On Monday November 8, 2010, I attended "Local Solutions to a Global Challenge" presented by the Humanities Council of Washington, DC. The panelist include Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells, Rhon Hayes of GreenDMV and Cynthia Hartley of the Capitol Hill Energy Co-op.The panelist addressed sustainability initiatives in DC such as the implementation of the DC Bag Tax (5 cent tax on plastic bags), Capital Bikeshare program (borrow a bike for a nominal annual fee), urban agriculture projects that provide food to the DC Central Kitchen and public schools, and city-wide green building program. Mr Hayes mentioned GreenDMVs weatherization programs as a means to achieve sustainability by meeting energy reduction goals, while creating living wages jobs that increase the economic tax base.
Ms. Hartley describes sustainability as building communities through cooperative living. She provided an example of sharing food from her garden with her neighbor. He gives her vegetables from his garden and she gives him fresh herbs from her garden. Capital Hill Energy Co-op is another example of a community coming together to address renewable energy.
Councilmember Wells
described sustainability as 5-minute living. The essence of 5-minute living is that people should be able get to things they need in 5-minutes or be able to access public transportation within 5-minutes. Our built environment should support this lifestyle choice.All the panelist emphasized the green culture is growing in DC because of dedicated individuals working to make a difference. While DC is still in its infancy in the green movement, we still have the potential to be a leader. Councilmember Wells suggested that we have to continue to push the green agenda using social media. For example, he says the DC Councilmembers regularly read blogs and tweets related to legislative issues while on the dais.
I live tweeted the event from @NspiregreenLLC #WorldHouseSeries.
Written by Veronica
(Photos Courtesy of Humanities Council of Washington, DC)
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