By Jean Ponzi
Ecology advises us to learn and act through understanding our relationships in place. This means Here Is Good. This means, even in a globalized world, there is genuine power and value in focusing Local.
Green action can persist at a local level. The last time our society careened into today’s mode of leadership – the hyper-exacerbated Me Me Me, Me First, Us vs. Them and Us is RIGHT, blah blah blah – it was local leaders and their teams working together, keeping sane action moving forward.
I refer to a very recent past that we made it through. Take courage from some real examples.
The Mississippi Rivier Cities and Towns Initiative (www.MRCTI.org) was launched in 2012 to collaboratively address common concerns in an eco-logical manner. What a concept!
This is Mayors working together from 124 towns in the 10 states along the main stream of the Fourth Largest Watershed on Earth. Elected leaders of Coon Rapids, MN to Kimmswick, MO to Gretna, LA and the big and small cities in between are acting in concert to address:
- River water quality and habitat restoration
- Intra- as well as Inter-State coordination of River management and improvement
- More impactful water conservation measures
- Sustainable economies
- Celebration of River cultures and history.
- Climate resilience is in here too, as the kind of essential through-line it must be.
By 2016, MRCTI was organized and focused enough to be first in the door of that Trump term with a well-crafted Infrastructure proposal (that campaign had touted improving Infrastructure) that prioritized restoring wetlands. Bridge and Lock updates were in there too, but these Mayors had come to understand and value investing in Green Infrastructure.
Their collective action continues to advance an eco-logical agenda, including a major Plastic Pollution initiative, run by a local person named Jenny Wendt who I personally know is a powerhouse of Green-smart action.
The first politically collaborative U.S. climate action arose in 2005 from the U.S. Conference of Mayors, initiated by Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels. He got 141 mayors to sign the Kyoto Protocol within four months of its establishment. By 2007, 500 Mayors had committed to:
• Strive to locally meet or beat Kyoto Protocol targets, through actions ranging from urban forest restoration to public education campaigns.
• Urge state and federal-level action to meet or beat Kyoto emission reduction targets (action still urgently needed); and
• Urge Congress to pass bipartisan greenhouse gas reduction laws.
This national Mayoral partnership continues. Worldwide, local leaders are working through organizations like 880 Cities, 440 Cities, and more. Way more needed now.
In our region, elected and city staff people and engaged folks like you and me are working through Cool Cities Committees and Sustainability Commissions to complete and implement Climate Action Plans, including getting the bucks needed to make this Green stuff work. I know this because I work with them, through the Green Cities Challenge.
You can tap in through www.OneSTL.org, our regional sustainability plan. These seeds were planted in 2010, through local leadership. My friend David Wilson, now retired, led this work at East-West Gateway Council of Governments. Colleagues Aaron Young, Anna Chott and Chloe Moorman continue this work, in circles of advocates for clean energy, water quality and Green Infrastructure, waste minimization, clean transportation, equitable access to healthy food – and more.
From Local to Global, as acorn to Oak. Many skilled, dedicated hearts and hands are planning and making and tending together, eco-logically, HERE.
Care for each other, care for ourselves, care for the health of Nature around us.
Need to recharge your Local Power? Step outdoors and breathe with plants, in your local Real World.
Jean Ponzi strives to encourage, educate and motivate her fellow humans, from her enviro-focus, for a long time, active HERE.