It's not easy being green

The evolution of Tu B'Shevat from Jewish Arbor Day to Jewish Earth Day, with all the environmental awareness that term implies, encourages us to think beyond the traditional bounds of the holiday. On Tu B'Shevat, we would do well to consider how we're treating the earth both in Israel and here in Phoenix, where we live.

Here, courtesy of the appropriately named Shade Magazine, are some local statistics:

The Valley ranks as the world's foremost "heat island."
The average low temperature has risen more than 10 degrees over the last 50 years.
More than 30 percent of the downtown area is consumed by surface parking lots.
Downtown Phoenix has more vacant land than any other major city in the United States.

In November, Shade published a special issue, "For Phoenix to Flourish," that featured proposals by faculty members and students at Arizona State University's College of Architecture and Environmental Design. In a section titled "Nature and the City," we learn that according to descriptions of Phoenix written over a century ago, our town was once green and leafy: "The town is embowered in shade trees and shrubbery, has streams of living water through every street, is surrounded by orchards, gardens, and vineyards, and is one of the handsomest in the West."

It may not sound like the downtown Phoenix you know, but there are people working to return Phoenix to its pre-sprawl charm.

Organizations such as the nonprofit Phoenix Downtown Conservancy have as their goal the integration of nature into the city of Phoenix. The Conservancy, for example, advocates "extensive tree-planting campaigns, reclaiming swatches of the desert in the city, converting landbanked parcels into temporary agricultural uses, creating community gardens and linear recreational parks, landscaping right-of-ways, replacing asphalt with pervious surfaces," and more.

And then there's Audubon Arizona, run by former Scottsdale mayor Sam Campana. In 2007, they hope to break ground for the Rio Salado Audubon Center, which is one of about six nature centers being developed around the country in an attempt to move some green into urban areas, close to inner-city schools.

These organizations, and others like them, need our commitment. In the words of CAED professor Nan Ellin, sustainable, pro-active urban design solutions "can restore health and vitality to our cities so that they truly thrive." Kermit the Frog was right when he said that it wasn't easy being green. But the alternative is anything but beautiful.

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