Councilman Greg Stanton
North Central News Column

Earth Hour is one part of Phoenix’s Commitment to Sustainability

The city of Phoenix, along with cities around the world, showed its support for sustainable practices by participating in a worldwide event called Earth Hour 2008.

Organized by the World Wildlife Fund, Earth Hour called on residents and businesses to join cities across the world by turning off their non-essential lights for one hour in the evening. This created a rotating wave of darkness as the 8 o'clock hour moved through the Earth's 24 time zones, illustrating widespread commitment to finding climate change solutions.

This year, 20 cities across the world from Bangkok to Vancouver participated in the energy-saving event and Phoenix was one of four U.S. cities representing our country in Earth Hour 2008. In downtown Phoenix, all high-rise buildings turned off their marquees, and non-essential lights were turned off in nearly every building. The energy saved in Phoenix during Earth Hour was enough to provide electricity for 9,000 homes (during that hour).

Earth Hour is just one sustainable project of many that Phoenix supports. In fact, the city of Phoenix is looking to take some major strides to improve the environmental health of our Valley for years to come. By 2025, 15 percent of the total energy used by the city will come from renewable sources, according to the Renewable Energy Goal being considered by the City Council.

To reduce our use of traditional fossil fuel resources the city will utilize renewable energy generation projects and renewable energy credits. The city already has solar and landfill gas to energy projects in the works, and these projects will be tapped to meet the renewable energy goal.

Currently Phoenix draws less than one percent of its energy from renewable sources. As one of the fastest growing and largest cities in the nation, it is important that we take responsibility to protect and preserve our community for future generations.

While the new ambitious goal is a first for renewable energy sources, the city is no stranger to environmental stewardship. My colleagues on the Phoenix City Council and city management are committed to reducing air pollution and greenhouse gases, conserving energy and water resources, preserving open space and wildlife, among other initiatives.

In fact, the city has been on the case for more than 40 years, starting back in the early 1960s when it started using recycled tires for asphalt to pave Phoenix streets. In the 1980s, we established the citizen-based Environmental Quality Commission and began discussing programs to deal with the environmental concerns of the day. Phoenix also has been focused on water resources and conservation since the 1980s.

And, over the years the city has created many outstanding environmental programs, including a number of them that have gone well beyond state and federal government regulatory requirements. Residents can visit phoenix.gov/sustainability to learn about the 70+ sustainability programs currently in place by the city.

We’re doing our part, program by program. We hope you can help the effort and continue to recycle and go green when possible. Together we can protect our unique and beautiful desert city for generations to come.