 So you are doing many green things to enrich your life and the planet. You're recycling, paring back your fuel consumption, car pooling, using tote bags in place of plastic bags. You are reducing your carbon footprint.
But, do you ever wonder how the community around you is? How green your city is? How green the businesses are? Do you feel like it would be even better if you knew that your community and employer were as green-minded as you are?
What makes a city green? A little bit of research revealed that there are a few different ways to calculate just how green a city is. One way is to analyze cities based on their official energy policies, availability and use of green power, presence of green buildings, and the availability of fresh, locally grown food. Another way, used by Popular Science, is to rank cities based on electricity, transportation, green living, and recycling and green perspective.
Taking Popular Science’s approach, within the electricity category, cities earned points for generating energy from renewable sources like wind, solar, biomass and hydroelectric power. They also earn points for providing incentives to residents who invest in their own power sources, like roof mounted solar panels. Cities could score 10 possible points in this category.
For transportation, cities earn points for having public transportation available or carpool programs available to residents. But, just having public transportation is not enough. Residents must use the public transit and/or car pool systems. Air quality is an indicator for this. Cities could score 10 possible points in this category, as well.
Green living points are awarded for the total number of buildings that are certified by the US Green Building Council and devoting areas, like parks and nature preserves to green space. There were 5 possible points here.
Last, recycling and green perspective measure how extensive and comprehensive the city’s recycling program is and how important local citizens perceive environmental issues to be. A city who offered recycling for items like computers, batteries, or paint would earn more points than a city who just offered the standard paper, plastic, glass, and Styrofoam recycling program. There were 5 possible points here.
That said, each city had the opportunity to earn 30 total points based on Popular Science's scale and rating system.
You must be curious by now as to who the top 50 green American cities are, right? Well, t he magazine awarded Portland, Oregon with the title of greenest city, as of February 2008 when the study was conducted. Portland won because 50% of its power hails from renewable resources, 35 of its buildings are certified by the US Green Building Council and 25% of the city’s workforce commute by bike, carpool, or public transit. Portland earned 23.1 points out of a possible 30.Popular Science ranked San Francisco, CA second for greenest city. They earned 23 points of 30.
Third place went to Boston, Massachusetts at a score of 22.7 points. One example of Boston's green efforts are their plans for a plant that transforms yard waste, like grass and leaves, into power and fertilizer.
Fourth place was awarded to Oakland, California at 22.5 points.
Fifth place went to Eugene, Oregon. They won the honor of category leader for electricity for drawing their electricity hydroelectric dams, like much of Pacific Northwest, and from wind farms, as well.
For the rankings of the 45 other cities Popular Science ranked, check out the article. See if your current home made the list and check out the others for greener cities to live and work.
Though their methodology for rating cities as green is a bit different than Popular Science's method, Countryhome.com has a map tool that allows you to drill down to green cities by region and then state simply by clicking on the map. This map lists green cities for every region of the nation.
Other indicators of green communities. Local resources can also be indicators of a city or community trending toward green. In your search to live or work in a green community, be on the lookout for communities with car pool groups, community farms, farmers markets, sustainable or clean power sources, comprehensive recycling programs, restrictions on pesticide use, green spaces, sustainable farming, buildings that are certified by the US Green Building Council, etc.
I want a job at a green company. Who is green and where are they located?
There are a number of companies with a national reputation for being green. These companies include:
- Continental Airlines, out of Houston, TX, for their efforts replace their fleet with more fuel efficient aircrafts and allowing customers to calculate CO2 emissions with a calculator on their website.
- PG&E, of San Francisco, CA, had a major part in passing mandatory controls of greenhouse gases in California. As a public utility, they generate more than half of their retail electricity sales from clean sources. Their website even has an entire section devoted to the environment, including a carbon footprint calculator.
- SC Johnson, out of Racine, WI, has operated with a sustainability strategy from its very beginnings with Johnson Wax in 1835 when HF Johnson led an expedition to Brazil seeking a sustainable wax source.
- Goldman Sachs, of New York, NY, introduced green strategy in 2005 and continues to do significant green business investing in alternative power sources.
- Hewlett-Packard, out of Palo Alto, CA, has long been the industry leader for eco-consciousness and sensitivity. They are working to mitigate the environmental impact of high tech computer and gadgetry waste. They are committed to reducing environmental impact across all aspects of their business.
- NAU, of the green city of Portland, OR, is a maker of outdoor clothing that balances beauty, performance and sustainability. Their products are made of earth-friendly fabrics like corn, organic cotton, wool, and repurposed polyester.
- Aveda, out of Blaine, MN, has greened every aspect of their business from their plant-based ingredients to investing in indigenous communities, funding wildlife preservation, and supporting environmentalists.
- Burt’s Bees, of Durham, NC, sells natural beauty products without artificial preservatives and chemicals packaged in reusable and recycled packaging.
- Herman Miller, of Zeeland, MI, helped found the Green Building Council in 1996. This council grants the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification for firms building sustainable facilities.
- Discovery Communications, out of Silver Spring, MD, is a media company with an eco-conscious. They have green programming, acquired Treehugger.com, use sustainable materials and energy sources for their buildings and donate to environmental projects.
- Johnson & Johnson, of New Brunswick, NJ has eco-consciousness as a core competency. They require each division to develop a 5 year “environmental literacy plan” for the employees. They are a major supporter of environmental organizations, run their own conservation projects, and clean up “old messes” from their past.
- P&G, out of Cincinnati, OH, is cleaning up their past mistakes where local waterways were polluted to turn over a new leaf: founding the Corporate Wetlands Restoration Partnership, reducing waste, air, and water emissions at its’ plants, upgrading US plants to be energy efficient and reducing product packaging.
- Linda Loudermilk, of Los Angeles, CA, has made it her mission to “save the planet, one fabulous number at a time”. She is pioneering eco-luxury, making sexy apparel of seaweed, soy, wood pulp, corn, leaves, organic cotton, and bamboo.
- PNC, out of Pittsburgh, PA, is not only a leader in the financial services industry, but they are the leader in building green buildings. They were the first financial institution to receive LEED certification. They build or convert all of their branches according to green principles.
Determining if a company is green. If you are in the job market and the companies listed above are not for you, here are a few more ways to seek out green-minded employers:
- Check out the corporate social responsibility section of a firm’s website, they may even have an environmental section, as most of the firms listed above do.
- Join LinkedIn if you haven’t yet and network with fellow professionals with a passion for green.
- Better yet, join a green group or two on LinkedIn.
- Look for a “green collar” job to use your skills to better the Earth
- If all else fails, be a pioneer and lead the grassroots movement to greening your employer.
I hope you found this information on green cities, green firms, and methods to assess how green a firm is helpful. Good luck out there!
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