Viewing the solutions to climate change from a global perspective can be daunting but it’s important to remember that, on a personal level, these solutions are local. I live in a mid-sized (1mm+ regional population) city with a relatively compact footprint. The highest impact we can have here in Rochester would be a 10 year, all hands on deck initiative to leverage that footprint into a fully green city with a high density center, a state of the art light rail system and sustainable energy generation processes that utilize our abundant water, wind and geothermal resources. It is completely doable here and, with gas prices skyrocketing ( I paid 3.49/gallon yesterday!), there will be a viable short term economic justification for going green now.

WorldChanging has a long draft piece on green cities that outlines the why and how of this concept. This is not a futurist manifesto, it is a cogent argument for moving forward now. From an economic development perspective, devoting our local resources to a plan like this would immediately turn us from a provincial outpost into a global city.

It’s called vision and leadership.