Ecomunicipality.com

Check out this article on how "going green" is also a way to create good, local jobs. 

I've said it before, and I'll say it again:  Sustainability is not just a strategy for achieving energy independence.  It is not just a means to mitigate the effects of climate change around the world.  It is, in fact, an economic development strategy, and a damned good one.

Currently, the United States has 40 plants manufacturing wind power
components. Eight of these plants are assembling wind turbines, 20 are
fabricating wind towers, and 12 are making blades. In addition, many
more manufacturing facilities are under construction, recently
announced, and in planning. Every billion dollars invested in wind
farms creates some 3,350 jobs--nearly four times the 870 jobs created
with a similar investment in coal-fired power plants.

And then there's the solar industry as well:

Since the Wisconsin DNR purchased the old rail corridor in 2001, there has been a lot of back and forth over what kind of trail Polk County should build.

Those questions have now been settled due to a lawsuit filed in 2007 that asked a District Court to examine whether Polk County and the WDNR had conducted a proper and legal process leading up to the trail decision.

The court found that they had not.  And more, it found that allowing motorized vehicles on State Trails is not supported by state statutes.  Thus, the new trail will be non-motorized.

However, the struggle to plan, finance and build the trail is not yet over.  In fact, it has just begun.

Hopefully, this site can help coordinate activities, discussion and plans over trail development and disseminate ideas to interested parties.

So pull up a monitor, get out your keyboard and ride along as we get this process under wing.   

We've been meeting and discussing The Natural Step here in Polk County, reading Torbjorn Lahti's book about Sweden and what communities have done to move toward sustainability.

While I think the public is vastly more informed about climate change issues than just two years ago, I think that policy makers, planners and business-people are still a little slow in realizing the full extent of what a green economy really means.

Check out this article that appeared in Portland recently.  By putting the city's development money toward attracting a certain kind of business, Portland is getting out front in terms of becoming an eco-municipality.

Think about this for a second:  your community attracts a leading solar manufacturing business.  Who works for such a business?  Young and up and coming professionals--engineers, conceptual designers, techies.  You know, people who want to change the world and have the education and skills to make it happen.