Judy Orcutt, co-founder of the all-volunteer Indian River County Sustainability Committee, with Himanshu Mehta, managing director of Indian River County’s Solid Waste Disposal District and coordinator for the Green Government application.
Since the first shouts to “go green” were heard four decades ago, the response has been slow but sure. Despite years of lethargy in Washington, more and more ordinary Americans have taken to recycling, hybrid vehicles and telecommuting, organic foods, and – thanks in part to a tax credit in the government’s economic bailout plan – even small, front-yard wind turbines.
What was once dismissed as a fringe hippie movement is fast becoming a part of mainstream life. Disturbing climate changes, sobering gas prices, soaring electric bills, overloaded landfills, vanishing marine life, and the appearance of toxic produce at the supermarket have all helped spur millions into action.
Local bureaucrats are now among the key change agents. By the end of March, it is expected that the county government was certified as “green” by the non-profit Florida Green Building Coalition (FGBC), the result of a year-long effort by the all-volunteer Indian River County Sustainability Committee co-founded by County Commissioner Peter O’Bryan and environmentalist Judy Orcutt.
Read the entire article in the March 2009 issue
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