Black Mountain Cool Cities Event Scheduled

We now have our Black Mountain Cool Cities event scheduled! It will be next Wednesday, September 5th at 2 PM at Town Hall. Two of the programs featured in our pending Cool Cities Best Practices Guide come out of Black Mountain, so it is a town taking its commitment very seriously and I am happy to have the opportunity to honor them.

As previously noticed, the Clyde Cool Cities ceremony will be on Thursday, September 6th at 9 AM at their Town Hall.

Please join us in Western North Carolina next week as we honor these Cool Cities!

WNC Cool Cities Update

We are going to be having an event to honor Clyde as a Cool City at Town Hall on Thursday, September 6th at 9 AM. It will be a great opportunity to showcase some of the good work Clyde is doing, particularly in the area of public education about what citizens can do in their daily lives.

We'll likely have an event to honor Black Mountain's good leadership that week as well.

We're not done in Western North Carolina though! I wrote this guest column that appeared in the Cherokee Sentinel today. If Murphy signs on we'll have to work on Manteo too so that we can have Cool Cities from Murphy to Manteo!

Make it 19 Cool Cities

The number of western North Carolina counties with multiple Cool Cities just continues to proliferate- when Clyde came on it made two in Haywood County, Black Mountain made three in Buncombe County, Fletcher made it two in Henderson County, and now Franklin has made it two in Macon County. WNC is leading the way!

Franklin unanimously passed the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement at its May board meeting.

The town is currently working on reworking its land use plan, and the ideas it's looking to emphasize sound pretty 'cool' to me!

• Encourage mixed land uses to promote “connectivity, walkability and a sense of community.” That means allowing different forms of development to take place in certain districts, and to promote transportation alternatives such as walking, bicycling and public transit.

• Take advantage of compact building design so that the town grows vertically rather than horizontally.

• Create a range of housing opportunities.

• Develop “walkable” neighborhoods.

• Work to foster a distinctive, attractive community, which includes protecting historic buildings.

• Preserve open space, natural beauty and critical environmental areas.

• Funnel new development into existing infrastructure to help preserve open spaces and improve efficiency in delivering town services.

• Provide a variety of transportation choices.

You can read all about their efforts here. Congratulations to Franklin for its leadership!

Two new Cool Cities

Fletcher and Black Mountain have joined the program, bringing the number of Cool Cities in North Carolina to 18.

Fletcher has curbside recycling despite its small size.

Black Mountain signed on in April, and its Planning Director informs me they already have a laundry list of 'Cool Cities' related initiatives:

-Partnered with WNC Green Building Council on a grant to promote green building.

-Conducting local workshop series for contractors and developers on green approaches and technologies

-Have adopted Phase II stormwater regulations that go beyond State minimums and encourage Low Impact Development approaches

-Have installed rain garden and stormwater retention demonstration sites in a municipal parking lot and public park

-Partnered with local colleges and a nonprofit to install education signage on water quality protection and stormwater

-Working with State Water Resources and local Pigeon River Fund on stream enhancement project in conjunction with a greenway

-Developing a comprehensive pedestrian master plan that includes sidewalks and greenways

-Have permitted a local biodiesel pump for Blue Ridge Biofuels

-Are introducing alternative powered vehicle into fleet and researching other alternative fuel technologies for Town use

-Are participating in the EPA’s “Change-a Light-bulb” initiative

-Have conducted energy audits on Town buildings to look at retrofits

-Have installed solar power on Town radio tower

It's great these towns have signed the Mayor's Agreement, it's even better to see how much good work they're doing!

Asheville, Durham among greenest cities in America

Country Home Magazine has ranked the Greenest Cities in America from 1 to 379, and two of the top 25 are amongst North Carolina's Cool Cities!

Durham registered at 16th, with Asheville coming in at 25.

According to them:

The big list of the top 25 best places to live took into account all sorts of criteria—from air and watershed quality, miles of mass transit, and green power to farmers markets, organic producers and groceries, and more. Click the map for detailed results on our survey of 379 cities sorted by region

Congratulations to these two cities for their efforts. Incidentally, my home town of Ann Arbor, MI finished 11th in the country. I'm disappointed that Chapel Hill/Carrboro was not ranked because I bet it would have come out pretty darn high as well. Although I suppose it's possible they were included as part of Durham, which could explain part of that city's high rank.

Speaking of Durham, just a reminder about their greenhouse gases forum this week.

You can check out the full package here.

Flat Rock Cool Cities event

Bill and Donna Fisk presented Mayor Ray Shaw Jr.with a 'Cool Cities' plaque.

Today I ventured to Flat Rock to honor it for becoming a Cool City.

When I got there Mayor Ray Shaw Jr. was very apologetic. He explained to me that his community could not do all the items suggested in the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement.

I told him that they were just a list of suggestions and they should do what they could, but asked if he would like to elaborate.

He said, 'well, we can't get more fuel efficient cars, because we don't own any cars!'

My response to that was that the most fuel efficient fleet was to have no fleet!

He was a very charming man and I am much appreciative for his leadership.

Many thanks to Bill and Donna Fisk for coming out to the ceremony.

More pictures from Western North Carolina

Pisgah Chair Len Griffiths presents Mayor
Jimmy Harris with his plaque. (Donna Fisk)













The whole crew from our signing ceremony: Tom Jensen from the chapter office, Pisgah chair Len Griffiths, Brevard Mayor Jimmy Harris, Canton Mayor Pat Smathers, Canton Sierran Heather Mathews, and Asheville City Councilman Brownie Newman. (Bill Thomas)

WNC Signing Ceremony

Mayor Jimmy Harris of Brevard and Mayor Pat Smathers of Canton show off their Cool Cities plaques.

As the well known philosopher Borat Sagdiyev would say, our ceremony this morning on the Blue Ridge Parkway was a 'great success.'

It was quite cool, befitting a 'Cool Cities ceremony' as we overlooked Cold Mountain.

Pisgah Chair Len Griffiths did an outstanding job publicizing the event, with WLOS-TV out of Asheville in attendance.

Bill Thomas made the best of my pollen covered car, spelling out Sierra Club in pollen on the back of it.

I had the pleasure of meeting for the first time one of our members in Canton, Heather Mathews, who came out to introduce her Mayor Pat Smathers.

Mayor Smathers, Mayor Jimmy Harris of Brevard, and Asheville City Councilman Brownie Newman (who brought his adorable daughter) all did a great job of explaining the importance of local governments taking action on global warming.

Mayors Harris and Smathers particularly emphasized the importance of bringing more cities along. They've helped in that vein by sending a letter to 35 other mayors in the western part of the state asking them to sign on. Hopefully there will be more signing ceremonies to attend the next time I'm in this part of the state.

Special thanks also to Bill and Donna Fisk for taking a lot of great pictures and to everyone in the Pisgah Group for working to make this event a good one.

I'll post media coverage as it comes in.

Join us in the Mountains

Tomorrow morning at 10:30 AM we will be having a Cool Cities signing ceremony on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Sponsored by the Pisgah Group, Mayor Jimmy Harris of Brevard and Mayor Pat Smathers of Canton will formalize their commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. They will also be joined by Asheville City Councilman Brownie Newman, who will talk about what steps his town has taken since becoming a Cool City in 2005.

Here's some advance coverage of the event from the Hendersonville Times-News.

We hope you can join us where US 276 and the Parkway intersect!

Celebrating Western North Carolina

Have I mentioned how much I love Bill and Donna Fisk?

On Thursday, April 5th at 10:30 AM, we're going to be having a ceremony at Milepost 412 on the Blue Ridge Parkway, where it intersects with US 276. We'll be honoring at least four Cool Cities in western North Carolina- Asheville, Brevard, Canton, and Highlands.

Mayor Smathers of Canton and Mayor Harris of Brevard recently co-wrote a letter that went to all the other Mayors in the western part of the state asking them to join us at the ceremony and sign onto the agreement. If you live in one of those communities, please consider contacting your Mayor.

The public is invited to this exciting occasion, and we hope to see a lot of folks Sierrans and non-Sierrans alike out there.

So what does this have to do with Bill and Donna? They went up to scope out the site yesterday and sent me a bunch of pictures. It doesn't have much in the way of facilities, but it's strikingly beautiful- and the ceremony shouldn't last too, too long anyway.

Hope to see a bunch of folks out on the 5th- and thanks Bill and Donna for going the extra mile(s) to help out with this!

Canton becomes a Cool City!

On Tuesday night the Canton Board of Aldermen endorsed the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, becoming the seventh city in North Carolina to do so. In recognition of this the North Carolina Sierra Club will hold a ceremony in April honoring the town and Mayor Smathers as a 'Cool City.'

By signing on Canton has committed to taking appropriate steps toward reaching the emissions goals outlined in the agreement. Over the last few years it has already made progress by:

-Placing their old watershed in a conservation easement and using the funds they received for doing so to build an outdoor sports complex on top of an old landfill.
-Extending water and sewer to areas that were having problems with failed septic tanks and resultant waste seepage problems.
-Significant expansion of the greenway system.
-A major renovation of its water treatment plant to improve environmental

Canton joins Asheville, Boone, Carrboro, Chapel Hill, Durham, and Highlands as Cool Cities in North Carolina. It particularly exemplifies the Sierra Club's stance that no city is too small to take leadership on the environment.

We'd like to have cities on board in all 100 counties, so please contact us if you're interested in working on it.

Press Coverage of Highlands becoming a Cool City

There is an article in the Smoky Mountain News.

Stay tuned for more coverage of Highlands' honor.

Don't you want your home town to become a Cool City? Read here to find out more about the program and feel free to e-mail me at 'tom.jensen' at 'sierraclub-nc.org' for help with doing so.

Reporting from my trip in WNC

I had a wonderful time traveling in Western North Carolina the last few days. On Thursday I drove to Greenville, South Carolina where my grandmother lives. I got up early on Friday to drive to Highlands, NC in Macon County to honor the town and Mayor Don Mullen as a ‘Cool City.’ It was an interesting drive through Upstate South Carolina. In Oconee County, in the far northwestern corner of the state, I had to slow down at one point because a llama was crossing the road! I assume it must have gotten out of its fence because I was not aware that there were wild llamas in the Carolinas.

From there I entered Georgia and drove through it for seven miles before hitting the North Carolina border. It was certainly the first time I had ever entered the state from that direction.

The ceremony in Highlands was outstanding. Mayor Mullen was very friendly and appreciative of the honor, and several media outlets showed up to cover the event. I was particularly happy to meet Breta Stroud, the local activist who brought the US Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement to Mayor Mullen’s attention. She is very energetic and enthusiastic, and is interested in helping to up the level of Sierra Club activity in Highlands and Cashiers. We are looking forward to working with her in the next few months to make that happen.

Then I drove from Highlands to Brevard to meet with Mayor Jimmy Harris. I was joined in this meeting by local environmental activists Len Griffiths, Bill Thomas, Bill Fisk, and Larry Ragsdale. Mayor Harris is an outstanding leader who has shown a commitment to environmentalism in his personal and business lives. For instance, he has put a solar roof on the hardware store he owns in downtown Brevard. He’s also done a good job of protecting natural areas in and around town for future generations to enjoy. With the impacts of human activity threatening the beauty of Western North Carolina on a day to day basis, we need more leaders like Mayor Harris who are doing their part.

The Mayor is interested in having Brevard become a ‘Cool City’ and we will be following up with him in the coming weeks. We are also looking to form a partnership with Brevard College pertaining to the Cool Cities initiative and are excited to see how that will transpire.

I was impressed by the Mayor, and I was also impressed with our local Sierra Club leaders in the Pisgah Group, most of whom I had not met before. We are lucky to have such strong leadership in Transylvania, Henderson, and Jackson Counties. They are very politically savvy and know how to get good things done in their local area.

Highlands becomes a Cool City!

The North Carolina Sierra Club is thrilled to honor Highlands, NC as its newest 'Cool City.' Mayor Don Mullen signed the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement last month.

Highlands is working on implementing curbside recycling and changing zoning regulations in order to better protect the environment.

Check out this wonderful article in the Highlands News about the signing of the agreement.

Many thanks in particular to Mayor Mullen for having the vision to sign the agreement and to local Sierra Club member Breta Stroud for bringing it to his attention.

We will be having an event to honor Highlands on Friday, January 19th at 11 AM- more details pending.

Do you want your local community to become a 'Cool City?' Contact Tom at tom.jensen@sierraclub-nc.org to find out how!