SUSTAINABILITY MISCONCEPTIONS

By KYLE BACKER

While an increasing number of individuals and businesses recognize the benefits of being climate conscious, some still hold on to outdated views. For Lori Singleton, president and CEO of Arizona Forward, the biggest misconception she encounters is the idea that being sustainable is costly.

“For a while, [being sustainable] was more expensive. If you think about solar or buying energy efficient equipment, people tend to think it’s going to cost more, but that’s not always the case,” she says. “There’s been a lot of work done pointing to the economic benefits.”

Incoming Arizona Forward board chair Aaron Meilleur, senior vice president and area manager for HDR Engineering, says that in the past, opportunities for making a project more sustainable were sacrificed in the interest of cost and time savings. As green technology gets cheaper and Greater

Phoenix continues to attract more residents and businesses, the old approach to growth is being reassessed.

“Phoenix is the fifth-largest city in the U.S.,” he says. “The days of sprawling out and thinking we’re a half-hourcommute town are gone. People have realized that we need smarter growth options [such as] opportunities to increase the density of employment [opportunities] and where people live so they have the same opportunities for the enjoyment of life [as] the urban corridors.”

Another common misperception Singleton encounters is about the state’s multi-decade drought.

“We’re not going to run out of water, but we do need to conserve, and every little bit helps,” she says. “We often bring people into the drought contingency discussions and educate them on what’s going on with our water supplies because [the issue is] sometimes sensationalized.”