Recent Sustainability Recognitions
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ilwaukee has already been recognized for it’s committment to sustainability. Below are some of the community’s most recent achievements.
t .JMXBVLFF $JUZ )BMM $PNQMFY JO achieved LEEDÂŽ &YJTUJOH #VJMEJOH (PME certification t .JMXBVLFF .FUSPQPMJUBO 4FXFSBHF District was a 2012 U.S. Water Prize winner for its watershed-based approaches toward water sustainability. t 5IF $JUZ PG .JMXBVLFF BOE UIF Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District won the 2011 Leadership in Stormwater Management Award GSPN (SFBU -BLFT 4U -BXSFODF $JUJFT *OJUJBUJWF t *O .JMXBVLFF XBT OBNFE POF PG DJUJFT HMPCBMMZ BT BO *#. 4NBSUFS $JUZ in recognition of the City-supported urban agriculture movement. t *O .JMXBVLFF XBT OBNFE POF of 25 Solar American Cities by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Hank Aaron Trail. Photo: CH2M HILL
t *O .BZPS #BSSFUU XBT IPOPSFE by the U.S. Conference of Mayors for his work to tackle climate change. Mayor Barrett recieved honorable mention in the 2013 Mayors’ Climate Protection Awards for the Milwaukee Energy Efficiency (Me2 program).
and a vibrant downtown. The public-private efforts have yielded a cleaner, healthier river and new jobs and re-connected residents with the river and its new Three Bridges Park and Urban Ecology Center amenities.
Sustainability Matters for Profit: Sustainability as a competitive advantage is not just a policy for large corporations and multinationals with extra cash to spend. The “waste-not, want-not� aspect of sustainability helps local Milwaukee companies save money while protecting the environment. Small companies are driving job growth in the United States as they do in Milwaukee with our smalland medium-sized manufacturers increasing sales and workforce. The City’s sustainable manufacturing program (ME3) has helped over 20 small- and medium-sized manufacturers cut costs while reducing the negative environmental impacts of their business. City neighborhoods are experiencing less pollution and waste to landfill, while Milwaukee ME3 firms are seeing collective annual savings of nearly $5 million, with a payback of just over 1.5 years on their environmental investments.3
Milwaukee River. Photo: City of Milwaukee
These examples are not disconnected vignettes of life in Milwaukee; they are data points in a substantial thread of evidence that demonstrates that our everyday actions at home, in our neighborhoods, at work, and at play have meaningful effects on our lives and our city. Although thinking about how to combat climate change overall may 8 / ReFreshMKE
seem difficult, some basic actions are easy to complete and offer significant benefits for our city. For example, inspiring ourselves to properly insulate our homes, fix leaking pipes, and refrain from spraying chemicals on our lawns results in tangible changes to our ground, air, and water quality. Each of these actions can help make our community more sustainable, and in turn, each action benefits our comfort, our wallet, and our local landscapes where we recreate. These are three simple actions that show how sustainability matters. There are a million more. In fact, many Milwaukeeans live this ethic each year – some without realizing it. Springtime in the city means residents gather in force to clean up city streets, neighborhood parks, our yards, and rivers. Collectively, we understand the benefits of these actions because we can see the immediate effects of clean neighborhoods and rivers. These are tangible exercises in refreshing Milwaukee – allowing us to live outside and celebrate our diverse ethnicities, cuisines, and lifestyles through a summer-long festival season. Rather than limiting that time period by refreshing our neighborhoods only once a year, we should do so every day in small and large ways. We should harness our collective action around a strategic roadmap to make Milwaukee a better place to live, work, and play all year long. Mayor Barrett’s Green Team, which led the development of this strategic roadmap, believes that sustainability matters and is a powerful tool in continually refreshing Milwaukee.