Editor’s Note:
Paul Adams of the BBC authored this revealing piece a few days ago spotlighting Boulder’s trials and tribulations of ‘going green.’ He uses English grammar, of course, but the message is clear in any prose — for all the city-supported clean energy and efficiency initiatives, local officials have found it difficult to change citizens behavior on a significant scale, “even in a community as enlightened as Boulder.” A real breakthrough depends on seminal change at the national and international levels.

By Paul Adams

How green can a city really be?

Without global change, is it even worth trying?

More than six months after President Barack Obama promised delegates to the climate change talks in Copenhagen that the United States would pass sweeping energy legislation, little has changed. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he wants Democrats to chart a way forward during a meeting on last Thursday, but it is doubtful even modest proposals can get anywhere in Congress before November’s mid-term elections.

In the meantime, the city of Boulder, in Colorado, is busy setting an example.

Elissa Guralnick, a self-confessed “liberal lefty”, is
doing her bit.

The city of Boulder in Colorado hopes to cut its energy usage by 80% by 2020  At a cost of several thousand dollars, she is insulating her loft, replacing appliances and tackling draughty windows.A white plastic pipe rattles as chemically-treated cellulose is pumped into her attic from a truck parked outside.

“I like the fact that Boulder is as green a community as it can be,” says Ms Guralnick, who teaches literature at the University of Colorado. “I like the fact that it’s forward-looking, and even new-agey.”

Changing Behaviour

Boulder certainly feels very green. The Rocky Mountains rise up right behind the city. A babbling mountain creek runs through the town. There are lots of beautiful green spaces. Cycle paths run everywhere and the town is, well, littered with recycling bins.

At the twice-weekly farmers’ market, where shoppers come for organic produce and fine cheese, city employees offer advice on the “energy vampires” (electric appliances) bumping up their home utility bills.

Responsible members of the city’s 100,000 population can rent a “kill-a-watt” meter from the local library.

But for all the solar panels arrayed on the roof of the municipal building on the corner of Broadway and Canyon, the roar of traffic tells a different story.

The people of Boulder are just as wedded to their cars as they are anywhere else in America. The city has tried hard to try to get people to use public transport. But the buses crossing this busy intersection are all virtually empty.

“Changing behaviour at a community level is not easy and it doesn’t happen at a rapid pace,” admits Jonathan Koehn, Boulder’s regional sustainability co-ordinator, during a tour of some of the city’s green initiatives.

For all the subsidised home energy audits, publicity campaigns and the nation’s first carbon tax at $21 per household, the city has discovered that it is actually quite difficult to motivate people.

“We’ve come to realise that we can put the programmes in place,” Mr Koehn says, “but you can’t make people take advantage.”

Mr Koehn says Boulder is “re-tooling” its programmes to try to take account of what motivates people. Using a mixture of city funds and federal stimulus money, a programme known as “Two Techs in a Truck” will send technicians into homes and businesses to implement energy-saving measures.

The idea is to make it as easy as possible for people to do the right thing.

the rest of the story …