Work Green and Build Green with Linda Goldstein
Matt Deichmann: Our guest today is uniquely qualified to speak to eco-friendly approaches in building green. As the leader in the flooring and renovation industry, Linda Goldstein has worked hard to keep tons of carpets out of landfills as the general manager of CI Select Flooring Solutions. Linda is also the mayor of Clayton, Missouri where she is instrumental in green building initiatives, welcome to SBTV.com Linda.
Linda Goldstein: Thank you.
Matt Deichmann: 800 mayors are taking part in the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, the first commitment by US selected officials to seek containment of the Kyoto established greenhouse gas reduction. Mayor, what are you doing in your city?
Linda Goldstein: Well we help just a number of initiatives and I’m so proud of us because we have, since signing the Mayors Climate Protection agreement in February of 2006, we have achieved nine of the 12 Kyoto Protocol targets. We do things for example in development, we have a couple of initiatives in terms of making sure that city buildings are lead certified and making lead certification a public benefit in a PUD. PUD is a special zoning category and we have a whole philosophy in terms of our city operations. We have hybrid vehicles. We have biodiesel fuel for our fleet. We have an environmental website and an environmental group of employees that keep that website up. An environmental committee made up of our citizens. We’re a tree city, so I could go on and on but we’re very, very proud of the progress that we’ve made in terms of really achieving these targets.
Matt Deichmann: Are there incentives, financial or otherwise from state or federal government above yours for a city like yours to do that?
Linda Goldstein: There are no incentives to our city to do that. I know that in other cities across the country, they are giving incentives to developers for example to have lead certified buildings and do green roofs and various other things. I think Chicago is a good example of what can be done and it’s, you know a city that many of us can travel to.
Matt Deichmann: Why are there so many other cities like yours reaching out to businesses not only to go green, but to build green, going forward?
Linda Goldstein: Well I think it’s become very apparent that the green movement has to take place on the local grass root level, and that if anything’s going to change, if behavior is going to change, building is going to change, we need to really emphasize that on a local level. So cities are really getting on board, US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement was actually the project of mayor of Seattle, Seattle, Washington, he was the one who started it, it gained momentum, and now it’s really made a difference across our country.
Matt Deichmann: What did you get out of the summit that is important to take back to businesses, manufacturers in your city?
Linda Goldstein: Well, last fall I did attend a National US Mayor Climate Protection Summit in Seattle, Washington and it was just an incredible experience and again, the emphasis was on the local level and changing behavior at the local level. But in terms of businesses, one of the interesting things that I learned, that I can never thought of is, you may have heard of it, they talk now about green collar jobs and there is so much industry that is crapping up that has to do with the green movement. Whether it’s installing solar panels or weatherizing homes or planting green roofs, planting trees, there’s a whole group of jobs. There’s a whole industry that can be outsourced, that has to take place here and I know that the larger cities that were in attendance at this Mayors Climate Protection Summit, they really focused on that, to stipulate their city and their economy.
Matt Deichmann: Now you wear several different hats, what were you able to bring from your experience as general manager of CI Flooring, what experience were you able to bring from there over to city government?
Linda Goldstein: Well, I have, I never forget that I’ve been elected to represent people who live in Clayton and our residential community but our residential community expects services. They expect safety. They expect the infrastructure. They expect good schools, and part of the way that we pay for that is through our business community, our driving business community. And so I feel like my business experience helps me understand the priorities and the concerns and the pressures of doing business in, you know, in this day and age. So I’ve been meeting with a lot of the business owners in the City of Clayton, and listening to them, and talking to them, and spreading the word about the environment, but also, you know, there are issues for example with Highway 40. You know we did a lot of communication about alternate routes and alternate modes of transportation. That’s an environmental issue but it’s something that we provide in Clayton so I think that my business experience has helped me relate to the businesses in Clayton.
Matt Deichmann: What sort of things can municipalities do to encourage its businesses and its citizens to go green? I mean tax incentives. What sort of things?
Linda Goldstein: Well we provide in Clayton, we provide a recycling program, a residential recycling program and we are also now providing it at our special events the Art Fair, the Jazz Festival, the Big Reed, so we’re hoping that by making it easily accessible, people are more aware of recycling and doing the right thing. Other incentives, I mentioned earlier that we have listed a lead certified building as public benefit when we consider a plant unit development, PUD. So there are incentives that can be put in place and again, working with the school too has been really important for us. The students in our Clayton School District are very environmentally aware and so it’s been a good match.
Matt Deichmann: Great, Mayor Linda Goldstein, thank you so much for being our guest. Look for our segments on Green Building Initiatives here on SBTV.com where small business is our only business.
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