04 February 2009
Grand Rapids, Michigan: Building Green on Conservative Values
Having mayor, conservationist, and minister in one person helps
Washington — Grand Rapids, Michigan, where George Heartwell has been mayor since 2004, has an abundance of green spaces. The mayor, who likes fishing, canoeing, backpacking and hiking, would like to keep it that way.
“I was raised with an appreciation for the natural environment, and I’ve seen consequences of mistreating it,” he said.
Heartwell puts the city’s money where his mouth is. Walk city streets, and you can see rooftop gardens, rainwater cisterns, solar panels and other features on existing green buildings, including on a new art museum, a pub, a hospital, and corporate buildings. The city has the highest number per capita of buildings that comply with the standards set by the U.S. Green Building Council and plans to build 50 more. Take a bus or hail a taxi and it is likely to be a hybrid vehicle. The city also is planning a streetcar line.
Grand Rapids draws 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources and plans to reach 100 percent by 2020, mostly from wind power plants.
These and other green initiatives have earned the city accolades from experts, publications, and even the United Nations, which ranks it among the most sustainable and experienced in clean-energy practices in the country.
Heartwell also is a prudent person, as are most of his Western Michigan compatriots. He promotes environmental stewardship, energy conservation and renewable energy to bring business, create jobs and circulate public and private money within the local economy.
BUILDING GREEN ON CONSERVATIVE VALUES
Residents of the leading U.S. cities in green initiatives — San Francisco; Portland, Oregon; New York — tend to have liberal values. But Western Michigan is a predominantly conservative region and its residents derive their environmental mind-set from the Bible, which urges believers to care for each other and the Earth.
Strong corporate ethics and philanthropic inclinations in the region are based on a religion-inspired “sense of stewardship and the celebration of natural resources,” said Dave Rinard, director of global environmental performance at Steelcase Incorporated, a furniture manufacturer.
Deborah Steketee, executive director of the Center for Sustainability at Aquinas College, drives the point further.
“Deep-rooted conservation ethics lead us to ask different questions and find other solutions than in some other places,” she said.
Heartwell seems to personify this ethic and the attitudes derived from it. The mayor comes from a religious family that owned a small business. After running that business for a few years, he was ordained a Protestant minister and served at a faith-based program for the homeless in Grand Rapids.
RUST-BELT GOES GREEN
Local interest in sustainability has a long history. As early as 1931, the founder of the furniture-making company Herman Miller wanted his enterprise to be a good steward of the environment. In the 1990s, Peter Wege, the head of Steelcase, coined the word “economicology” to define the balance between economics and ecology. The word did not catch on, but his foundation poured money into green projects.
Herman Miller, Steelcase, Haworth Inc. and Cascade Engineering were among early adopters of energy efficiency and sustainable manufacturing practices. They “linked lean manufacturing with green manufacturing,” Rinard said. Some were standard-setters nationally. For example, Herman Miller’s corporate headquarters, built in 1995, was among the buildings that the U.S. Green Building Council used to establish its standards.
Some local manufacturing companies started swapping ideas and best practices within an informal network that evolved into the West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum. Because its leaders were close to the local community, their attitudes toward the environment and energy use inspired other groups and individuals. Business leaders also funded some local initiatives. For example, the Steelcase Foundation in 2003 gave a grant to Aquinas College to establish an undergraduate program in sustainable business, the first such initiative to be launched in the country.
Mayor Heartwell remembers that his green proposals initially were met with skepticism. He and the city council had to overcome resistance from “certain segments of the population who asked ‘Why waste time and money on the climate stuff,’” he said.
As the risks of global warming and the benefits of clean technologies became more apparent, the resistance weakened. Heartwell was elected for a second term and Grand Rapids’ economy moved toward a more knowledge-based model.
Grand Rapids has lost thousands of furniture and auto parts manufacturing jobs in recent years but gained many in other sectors.
Birgit Klohs, the head of Western Michigan economic development agency Right Place Inc., said the timing of the city’s green campaign could not be better, because green credentials and expertise have turned out to be increasingly important in attracting business in recent years. For example, its green reputation has helped Grand Rapids draw more conventions.
This achievement is particularly striking when one considers that three big automakers in the eastern part of the state struggle to survive because they failed to innovate and move toward energy conservation.
More information on Grand Rapids is available on the city Web site. More information on the area’s green initiatives is available on the Web site of the Center for Sustainability.
