Providence, RI - Natural Awakenings

“With growing populations
depleting resources, how do
we keep increasing and ensuring
prosperity while we
are already using more than
we have? It’s a conundrum.”
~ Pragati Pascale, United
Nations spokeswoman
the ‘network world’, recognizing the
number of players today. It’s not just
national governments; it’s states and
cities, corporations and philanthropists.
In addition to the official meetings
and negotiations, between 3,000 and
4,000 other gatherings were going on
between business people, mayors, civil
society organizations and others, presenting
myriad opportunities to make
specific commitments. We’re moving to
a different dynamic.”
Sowing Seeds
The inclusive atmosphere is reflected
in another new U.N.-sponsored international
sharing website, FutureWe
Want.org, featuring visions and videos
relating to sustainability and solutions
to dire environmental problems, such
as turning global warming-inducing
methane from China’s farms into a usable
energy source; predicting periods
of drought in Ethiopia to
prevent humanitarian
crises; and investing in
solar power to bring
electricity to 1.4 billion
people around the
world. More than 50 million
people worldwide have submitted
ideas for a more sustainable world,
ranging from ways to increase public
education to plans for stopping industrial
pollution and better managing
waste.
“The huge public engagement
in the conference is exciting,” says
Pascale, “because that’s really
how progress will happen.
People have to force
their governments
to take action.”
The NRDC
dedicated website
is part of a coordinated effort to hold
governments, businesses and nonprofits
accountable and inform the public. The
new U.N. websites facilitate a thriving
discussion of what sustainability means
and how it can be put into practice.
“We want to continue the overall
campaign and build upon it,” says
Pascale. “Whatever frustrations people
have with businesses, nongovernment
organizations (NGO) or governments,
we need to harness that energy and keep
that dialogue going to give people a
voice in making sustainability happen.”
Results-Oriented
Role Models
State-based examples of sustainable
development in action speak to
widespread needs in the United States.
Here are examples of five models
worth replicating.
PlaNYC: New York City Mayor Michael
Bloomberg’s announcement of PlaNYC,
on Earth Day 2007, signaled an historic
moment. The people’s vision of a
cleaner, healthier New York City, one
that could accommodate 9 million
predicted residents by 2030, aims to be
a model for urban sustainable development.
Its original 127 initiatives leave
few sustainability stones unturned,
including cleaning up brownfields,
building more playgrounds and parks,
increasing public transportation and
bike lanes, implementing aggressive
recycling, enforcing green
building standards and
reducing greenhouse gas
emissions. Two-thirds of
the initial goals have
already been achieved; the latest update
calls for 132 initiatives, including
a new set of annual milestones.
Speaking at the Museum of the
City of New York in 2009, Daniel
Doctoroff, the former deputy mayor of
economic development and rebuilding
for the Bloomberg administration, called
PlaNYC “one of the most sweeping,
most comprehensive blueprints
for New York ever undertaken.”
Most critically, all of
its stated commitments
are achievable
(see Tinyurl.com/
PlaNYC-goals).
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natural awakenings October 2012
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