Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton called upon community members and business owners to shift their mindsets toward sustainability at the Green Chamber’s monthly meeting Thursday. The Green Chamber is an organization that focuses on sustainable economics and businesses.
Stanton began the meeting, held at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Phoenix, with an announcement that the Valley Metro bus strike that began on March 9 would likely end today. He then emphasized the need for a multitude of transportation options.
“We need to increase the bus offerings and make it as efficient and easy for people to get out of their cars and into buses,” Stanton said. “Access to efficient and affordable transportation will provide easy movement of people and people are what drive commerce and business.”
Stanton said that adding more energy-efficient cars and continuing to improve the light-rail system will bring economic and social vitality to the city.
“It’s time we grow up a little bit and be smarter about economic development. We need to build a more diverse sustainable economy,” Stanton said. “We need to have an economy where we have great jobs—high wage jobs, jobs that are in science, technology, engineering, arts and math.”
Historically, Arizona’s economy has been based on building houses in hopes that jobs will chase housing growth, Stanton said at the meeting. But for Arizona to be sustainable, that trend needs to change.
“The housing market needs to be a laggard in the economy, where the housing market chases those good jobs,” Stanton said. “That is going to take a change in mindset.”
Stanton also said that providing affordable, clean, dependable energy to citizens needs to be a higher priority, and it ultimately starts with a new mindset. Arizona needs to reduce its energy consumption and also understand sustainability isn’t just about solar energy, but all types of renewable energy.
“Solar is the beginning of the conversation but not the end of the conversation,” Stanton said. “But we have to get solar right, and we have to do solar big, getting lots of people involved.”
Anybody involved in renewable energy and the environment is usually very passionate about it, said Mary O’Reilly, director at Oriana Technical Services.
“The big thing here is it helps in a lot of jobs, and most importantly new jobs,” O’Reilly said. “The opportunity for solar is very significant in Arizona, mostly because there is so much sun.”
Prior to being elected mayor, Stanton was a proponent of sustainability, and he is currently creating an advisory committee on the topic.
“Sustainability, of course, is mostly a mindset,” Stanton said. “Focusing on sustainability is an opportunity for collaboration and an opportunity for mutual development in ways we’ve never seen before.”
The focus needs to be on identifying environmentally friendly programs that will really stick and be capable of sustaining themselves financially, said Steve Doss, principal at Civil and Environmental Consultants Inc.
“There are lots of opportunities for small and medium size businesses looking to start a business in renewable energy sector in the Arizona,” Doss said.
Cities play a vital role in energy policy, but for Arizona to achieve its goals to scale, the cities need to start acting in a regional way, Stanton said.
“By working together, we minimize our weaknesses and we leverage our collective capacities,” he said.
Contact the reporter at rdclark5@asu.edu
