Going Green

"To get a sense of how committed San Francisco is to conservation, consider that in 2007 the city recycled 69 per cent of its waste - more than double the national average - with a goal to reach 75 per cent by 2010. A staggering number of initiatives were also passed in 2007. Among the more controversial:

- A ban on plastic shopping bags in large supermarkets and drugstores, the first city in the US to impose one.

- A ban on the use of Styrofoam in local restaurants.

- A ban on city departments and agencies buying single-serving bottled water.

- A committment to make all city buses emission-free by 2020, and to convert all taxis to alternative fuels by 2011.

- A state initiative to reduce greenhouse gases by 25 per cent by 2020.

- A number of bans on smoking, including one that prohibits smoking in cars with passengers under the age of 18.

Restaurants all over town continue to ride the momentum of the 'locavore' movement, betting that the way to the public's heart is through its stomach. At Fish & Farm, a new Downtown restaurant, not only are the majority of ingredients sourced from within a 1000-mile radius, but staff grow their own herbs in an organic garden on the roof. They also recycle all the kitchen's cooking oil (the city recently began free pick-up of used vegetable oil for conversion to biodiesel). Nearby Mixt Greens, a popular made-to-order salad eaterie, composts 80 percent of its daily waste, and packages its take-out orders in biodegradeable containers.

Hotels, too, have jumped on the bandwaigon, increasingly building to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) specs, and using environmentally products. Currently, 60 building projects in San Francisco are registered with the US Green Building Council for LEED certification - an astounding figure for a city this size.

And while some industry bigwigs are fighting these changes, most are happily embracing the wave, banking on the idea that being green will eventually translate into seeing green - the dollar kind - in the not-too-distant future."

-- From TimeOut San Francisco, written by local experts.





Its hard to imagine that the Govonator is leading all these changes. hee.