U.S. Green Cities Delegation Confirms “All Politics is Local”

On April 20, 2012, in Mark, by Ambassador Brzezinski
0

In the late 1970s/early 1980s, then-U.S. Speaker of the House, Tip O’Neill, coined the now-famous saying “all politics is local”. This holds particularly true in the United States where the federal system reserves to states and cities most authorities and decision-making powers, making America a “ground-up” society were local action and grass-roots enthusiasm leads the way.

Earlier this week Natalia and I hosted a breakfast for a group of mayors and city representatives from the U.S. National League of Cities to get a flavor of how they are developing and implementing environmentally sustainable solutions. The delegation – representing Baltimore, Maryland; Cleveland, Ohio; Dubuque, Iowa; and St Paul, Minnesota – also met with Swedish counterparts under the auspices of the Swedish American Green Alliance (SAGA) to exchange best practices on urban sustainability to make sure that local politics does not stay local, but that these great solutions spread internationally.

Each of these elected officials displayed an impressive breadth of knowledge and determination to implement effective sustainability programs in their respective cities, each with very distinct and individual challenges and opportunities. Natalia and I were so inspired by the level of commitment and imagination in the room.  Whether it was tackling issues of transportation in Baltimore, spreading knowledge through early education on sustainability in Cleveland, or high-speed rail and an emphasis on public-private partnerships in St. Paul,  each of these city representatives were finding creative solutions to make improve the quality of life for their citizens. By utilizing his years of experience at John Deere Co.  and a dedication to improving the lives of his nine grandchildren, Mayor Boul of Dubuque, Iowa has helped make Dubuque one of the best small cities to raise a family, according to Forbes.

The delegation visited Hammarby Sjöstad together with Natalia. Hammarby has gone from being a former industrial site in the late 1980s to a sustainable neighborhood with cutting-edge holistic solutions that help its nearly 26,000 residents make significant energy savings while also saving money. The goal of the “Hammarby Model” is to integrate energy, water and waste to make the most efficient system possible.  What was once a polluted area populated by squatters, has now become a coveted residential areas for young families and professionals due to its vast and family-friendly “green areas”, efficient garbage sorting system, district heating and goal of making it the first completely electric car area by 2020. Hammarby Sjostad has become a global example of sustainability, and has over 13,000 visitors per year. Our city representatives, along with Natalia, were able to place a peg on a map of the world for all visitors. The map depicted visitors from Canada to China, Norway to Saudi Arabia.

In a similar fashion, the U.S. cities we met have adopted a number of sustainable initiatives. Council member Kraft of Baltimore told us that a 2.25% tax increase on downtown parking has allowed the city to offer free public transport in the city center which has encouraged residents to leave their cars at home.  Mayor Coleman of St Paul informed us about his city’s district heating grid which is run on biomass. Considering St Paul was one of the main destinations for Swedish emigrants in the late 19th century, it is not too surprising that it was two Swedes who constructed the city’s district heating system a couple of decades back

Both Natalia and I were pleased to see how Swedish and U.S. cities are uniting to take the lead in urban sustainability. This goes for both large and small cities. Dubuque, a town of 60 000, and its mayor, Roy Buol, has shown how a small city can serve as a small scale test pilot for bigger cities. As an example, Dubuque recently teamed up with IBM to launch a brand new smart metering system that will allow the town’s residents to keep a close eye on their energy and water consumption as part of Dubuque being IBM’s test bed for its “Smarter Cities” initiative. The overall goal is for this system to be spread around the United States and around the world.

All politics truly is local – sustainability is no exception.

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • • •
 

Nobel Reflections

On December 12, 2011, in Natalia, by Ambassador Brzezinski
0

Ready for the Nobel dinner!

The Nobel Prize Gala in Stockholm’s City Hall on Saturday evening was the single most magnificently-orchestrated, elegant event I have attended. Descending the gently angled, marble staircase on the arm of an escort, my breath caught at the warmly lit, brick-lined expanse of the hall which had ceilings that seemed to reach to the heavens. Between different courses of food, graceful ballerinas danced on pointe along our tables and masterful violinists pierced the air. The event itself was the perfect marriage of great science rewarded, and pure glamour.
But this fairy-tale scene was not the climax of the festivities — the most moving and climactic moments occurred during the awards ceremony when the laureates were presented their medals by the King.
Seated on the stage in front of members of the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, and across from the Swedish King and royal family, the Nobel laureates (which included five Americans) reflected the pride of a lifetime’s arduous experimentation and hard work. Whether it was the twinkle in Professor Saul Perlmutter’s eye every time his child made eye contact with him, or the way Professor Brian Schmidt lovingly winked at his wife, there was pure joy in the air.
Two moments in particular lit up the crowd:
Professor Ralph M. Steinman was part of the team of Professor Bruce A. Beutler and Professor Jules A. Hoffman, who received the Nobel Prize for physiology. Sadly, three days before receiving the news, Professor Steinman passed away to pancreatic cancer. Nonetheless, the Nobel Committee decided to award him the prize.
Dressed in black, his wife sat pensively throughout the ceremony and accepted the award on behalf of her husband. After three ceremonial bows—one to the royal family, one to the academy and one to the audience—Mrs. Steinman spontaneously kissed her palm and threw her arms into the air, looking up passionately at the sky and delivering a bittersweet gesture in celebration with her husband.
The second moment that defined the evening was the presence of the famed Swedish poet and Nobel Prize winner in literature, Tomas Tranströmer. Mr. Tranströmer is a hauntingly evocative poet, whose metaphors capture the minds of Swedes and literature aficionados around the world for decades. He suffered a stroke in 1990 that left him unable to speak and partially paralyzed.  But he continued to write. Upon receiving the prize, Mr. Tranströmer was wheeled to the center of the stage to thunderous applause. Although his facial movements are restricted, he began to glow and the strength of his smile radiated throughout the orchestra hall. At one point he shifted himself with such poise in order to sit up just a little straighter and a little prouder in his wheelchair in order to soak in the moment.  A truly noble Nobel moment!

The fortitude and grace of both Mrs. Steinman and Mr. Tranströmer personify the spirit that Alfred Nobel set out to establish through his legacy. A final thread woven amongst the fabric of these special moments was an enduring and powerful emphasis on the young generation to continue scientific exploration. We are in a global period where the environment is suffering and climate change issues can be a sore and contentious topic. But an enormous source of optimism for me was the excitement and proactive engagement among both the Swedish youth, and youth from around the world, who were present at the ceremonies.
Everywhere I went, young high school and university students described how inspired they were by the cutting-edge leadership on promoting new sources of sustainable energy of U.S. Energy Secretary, and 1997 Nobel laureate in physics, Steven Chu who was visiting to help celebrate the Nobel Prizes of professors Perlmutter and Shechtman, who are associated with U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories.  These students told me how excited they were to be studying science. I am confident that these young people will lead our world into a new century of preservation, conservation and sustainable development.

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • •