Adding To New Sustainable DC Plans, District Gets Nearly $100,000 For Stormwater Initiative

Washington, D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray introducing Sustainable DC Plan initiatives. Photo courtesy of wusa9.com

As part of a package of grants totaling an estimated $400,000 to be distributed among several municipalities and nonprofit organizations around Maryland and Washington, D.C., the District will receive a grant of $95,000 to support stormwater management and green street development adjacent to the famed Dunbar Senior High School which is also being newly renovated.

The school’s roots date back to 1870, when it was founded as the “Preparatory High School for Colored Youth,” before being renamed the “M Street School.” With the re-opening of the school’s previous campus in 1916, it was renamed in honor of Paul Laurence Dunbar who was among the first African-American poet to ever gain national critical acclaim.

Dunbar’s works addressed African-Americans’ difficulties to achieve equality in America during the turn of the 20th century.  Dunbar was born on June 27, 1872 to Matilda and Joshua Dunbar, both natives of Kentucky. His mother was a former slave and his father had escaped from slavery and served in the 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment and the 5th Massachusetts Colored Cavalry Regiment during the Civil War.

The Dunbar school is known for its rigorous academic reputation. The grant announcements were made by Washington, D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray. The other six grants will include projects in Cambridge, Md., Prince George’s County, Md., Northumberland County, Pa., and Richmond, Va.

Each of the projects has been designed to improve water quality, increase efficiency, and promote environmental best practices. The grants are part of the Green Streets, Green Jobs, Green Towns (G3) program, which is a public-private partnership supporting urban green infrastructure to improve watershed protection and community livability.

The G3 program is a collaborative effort that includes participants such as the Chesapeake Bay Trust, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

In Washington, D.C., the stormwater project will work in conjunction with the District’s newly passed Sustainable DC Plan. The 20-year plan – with targets set for 2032 – is designed to improve citywide health through measures including creating new green building infrastructure, transportation improvements, clean air regulations, new city gardens, and increased wetland protection and restoration.

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Massachusetts Municipality Is First In U.S. to Ban Sale of Water In Personal Size Plastic Bottles

Making history and creating new controversy, in the town of Concord, Mass. a ban on the sale of water in personal size plastic bottles has taken effect, and officials have begun enforcement.

Jean Hill, a Concord resident in her eighties who petitioned for the bylaw, told Wicked Local Concord that her primary concern throughout the process was for the environment. She told the publication that she “believes even with recycling that plastic water bottles harm the environment by using fossil fuels and producing excess carbon dioxide emissions.”

The Center for Microbial Oceanography at the University of Hawaii at Manoa says that it takes about 100 years for a plastic bottle to biodegrade and the problem is huge.

The Ban the Bottle campaign further adds that, “Last year, the average American used 167 disposable water bottles, but only recycled 38, and that overall, “Americans used about 50 billion plastic water bottles last year. However, the U.S.’s recycling rate for plastic is only 23 percent.”

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency added more broadly that, “Of the 30.7 million tons of plastic generated in 2007, only 2.09 million tons or less than seven percent were recycled.”

To address these issues in its own small way, the Concord bylaw specifically prohibits the sale of non-sparkling, unflavored drinking water contained in 1 liter (34 ounce) or less sized self-serving polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles.

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No More Boating Pollution Allowed in NYC’s Jamaica Bay With New Environmental Law

In an effort to improve the water quality around New York City’s Jamaica Bay, a multi-agency decision has designated the majority of the bay as a “no discharge zone,” which bans boats from discharging sewage into the bay.

No Discharge Zone Map - Jamaica Bay, NY. Image courtesy of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The new agreement between the city, the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency bans all boats from discharging sewage into area of 20,000 acres of open water.

The area has an expanse of facilities for boats to pump out their sewage, and boaters must now dispose of their sewage at specially-designated pump-out stations. The Clean Vessel Assistance Program (CVAP) has provided both a map of all the CVAP-funded pump-out locations, as well as a spreadsheet list of operational pump-out facilities by county.

Specifically, the no discharge zone encompasses 17,177 acres of open water, and 2,695 acres of upland islands and salt marshes in Brooklyn and Queens.

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U.S. Cities Increasing Use of Clean Energy Technologies Despite Lagging Economy

Despite current difficulties in the national economy, most cities surveyed in a new report by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, said that they have been expanding their clean energy technologies and would continue to grow them over the next five years.

Image courtesy of Earth Infrastructure Ltd.

Cities in the Northeast and South are expecting some of the fastest growth, but nearly all of the 396 cities that participated in the survey are expecting to be “deploying more clean technology in five years than they do currently,” said the report.

The top three most promising choices for energy saving clean technologies by mayors were:

• LED/efficient lighting technologies. The substantial majority of cities (85 percent) already deploy LED lighting, with plans to increase their use in the future.
• Approximately 68 percent of cities reported using energy saving building technologies, such as solar technologies; energy-efficient appliances; and pumps.
• Hybrid vehicles were found by about 40 percent of the cities surveyed as a favorable way of saving energy and carbon emissions.

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Mayors in U.S. Central States Receive Honors for Implementing Green Sustainability Practices

U.S. Department of Energy partnering with the University of Houston to research wind power technology. Photo courtesy of cleantechnica.com.

In working to make the U.S. a more sustainably green country, the way that seems to be producing the most visible and effective results is by doing it at the city level.

In recognition, the U.S. Conference of Mayors and Walmart jointly honor two cities every year – both large and small, with populations over and under 100,000 – for their green sustainability achievements.

This year’s newly announced honors go to Houston, Texas and Evanston, Ill. with both receiving the 2011 Mayors’ Climate Protection Award.

Houston received its award because of achievements in both the public and private sector, largely through working with the city’s green office challenge, which works in conjunction with the city’s energy efficiency incentive program and municipal energy efficiency program.

These programs also incorporate free technology, software training, environmental, and energy efficiency consulting from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

There are currently about 330 private companies that have already taken part in the challenge. As part of this green challenge, the city offers eligible businesses and building owners the ability to apply for funding to make permanent energy efficiency improvements to reduce utility expenses and greenhouse gases.

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