Executive Summary
Green Works Orlando
In the spring of 2007, Mayor Buddy Dyer
established an internal “green team,” comprised of staff members
representing virtually every City department and function. He tasked
this group with incorporating the City’s existing green programs into a
larger and more comprehensive plan to include a bold array of new
actions designed to dramatically transform Orlando as a more
environmentally-friendly City.
Mayor
Dyer and his “green team” spent months researching best practices and
policy models from other cities across the country, consulting
with experts in the field of sustainability and identifying both short
and long term environmental goals. The “green team” developed specific
actions Orlando could take to improve the quality of life in Orlando’s
neighborhoods, conserve, preserve and protect the City’s natural
resources and through the City’s leadership and example, encourage more
residents and visitors to make environmentally-conscious decisions in
their homes and businesses.
The result of this effort is
Green Works Orlando, an
environmental action agenda that charts an ambitious course for the City
of Orlando and reaffirms its commitment to sustainability. Under the
Green Works Orlando banner, the City
has established five “pillars” that will serve as the operational
foundation of the plan:
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Energy
Efficiencies and Green Building
Transportation
Sustainable
Infrastructure and Conservation
Green
Spaces
Advocacy
and Education |
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Under each of these pillars, the City has
defined specific actions it is pursuing now or plans to
implement in the immediate future. The Green Works Orlando plan also
includes strategies to rapidly develop additional environmental
initiatives and opportunities to measure success in all phases of the
sustainability effort.
Green
Works Orlando is designed to be a working plan, one that challenges and
inspires City
employees, residents and businesses to partner with the City to help
make Orlando a better and more environmentally-conscious place to
live, work and raise a family.
Saving the Environment… and Saving Money
This plan includes vivid examples of the initiatives the City of Orlando
is undertaking to make
environmental action a priority. While the driving force behind the
Green Works Orlando plan is doing the right thing for the environment,
the other facet is a commitment to using green strategies to improve the
City’s bottom line. Many of these initiatives help stretch taxpayer
funds during tight budgetary times. They help residents save on energy
costs. They make people less dependent on expensive fuel. They help
contribute to increase property values for Orlando homeowners.
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