2022’s Most Sustainable Cities

What innovative sustainability ideas will make the most impact in the next 10-20 years?

Ideas that teach the general public that sustainable matters and it’s not all some hoax made up by scientists who want their research funded. Once we get past that, it will be the idea that we should live in “integrated” neighborhoods in which we can maintain our daily lives without having to commute long distances in single-occupancy vehicles.

What are your top three tips for green living?

1. Live close enough to work and shopping that you can walk or bike.
2. Avoid eating meat.
3. Buy second-hand items when you can (I find this the hardest).

Why is the U.S. so far behind other countries on sustainable transportation advancements like mass transit, including high-speed trains? What would it take to catch up?

U.S. cities have been designed with the car in mind. We would need wholesale redesign of cities like Los Angeles and Houston to make mass transit effective. With political will, we could do it, but that requires a true appreciation for the magnitude of the calamity that awaits us if we don’t.

An unintentional positive effect of COVID-19 was a sharp decline in global carbon emissions early in the pandemic. What three changes, if any, can countries implement immediately to duplicate that effect with forces within their control?

I love the fact that New York City has created lots of outdoor dining and decreased the public space allotted to parking personal vehicles. This should be replicated throughout the country and beyond.

The ability to work from home has been beneficial for many office workers, but I don’t think it should fully and permanently replace working in a common space.

Travel for business and meetings has similarly declined, but I’m not sure that is entirely good from the perspective of human interactions. Perhaps we don’t need to travel as much as we did before, but I would not want to see it stay at the current level.

What we do not want to keep is the huge amount increase in packaging materials generated by the increase in online shopping, including even food delivery from local restaurants. When my family first moved to the U.S. (in 1976) we purchased milk from a local dairy in glass bottles. We paid a hefty deposit on the bottles and, on each milk purchase, returned the previous bottles for the shop to wash and reuse.

What innovative sustainability ideas will make the most impact in the next 10-20 years?

• Investments in carbon capture and storage, green infrastructure, renewable energy technology, energy storage technologies, electric vehicle deployment infrastructure mass transit upgrades, energy-efficient buildings, and land conservancy, and habitat restoration
• Appropriating funds to advancing science and research, as well as programs aimed at informing the public on environmental concerns and sustainable practices
• Energy-efficiency technologies will make a huge impact on global emissions. By transitioning to clean energy (like wind, solar, etc.) we can reduce industry and household carbon footprints substantially. As energy-efficiency technology continues to gain popularity, there is incentive to continuously improve efficiency, which in turn makes these technologies more affordable and accessible globally.
• Reforming environmental policy and ensuring equitable access to the proposed sustainable development.

What are your top three tips for green living?

• Prioritize sustainability over convenience. This can be done in many ways in your day-to-day life. Purchase and use consumable goods thoughtfully to reduce waste, reduce energy consumption in your home, limit personal vehicle use where possible, and, when upgrading appliances or vehicles, make energy efficiency a priority.
• Support businesses that are prioritizing the environment. Do your research on the companies you choose to support via purchases and choose those that are being managed responsibly. Businesses are partially consumer-driven, when consumers demand sustainability, more industry is likely to meet those demands.
• Find a way to connect with the natural environment. Whether this be through hiking, gardening, visiting farms, etc., being proactive about engaging with the natural world can help make green living easier. When you are enjoying the natural world, you’re more likely to want to preserve it and make responsible earth-friendly decisions.

Why is the U.S. so far behind other countries on sustainable transportation advancements like mass transit, including high-speed trains? What would it take to catch up?

Advancements to sustainable transportation in the U.S. is so far behind other countries due to its high costs, lack of investments, and public awareness. Personal vehicles in the U.S. are both a cultural choice and a much-needed asset because of minimal mass transit nationwide! Much of the focus for sustainable transportation has been on improving personal vehicles (via hybrid and electric cars availability and infrastructure), but there is still much to be done for many consumers to buy in.

The way most cities are laid out do not allow for mass transit, and the shear expanse of the country provides challenges that other countries with well-developed mass transit have not had to deal with. To catch up, national collaboration is essential in making cross-country and cross-city travel easier.

An unintentional positive effect of COVID-19 was a sharp decline in global carbon emissions early in the pandemic. What three changes, if any, can countries implement immediately to duplicate that effect with forces within their control?

• Companies need to make working remotely or working from home not only culturally acceptable but also encouraged to reduce transportation emissions.
• Industries producing any goods should prioritize forecasting in order to avoid excessive production and waste.
• Policymakers, scientists, and media must work together to make smart, environmentally friendly decisions that provide the framework for making measured changes and educating the public on sustainability.

What innovative sustainability ideas will make the most impact in the next 10-20 years?

Flexible loads: With smarter appliances, such as electric vehicles, water heaters, air conditioners, and refrigerators, it will be easier to manage the power grid to provide more economical and reliable energy. At UC San Diego, we are building a large testbed for the communications backbone for the future power grid.

Heat-pump technology for water heating and space heating: Heat pumps allow heating with electricity rather than fossil fuels, and their efficiency is roughly a factor of three times the efficiency of traditional electric resistance heating.

What are your top three tips for green living?

1. Dense urban living: Living in apartments/condos in dense urban areas dramatically reduces energy use for transportation and space heating/cooling. A condo typically has one or two outside walls that heat up the living space versus six for a single family home. So you get a factor of five or so reduction in cooling needs. Dense urban cores also are more walkable reducing vehicle mileage and improving health.
2. Induction cooktops: Induction cooking is more efficient, faster, and safer compared to standard electric cooktops.
3. Behavior: Combine car trips and online orders. Turn the AC off when you are not home. Eat leftovers.

Why is the U.S. so far behind other countries on sustainable transportation advancements like mass transit, including high-speed trains? What would it take to catch up?

Low density of living and strong individuality: Low density of living dramatically increases vehicle miles traveled. Large streets, parking lots, single-family homes cause everything to be spread out, making distances to central train stations too large to be attractive to commuters. Americans like to be in control of their schedules and have a fast-paced lifestyle, which is inconsistent with the fixed schedules and slower pace of mass transit.

For those reasons, high-speed trains will never be feasible in the U.S. COVID sent mass transit into a death spiral in all but the densest urban areas such as New York City. The only viable solution in the U.S. are electric cars and scooters, but the former will require a massive investment into the electric grid as car travel is much less efficient than train or bus travel.

An unintentional positive effect of COVID-19 was a sharp decline in global carbon emissions early in the pandemic. What three changes, if any, can countries implement immediately to duplicate that effect with forces within their control?

The COVID-19 changes are not sustainable. The primary reason for the decline was a decrease in vehicle miles traveled. As people get vaccinated, they will resume driving, and all savings will be lost. In a few years, COVID-19 will be seen as a temporary dip in carbon emissions. Permanent reductions will require investment in renewable energy and electrification of the transportation sector.

What innovative sustainability ideas will make the most impact in the next 10-20 years?

• The idea that small families are desirable, and that all women, everywhere, have the right to exercise freedom over their own reproduction.
• The idea that green energy is cheaper in the long run than fossil energy, and has multiple benefits that go beyond reducing the threat of climate catastrophe.
• The idea that regulations and taxes enlarge our freedoms and make our lives better.

What are your top three tips for green living?

• Walk or bicycle, rather than drive, whenever possible.
• Avoid buying crap wrapped in plastic.
• In winter, a room at 60 degrees F plus a sweater is more comfortable and healthier than a room at 65 or 70 degrees F.

Why is the U.S. so far behind other countries on sustainable transportation advancements like mass transit, including high-speed trains? What would it take to catch up?

Because a while back, largely under Reagan, a large segment of the the U.S. public bought into the notion that government was bad, regulations are bad, taxes are bad. We lost 40 years because of this. The folly of those notions has to become apparent to people before we can catch up.

An unintentional positive effect of COVID-19 was a sharp decline in global carbon emissions early in the pandemic. What three changes, if any, can countries implement immediately to duplicate that effect with forces within their control?

It was a small decline, we all knew it was transient, and nothing practical that we can do “immediately” (on the time scale of the lockdown) will get us back to even that small decline. Over five, 10, and 20 years, our actions, which should begin now, can bring about a much larger and more permanent decline in emissions. Those actions include implementing the ideas I listed in my first response above.

What innovative sustainability ideas will make the most impact in the next 10-20 years?

Modernizing our electric transmission infrastructure, coupled with renewable power generation (wind and solar) and storage, will have the biggest positive impact on our environment in the near future.

I am also hopeful of breakthroughs in technologies, such as nuclear fusion and renewable hydrogen production, which can have a significant impact on the energy landscape.

What are your top three tips for green living?

1. Food choices: A vegetarian diet or even cutting down on meat consumption can have a big impact on the environment.
2. Conserve water: This may not seem like a problem right now, but it could be a challenge in the future.
3. Energy-efficiency: This should be the proposition; everybody should follow everywhere.

Why is the U.S. so far behind other countries on sustainable transportation advancements like mass transit, including high-speed trains? What would it take to catch up?

I don’t think the U.S. should strive to be like other countries in developing sustainable transportation infrastructure. We should look for solutions that are geared toward our specific problems.

That said, we should still look into developing high-speed trains between population centers on the East Coast as well as the West Coast. This may not be the optimal mass-transit solution for the sparsely populated middle part of the county. A self-driving fuel-cell/electric bus may be a better and sustainable mass-transit solution here.

An unintentional positive effect of COVID-19 was a sharp decline in global carbon emissions early in the pandemic. What three changes, if any, can countries implement immediately to duplicate that effect with forces within their control?

1. Incentivize working from home for all employees as much as possible. This can significantly cut down carbon emissions as seen during the pandemic.
2. Implement cap-and-trade programs at local and regional levels to reduce greenhouse emissions.
3. Provide considerable tax credits for all energy-efficiency residential, commercial, and industrial projects.

What innovative sustainability ideas will make the most impact in the next 10-20 years?

We should promote the circular economy to largely reduce wastes, enhance recycling (i.e. zero waste), and save energy and resources.

Cities, rural communities, and companies should have a designated target of zero carbon emissions in the not-too-distant future, say 2050, by regional-specific portfolio, including increasing renewable-energy generation and use, increasing energy-use efficiency, reducing wastes, controlling vehicle uses, and/or enhancing best management practices in land uses, etc.

What are your top three tips for green living?

1. Everyone should change their behaviors to reduce food and water waste in daily life.

2. Governments and communities should invest in recycling facilities to enable residents to do better at recycling (most communities in the U.S. still do not have the typical three-bin — waste, paper, and can — recycling systems).

3. Residents should be encouraged to adopt rain gardens, green or solar roofs, and geothermal systems; incentives (e.g., additional property tax) may go with house sizes.

Why is the U.S. so far behind other countries on sustainable transportation advancements like mass transit, including high-speed trains? What would it take to catch up?

Large-scale new infrastructure development in the U.S. has been difficult. The reason(s) is certainly different from that in poor developing countries. I guess this might be related to the lack of an appropriate benefit/cost assessment approach, especially the benefit/cost share mechanism among multiple stakeholders.

This might also be related to the decision making procedures, which need to better balance human and environmental requirements, coordinate priorities from the various societies, and more effectively resolve conflicts among stakeholders.

Overall, actions are needed today rather than never-ending wait-and-see.

An unintentional positive effect of COVID-19 was a sharp decline in global carbon emissions early in the pandemic. What three changes, if any, can countries implement immediately to duplicate that effect with forces within their control?

Some virtual work may continue by:

1. Improving remote work facilities so as to reduce office hours and increase hours working at home for people who usually work in an office. This can reduce office space and vehicle use.

2. Improving virtual meeting facilities so as to maintain virtual meetings as much as appropriate. This can reduce both local transportation and long-distance travel.

3. Developing virtual firms/companies/agencies (part of e-business) without physical offices.

What innovative sustainability ideas will make the most impact in the next 10-20 years? Developing the circular economy as described here.

What are your top three tips for green living?

My top 12 are in my latest book, “Zero Waste in the Last Best Place.”

Why is the U.S. so far behind other countries on sustainable transportation advancements like mass transit, including high-speed trains? What would it take to catch up?

In the ’70s, Nixon established the oil standard. Messing around with this could cause substantial harm to the U.S. dollar (USD), since it’s basically illegal to sell oil in any currency other than the USD. This is primarily why Sadam Hussein was assassinated and Iraq was invaded. It is going to take a very special techno-financial innovator to break this spell.

An unintentional positive effect of COVID-19 was a sharp decline in global carbon emissions early in the pandemic. What three changes, if any, can countries implement immediately to duplicate that effect with forces within their control?

Working remotely is probably the biggest one.