The Green Cities Conference has exceeded attendance projections by about two times, with up to 750 attendees, and enthusiasm and interest are very high, at least in our conversations with attendees. Several people from across the country have told us their cities are getting going on their sustainability plans, and we were pleased to learn from one council member that his Tennessee city hired a sustainability coordinator based “99%” on our article, What’s a Sustainability Coordinator? in the October 2008 issue of CitiesGoGreen.

In an interview with us, Don Borut, Executive Director of the National League of Cities, calls the conference a “home run,” especially for a first event. He went on to talk about sustainability as a new lens through which to look at city management, an alternative or replacement for the long-accepted “growth at all costs” view, without sacrificing the economic benefits, and indeed producing more potential in many ways.