General Plans awash in "Green"

Myth busting! (or staying alert when general plans are deployed)

By Grace Marvin

There are six ways sellers greenwash a product they are marketing, according to greenecocommunity.com. Beside each way listed below is a corresponding example of a myth about the “products” as heard from developers, local elected officials, and staff. The point: be prepared to bust these myths, when you hear them, as greenwashing.

1. Hidden trade-off

Myth: If we build a road through a local orchard or across a creek, the commuter shortcut will make Chico easier to get around and thus be more sustainable.

Busted: maintaining local agriculture and riparian areas are more effective in addressing the overlapping circles of sustainability: economic, environmental, and social equity.

2. No proof

Myth: Since the term “sustainability” is used in the General Plan’s Economic Development Element, we can be assured that decisions coming out of the General Plan will be economically sustainable.

Busted: Will the city really consider the long term costs of plans for a new highway interchange or a new housing/shopping development? What about true costs to taxpayers, to the owners of local businesses, and to the environment for the added air pollution, stress on water resources, and loss of habitat that accompany sprawling new development?

3. Value Claims

Myth: People prefer to live on ranchettes with big lawns; we should allow them freedom of choice by zoning for such homes.

Busted: Are these verified, realistic wishes, especially when job situations are precarious, financing is tight, and energy is expensive? Studies show that people enjoy living, working, and socializing in well-planned compact communities within the city.

4. Irrelevant

Myth: Letting the free market decide where housing will be is good.

Busted: The free market is NOT providing sustainability. We the people need to direct the City of Chico to plan for housing that increases the sustainability of the community. We also need to be vigilant about protecting our natural resources, such as water recharge areas, to ensure enough affordable water for all our local citizens, i.e., still another fairness need not addressed by the free market.

5. Lies or Fibs

Myth: It would be green to plan separate communities far from downtown, say, in the foothills, yet loaded with energy efficient housing and lovely open spaces.

Busted: It’s not “green” to plan more commuting and to use more tax money on the infrastructure that outlying communities need. Instead, development should be revitalizing within the city, while keeping adjacent land in agricultural uses, in stewardship with the land’s natural resources.

6. Lesser of 2 Evils

Myth: To create sustainable jobs, cater to chain stores.

Busted: small local companies employ more people than national and international ones. The city should find out how they can facilitate the development of local jobs for locally farmed food and locally produced products to be sold in local markets. Civic leaders: encourage appropriate alternative energy production to get ready for substantial change that’s coming; stop the greenwashing, and join the local revolution for achieving true sustainability.

From the Fall/Winter 2010 issue of the Environmental News.