EAST LANSING, Mich. – The City of East Lansing was among 30 Michigan communities recently honored in the statewide Michigan Green Communities Challenge for its sustainability efforts.
Of the 30 communities honored, East Lansing was one of six municipalities to receive Gold certification – the highest recognition awarded by the Michigan Green Communities (MGC) Network. The City of East Lansing was specifically recognized for adopting its Climate Sustainability Plan, from which the City implements action planning, goals and objectives to reduce the community’s impact on the environment.
The MGC is a statewide network of local government and university staff that collaborate with one another through peer learning and information sharing to promote innovative solutions and move sustainability initiatives forward at the local, regional and state level. MGC network members collaboratively learn and share with one another through webinars, monthly newsletters, face-to-face events and the annual MGC Challenge. The original challenge launched in 2009 and emphasized energy efficiency projects. In 2016, MGC network members, with support from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, revised and relaunched the MGC Challenge. Program benefits include creating a roadmap for sustainability initiatives, establishing benchmarks for a community’s progress toward sustainability initiatives and the motivation of comparing and competing with other Michigan communities. The challenge occurs annually, but is available year round as a tool for communities to benchmark sustainability.
Gold certifications were also awarded to Ann Arbor, Dearborn, Grand Rapids, Novi, Delhi Charter Township and Pittsfield Charter Township.
For more information, visit the MGC website at http://migreencommunities.com/.