Editor’s note: We’d like to welcome our new Shades of Green columnist, Elizabeth Crenshaw.

Earth Day is a holiday marked by a lot of talking about awareness. It’s a day on which we reflect how badly our planet needs stronger environmental regulation, enthusiastic stewardship, cleaner business and more efficiently heated and cooled buildings.

And when the day ends, you hope that someone is recycling all the paper those messages were printed on.

I don’t mean to insinuate that Earth Day is without merit. First celebrated in 1970, the same year the EPA was created, Earth Day was meant to bring attention to the rampant environmental degradation going largely unnoticed by many Americans. Founded by a concerned senator from Wisconsin, Earth Day helped bring about change. Groups championing different causes had a holiday on which to unite, bringing individual battles for clean water, clean air, endangered species, land conservation, and regulation for polluting industry under a common banner. That strong, revolutionary attitude seemed to soften throughout 1980s and 1990s, but I am glad to say that on this year’s Earth Day in Chattanooga, there was an event that took place in that same strong vein.
The Community Commitment event, sponsored by Chattanooga Green, was a different sort of Earth Day celebration. This celebration was not centered on awareness, but on action, and offered people the chance to better the city’s environmental future every day of the year.
The event was designed to give interested citizens the chance to commit to the Chattanooga Green Committee’s Climate Action plan through volunteering for an Action Team.
This all started about a year ago, when more than 500 people attended the Chattanooga Public Input meeting to address Chattanooga’s “green gaps”. Mayor Littlefield appointed the Chattanooga Green Committee to advise and assist Chattanooga’s long-term sustainability. The Committee took suggestions from the public, research from different programs, and advice from subject-matter experts to create the 47 recommendations that make up the Action Plan. This plan is geared toward putting Chattanooga on a sustainable path in several areas: energy efficiency, natural resource protection, building healthy communities, and growing education and policy. Under these titles, there are about 100 Action Team topics for the public to commit to. From creating incentives for sustainable industry and greening city buildings to integrating local food into schools and preserving trees, this plan has a team for everyone.

Mayor Littlefield prefaced his support of the plan with stories of Chattanooga’s past environmental neglect and his signing of the Mayor’s Climate Action Pledge. It is worthwhile noting that Littlefield is one of only six mayors in Tennessee to have signed the pledge.

A UTC environmental group set up a booth about their recycling and other efforts. EPB had a booth with energy-efficiency tips and Green Power Switch information, while Take Root was there offering the public a chance to ask questions, track the initiative’s progress and donate. The Habitat Re-Store was also supporting the event. The Re-Store recycles building materials that would have otherwise been buried in a landfill. I had not heard of the Re-store before the event, so I was excited to find out about it. The store stocks appliances, wood, hardware, light fixtures, furniture and insulation—not only friendly for the planet, but good for bargains.

The diverse crowd of people who attended seemed genuinely excited to be there. In the sign-up room, I heard people discussing the teams, eagerly exchanging ideas. One green builder I spoke with doesn’t allow one piece of the building process to end up in the landfill. Surely this same principal can apply to how we as a community operate. Another couple discussed their research on installing wind turbines on their home with me. “We just need batteries now,” she mused. “That’s where the future of renewable will be! How can we implement this type of thing here?” Everywhere you turned, people were more than aware of the problem—they were doing something about it.

If you missed the event, but are interested in signing up for an Action Team, contact Brad McAllister at mcallister_b@mail.chattanooga.gov or (423) 668-2274 to sign up or to get more information. You can also visit the city’s site (www.chattanooga.gov/chattanoogagreen) and click on the “get involved” link. The Climate Action Plan is available free online at www.chattanooga.gov/ChattanoogaGreen or a “deluxe version” can be purchased at Image Works for $62. Chattanooga Green is also now on Twitter and Facebook if you are more of the social networking type.

I plan to be involved in greening buildings around town, but there are so many important areas in this movement, it is really hard to choose. One person can devote only so much time, so I feel that it is important to pick only what you can manage. People are going to really have to commit if this movement is to gain the sort of momentum that it needs. But the enthusiasm is heartening, as is the unified direction it is all going in. An Earth Day ending with a real plan for the rest of the year is a welcome change.

Elizabeth Crenshaw is LEED accredited and works for EPB in Strategic Planning. Originally from South Carolina, Elizabeth moved to Chattanooga after graduating from Warren Wilson College in 2007.