5 Ways Cities Reduce Their Carbon Footprint

Many major cities in the United States want to make a change when it comes to bettering our environment. While many see cities as destructive toward the environment, there are plenty of innovative ideas starting to grow in American cities such as Portland, San Francisco, and Austin. Discover the ways cities reduce their carbon footprint.

Better Forms of Transportation

Cities have been offering many different transportation options for centuries. Some of these options are also environmentally friendly, such as taking a train or sharing a ridesharing service with someone. There’s also the option to walk to your destination and use bike rental services in a city like Chicago.

Smarter Construction

A city is obviously full of buildings, but how companies construct them and how they’re powered has proven detrimental to the environment. Now, there are more eco-friendly methods of construction, including the use of sustainable materials, strategic window placement, quality insulation, and so much more.

Renewable Energy Sources

In addition to how buildings are constructed, they also can use other forms of renewable energy sources. The most popular one you see on buildings is solar power. You may also notice cities such as Aspen taking advantage of wind power.

Green Rooftops

More and more cities also try to add more greenery to their infrastructure in unique ways. While a city’s space is limited, building rooftops can be used for gardens and greenhouses so that plants can get the necessary amount of sunlight. The addition of parks also adds a nice balance to make a city more environmentally friendly.

Local Shopping

The last way cities reduce their carbon footprint is by promoting local products. The main aspect of this refers to foods coming from local farms. This reduces a city’s carbon footprint because the food requires fewer emissions to get to the store when it’s locally sourced, instead of it coming from somewhere else far away. This really comes down to encouraging grocery stores to promote local businesses.