The weblog Inhabitant wrapped up their Green Talks Series, with Mayor Gavin Newsom yesterday, discussing the green state and future of San Francisco.  With our city by the bay being touted as The Greenest City, it is fascinating to hear the trials and tribulations behind the many successes in order for San Francisco to maintain its title.  

With the city initiating a composting mandate last week, it is positioning itself towards its goal of 75% waste diversion by 2010 and be completely zero-waste by 2020.  Currently the city diverts an outstanding 72%, yet Newsom understands that to reach his ambitious  goal, of complete landfill waste diversion, in a mere 10 years he needed to start emplementing strict rules.  With these regulations geared at educating and empowering the public, he has been receiving considerable back-lash.  As a Mayor with a vision for his city, such as Newsom's, it is natural that some residents may not understand the benefits and more over the larger vision of what a waste-free city looks like. 

Currently, Americans create 4.6 lbs of waste per day - usually without thinking of where away is, when they toss something out.  Recycling is often used as a default excuse, yet, what consumers are not taking into consideration is the amount of energy embodied in any given product.  This embodied energy begins from the onset with the resources taken from the land to create the product, all the way through production,  distribution, use and finally disposal. 

As waste continues to be a growing problem in cities across our nation and around the world - education and regulation are necessary to curb this growth.  With waste plaguing our society, we are barely harnessing the ingenuity of humans and the common sense found in nature.  

Composting is part if the natural process of decomposition that naturally occurs in nature.  36% of waste in landfills is compostable, making this recent mandate a logical choice.  When composting our food scraps and yard waste, we drastically reduce our waste stream, which in turn, lightens the load on our landfills. Currently they are being exhausted at unprecedented rates, throughout our country dumps are being closed due to maximum capacity, forcing cities to truck or rail our garbage across state and international borders.

Aside from waste being on the top of his agenda, Newsom reviewed many of the other aggressive measures that he is taking to assure that San Francisco continues to relish and incorporate the cutting edge of green innovation and technology.  "There is no reason why one cannot do anything of great magnitude," he  encourages his citizens.  In the webinar, Newsom reminded San Franciscans to have the courage to take risks and disrupt - demand from our politicians that our voices be heard.  Big business has a lot of interest in what works for their shareholders, interest that is usually against the good of the people and at the cost of the environment.  States of apathy need to be subsided, instead, we are being encouraged to take a stance and remind people that everyone individually and collectively makes a difference which will continue to set us apart from other urban centers. 

Historically, San Francisco has set the stage for some of the most pivotal societal movements and today, we are doing it again with the environmental movement.  Turn off a light, don't forget your coffee mug and water bottle and together we will continue to mark the way for the rest of the world!