What can Smoosiers do to help Indiana grow greener?

[Pat Coyle]

There are several green groups here on Smaller Indiana. There's Greener Indiana, Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Green Business Network, Go Green, and the Hoosier Environmental Council.

So it would seem that Smaller Indiana members care about the environment.

But are these groups and the initiatives they represent having maximum impact on the hearts and minds of mainstream Hoosiers? If not, why not? What are the biggest obstacles to Indiana going green? Or at least getting greener?

Can you think of any ways this community (SI)might be more effective in helping Indiana go green? Share your thoughts here

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[Linda J Ranger]

Maybe I am a minority in my thinking but I am already tired of the overuse of the word "Green". Let's get to the point without it being called a movement. So many in the Green Movement are fanatics when most things should be common sense and money saving. I do like the group name "Keep Indianapolis Beautiful". It is clear and direct in its purpose.

The Elephant in the room is that the main problem with the world is over population and all the waste it produces. So would we tell parents to go "Green" and ask them to limit their child producing to two children or less?

[Michael Nolan]

I agree with you, Linda. The word "green" has become a catch-all phrase that means different things to different people. I've even heard some rumblings of "blue is the new green."

Alas, I fear Indiana will be among the last places to respond to the collapse of the happy motoring economy. INDOT is busily chewing up the beautiful southern Indiana countryside for another freeway to make it easier to ship jobs to Mexico. 465 is being widened to what--20 lanes? Mass transit is not even an afterthought.

I live in Illinois. Our state subsidizes Amtrak so there are frequent trains to Chicago. I just took the light rail from the Illinois suburbs of St. Louis to the airport and saved 70 miles on the road and parking costs at the airport. Indianapolis is still um, "studying" light rail.

Don't even get me started about IDEM's approval for BP to increase the toxic waste it dumps in Lake Michigan.

When all this shakes out, Indiana will be in a world of hurt because it didn't embrace the future. It will be competing against those cities and regions that did, and it will lose.

[Linda Broadfoot]

Thanks for the shout-out about KIB Linda! Hopefully you'll join our group if you haven't already. We'd love to get you involved: www.kibi.org

[Linda J Ranger]

As for light rail most of the railroad routes went "Green" and are now pedestrian/bike trails in Indianapolis. At this point it would cost a fortune to build through established high density neighborhoods.

I think having common pick up points with neighborhood buses make the most sense around here. Everyone drives to a designated parking lot much like a train station and parks for the day to catch a bus. It is being tried out and hopefully it will catch on. This is best for people who do not need to work odd hours or overtime since the buses need to be mostly full to warrant taken smaller groups to distant locations.

The Chicago rail system was built many years ago during the building up of Chicago to become the largest city in the Midwest. All the while Indianapolis was still a sleeping city with everything spread out and plenty of parking.

Most people forget that Indianapolis is comprised of all of Marion County with some incorporated towns...all with Indianapolis mailing addresses. Most of the congestion is from the suburbs especially those North of the Marion County line. The donut counties need to demand mass transit and pay a majority of the price to get their citizens to work. It is not just an Indianapolis concern.