Sustainability isn’t just a personal or a federal concern, but a municipal one too. Such is the focus of Sutainable CT, a partnership between the Institute of Sustainable Energy and the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities.
On this week’s episode of WNHH Radio’s “The Municipal Voice,” Lynn Stoddard, the executive director of Sustainable CT and the director of the Institute for Sustainable Energy joined North Stonington First Selectman Mike Urgo to talk about the path to sustainability Connecticut cities and towns.
Sustainable CT includes 88 member municipalities, which is over half of Connecticut’s cities and towns. This program was created by municipalities and for municipalities to see a path towards sustainability, with, as Stoddard says, things that are under the control and influence of the municipalities themselves.
Each municipality works towards certification by gaining points through actions. And while there are many obvious green initiatives, Stoddard, who was instrumental in creating this program, said “municipal leaders wanted it to be broad. You can’t be certified just because of energy efficiency.”
One example is the equity actions, “required and foundational,” which has municipalities look at who is at the table and who is not at the table when making decisions. This helps a town see the full breadth of who sustainability is helping and who it is not.
North Stonington, Urgo said, has just completed a walk audit, which identified things such as unsafe crossing areas for school children, ridges that might prevent wheelchairs from using the sidewalk, and bike lanes.
This is especially true about the Greater Village Area, where many of the town buildings are located and where municipal leaders and community members have focused their attention on basic walkability improvements.
At the NoSto Fest, which will take place on September 21, Urgo said, “The walk audit gave us some data to look at and say, ‘How are we doing?’”
North Stonington has been working on putting solar panels on all municipal buildings, Urgo said. He said the town has plans to have them all installed by the end of this year.
The benefits are green and they are economic, but they also make a difference for all the residents of Connecticut, Stoddard and Urgo said about sustainability. It “speaks to what our community is about,” Urgo said.
“We can see the collective impact of the Sustainable CT municipalities,” Stoddard says, “you can really move the needle.”
Actions in Sustainable CT are accomplished by Connecticut residents, in their municipalities, and those actions align with sustainable goals the state has set. “I hope we’ll see more and more towns [join],” the First Selectman said, “so we can make a difference in our state of Connecticut.”
