By Bart Pollock, The Post-Standard
Rob Morache knows the lure of the green city.
The architectural designer left the Syracuse suburb of Westvale in 2004 to move to Ithaca, about 55 miles south.
“It was a really conscious choice,” Morache said. “I wanted to live somewhere smaller, a place that’s got the whole green conversation going on.”
Country Home magazine listed Ithaca as the nation’s second-greenest city, behind Burlington, Vt., and ahead of Corvallis, Ore. Those three, like most in the top 10, are college towns.
Ithaca’s green reputation just keeps growing, as it draws environmentally minded newcomers who start businesses, join groups and build green homes.
Audio slideshow: “Ithaca, A Very Green City”
Ithaca also has a substantial infrastructure, both organizational and physical, that brings environmental activists together and helps push ideas into reality. For instance:
+ EcoVillage at Ithaca, which has 60 homes in two neighborhoods, brought together green-minded people from around the country. They live in a community, designed from scratch, that emphasizes nurturing community in an ecologically friendly way.
+ GreenStar Cooperative Market not only sells thousands of organic items but acts as a hub for green activism, offering classes, promoting letter-writing campaigns and educating its 6,600 members about environmental issues.
+ Sustainable Tompkins, an organization that started in 2004, acts as an umbrella group and often jump-starts activism by convening study circles to tackle issues.
Morache is acting chair of Connect Ithaca, a group that formed last year after a design workshop sponsored by Sustainable Tompkins. It is researching ways Ithaca could be less dependent on cars, such as by starting a pod car network — an elevated electric rail system with small, light-weight, driverless vehicles.
Much of Ithaca’s green culture was forged in 1960s idealism. By the beginning of the 1970s, the GreenStar cooperative buying club had formed and the Ithaca Farmers Market opened.
GreenStar is a full-service grocery with two stores and more than $11 million in sales. The Ithaca Farmers Market has a permanent lakefront location and 165 vendors. It operates four days a week and is so popular it isn’t accepting applications from vendors for the Saturday market because all booths are filled.
Green building has taken off in the past decade, both in private homes and on campus, with new buildings at Cornell University and Ithaca College.
The National Tour of Solar Homes, in October, included 17 open houses in Tompkins County, more than were offered in some states, Sustainable Tompkins pointed out.
The county leads the state in the number of solar energy systems installed and, looking at watts produced per person, generates more solar energy than all U.S. cities except for Palo Alto, Calif., the organization said.
Green buildings often call for green roofs, low-maintenance gardens that absorb storm water runoff and moderate building temperatures so heating and cooling costs are lower.
Cornell University graduates Marguerite Wells and her partner, Lexie Hain, started a business that specializes in growing the plants for roofs. They have clients all over the Northeast but picked Ithaca to base MotherPlants Nursery.
“We really like the culture of the town,” Wells said. “It’s a good combination of having a good strong community and good environmental ethic.”
Wells and Hain are renovating a 150-year-old farmhouse, taking a leaky structure and making it as well-insulated and energy efficient as new construction.
In an approach taken by many Ithacans, the renovation mixes the state of the art, like the new boiler and on-demand hot water heater, and salvaged bargains, like the $50, six-burner stove they found on eBay.
Recycling and cost-consciousness are big in Ithaca. A national online bulletin board where people can exchange free goods — Freecycle — has more than 6,000 members in Ithaca. Onondaga County, in comparison, has about 700.
Put in some volunteer hours and you can get a free bike at Recycle Ithaca’s Bicycles. Home remodelers can find bargains at Significant Elements, a nonprofit that sells salvaged doors, sinks, cabinets and other building materials.
Architect Todd Saddler, who finished building a house in downtown Ithaca in 2006, calls the style of his home “Ithaca Peasant.”
There are photovoltaic panels on the roof that generate more electricity than the house uses, an efficient wood-burning stove that is the main source of heat and a design that emphasizes function and comfort without frills.
Saddler and his wife, Laurie Konwinski, chose to live downtown so they can walk, bike or take the bus instead of relying on cars.
Saddler said he is trying to build up his business, New Creation Design, which stresses sustainability, but he is finding it a challenge to get clients who want to go green and can afford it.
“There’s a lot of people interested, but a lot of them don’t have money,” he said. “The choices people make because they want to live sustainably also often render them non-wealthy.”
