Media Release

4 p.m.

ALACHUA COUNTY, FL - The November issue of CitiesGoGreen Magazine, the national magazine which targets people in local governments focused on sustainability, features an interview with Alachua County Manager Randall H. Reid.  Reid was interviewed in his capacity as the Chair of the International City/County Management Association's (ICMA) Sustainability Advisory Committee.  The subjects include ICMA's growing concern with sustainability issues and Alachua County Florida's efforts in pursuing sustainability.

CitiesGoGreen Magazine editor, Daimon Sweeny talked about the genesis of the article, "A conversation at the ICMA annual conference in Richmond, Va. changed how I think about sustainability.  I was talking with Randall Reid, Chair of the ICMA Sustainability Advisory Committee.  He's interested in this issue, but in a different discussion he said he'd found that the word "sustainability" doesn't work for some people while "sustainable community" does.  My take is that "sustainability" is abstract while "sustainable community" is grounded in concrete dimensions of what community means, from organizational and financial sustainability to environmental and, as Reid points out, social sustainability."

In speaking of the article and the importance of sustainability Reid said, "The serious problems confronting our communities in terms of energy supplies, housing, and environmental protection, makes it essential that every local community thinks about its individual and collective impacts on the environment and the need to strengthen the social fabric of our communities.  The current demand and instability in energy supplies and our economy, requires that we become more sustainable in the areas of alternative energy, conservation efforts, and aggressive technologies. Sustainability to some is viewed as only a "green" or "environmental" issue but to me it is every bit as much about national security and the well being of our citizens."

To read the article, click the link below:

CitiesGoGreen Article

To learn more about CitiesGoGreen, click the link below:

http://www.citiesgogreen.com/

To learn more about ICMA, click the link below:

http://icma.org/main/sc.asp?t=0

For more information, contact the County Manager's Communications Office at 352-374-5226.

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