commentGreen Writ Large: STAR Takes Sustainability Up a Notch
Recycle. Walk. Build green. Buy local. The early decades of the sustainability movement have focused heavily on individual lifestyle choices. But with the economy in peril and the threat of catastrophic climate change darkening the future, more and more local governments are implementing sustainability policies. And if developers of the STAR Community Index have their way, many more communities will soon find it easy to join them.
Based on what you have seen and read about this project, how would you grade it? Use the stars below to indicate your assessment, five stars being the highest rating.
A project of ICLEI–Local Governments for Sustainability, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and the Center for American Progress, STAR will provide a LEED-inspired incentive system that is (at least in theory) flexible enough to be applied at any scale—from the smallest rural town to the largest metropolis. Ten communities, including such diverse municipalities as New York, Chattanooga, and Boulder, will spend 2011 beta-testing the rating system and developing an online tool, and STAR will open up to other communities in early 2012.
“This is not just benchmarking and tracking,” says Jason Hartke, vice president for policy at USGBC. “It is a framework for action.” While many local policymakers have hired sustainability directors and implemented sustainability plans, Hartke explains, it has been difficult to compare one policy with another and measure their relative success. “Everybody was doing great things—but everybody was doing different things,” he says. “Folks want to be able to make comparisons on an apples-to-apples basis.”
“I think there’s going to be more of an opportunity to get into some of the broader sustainability issues,” says Meg Lusardi, deputy director of the Green Communities Division of the Massachusetts Department of Energy and Resources. Lusardi’s division serves as a hub for all matters relating to energy for 351 municipalities, including a Green Communities designation program that recognizes local governments for reducing energy use. Like STAR, the Massachusetts program includes technical assistance and online tracking tools. Lusardi likes the idea of moving beyond energy, though, and seeing the bigger sustainability picture. “I’m looking forward to seeing what comes out of this,” she says.
While we have seen some rating systems begin to pull back and look at broader issues, there are limits to what even a system like LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) can do. As Hartke points out, LEED-ND is designed for new projects, not already-built towns and cities. Still, he said, LEED-ND has informed STAR, and the main difference is one of scale: “It incentivizes many things we want to see happen in LEED-ND.” LEED for Existing Buildings (LEED-EB) also inspired STAR to some extent: communities will receive recognition for making improvements over time, because “we don’t have the opportunity to be complacent,” says Hartke.
That may well be, from an environmentalist’s point of view, but local governments are unlikely to invest in a program that does not offer demonstrable returns—one of the reasons the green movement often falls back on individual action. What motivates a community to address sustainability in the first place?
“Sustainability touches on every fiber of what a community is,” says Guillermo Meneses, ICLEI’s director of communications. With 81 sustainability goals that consider environment, economy and society, STAR reflects “the complexity and diversity” of municipalities trying to address a number of closely intertwined issues during difficult economic times, from infrastructure to public health to employment. STAR seeks to address social welfare and environmental stewardship in ways that simultaneously create jobs and make communities more attractive to new businesses and new residents.
“There’s a very strong economic development and revitalization element” in STAR, Hartke says. “This is about economic stimulus, and that’s what sustainability is.”
|
|
Sign in to Comment
To write a comment about this story, please sign in. If this is your first time commenting on this site, you will be required to fill out a brief registration form. Your public username will be the beginning of the email address that you enter into the form (everything before the @ symbol). Other than that, none of the information that you enter will be publically displayed.