Editorial

Time to think even greener

In his historic acceptance speech, Barack Obama spoke of “the enormity of the task that lies ahead.” “The challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime,” he said, “two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.”

“A planet in peril,” indeed. That our president-elect is so clearly committed to tackling global warming and sustainability is enormously encouraging after eight years of Bush ignoring the evidence and the issues.

Obama has often repeated his goal of encouraging research and development of renewable energy, and that sort of forward thinking is just what our country—and our planet—need right now.

Mayor Bloomberg has also been on the mark with his green initiatives.

This week, it was announced the city will require new buildings to include indoor bicycle parking. That’s great news, since it will foster bicycle commuting—nonpolluting, healthy transportation that relieves congestion. The city should also explore ways of encouraging existing buildings to provide similar facilities.

In the same vein, the creation of bike lanes is another positive step by the mayor. Aside from a few growing pains currently being addressed by the community, the Ninth Ave. bike lane appears to be an out-and-out success in Chelsea. Another lane is currently being considered for Eighth Ave., which will no doubt make the neighborhood of the most progressive and pedestrian-friendly areas of our city.

The mayor’s idea to charge shoppers a minimal fee, 6 cents, for each plastic bag is also good green thinking. Using a reusable canvas tote bag is no great burden, and this plan could generate up to $16 million a year for the city.

For the still-evolving Hudson Yards development that will likely see lengthened stalls due to the economic conditions, the community needs to take this valuable time to push for as much open space and parkland in the massive project as possible.

Green roofs are another novel way to improve our environment. P.S. 41 is fundraising for one on its W. 11th St. building. It certainly would help if the city and local elected officials chipped in.

Far and away, though, the one thing that would effect the most change would be tolling traffic. Although it failed once due to a discouraging lack of political will, the mayor should not give up on congestion pricing. Traffic tolling would not only immensely improve our community’s livability, it would encourage the use of mass transit, ferries and bicycle commuting, while providing a steady funding stream for mass transit.

The private sector is going green, too. Chelsea Piers, for one, recently announced the waterfront sports and entertainment complex will purchase 100 percent of its power from wind-generated electricity, making it one of the city’s and country’s top such purchasers.

There are many ways to make our city and world greener. With Obama and Bloomberg, we’re moving in the right direction. But we all need to be creative and involved, and push for environmentally sustainable initiatives at all levels.