What is the Office of Sustainability?
In 2006, Mayor Franklin identified environmental sustainability as a critical factor in making Atlanta a “best in class” city. In early 2007, she charged her administration to create and foster a community dedicated to sustainability through best in class leadership and to implement solutions and practices as they are identified. To answer that charge, a team of city officials and expert consultants has assessed Atlanta’s current sustainable practices and has set forth on a course of action to implement new high impact programs and policies.
Funded by the Kendeda Foundation, Sustainable Atlanta is aimed at making our city more sustainable by improving our “green” programs and policies such as water and energy conservation, reducing our solid waste, reducing emissions, and improving the rates of recycling. With part of the funding, the City has created an Office of Sustainability to implement the recommendations of Sustainable Atlanta related to city government.
What is Sustainability?
A sustainable society is one that lives within the limits of its natural environment. Sustainability means growing, developing and consuming with the least possible impact on nature. It is a reconciliation of society’s developmental goals with the planet’s environmental limits. To be sustainable, every action must be considered within the context of protecting and preserving the environment.
What does it mean for the City of Atlanta?
For Atlanta city government, “sustainability” means making Atlanta a community that lives within the self-perpetuating limits of its environment, while maintaining high standards for economic growth, environmental integrity, and social justice. Office of Sustainability will focus on instituting environmental protection practices and improving and managing the environmental integrity of the city. In doing so, every new environmental activity, program, or policy will be screened and evaluated according to its economic and social impact.
What is being done now?
For the first phase of the Office of Sustainability, the City has focused on government operations and policies – promoting what we are already doing, identifying what we can do better, and implementing what we need to be doing to be more sustainable. In this way, Office of Sustainability’s purpose is to:
- Create awareness of the value of incorporating sustainable practices into government operations;
- Improve the way the City of Atlanta communicates sustainability messages to the targeted audiences;
- Establish support for the objectives among the public/private sector, as well as with residents; and
- Establish the City of Atlanta as a leader in sustainable practices.
In addition to creating the city government focus, Sustainable Atlanta focuses on the external drive with public policies and programs designed to make the entire city a model for sustainability.