Pursuing Green Greatness
The experts don't consider lil' ole' Grand Rapids among the nation's top sustainable cities...yet.
Tom Leonard's Latest Articles
Why Isn’t Stanford Ovshinsky a Billionaire?
The sustainability movement is commercializing new ideas, generating jobs, and fueling economic expansion from Arizona to Japan. How long before Michigan takes it seriously?
Neighborhood Sensibilities
World-class cities and vibrant neighborhoods don't just happen. They're the product of big dreams, targeted investment, and thoughtful planning. The Sustainability Package is Grand Rapids latest effort to bring those critical elements together.
An Economy of Apples
Farmland in west Michigan typically is more valuable for building superstores and subdivisions than growing fruits and vegetables. But, with increasingly more mouths to feed in heavily populated places like China, a growing crop of thinkers questions whether that's the best way to put the region's unique landscape to work in the global economy.
Car Talk
The car is king in Grand Rapids. And road trips and Sunday drives are great American past times. But for daily transit needs, just getting conveniently from point A to point B, there has to be a better way. Is Grand Rapids ready?
The Power of Change
The pursuit of sustainability requires ending subsidies for business-as-usual and instead rewarding innovation.
The New Flavor of Business
Not only is the sustainability movement for real, Tom Leonard counts six ways it's becoming an inevitable revolution.
Uncorking Citywide Sustainability
Corky Overmyer became the Grand Rapids' first 'Sustainability Manager' on July 1, 2006. His charge: reinvent the city.
Defining ‘Sustainability,’ Grand Rapids Style
'Sustainability' is the word for the new millenium. The term is popping up everywhere. At community meetings. On corporate advertising. In political speeches. But what does it mean? Tom Leonard explains in the first of a series of regular columns exploring what the philosophy of sustainability means for the future of West Michigan.
