Valerie Molinski wrote:Again, since our city is in a budget crisis, 'wasting time' on 'green solutions' might actually help ease costs... implementing a better recycling program cuts down on trash, metals can be sold back for recycling, etc... Personally, due to recycling and composting, my family of four only generates 1-2 kitchen bags of trash each week. Im taking up less space and weight in the landfill that the city pays for. What are you doing?
Recycling does save the City money. Just from memory (always a bad idea) I think it is $250,000 or so a year with about 40% participation. Mandatory recycling would save more but enforcement costs might negate the savings. The refuse department could be a profit center for the City. ( I happen to think most City departments should be self funded profit centers but that's a subject for another day).
If council, the administration and the public want to expend some time and money on branding Lakewood as a "green" city it might have some small affect on improving people's perception of Lakewood. Of course safe streets, solid housing stock, vibrant shopping districts, good students, attractive commercial districts etc, would do a lot to create the perception of Lakewood as a "cool" place to live.
Creating public and private partnerships that create that cool perception have the potential to increase the City's population. How? By increasing shopping and working opportunities in the City which would reduce consumption of all types of fuel which would do a lot more to improve the environment than a bunch of touchy feely feel good fanfare that give people a warm and fuzzy feeling but make little difference.
What am I doing? We have always recycled. My thermostat is set at 65 degrees. I live in Lakewood close to where I work instead of 40 miles away. I vote for politicians who favor pro growth policies instead of "green" policies that increase poverty and hence a dirtier environment.
I have replaced some of my bulbs with the new mercury vapor lights to a save a few cents although such bulbs save little energy and will ultimately mean huge increases in mercury contamination in Lake Erie. But that's OK. I feel real good every time I wait for one of the bulbs to warm up so it will finally throw off some light.
Of course most of the current political hysteria about the "environment" is simply a bureaucratic smoke screen to provide cover for policies and bureaucracies whose real goal is to increase poverty, increase the power of the state, lesson personal freedom and lower economic growth to create a permanent underclass that will provide the votes needed to sustain the bureaucracy.
Do really believe those "scientists" who say that they can predict the average world temperature in July of 2096 within two tenths of a degree? And not only that but that by micromanaging your lifestyle they can regulate the Earths temperature much like you would regulate the temperature of your living room?
If you want a greener Lakewood champion policies that increase the City's population. If you want a greener world champion policies that make the world wealthier.