Painting the town green
Student business fellows group organizes plan to make Muncie a more environmentally friendly city.
By David Cawthon
When the Sierra Club started the Cool Cities initiative, only the major green Meccas of the U.S. latched on to the sustainability idea – now, most of the country’s major cities and smaller towns have embraced the project, including Muncie, Ind.
Cool Cities encourages cities to adopt a sustainability plan to curb practices that harm the environment and contribute to global warming. According to the Cool Cities Web site, the first step to become a Cool City is to have the city mayor sign the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement promising to reduce carbon dioxide pollution to 7 percent of 1990 levels by 2012. Muncie Mayor Sharon McShurely has signed the agreement.
During the Fall 2008 semester, a Ball State University Cool Cities team devised an energy proposal personalized for Muncie and presented their findings to McShurley. Justin Miller, a graduate student assistant for the project said it was a great experience for the team.
The three groups of the Cool Cities team each focused on a specialized portion of the plan: one group analyzed fuel resources for Muncie public transportation and police vehicles as well as utilization of environmentally friendly fuels; the second group researched other Cool Cities and developed goals and policies for Muncie; and the third group conducted surveys in order to discover what local resources could aid the Cool Cities movement and to discover government agencies practices and opinions about sustainability.
“Ball State’s already got the ball rolling with their buses,” says Zach Miller, senior business major, who researched vehicle solutions. The Muncie Indiana Transit System already uses soy biodiesel in its buses and Miller hopes to replace the Muncie police vehicles with hybrids. “The problem we’ve encountered is that police vehicles require a lot of energy, and a lot of hybrids don’t have that much [energy],” he says.
Justin Miller says that the poor economy has limited the group’s suggested green solutions presented in its Cool Cities plan. He says implementation of Cool Cities initiatives will rest squarely on the shoulders of Ball State and Muncie citizens.
There may be other larger problems facing the team’s green plan. According to sustainlain.com, out of the top 50 sustainable U.S. cities, only 19 are inland. All are large cities, with Indianapolis ranking at No. 44. Seattle is the greenest city in the nation and is where Cool Cities originated.
John Vann, a marketing professor at Ball State, says Seattle’s progressive nature contributed to the city’s green success and that Muncie can follow its lead.
“The No. 1 issue is climate, and that’s why Cool Cities is so important to reduce green house gas emissions and reduce energy consumption,” he says. “Every city, every person, every business, every municipality, every state, ever country has to get on board.”
According to the Cool Cities Web site, the majority of Cool Cities have large populations of at least 100,000 people or more. Muncie has a population of about 50,000.
“I think what hurts smaller cities is convincing the populace that this is just as important as the other duties of city government,” Justin Miller says. “Again, Muncie has some great things going for it – the University community really supports these types of initiatives.”
Ball State’s efforts to support a sustainable future are becoming visible across campus. Most students are acquainted with the hybrid electric buses that buzz around campus, and newer residence halls, such as Park Hall and the new North Hall, are being constructed with the environment in mind. The university recently acquired new Miles ZX40S automobiles that have “All Electric Vehicle” and “Zero Emissions” proudly printed on the side doors and trunk.
Justin Miller says he believes the cities that follow through with the Cool Cities plan will put more taxpayer funds into services that assist the community, such as increased public transportation and more energy-saving measures. However, governments need to tax to raise the money necessary to fund green incentives – a concept that may not sit well with people’s pocketbooks during the current economic slump.
Vann says that under normal economic circumstances when the local government implements taxes for green incentives, people tend to turn down the idea. Add a poor economy to the equation and going green may become more unappealing to taxpayers.
Vann says greener living is vital.
“We’ve got to change our ways in a big way,” Vann says. “It’s not going to be convenient.”
Despite the poor economy, many budget-friendly green options exist. According to care2.com, switching from regular incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescent light bulbs uses 60 percent less energy per bulb and produces 300 pounds less carbon dioxide a year. The least expensive option costs $6.58 for a pack of four bulbs at Walmart and each last for 6 years.
Vann says the most important thing Muncie can do is educate its citizens.
“I don’t think we’ve done a good job about educating people about the seriousness of the issue,” he says. “What scares me is it will be a fad. If you talk about a nation or city being there for future generations, we really don’t have a choice. That’s how important it is.”
