The city of Dallas has made much of its efforts to "build a greener city" ... which means what, exactly? That, more or less, was the question posed earlier this week during a confab at the downtown Dallas library during a program
"It depends on the local context," Reed told Unfair Park before his presentation began. "You need to figure out what your niche is."
But how much federal money a city like Dallas gets -- and how effective that money can be -- is in part contingent on Dallas' commitment to using it for green initiatives.
Pamela Tate, the CEO and president of the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning
"It is true that there's all this new money [available]," Tate said,
"but there may be a gap between the training and the installation."
Tate's organization helped the city of San Antonio recast itself as a
green economy by designing different career paths -- everything from
technicians (green plumbers and electricians) to designers, managers
and communications experts. Tate says Dallas is growing in a whole rash
of different sectors at once -- health care and education services,
manufacturing, construction, air transportation and many others -- which
means a lot of options for greening our economy.
"If you want to be successful, you have to link economic development
with environmental sustainability," Tate told the audience. "The two
can coexist and benefit each other."
Still, she stressed that Dallas
not stop with its current basic environmental programs, things like
weatherization and energy efficiency improvements, which provide jobs but perhaps less forward-looking ones than creating a niche in
sustainable service industries.
"Everybody's going to do energy efficiency," Tate said. "You have to do
that; it's the first pillar of green. But that is just step one."
After Tate presented, Eric Griffin, the interim director of the city's
Office of Environmental Quality, explained to the group of around 35
attendees that his office's goal is a "more transformational"
sustainability plan to look at the city's long-term future.
"Green
jobs -- I don't believe that's a niche market," Griffin said. "It's not
new; we have green jobs all around us right now."
Between 1998 and
2007, Griffin said, green jobs grew almost three times as fast as
traditional jobs did. What's more, they often pay 10 to 20 percent more.
Griffin explained Dallas's initiatives to green itself (and take
advantage of federal money): the green building ordinance, set for
implementation this October; retrofitting buildings
to allow for sustainability; and a weatherization, job training and community
development program for low-income neighborhoods called the Dallas Sustainable Communities Initiative. Where that
came from, Griffin said, was one eternal economic demand: Show me the
money.
"Frankly, energy efficiency, 'green' ... that hasn't resonated in the
community as a whole. We're looking at dollar savings in your pocket,"
Griffin said. "How can we save you money in your home, and also reduce
emissions?" It may not be a quick transition to the greenest city on
earth, but it's a start.