David Miller, the Mayor of Toronto, was in town last week to participate in two notable events: a day long summit sponsored by the Community Sustainability Partnership and the fourth annual convention of the Great Lakes Cities Initiative.
But, perhaps more importantly, his visit symbolized how Grand Rapids now stands with a select group of cities around the world working tirelessly to advance the concept of sustainability and promote development that balances economic, environmental, and social goals.
Toronto, you see, was recognized in May 2005 by the United Nations as a Regional Center of Expertise (RCE) in Education for Sustainable Development. That means there's a whole bunch of people there – school teachers, researchers, business leaders, politicians, and the media – focused on educating local folks about the values of sustainable development, striving to change behavior, and ultimately helping to achieve a wide range of global goals on such complicated topics as human health, gender equality, rural growth.
Toronto was the first city in North America to receive the unique designation.
Grand Rapids was the second. Mayor George Heartwell announced the city's UN designation in his State of the City address on January 20, 2007.
“We are the first US city to receive the honor,” Mayor Heartwell said, “and only the second city so designated in North America…the world now recognizes Grand Rapids as a leader in global sustainability.”
Obviously it is an honor to be the first at something, and this particular honor held by Toronto and Grand Rapids is shared by only a few other cities and regions worldwide, though many more are anticipated. But what does it really mean that the UN has declared GR an RCE? It’s fair to ask also whether it makes some practical difference to us.
According to Corky Overmyer, the sustainability manager for the City of Grand Rapids, the United Nations established the RCE network to carry out its global education goals – to create what it calls a Global Learning Space for sustainable development education.
“They want to increase the capacity of the general public, and decision makers in particular, to promote sustainability components in national development planning and implementation," says Overmyer.
He authored the proposal to the UN that put Grand Rapids in the lineup with leading sustainability pioneers such as Toronto, Barcelona, the Rhein-Meuse-Argonne region, and cities in Japan and Malaysia. The proposal pointed particularly to the educational work of the Community Sustainability Partnership, a city-led coalition of businesses, citizens, and learning institutions such as Grand Valley State University and Grand Rapids Public Schools.
The United Nations advocates a two-step approach to educating the public at large, and decision makers in particular, on the importance of sustainable development planning in their home nations. First, integrate state-of-the-art knowledge on the science and technology of sustainability into local educational curricula. Second, raise public awareness so that the new knowledge will be effectively reflected in local, regional, and national strategies across the globe.
The tendency is to recognize Grand Rapids alone for its work on the sustainability issue. But that is not necessarily the case. Many initiatives across numerous West Michigan deserve notice. The push to promote sustainable development practices is a broad regional trend. Grand Rapids just took the early lead.
For that reason, along with the UN program, the city can anticipate that people from around the world – leaders like Toronto Mayor David Miller – will visit west Michigan in the coming years to expand their special interest in sustainability planning, and learn from Grand Rapids' experience.
The community can demonstrate research centers, for example, industrial design achievements, manufacturing and policy expertise, LEED certified buildings, and other achievements shared as yet by few other locations anywhere in the world.
Visitors may, of course, also discern some of our failures – including, as a general category, those local leaders in business and government who are still oblivious to the deep economic, environmental, and cultural benefits of embracing the philosophy and practice of sustainable development. Luckily, that group is getting smaller and smaller.
The UN aim hopes to focus its educational efforts especially on the developing nations. In the matter of sustainability, however, and need for education, all nations are developing. If GR has a position of leadership now, it will not be able to rest on its laurels. The community must continue to show progress every year. Nor will it be entitled to call itself a sustainable city for a while. It is far from that.
The important thing is that the conversation is underway and attracting global attention. But civic leaders must get much more aggressive in the advancement of real, on-the-ground sustainable solutions and goals if they intend to retain the city's status as a global leader ten or twenty years from now. We must move much more quickly from uplifting speeches to bold actions. The city must look, feel, and function like it knows what it is talking about.
For many local leaders involved in the movement, that means, among other things, formalizing an approach to city planning that addresses sustainability criteria in every city department and shaping departmental budgets that tie to specific sustainability performance measures. More specifically, it means making visible progress in healing the local urban ecology; greatly expanding mass transit instead of ever expanding highways; and preparing the workforce to compete in a knowledge economy.
In short, maintaining a leadership role in the global sustainability movement means waking up a lot more sleepy-headed people.
Tom Leonard, the former executive director of the West Michigan Environmental Action Council, is a writer and independent consultant living in Grand Rapids. He covers the sustainability beat for Rapid Growth.
Photos:
Toronto's famous tower (photo courtesy of istock)
Toronto Mayor David Miller (photo by Andy Guy)
Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell (photo by Andy Guy)