Since it burst onto the scene in the 1970s, the mainstream American environmental movement has too often regarded federal leadership and mandates as the best way for America to go "green." While that approach helped enact landmark legislation in the 1970s like the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, it has proven woefully inadequate to shape a cohesive American response to global warming.
After eight years of the George W. Bush administration, with an EPA that actively disputed the scientific reality of climate change, snubbed Kyoto, and opposed states like California that sought to set its own CAFE standards for automobiles, many green voters had hoped that an Obama administration would craft a radical and dramatic national response to climate change. But the watered down Obama "climate change" bill snaking through the Senate (replete with provisions for more off-shore drilling and increased reliance on nuclear power) demonstrates that waiting for meaningful federal solutions to the planet's climate crisis is looking more and more like waiting for Godot.
In Europe, on the other hand, a quiet, much more effective green revolt has been occurring. This one is local and decentralized. It doesn't look to big government for solutions: No federal mandates, no pleading with mega-energy corporations to be environmentally responsible, no waiting for ineffective cap-and-trades. Instead, the underlying premise is that saving the planet must begin at the local level--and that it makes good economic and social policy.
Earlier this month, we attended an international conference in Perugia, Italy sponsored by the Climate Alliance, an organization of more than 1,700 European cities and towns that have networked to share energy-saving strategies and highlight the impact of climate change on the indigenous people of the Amazon rain forest. The purpose of the three-day conference, organized by Climate Alliance Italy coordinator Karl-Ludwig Schibel, was to showcase how cities, towns and regions have taken the lead on climate change, in some cases even without significant European Union or federal-level support.
One of the highlights we heard was the story of Boris Palmer, mayor of the German city of Tübingen. When Palmer decided in October 2006 that the mayor's official car, a chic Mercedes E280, was a CO2 smokestack and opted for a more gas efficient Japanese-made Prius, he was branded a "traitor" for shunning the German-made car whose headquarters and production facilities are in neighboring Stuttgart. But the newly-elected Palmer was undaunted, believing that the mayor should set an example for the rest of the 190,000 inhabitants of the hilly university town. Indeed, he was just beginning a personal and civic energy efficiency campaign that has made Tübingen one of the most energy-conscious cities in the world.
These days Palmer, 37, has forsaken an official car altogether, commuting to work on a silver, Swiss-made electric bike which he says is faster than a car for inner-city transportation and uses the electricity equivalent of only 0.1 liters of fossil fuel per 100 kilometers, a reduction from the Mercedes of 6000 percent. (When he absolutely must use a car he makes use of the citywide car-sharing program which allows him to reserve and pick up a vehicle in any one of 30 parking lots at a cost of 5 Euros a month and about 1.50 Euros per hour plus 50-cents per kilometer.)
The bicycle is one small, albeit highly visible, example of a massive CO2 reduction campaign that aims to make all 190,000 citizens of the hilly university town partners in saving the environment. And what is particularly unique--and instructive for Americans--is that the campaign is being waged without funding from federal or European Union government sources. It is being funded through investments by ordinary citizens who stand to make a healthy, and virtually risk-free, profit.
The campaign is dubbed "Tübingen Macht Blu" loosely translated as "Tübingen is Going Blue," with blue--as in blue skies, and cool temperatures--increasingly becoming the new "green." Palmer was elected mayor three years ago as a member of the German Green Party, but the choice of blue was deliberate: he wanted to disassociate the environmental program from a particular political party and invest every citizen in the joint effort to reach the city's greenhouse gas emissions target: a 70 percent reduction by the year 2020.
The campaign has been wildly successful. Instead of waiting for direction or incentives from the federal government or European Union, the city has embarked on its own series of innovations--from replacing the hot water pumps in heating systems with energy efficient models, to installing solar panels on public buildings, to investing in wind energy. Importantly, it has been funded through lucrative investments by the citizens themselves rather than by the federal government, European Union or private investment firms. As such, it is a model of how energy investments can help the environment and empower local citizens without waiting for leadership on the federal level.
The Tübingen story exemplifies the approach towards climate change advocated by the Climate Alliance members: Thinking and acting locally is the best response to a global problem.
"European local governments have a centuries-old history of managing their territories and preventing the harm of their citizens-including under conditions of extreme meteorological events," says Schibel, describing the Climate Alliance model. "The integration of mitigation and adaptation begins as a cultural innovation in the minds of administrators, department heads, businessmen, opinion makers and citizens, as a crucial element in a strategy of economic, social and environmental sustainability in the territory."
Conference presenters shared a myriad of strategies designed to help encourage local residents to become invested in lowering energy consumption so that the towns can reach the ambitious goals they have set themselves: a minimum of 20 percent reduction in CO2 emissions by the year 2020, and in some cases, such Tübingen's 70 percent, much higher.
The strategies ranged from offering recipes and restaurant promotions for "meat-free" Thursdays in Ghent, Belgium, to "solar city" planning, to major investments in wind- and hydro-production. They illustrated that local and regional innovations, such as promotion of wind, solar and hydro-electricity investments, hold the key to immediate CO2 reductions.
"Local governments are well placed to play a role in (helping change) what's considered 'private' behavior," said Thomas Balthazar, Deputy Mayor for Environment and Social Affairs in the Belgian city of Ghent, where the city has had remarkable success implementing a "Thursday is Veggie Day" diet concept. The EU estimates that meat production is responsible for one-fifth of the production of greenhouse gases and Balthazar said the voluntary veggie day saves 7-10 kilograms of grain and 15,000 liters of water for every kilogram (2.2 pounds) of meat that is not consumed; it benefits the health of Ghent's citizens by encouraging more fruit and vegetable consumption, as well.
Klaus Müschen, head of Climate Policy for Germany's Federal Agency of the Environment, said that most Germans are already "on board" for achieving national and international CO2 emission reduction targets. "People realize that these changes not only help protect the environment," he said, "but also strengthen the local economy. In Germany we have 100 cities that have declared their commitment to (reaching the goal of) 100 percent renewable energy."
Unlike proposals to build new nuclear plants that can take decades to implement and pose serious potential environmental hazards, innovations in these cities and towns are occurring immediately and their impacts are measurable. "You name me any use of electricity in the city," says Tübingen's Palmer, "and I'll tell you there is a (CO2 reduction) solution already available."
In one year Tübingen has doubled the amount of electricity from 1.4 million watts to 2.8 million watts it receives from photovoltaic cells. And it is now leading 60 other German cities and towns in investing in a wind-farm on the North Sea that will eventually provide 2 billion megawatt hours, enough to serve all the energy needs of a town of 200,000 people.
Even Italy, which lags behind its northern European counterparts, is making strides in reducing CO2 emissions on the local level with investments in light rail and other mobility adaptations. In Perugia, for example, the "minimetro," which was built in January 2008 through a private-public partnership, has had a steadily increasing ridership and generates zero greenhouse gas emissions, reducing traffic, accidents and transportation costs for the 9,000 people who currently use the system each day. Carlo Angeletti, director of the Department of Environment for the provincial Rome government, said that his agency is installing solar panels atop schools and working with businesses to raise funds that would allow for energy efficiency improvements to private buildings as well.
It's up to local leaders to change the culture of consumption, said Perugia Mayor Wladimiro Boccali. "Large companies that encourage energy consumption--when really their only aim is to increase profits" he said, can be countered by regions and towns working closely with citizens to change attitudes and protect the environment. "This will be a way to help the economy, and safeguard towns and the countryside for future generations," he said.
The same can be said for cities and towns in the U.S. If Tubingen's citizens are inspired to participate, Americans could be too.
"We find that people are looking for safe investments," says Palmer, observing that the citizen-owned corporations that invest in photovoltaic cells were able to pay shareholders a return of more than 10 percent within two years on their investments. "That's better than (those who invested) with the Lehman Bros." he quipped. "There was no payback in that."
Palmer says he had initially instructed his staff to apply for EU funding for the project of replacing hot water pumps. But when six months had passed and he was informed that the necessary EU paperwork was still under preparation, he realized that the 25 percent funding for the project that Tübingen would receive from the EU after a year of paperwork and preparations would essentially be realized by a 25 percent decrease in the town's electric bill within the first year if the town simply started the project immediately and paid for it itself.
So what's the lesson for American green activists? It's time to stop pretending Uncle Sam is going to solve global warming. Action is needed now--and is achievable now at the local level. It's time for U.S. cities and towns to follow the lead of their European counterparts and encourage local citizens to become invested in CO2 reductions and the job creation, city planning innovations and improved quality of life that that commitment entails. For more information on the types of energy saving programs being implemented in cities, towns and regions across Europe, visit: http://www.climatealliance.org