards a "green" America is to toss out the Republicans.  We should start this November.


How Virginians view environmental issues (rjl - 5/15/2006 10:10:47 AM)
From November 2005 polling, unrelated to any campaign:

1. 53.5% consider themselves an "environmetalist."

2. 95% say the environment is "very" (58.6) to "somewhat" (36.4) important to them as a voter.

3. Only 21.3% have ever voted for a candidate based solely on environmental issues.

4. The most important environmetal issues identified, in order, are "Alternative energy sources" (36%), clean air (20.4), land conservation (19), clean water (10.3), endangered species (5.2), wildlife conservation (4.3).

Zogby, +/- 4.4%