“It’s not an exaggeration to say that Roanoke and the Roanoke Valley are doing something that’s not being done anywhere else in Virginia,” said Governor Tim Kaine last Thursday, while addressing a crowd in front of the State and City Building on 1st Street.
The theme of Kaine’s Southwest Virginia tour was highlighting his “Renew Virginia” initiatives, and he made it clear that Roanoke’s Clean and Green Business Coalition is leading the way in the effort for sustainability.
“I’ve been doing Renew Virginia events of all kinds,” Kaine said, “but this is the first one where I’ve come to a business community [that] has rallied together and said, ‘we want to be leaders on this.’ So, it was an easy sell to get me here today.”
Roanoke City Council member Gwen Mason spoke of the coalition’s success, where the goals are to decrease litter, increase recycling, create more code enforcement that curbs “urban blight” and reduce global warming. Since starting the Clean & Green Coalition in September 2006, 12 of Roanoke’s largest employers have combined to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 13 %.
Mason said those efforts create economic savings as well as environmental: “if there’s one thing we’ve learned in a tough economy, its [that] environmental stewardship is economic stewardship.”
Kaine echoed those sentiments, talking about a future with higher energy prices and scarcer resources.
“These problems can begin to be solved in many ways, from better sustainability practices to land conservation and finding alternative fuel sources.” Kaine stressed the importance of getting the private sector involved – not simply relying on the government.
“The great thing about these energy and sustainability issues is as an individual, as a family, as a local government, as a church, as a school, as a business, everybody can do things that will advance the goal,” said Kaine, who also highlighted the role that better energy policy plays in the nation’s security.
He supported this claim by repeating advice given by the prime ministers of Israel and Morocco, whom he met two months ago during a state trades mission. Both stated the need for America to “get it right on energy policy,” as Kaine described. The growing demand for Middle Eastern oil provides a bankroll for regimes that want to experiment with nuclear weapons or fund destabilizing terrorist activities.
Many Americans are beginning to understand the broader picture on energy, said Kaine. “If we become more self-reliant, it not only helps the environment, it not only helps the bottom-line pocket book, but it keeps our nation safer.”
Kaine tied his energy talk to the enthusiasm Virginians show for the environment.
“We’re passionate about the natural beauty that we have, and throughout Virginia there is no community that is more passionate about the environment than Roanoke,” Kaine said.
One of the governor’s main projects has been preserving open space, and he is on track toward achieving his 400,000-acre goal by the end of his term. Several tracts around the Roanoke Valley (including one on Read Mountain) can now be counted in that total.
Earlier that morning, Kaine experienced that enthusiasm for the environment first-hand as he led the “Governor’s Bike Ride” on the Roanoke River Greenway. Before that, Roanoke Mayor David Bowers announced that the missing link on the greenway by Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital should be completed by Thanksgiving, garnering much applause from cyclists gathered for the ride.
Kaine called the bike ride “fantastic,” and praised the condition of the trail, as well as the beauty of the Roanoke River. He said greenways are important not only for exercise, but for creating enthusiasm about the environment.
Citing “Last Child in the Woods” by Richard Louv, the governor stressed the importance of defeating “nature-deficit disorder” among children: “unless you get kids (outdoors) … they don’t grow up to be passionate about saving the environment.”
