STAFF EDIT: It’s easier being green

Among the myriad of issues that compose this year’s race for Boston City Councilor, the seemingly least political of those issues is the environment, yet it is one of the most important. While the four major candidates all have very different experiences in environmental advocacy and therefore present four very different avenues toward solution, the most viable plan is a plan that will get as many people to act as soon as possible. The time for gentle reminders and public service announcements has long passed, and the time for rallying and perhaps a legislative push is now.

Candidate John Connolly, who chairs the City Council’s Environment and Health Committee, has said he wants to make Boston the greenest city in the world. While this sounds nice on a pamphlet, Connolly seems to lack the practicality needed to form feasible environmental policy. And his plans to institute an Environmental Science Academy to start teaching children from a young age about environmental responsibility are, while creative, several generations too late. By now, most people know about environmental threats and how society contributes to them. What people need is not an education, but rather a call to action.

Stephen Murphy and Felix Arroyo are on a more pragmatic track. Murphy’s plans are simple, to the point and completely doable, involving alternative energy initiatives like wind and solar power. He also wants to invest more into efficient CFL light bulbs. Arroyo favors more comprehensive bike routes and home weatherization training. These steps are significantly smaller in scale than Connolly’s, but their effects would be greater thanks to their accessibility. Everyone can afford a CFL light bulb ‘- but no one can afford to singlehandedly make Boston the greenest city in the world.

Ayanna Pressley and Tito Jackson, though he is not among the top four candidates, approach the matter with unique economically focused lenses. Pressley, who has partnered with the City Environment and Energy Department, believes the answer lies in energy audits and energy efficiency tax incentives. Jackson goes a little further out on a limb, maintaining that if there were more available local jobs, the long, environmentally expensive commutes of some Bostonians could be cut. He also advocates the establishment of compulsory recycling and composting. These are the types of plans that Boston ‘- and all major cities ‘- need to adopt in order to make a difference. Taxing and auditing are the only ways to make citizens feel like this is a personal ‘- not remote ‘- problem, and making lifestyle adjustments that pay people back for being responsible is a perfect way to generate positive response. While things like CFL light bulbs, wind turbines and solar power are great on their own, it will truly take a village to make any actual change in this country’s horrible environmental crisis. If city council candidates cannot rally that village, the rest of their environmental policies will simply go to waste.