It’s possible to stay true to your eco-beliefs this holiday season by giving gifts that aren’t actually things. Instead of buying clothes or books or electronics for your loved ones, consider investing in non-profit organizations that are working to preserve, conserve, and protect open spaces, watersheds, parks and wildlife habitats across America. By giving gift memberships, having trees planted in honor of your friends, or buying from merchants who give a percentage of their profits to environmental organizations, you positively impact the environment and stand up to consumerism and excess.

There are all kinds of organizations that are committed to protecting, preserving and restoring the wildlife, forests, open spaces and bodies of water in this country. Before buying your friends and family more stuff that they may or may not need, consider giving your money to one of these organizations and using your consumer power to do good now and throughout the coming year.

For Hikers: With a mission to the preservation and management of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail’s natural, scenic, historic, and cultural resources, a gift membership to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy helps provide primitive outdoor-recreation and educational opportunities for Trail visitors. Membership includes a subscription to A.T. Journeys: The Magazine of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, as well as discounts at the organization’s Trail Store and an Appalachian Trail Conservancy decal and patch.

For Bird Lovers: If you have loved ones who spend their weekends trekking through wetlands in search of elusive birds, a Gift Membership to the National Audubon Society might be the perfect gift this year. Having advocated for the preservation of natural habitats and wildlife for over a century, Audubon lobbies Congress to preserve and protect wildlife habitats, and restore already damaged ecosystems by building parks and wildlife preserves. Members receive a subscription to Audubon, the organization’s bi-monthly magazine, as well as access to Audubon sanctuaries and preserves around the country.

For Outdoor Enthusiasts: Founded in 1922 to save outdoor America for future generations, the Izaak Walton League is dedicated to restoring watersheds, reducing air pollution, protecting open spaces, and instilling conservation ethics in outdoor enthusiasts. Your gift of a Membership will help further clean air and energy campaigns, wilderness and public land protection programs, and efforts to save vulnerable watersheds and streams. The Izaak Walton League offers members discounts on publications and merchandise, and provides subscriptions to their quarterly publication, Outdoor America, to thank members for supporting the organization.

For Urban Adventurers: The Central Park Conservancy works to restore, preserve, and maintain Central Park as a beautiful place for leisure, recreation, and the appreciation of nature. If you’re looking for a unique way to support the organization’s objectives and beautify the city, you can purchase daffodil and tulip bulbs and have them planted in honor of those special people in your life.

For Boaters:The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is the only independent non-profit that is dedicated to saving and restoring the Bay and its tributaries, and has worked non-stop to “Save the Bay” for over 40 years. You can honor a loved one this holiday season by having a tree planted in the Bay’s watershed by donating $25 to the organization.

For Arborists: You can help protect the forests and ecosystems of America when you donate money to American Forests as this holiday season. The organization plants trees “in the right place, for the right reason,” and one tree is planted for every dollar you give. American Forests is a world leader in planting trees for environmental restoration, a pioneer in the science and practice of urban forestry, and a primary communicator of the benefits of trees and forests.

Happy Holidays!

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Although the environmental movement has been around for years, many communities are just starting to understand the importance of incorporating green practices into urban planning, business practices, and governmental regulations. Large and small cities have started writing green policies into their planning and development codes, and citizens are petitioning to get green initiatives on local ballots.

By demanding the incorporation of green practices and environmental regulations in planning and development decisions, environmental advocates are affecting how sustainability is incorporated in their towns and cities. When looking at cities across America, it’s easy to see that there are plenty of cities who have been “going green” for years (such as Portland, Oregon), and other communities that are just stepping up to the green challenge. Regardless of what cities have done in the past, the fact that so many cities are taking steps to build sustainability into their communities is good for everyone. In an effort to find the greenest places in America, I’ve compiled a list of the greenest American cities using surveys from Country Home, SustainLane, Popular Science and Our Green Cities.

Methodology

Though focused on the same end result (the greenest American city), each of these 4 organizations used different criteria in determining what makes a city green. In compiling their list, Country Home looked at the official energy policies, green power, green buildings, and the availability of fresh, locally grown food in each community. I was disappointed that the Country Home data wasn’t explained in greater detail, but also found it interesting that the cities on their list were comparable to the cities selected by the other organizations.

Popular Science provides the detailed methodology used in determining their top 50 cities, which includes a ranking of sustainable practices in the Electricity, Transportation, Green Living (buildings, construction, development), and Recycling/Green Perspectives of each city. If you’re interested in learning exactly how Popular Science selected their 50 greenest cities, make sure you check out these case studies that break down the methodology used in the survey.

To figure out their list of sustainable cities, Our Green Cities applied their own “Index of Taking Sustainable Cities Seriously,” a checklist that looks at smart growth activities, land usage, transportation, energy policy, pollution, and sustainable projects taking place in each of the cities. If you’re interested in what makes a city sustainable according to Our Green Cities, you can read their definition here.

SustainLane applied an impressively comprehensive method of determining the greenest cities in America, and offers an in-depth explanation of their methodology on their website. Using primary and secondary research to compile their list, SustainLane analyzed data collected from NGOs, city and state governments, federal agencies, their own interviews and surveys, and public data sources (such as academic research and media studies) to find the top green cities in America.

And the Winners Are…

1. Portland, Oregon

2. Greater San Francisco Bay Area, California

3. Seattle, Washington

4. Chicago, Illinois

5. Boston/Cambridge

6. Boulder, Colorado

7. Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota

8. Eugene, Oregon

9. Denver, Colorado

10. Albuquerque, New Mexico

The cities on this list have worked hard to incorporate green building practices, renewable energy sources, and innovative land use policies into their communities. Portland has 35 LEED certified buildings and strict limits on development, while San Francisco has planted fruit trees on city streets and made recycling a top-priority. If you’re interested in learning more about the eco-policies that guide these cities, check out the SustainLane rankings. SustainLane provides a wealth of information on each of their top 50 green cities, and you might just find ideas on how you can get your own city on the list in coming years.

Additional Resources on Sustainable/Green/Eco-Friendly Communities

Center for Sustainable Cities

Sustainable Measures: Sustainable Community Indicator Checklist

Regional Environmental Center Sustainable Cities Project

The Institute for Sustainable Cities

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So I am headed out for the next week on a well-earned vacation to The Adirondack Park in upstate New York, and I couldn’t be more excited. I’ve been vacationing on-and-off in the Adirondacks since I was an infant, and going back (after several years of not visiting) is like going home. Founded by the New York State Legislator in 1882, the Adirondack Park is unique among American parks, as it is a state park that encompasses 6 million acres, but includes plenty of privately-owned property mixed in with the state land.

Part of the beauty of the park is the overall commitment to minimizing development and returning previously developed lands to their original wild state. At the 1894 Constitutional Convention, the Legislature proposed (and passed) a covenant to achieve meaningful protection of the (Adirondack) Forest Preserve, this became the pledge that the park land be “Forever Wild.”

The lands of the state, now owned or hereafter acquired, constituting the forest preserve as now fixed by law, shall be forever kept as wild forest lands. They shall not be leased, sold or exchanged, or be taken by any corporation, public or private, nor shall the timber thereon be sold, removed or destroyed.

While the state is able to develop land for recreational purposes, the majority of parkland is meant to be kept wild (really and truly wild). Because of this, when lands are donated to the park, the structures on them are often left to fall into disrepair, and eventually turn into ruins over time. Some of my favorite Adirondack memories are of hiking back old roads and stumbling upon long forgotten homes that are little more than foundations and fireplaces. Plants and animals reclaim what was originally theirs, and after enough time has passed, it’s difficult to tell that people ever lived on the land.

In consultation with the Department of Environmental Conservation, the Adirondack Park Agency formulated the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan in 1972 to accommodate outdoor recreation without diluting the intent of the “forever wild” protection of the Preserve. The state has, and continues to make improvements on the park in order to expand access for recreational purposes, and has classified the park land into the following classifications: Wilderness, Primitive, Canoe, Historic Areas, Wild Forest, and Intensive Use. In maintaining the land, the Adirondack Park Agency has built roads, tent platforms, telephone poles, boat landings and campsites (among other things) in an effort to accommodate visitors. In doing so however, the Agency centers new development around already developed properties, so as to limit the expansion of man-made structures within the park.

For a kid from the suburbs (more urban than not), going to the Adirondacks every summer was a way to truly connect with this earth, and to understand that just because I lived among so many people didn’t mean that the animals weren’t out there too. This time around it’s my 11-year old nephew’s turn to watch for bald eagles and loons, and I hope he’ll want to have the same kind of connection to his environment and the other animals that inhabit this world as I did when I was his age.

The wildlife in the park really is spectacular, and (according to the Adirondack Park website) includes: black bears, white tailed deer, common loons, mergansers, bald eagles, beavers, coyotes, fishers, bobcats, brook and lake trout, land-locked salmon and more. Personally, I’ve come face-to-face with an adolescent black bear at Camp Santanoni Historic Area, watched loons dive and surface for hours on end, and watched beaver families devour trees and turn marshland into ponds with their busy work.

Another thing I learned about from my Adirondack vacations was the flora and fauna of the region. Both of my parents are “amature naturalists” (for lack of a better term I suppose), and can identify countless tress, plants, flowers and mushrooms. Hikes always involved my dad explaining the makeup of the forests - he would point out rare plants, identify trees, and explain how the old-growth forests developed over time. It wasn’t until I became an adult that I realized that not all dads knew this kind of information, and that I was a really lucky kid for growing up with people who knew which plants were native to a region and which were imported. And while I could have learned this kind of stuff in Maine or New Hampshire, or any number of other forested regions of this country, we went to the Adirondacks, and I learned it there.

Clearly the park is a special place, though I will admit that I am a little nervous to go back there and see how much it’s changed - if trees have been cut down - if people have developed their own lands… Every region needs some development, and the Adirondacks has a year-round population who protect the land, but also need to make a living and feed their families. It will be interesting to check out what’s happened in the 5 years since I’ve visited the park - let’s hope that the mantra remains “Forever Wild.”

See you when I get back!

All Photos by Jessica Bacon

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