green 400
What we could become if we took advantage of our extraordinary location:
the green crossroads of New England.
We’re on our way to a greener 2035.
Already, there have been undertaken significant efforts to be one of the greenest regions in New England. In 2018, Hartford adopted an award-winning Climate Action Plan. There’s been national recognition for our environmental efforts in agriculture, renewable energy, active transportation, and riverfront renewal, but there’s more to be done as climate change threats become direr. The region should continue to push to become a national leader in cleaning up our environment. We must ensure that more people connect environmental stewardship with improving public health, advancing the economy, and promoting social equity.
And, projects like these from Hartford 400 stakeholders, along with these recommendations, will have meaningful impact.
Areas of Focus
How are we making our environment more sustainable?
Already, there have been undertaken significant efforts to be one of the greenest regions in New England. In 2018, Hartford adopted an award-winning Climate Action Plan. There’s been national recognition for our environmental efforts in agriculture, renewable energy, active transportation, and riverfront renewal, but there’s more to be done as climate change threats become direr. The region should continue to push to become a national leader in cleaning up our environment. We must ensure that more people connect environmental stewardship with improving public health, advancing the economy, and promoting social equity. And, projects like these from Hartford 400 stakeholders have meaningful impact.
Why now?
Recommendations
The Valley’s deep and fertile soil has made it an agricultural powerhouse for centuries. While the last 60 years have seen much farmland converted to suburban use, thousands of acres are still productive and more could be returned to farming by leveraging recent trends and market demand. Consumers today value organic produce from local growers, especially family farms. The growing number of Valley brewers, vintners, and restaurateurs prefer to source local hops, grapes, and vegetables, and climate change is likely to expand regional crop capacity.
Promote the valley as a green center for food and agricultural innovation. Agriculture creates jobs, preserves open space and natural beauty, and supports cultural tourism. Regional farmers and purveyors can partner with UConn, whose roots are in advanced agricultural research, to produce new crops and hybrids. Expanded offerings from wineries, breweries, coffee roasters, artisan cheesemakers and chocolate makers can combine agriculture, entrepreneurship, and cultural tourism to enhance our economy and quality of place.
Preserve and expand green spaces and open forests. The amount of greenery in the Valley is a valuable asset that sets us apart from many other regions. Open space protects valuable parts of our geological heritage, and provides recreational opportunities, enhances biodiversity, promotes tourism, and enhances the quality of place. Open space preserves should be enlarged, protected, and made accessible, including wetlands, meadows, pastures, reserves, and forests.
Create and fund a regional parks consortium. Conversations are underway about a “regional asset district”, which would source and share funding for the organizations that run destinations in the region. Parks are essential to quality of place. They offer a range of social, economic, health, and recreational benefits, and can attract new residents and investors. The Valley has a rich tradition of setting aside parkland, including the first publicly-funded urban park in the nation, and Hartford’s famous green ring, the “Rain of Parks”. Yet today many municipalities, under fiscal duress, struggle to maintain their park properties and programs. A new Valley-wide parks consortium can help find ways to fairly spread the burden and cost of maintaining parks across the region, with ideas such as a regional parks fund, and joint promotion of Valley parks.
Invest in active, walkable public spaces. The Valley and the Capital City are benefiting from the renewed interest in living in towns and cities. Denser, vibrant urban spaces connected to transit provide unique quality of life benefits and enhanced sustainability. We should continue to enhance and expand our networks of high-quality, active, walkable public spaces – squares, plazas, commons, gardens, streets, alleys, and sidewalks – in our downtowns, town centers, and along major avenues.
Re-establish a regional river consortium. The protection and enhancement of the river involves a complex array of agencies and jurisdictions, from Federal to local. We need a Valley River Consortium to coordinate these efforts. It would include, among others: Army Corps of Engineers, EPA, Connecticut DEEP, river conservancies, Riverfront Recapture, Connecticut River Heritage Trail, and the 15 towns with river frontage. Rising sea levels make such regional cooperation urgent, and provide the opportunity to position ourselves as leaders and innovators in waterfront resilience.
Increase programs and provide incentives to increase energy conservation. We must expand efforts to reduce emissions from transport and fossil fuels, and increase the use of renewable energy. We must promote more sustainable forms of urban development, including transit-adjacent downtowns and town centers which are dense, vibrant, and connected.
Plan and implement sustainable development and transportation. Integrate transportation and land use planning to create sustainable urban development patterns which reduce consumption of fossil fuels.
Invest in active, walkable public spaces. The Valley and the Capital City are benefiting from the renewed interest in living in towns and cities. Denser, vibrant urban spaces connected to transit provide unique quality of life benefits and enhanced sustainability. We should continue to enhance and expand our networks of high-quality, active, walkable public spaces – squares, plazas, commons, gardens, streets, alleys, and sidewalks – in our downtowns, town centers, and along major avenues.
Expand the Hartford Climate Stewardship Initiative to the Connecticut Valley. Increase programs and provide incentives to increase energy conservation
Solve the region’s waste management shortcomings, and expand recycling. Nearly all of the region’s waste is trucked to other parts of the country to be put in landfills. This dramatically increases the cost of waste management and imposes environmental justice issues on other communities, generated by us. Meanwhile, recycling needs to be dramatically expanded. This can be achieved through public policy and legislation; financial support for start-up companies in recycling and composting; and promotional campaigns to engage and educate the general public.
Resources
Agriculture & Open Space: Planning for Agriculture – A Guide for Connecticut Municipalities (2016), Connecticut’s Agricultural Heritage – An Architectural and Historical Overview (2012), Handbook of Connecticut Agriculture (1901), Connecticut Working Lands Alliance (), Connecticut Chapter, National Organic Farming Association, Connecticut Wine Trail, Wildlands and Woodlands – Farmlands and Communities: Broadening the Vision for New England (2017), Connecticut Forest and Park Association, Trap Rock Ridges of Connecticut: Natural History and Land Use (2013), PBS Sharing Connecticut – Thrall Family Farm
Climate & Energy: Hartford Climate Stewardship Initiative
Rivers & Parks & Trails: Connecticut Forest and Park Association, Hartford’s Parks (Green Ribbon Task Force 2011), Economic Impact of Greenways Literature Review (2015), Emerald Networks Hartford (Sasaki 2016), Capital City Parks Guide (Sasaki 2014), Trust for Public Land project, The iQuilt Plan, Riverfront Recapture, Hartford Flood Control System Overview and Status (2016), Connecticut River Heritage Trail, Crossing the Connecticut (Wright 1908)