Managing Sustainable Communities - Term Paper Example

Managing Sustainable Communities Sustainable Practices Sustainable community is defined as normative and functional concept and therefore it paramount to the concept of sustainable development. It is important to note that there are two positive set of relations between sustainability and communities. The nature of community is also important which is defined as the evolving and dynamic nature of the community rather than defining community as static (Marsden, 2008, p.276). Creating sustainable communities has now become a key policy for many governments. Government in USA, EU had taken up the initiative to build community building blocks and to cast over sustainable issues. Therefore this project is also based on the topic of sustainable practices in Pasadena, a city in USA. The city of Pasadena located in the southern part of California. The population of the city is about 145,000 people. Pasadena comprises of 355 of Hispanic and of Latin origin; about 10% of Asian population, nearly 12% of population belong to Africa, and the rest belongs to Caucasians. Pasadena is known for its commitment towards sustainability towards many resources such as water, reduction of waste, use of land to name a few (Pasadena, 2012). This project would deal with the topic of waste reduction and recycling. This is because Pasedena has taken up many initiatives to make the city green and work towards the betterment of the city and global warming. With the growing awareness of three Rs which are reduce, recycle and reuse the concept of waste reduction and recycling have emerged as an important topic and especially when it comes to sustainability of communities or environment. The most common strategy used in reuse of consumer goods is the strategy of waste management. Many of the industries had a symbiotic relationship where materials and waste are transformed internally. For example, metal industries in the process of production mainly use scrap materials and with the growth of plastics, rubber glass and paper recycling industries have generated a high demand for the discarded goods. Under the concept of industrial ecology, the waste of one industry is often used as raw materials for another industry. The goal behind applying such a strategy is cost savings and responsibility of the ecology through reuse of waste materials and in turn eliminates waste. Recycling and recovery are also used effectively in the concept of waste management. Recycling is used when recovery activities are mainly taking place and recovery refers to means of extracting utility or energy from waste materials. These facilities reduce the needs of fossil fuel and wastage of valuable resources. The first step in recycling is to use the concept of Blue Box program. The Blue Box program has gained all the attention for over the years as the people believe that they are doing something good for the environment. But the program of Blue box was not successful in promoting the reduction of source or over consumption. In California, Sacramento has hosted a program on annual recycled products where about 100 vendors displayed their products from office products to many more products. In terms of composition, the local governments said that composition is a tool for recycling which reduces cost and volumes of waste management (Roseland & Connelly, 2005, p. 79). Some of the tools and initiatives which are useful in building sustainable community programs include education and information. One of the best examples is guide and directory. In US and Canada, consumers looking for recycle products can access through the internet and follow the consumer recycling guide. Waste reduction award program are great motivators to help consumer and industries to reduce the waste and recycle more of waste materials. The California waste reduction award provides an opportunity for the businesses in California to gain recognition for reduction of waste. In Europe, eco labeling is a scheme that needs to be followed by the manufacturer to produce eco friendly products as well as services. Recycle program has been introduced in California, Berkeley to encourage the people to consider waste before they purchase anything. E-cycling is the concept of reusing of consumer electronics. Another tool used is through partnership and collaboration and lastly through the use of economic instruments (Roseland & Connelly, 2005, p. 80). The main concern for Pasadena was to protect the quality of life when the city is faced with demand for growth and also global impacts on its natural resources. In order to address the issue the city has launched an action plan with regard to the environment which would guide the city towards environment sustainability and the action plan would accelerate Pasadena’s environmental commitment. The initiative taken by Pasadena follows the United Nations Urban Environmental Accords 2005 which takes into consideration the opportunities and challenges across the country. The green city action plan includes sustainability in areas such as energy, waste reduction and recycling, transportation, water, environmental health, urban nature and urban design. The action plan takes into consideration a wide range of initiatives which forms a strategy. Therefore at the end of seven years the city which has successfully completed the initiative of green plan to make its city sustainable fit would be recognized by the UN as green city. Pasadena has achieved seven of the stated accords with much effort and with the help of ongoing programs. Pasadena has been awarded the green city in the year 2007. Therefore with successful implementation of the strategic action plan for the next few years to come, Pasadena tends to remain competitive for future growth (Pasadena-c, 2006, p. 3). Policy Instrument There are various numbers of instruments which are relevant for environmental policy such as analysis tools, plan and checklist. Therefore, instruments for environmental policies are referred to be structured activities which are aimed at changing activities in the society towards the set goal for the environment (Huppes, 2001, p. 8). The policy instrument which is available to Pasadena in terms of sustainable community blocks is the regulatory authority. The agencies and the local government are often granted regulatory powers by the government which is often related to use of land, planning and service provision (Hammer, et.al, 2011, p.74). It is the initiative of the government to implement the plan of green city and make Pasadena a sustainable community. The declaration of UN Green cities and with the support from Urban Environmental Accords which takes into consideration of the recommended actions which are to be implemented in 2012 to contribute to the global efforts. The city council has played a major role in the building up of community blocks. With the response, the city council adopted an ambitious five year plan, with initiatives to address programs for global warming, protecting natural habitats and reducing waste and much more. Teams from the city worked out on the plans and are determined to achieve the actions plans which are needed to be attained in the future. These members of the team take the information to the director of the respective departments and other key members. Pasadena Environmental advisory commission appointed volunteers who are experienced in related fields. The city council also approved a fund to appoint a full time planner for the sustainability program for the city, conduct research and keep up to date information on best practices related to environmental (Bogaard, 2007). Action plans The government of Pasadena has taken up number of steps to encourage the sustainable community blocks. Each year the government of Pasadena implements an action plan for the development of green city. The Green city Action plan is approved by city council in 2006. The plan is progressive and it list out the environmental initiatives for Pasadena to become a green and sustainable community. With regards to waste management and recycling, the urban environmental Accord Action which aims to achieve zero waste to incinerators and landfills by 2040 and the name of the plan is UEA 4-Zero Waste; next is UEA 5 Manufacturer waste, which aims to reduces the disposable, non renewable products and toxic by at least 50% by the year end 2012. UEA 6 is about recycling-by implementing recycling methods which are user friendly with a goal to reduce 20% solid waste disposal by 2012. Out of the three actions, recycling has been achieved and the other two actions are in progress. In UAE 4, the city has been increasing its diversion rate and has achieved about 72% in the financial year 2010 and has set a goal of 15% by 2015 (Pasadena-a, 2010, p. 4). With the new ongoing recycling programs and a vast outreach and education to the people of Pasadena’s resident as well as businesses, the city aims to divert waste occurred from landfills and increase the rate of recycling each year. Zero waste programs are in progress and aim to accomplish 21% reduction in solid waste in 2009 from financial year 2005; divert about 66% of waste from landfills; it placed about 40 solar compactors throughout the city; collected 68,000 pounds of electronic equipments for the purpose of recycling; recycled more than 3.1 million pounds of debris materials from both public and private construction in Pasadena. It recycled 1100 gallons of motor oil from the residents of Pasadena. With respect to manufacturer waste, which is in progress, distributed about 350 sharps disposable to the residents and also medical conditioning and proper usage of the kit which included syringes, needles and also lancets; it partnered with some of the cities in California for the preparation of MEA, Master Environmental Assessment; reduced paper wastage of the municipal with the help of a system known as pay mode direct deposit system. The use of electronic payments is advisable and should be the most preferred mode. The recycling plan of action has been achieved and further plans to recycle 205 more by 2012. The team completed the strategy of zero waste with the help of specific strategies and it aims to reduce wastage by 75% by 2015 and 100% by 2040; adopted a resolution which supported the extended responsibility of the producer which advocates the manufacturer to take more responsibilities about the proper disposable of the products; it developed a program to reduce the use of single out carry bags; it went into partnership with the local tree timing organizations in order to provide mulch to the residents of Pasadena; it reduced wastage of paper and improved efficiencies by way of implementing new way of paying bills through card shuffler (Pasadena-b, 2009, p. 3). Therefore the city of Pasadena has taken a number of steps on its way to become a green city. The city had adopted environmental charter, endorsement of the green cities of US and the urban environmental accords, the adoption of green city plan and green building programs and adoption of resolution with support from green cities California. Challenges The main challenge lies with the society. The people along with the society are extremely wasteful. It has been founded that only 1% of the product that consumers purchase is still in use after its months of purchase. In addition to this, the municipal waste is huge, more than 250 million of tons per year globally; it is normally dwarfed by a certain amount of waste which is created to produce products. More than about 70 percent of waste is already created even before the product reaches the customers. In spite of the effort put on by the government on recycling effort, it only resulted in about 58% of diversion rate. The waste materials have a serious impact on the climate. Different waste materials have different kinds of impact on the climate which ultimately leads to global warming. For example Methane which arises from decomposing of organic materials such as food had more than 72 times impact on the climate of carbon dioxide for more than about 20years. According to a study only about 7% of the green house gas emission can be achieved with waste reduction. The local government can work on the initiative by adopting the Zero waste ordinances which is based on the principal of reduce, reuse and recycle (Green City California, n.d). Conclusion To conclude it would be best to state that the city, Pasadena had championed in innovative projects in order to improve the quality of life of the city as well as economic health while the main intention was to protect the environment, reducing the city’s reliance on energy, water and other natural resources and also impending the climatic change. With the green city action plan, the city continues to gain attention from worldwide and has also introduced new grounds to achieve sustainability. The city plans to weave the program on sustainability through the general plan of Pasadena. The updated action plan of Pasadena aims to trademark the principles of Smart Growth. The city by way of promoting attractive development programs along with the public transits corridors, the city has the capacity to revitalize its neighbors, reduce traffic, build pedestrian on the streets, more use of resources preserve the open space it has and so on. In 2011 the city had developed a modified action plan where one of the agenda was to develop the urban climate action plan which aimed at the reduction strategies with respect to green house emission. The past few years has experienced major developments and Pasadena remains to be unique just as it was in 1886. The city has been able to achieve the set goal and the desired objectives because of the strong leadership, thoughtful planning and with the active community engagement. Reference Bogaard, B. (2007). The Greening of Pasadena. Retrieved on February 16, 2012 from http://www.usmayors.org/bestpractices/usmayor07/pg16_Pasadena_BP.asp. Green City California. (No date). Waste Reduction. Retrieved on February 16, 2012 from http://www.greencitiescalifornia.org/waste-reduction. Hammer, S. et.al. (2011). Cities and Green Growth: A Conceptual Framework. Retrieved on February 16, 2011 from http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/7/44/49330120.pdf. Huppes, G. (2001). Environmental policy instruments in a new era. Retrieved on February 16, 2012 from http://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/49570/1/322766818.pdf. Marsden, T. (2008). Sustainable communities. Emerald Group Publishing. Pasadena. (2012). The city of Pasadena. Retrieved on February 16, 2012 from http://www.ci.pasadena.ca.us/EkContent.aspx?theme=Black&id=6442452157&bid=3160&style=news. Pasadena-a. (2010). Green city Indicators report 2010. Retrieved on February 16, 2012 from http://www.ci.pasadena.ca.us/GreenCity/. Pasadena-b. (2009). Green city report 2009. Retrieved on February 16, 2012 from http://www.ci.pasadena.ca.us/GreenCity/. Roseland, M. & Connelly, S. (2005). Toward sustainable communities: resources for citizens and their governments. New Society Publishers. Read More