Leveraging The Power Of Wholesale Change Through Governance

I spent yesterday afternoon at a board retreat for the Delaware Valley Green Building Council. Much of the discussion focused on the appropriate level of education/outreach to disseminate green building knowledge and transform our built environment. Should policy influencing bodies focus on wholesale change by targeting education/outreach to thought leaders, or retail change by targeting individuals or households?

One of the elements which has gotten lost in the discussion of small versus big government and government lobbying is government's role in transforming wholesale change into retail change. Policy influencing bodies like the DVGBC, USGBC, etc. can use their limited resources on education and outreach to policy makers, who in turn make laws which change the behavior of innumerable individuals.

Green building laws are an excellent example of this transformation. This election cycle, there are several green initiatives on the ballot. For example, a $17.9billion initiative in Washington for improvements to commuter rail and bus service http://law.lexisnexis.com/practiceareas/Environment-Climate/179-billion-clean-transit-plan-on-Seattle-area-ballot.

Additionally, Oregon and New Jersey have been developing comprehensive green building regulatory initiatives. Oregon--http://www.natresnet.org/resblog/post.asp?iPostID=7105; New Jersey--http://www.njlawblog.com/2008/10/articles/real-estate/green-building/legislative-initiatives-in-green-building-arena-abound/

As a result of these laws, buildings in these states will be greener and the environment cleaner, of course. But builders in these states will develop knowledge and experience with green buildings, a market for green products will be enhanced, and consumers will have more green products and buildings to choose from. In short, the benefits will move from the thought leader level to the grassroots level. At its best, lobbying and government outreach is a tool for educating thought leaders who can change policy, thereby transforming the world for the better.

A word about infrastructure

I have posted before about the need for the 2008 presidential candidates to develop an infrastructure plan. http://greenlaw.blogspot.com/2007/07/i-want-hillary-clintons-50-billion.html

This country simply cannot go on allowing our infrastructure to age and fail, as has happened twice in the past two weeks--the explosion in New York and the bridge collapse in Minnesota. Years and years of cutting taxes and underfunding capital infrastructure like sewage, rail, etc., is going to create more failures--and potentially more tragedies--until the issue is addressed.