Sustainable Hou
By Staff Editorialist
Friday, June 9, 2006 - Updated: 5:35 PM PST
HOUSTONIANS are used to surveys criticizing their weight or climate. Thanks to a thriving economy and welcoming culture, a lot of people consider living in Houston worth it. One doesn't have to be anti-Houston, however, to take seriously a new, mostly critical survey about Houston's environment.
Released this month by a nonprofit group called Sustainlane, the study ranks Houston 39th out of the 50 largest U.S. cities in "sustainability." That term, the group says, combines "environmental, economic and social issues."
Essentially, the study measures quality of life by assessing a city's environment. Houston's ranking reflected, among other things, poor air quality, poor water quality, lack of access to locally grown foods and residential sprawl.
What's debatable is how Sustainlane's researchers chose and weighted their criteria. To reach its conclusions, Sustainlane weighed 15 factors, including transit, economy, air and water quality and congestion.
But as it turns out, Houston's ranking in 2005 — dead last out of 25 — revealed little about quality of life. A city employee who was supposed to supply Sustainlane didn't follow through. The oversight helped condemn Houston to rankings Siberia.
The researchers also indulge in a sneering, unscientific tone. In the category called "Healthy Living, " they sniff, "Who feels like going for a run when it's 90 degrees with 90 percent humidity?" Throughout the survey, they tend to dismiss cities unwise enough to lack mountains or ocean breezes.
More seriously, they undervalued Houston's affordable housing relative to other cities', ethnic tolerance, abundant jobs — and even warmth (a plus in the eyes of many of Houston's South Asian, African and Latino entrepreneurs).
And yet, most of the quality of life indicators on Sustainlane's list are today embraced by city stakeholders from the Greater Houston Partnership to the mayor to voters.
Business leaders rightly worry that Houston's poor air quality has driven away potential employers. Mayor Bill White acknowledged the need to integrate environmental efforts by hiring an environmental programs director.
The city has also launched numerous green projects, from expanding its hybrid car fleet and reducing its energy use to partnering with a research center that applies clean-technology solutions to urban problems.
Despite its sneering, Sustainlane does characterize Houston's general environmental status rightly: It's improving — very, very slowly. But the real value in this subjective, sometimes irritating study is a question posed at the end.
"International fossil fuel energy companies are experiencing windfall profits in 2006," the group notes. "The question is how much of the economic success of these global companies will trickle down to improve overall quality of life in Houston."
No city can ever be sustainable on its own. All are too heavily influenced by products and actions of giant industries.
What individuals can do is set standards with their local conduct — then ensure that their votes and consumption habits communicate those standards to the industries that shape their communities.
