Green City Recap Workshop Scheduled for Thursday

Have you heard about Aliso Viejo's Green City Initiative?  Have you been curious about what it means for our city?  I've been following its progress and learning more as it goes along.

Presentations from the past workshops are available at the Green City website, but nothing compares to actually attending the workshops. Your input is heard and appreciated at each session. If you've missed any of the previous workshops, you can catch up during the workshop Thursday at City Hall's council chambers.

So why is the city's green initiative so important?  Just this week, the concept of green cities was featured during NPR's On Point with Tom Ashbrook. The Growing Green Cities program was discussed: the importance of green city initiatives, the technology involved and what it means for the future of our planet. The guests included:

Joan Fitzgerald, director of the law, policy and society program at Northeastern University and author of Emerald Cities: Urban Sustainability and Economic Development.

Jeb Brugmann, urban development consultant, founder of ICLEI—Local Governments for Sustainability, an association of more than 1,000 local governments and government organizations worldwide that have committed to sustainable development.  He’s author of  Welcome to the Urban Revolution: How Cities Are Changing the World.

Read an excerpt from Welcome to the Urban Revolution.

Bob Dixson, mayor of Greensburg, KS. Greensburg pledged to rebuild sustainably after the city was flattened by a tornado in 2007.

See Greensburg’s master plan for sustainability.

We can put Aliso Viejo on the map as a green city to watch. This is so important to not only our current growth, but future growth as well. It can help property values and keep the city financially healthy by drawing new business. Green means not just sustainable environmentally but economically too.

This workshop will be a great 45-minute primer on what it means to be a green city. Spend Thursday catching up! I really hope to see you there. One of the most important components of the Green City Initiative is community involvement from you.

Too often public meetings are not well attended, and protest comes after policies are implemented.  If you want to have a voice in the Green City Initiative, please attend these meetings.  And, most important, if you are pleased with the direction the city is headed, let the City Council know.

Here are the topics of the FIVE PREVIOUS WORKSHOPS:

1. Kickoff workshop to introduce the Green City Initiative to the public
2. Energy and water
3. Transportation and  vehicle management
4. Recycling and waste management
5. Land use