C.L.E.A.N. is a grass roots organization committed to the improvement of the environment in our FM area. The acronym stands for Citizens Local Energy Action Network and deals with all Energy related issues in our community whether they are about energy efficiency of buildings, solar arrays, wind power, electrical vehicle chargers, compressed natural gas, propane, biodiesel, renewable natural gas from farming, landfills, or other agricultural processes. Truly, it is a wide spectrum of energy disciplines and much of our purpose is to safeguard our children who are the future generations to be custodians of our beautiful earth and our regional nature. Children often learn by watching their parent’s actions and behaviors, which forms the basis of their own behavior in the future.
It is therefore at the utmost importance that those parents lead by example, and I think that this is the most important quality of the members of C.L.E.A.N. Our group realizes that we on our own cannot rescue the earth’s environment and have resigned to let other larger interest groups such as FM Sustainability group, CSL-ND, SARC, etc. and national organizations such as Sierra Club, Greenpeace, etc. to be active in each their respective spheres. Instead, C.L.E.A.N. focuses exclusively on our FM region and is purposed to motivate across any political divide. We seek consensus and engagement from our city leaders in order to turn our energy use and efficiency towards the more sustainable and with the least negative externalities possible.
Over the past 5 years the FM area cities have taken their first steps of improving the environment we live in by reducing landfill methane gas emission and CO2 gas. Large water and sewage projects have been invested in to allow our economy to grow as and when more people move to the region. Did you know that the Fargo Moorhead area is among the top 5 locations in the USA for millennials to move to? Yes, really. Fargo, as the most populous city in the state with 120,000 inhabitants, added nearly 6,000 20-to-34-year-olds in 2015, just over five percent of the total population! Fargo is attracting well-educated young professionals due to its clean air, strong economy, low unemployment, safe environment and affordable real estate.
Sustainable growth is only possible if we don’t cut corners on our infrastructure, energy use and other forms of sustainability. We have unfortunately suffered a bit form suburban sprawl which are likely great places to live when families are young and grow children, but a sure death by loneliness if you are single or among our growing numbers of elderly citizens living in their suburban “mausoleums” where only rarely they receive visitors and have little engagement with others. The energy use to sustain suburban sprawl comes at a high price and C.L.E.A.N. works towards a closer and more sustainable way of new construction and repurposing of our downtown areas.
The investments made in our downtown have brought about much needed livability and has created an environment alive with patrons who are taking advantage of the many food, entertainment, city facilities and county services that are easily accessible due to their closeness. Closeness fosters better energy utilization, and coupled with considerations for foot traffic, public transportation and bicycle lanes improves energy use in all forms.
The 2014 eFargo initiative of reducing energy use in our city, through increasing efficiencies and engaging our younger citizens through the Sir Waste-A-Watt competition, together with the engagement with other local groups such as C.L.E.A.N., secured that Fargo won $5 million from the Georgetown University in order to make our city even greener.