Why Chicago is Going to Be the Greenest City in the U.S.
26 12 2007
While the recycling program in Chicago can be criticized as being slightly dubious and not far-reaching enough, and while air quality is still a real problem, Chicago is determined to be America’s greenest city.
Indeed, living carfree in Chicago is cake with its many bike-friendly roads. I walk almost everywhere, and criticize the public transit all you want, but having lived before in Houston and Atlanta, where transit is a ridiculous joke, I think it’s amazing.
Daley’s environmental commissioner Sadhu Johnston thinks cities are the salve the environment needs, compared with the sprawl and car dependency of suburbs and rural areas. He’s hellbent on making Chicago the greenest city in the nation, as well as a hub of environmental design and alternative energy production.
A few more green facts about Chicago:
*Chicago is one of the nation’s biggest users of green/renewable energy.
*Over the last 20 years, 500,000 trees have been planted and park space along the lakefront has increased.
*City Hall is outfitted with a rooftop garden.
*Several million rooftop gardens have been constructed around the city or are being planned, more than the rest of the U.S. combined.
*Chicago is investing in greener vehicles, with idling for longer than 5 minutes illegal for city vehicles.
*Chicago’s Green Alley Initiative is helping water pollution and energy consumption. (Click here to read my article about that.)
