Time for a Missouri Green Government Challenge?

Sometimes the best way to get municipalities to green their practices is to create a little healthy competition.  In Virginia, an initiative has been very successful in encouraging local governments to ‘go green’ and earn recognition for their activities.  The initiative, sponsored by the Virginia Municipal League, was named The 2009 Green Government Challenge and as their website describes:

The Green Government Challenge is a friendly competition designed to encourage implementation of specific environmental policies and practical actions that reduce the carbon emissions generated by both the local government and the broader community. Cities, towns and counties can become a certified “Green Government.”

The initiative created competition between municipalities with opportunities to learn and share best practices with one another through forums and tips submitted to an online Green Book.

The governments had the opportunity to earn points in various categories: Government Policy Adoption, Energy Efficiency, Green Building, Waste Management, Vehicles, Land Use/Transportation, Water/Air Quality, Employee Initiatives, Education/Community Participation, Schools, and Innovation.   Those cities, towns and counties that earned at least 100 “green points” out of a possible 200 received certification as a “Green Government.”

Why not in Missouri?  A competition could be created that pitted cities, towns, and counties against each other to earn the “Green Government” certification.  St. Louis could compete against Kansas City; Jefferson County against St. Charles County; Clayton vs. Maryland Heights.   The Governor’s office could sponsor the initiative or the Missouri Municipal League.  This competition could be a great way to use rivalries to help communities and lawmakers formulate good green policy and recognize communities that have already started making positive improvements.

Posted by The Core Editor on Jan 6 2010. Filed under Environment, Going Green, Government. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.