Here and Now - Sustainability

Sustainability may be a new word, but the concepts have been around for a long time. We learned about sustainable agriculture during the dust bowl, and how it created ecological refugees.

Most of the things people can do to limit their impact on the environment are virtually cost free--and many times can save them money. People can avoid paying a few bucks for bottled water, and start re-using their own containers. The plastic ending up in our landfills is a huge problem, and a waste of materials!

If you are tired of making a car payment, and insurance--get rid of your car and take the bus. And if you need a car for some reason, Flexcar (flexcar.com) will let you borrow a car for about $9 an hour.

These are just a few of many things people can do. Overall, they are only difficult because of how society and culture interact with sustainability. I feel that the social aspects of sustainability need to be studied more than the environmental issues.

I hope that sustainability does act like a buzzword to attract people's attention, but I hope that once it gets our attention that we then think about what we are referring to with the word. What do we want to be sustainable and how can we achieve it? Also people need to think of the trade offs. Sustainability will be used to market products and while some products may be better for one place or an aspect of the environment they may have other consequences. Basically, it is time to start thinking about where our goods come from and where the waste ends up. We need to take accountability!

This whole programs theme will depend on who the guests are. If local political or economic leaders will be the guests, then we will be hearing nothing but hot air, business as usual. The whole discussion will revolve around protecting the rights of unfettered growth, which is why this topic even exists.

One type of business I have not heard much about, who has an enormous impact, is the restaurant business. I've worked in restaurants for 5+ years and cringe at many of the things they do that are wasteful. I've only worked for one restaurant, who recycled bottles and used leftover water from things to water plants and used "environmentally friendlier" togo containers. But all the other places I've worked at waste so much water, use an overabundance of styrofoam togo containers and don't recycle.

We have an alternative fuel vehicle but finding anyone to work on them is very difficult and EXPENSIVE. Even the State hires their own mechanics (based on job advertisements) to work on their's rather than sub contract the work out to help the industry. It can't be too much different for other energy alternatives. How is this being addressed?

I am very interested in the promotion of sustainable development - which I interpret as efficiently utilizing our natural resources. I earned went to Sydney and earned my Masters in Environmental Science and Law with the hopes of coming back home and starting a career in environmental policy; unfortunately I could not fnd anything and I had to settle for a different job.
Question: Any ideas on where I can find a job where I will be promoting sustainable development policies?

Thank you!

I wanted to install a green roof, so I called ASU's Climatology Dept last year requesting information and, after being bounced between 3 or 4 people, I was shocked nobody there knew what I was talking about. These roofs are super effective because they actually have native plants growing on your roof making them very energy efficent and long lasting. I had no better luck finding a roofer who has heard of green roofs. Why has nobody marketed these roofs in Phoenix because of the potential for reversing the heat island problem that gets worse every Summer?

We are still talking about sustainability as if it were some option that we may or may not want to buy into. We talk about whether or not we can afford to be "green" - switching out some light bulbs to reduce our carbon footprint by .1%.

The planet has LIMITED resources - if we don't radically change our ways, it won't be an option to "buy less beef" or take fewer vacations. Every civilization has eventually collapsed when it used up key resources in their local area. Today that "local area " is the entire planet - their is no place left to move when we mess up.

Just wanted to add a quick note - I heard one of the guests mention how appalled he was that homeowners associations were preventing people from moving forward with sustainable actions. Our community is one of about 300 condominium units, and we've (as an HOA board) have tried very hard to find out how to implement more sustainable features such as solar panels on roofs, only to find out that our roofs are foam and cannot support the weight of solar panels. Additionally, we have had a terrible time at the state and APS level contacting people who can actually help us. So I just wanted to clarify that there may be extenuating circumstances (such as foam roofs) that are the actual reasons homeowner associations prevent sustainable efforts.

For homeowners with pools, are there any thoughts about creating incentives for homeowners to fill in their pools as part of our water conservation efforts?

thank you!

Your guests mentioned "going local" to help individuals foster sustainability. There are several great CSAs out there that provide locally grown organic produce that makes this much easier. I also wanted to put forth a couple of useful resources. Local First Arizona (http://localfirstaz.com) has listings of local businesses that need your support and they have also introduced their "green" search that helps you support local environmentally friendly businesses. Also, Arizona Sustainably (http://azsustainably.com) is a useful resource for news updates on green happenings, events, businesses, and reviews. Thank you for talking about this! It is refreshing to hear your guests and the callers supporting the idea of a more sustainable state and accountable citizens.

Appreciate all the insightful comments and questions. We have to revisit this topic. Please send us your thoughts on specific areas we should focus on. It sounds like recycling should be one such show. Green building another.

I missed the original broadcast, anywhere this can be heard online? Thanks!

I'm working on the podcast now. It should be on the main page around 2pm Wednesday.

Thanks!
Paul