Detroit sustainability agenda provides good blueprint

Today the City of Detroit released their first sustainability strategy, the Sustainability Action Agenda (SAA), developed through city leadership and extensive community engagement to provide clear goals and outcomes for a sustainable city.

The Michigan Environmental Council is proud to partner with the City of Detroit’s Office of Sustainability in development of the Sustainability Action Agenda. The Environmental Council has worked diligently in Detroit for many years to create a clean, healthy and safe environment where people want to live, work and play, and has long advocated for an Office of Sustainability to advance sustainability goals in the city.

“The development of the SAA provides leadership from our executive branch to coordinate the work of many organizations around the city,” said Environmental Council community engagement director Sandra Turner-Handy, a lifelong Detroiter and co-chair of the Sustainability Advisory Commission. “The Environmental Council is proud to support a blueprint that focuses on thriving and prosperous Detroiters who have access to affordable quality housing within communities that are connected, and who have the ability to collaborate on becoming stewards of our city’s resources, which will allow us to sustain a green and equitable City of Detroit. With leadership from the Mayor’s office, all Detroiters can become champions in raising the quality of life in the city.”

The 43 initiatives detailed in the agenda provide a roadmap for making the City of Detroit a city that prioritizes the health of residents, offers affordable, energy efficient and lead-free housing that supports the well-being of its residents, promotes green jobs, ensures everyone is able to move about the city with ease, secures and protects the natural and built environment, and is ready to respond to climate change impacts.

The initiatives will also ensure Detroit reaches its outcomes and goals for solid waste management. The Environmental Council, through our partnership with Zero Waste Detroit, has worked since 2009 to bring curbside recycling to city residents and provide recycling education. The pilot program was expanded to all single-family homes citywide in 2012. The next important step for a sustainable solid waste management plan is expanding recycling to multifamily housing and commercial properties.

The Sustainability Action Agenda can be accessed here.