This city in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains is also taking “green” to new heights. The many bike lanes are supplemented with a bike ‘library’ where residents or visitors can check out a bike for up to seven days—for free. The city’s ClimateWise carbon reduction program was a finalist for a Transformative Government award last year, and the city is one of only 13 local governments in the US to have achieved all five of ICLEI’s Climate Protection Milestones.
The Fort Collins Local Living Economy Project supports locally-owned businesses and sustainable economic development in the area through relocalization initiatives like “buy local” coupon books and public awareness campaigns. The Rocky Mountain Sustainable Living Fair brings thousands of people to Fort Collins every year for a weekend of sustainability information and inspiration. And the City Council recently took the practical move (from a food sustainability point of view) of allowing residents to keep up to six chickens in their backyards (no roosters, though, and the birds must be kept in secure enclosures).
The roots of the city’s green orientation go back as far as 1935, when its citizens created their own electric utility...
Read the rest of Lia Ayley's profile of Fort Collins in the November issue of CitiesGoGreen.
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