Community Actions

The city of Louisville has the potential to be one of the greenest, most sustainable cities in the world. One major obstacle is community involvement. When the general public is in agreement, nothing can stop them. Without community involvement Portland, Oregon; San Francisco, California; Reykjavik, Iceland; Vancouver, Canada; & Copenhagen, Denmark would not be considered the greenest cities in the world.

Louisville Metro is committed to creating a sustainability culture, however local municipality can only take the city so far. A truly sustainable city is only capable if residents understand the ideologies & are willing to contribute. Lack of community support will only equal failure by Louisville Metro & the city. How do you ‘break the box’ & inspire individuals that don’t care, don’t understand, or don’t know?

Fortunately, momentum is slowly building towards a sustainability culture in Louisville, but is it moving fast enough? People from all sectors are uniting to create far-reaching impacts that will change the habitual mindset of Louisvillians. Promoting a vibrant, prosperous, & healthy community.

A great organization is the Partnership for a Green City, which represents a collaborative effort to improve sustainability by four of Louisville’s largest public entities. The Partnership is leveraging the skills of its member institutions to develop a sustainability educational pipeline. The University of Louisville is influencing the city by integrating sustainability in academics, campus infrastructure, activities, & career preparation.

Local organizations are vital to creating a sustainability culture. Numerous organizations creating far-reaching changes exist around town, unfortunately I am only able to list a few.

Organizations:

• Brightside:Uniting people in clean & green activities in our community through volunteerism, planting, sustainability, & education.
• Center for Neighborhoods Green Institute:Supports & empowers neighborhoods to create stronger & more vital communities.
• EarthSave Louisville: Educates people about the effects our food choices have on the environment, our health, & all life on Earth.
• Green Convene: Advocate sustainability through coalition building & by harnessing the power of Louisville’s environmental community.
• GreenList Louisville: Guide to sustainability living.
• Kentucky Interfaith Power & Light: Bringing people together to care for the planet & each other through stewardship.
• Kentucky Waterways Alliance: Working towards a healthier future through water protection.
• Lots for Food: Transforming Louisville’s vacant lots into urban gardens
• Louisville Grows: Striving for a sustainable community through urban agriculture, urban forestry, & environmental education
• Louisville Sustainability Council: Works to engage & collaborate with the community, & facilitate the achievement of Louisville’s sustainability goals.
• Urban Design Studio: Their mission is to raise community’s awareness of better design practices for our built environment for a sustainable future.
• USGBC Kentucky: Improving the health & welfare of Kentucky citizens through a sustainable & responsible built environment. 

Sustainability is engrossed by the same individuals with repetitive solutions. This is not a bad thing, as this creates small change, but this is not enough. How does the movement grow, if the concentration is only on the typical green individual? To create the change the city needs, people will need to think outside the box. The great citizens of Louisville must do more. How do we accelerate the movement by reaching individuals that don’t care, don’t understand, or don’t know?