Bellingham pair helping governments go green

DEAN KAHN

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Daimon Sweeney and Judith Sult see green all around.

They see local governments adopting "green" environmental programs to save energy and tax dollars.

And they see environmental experts and companies anxious to advertise their green services and wares to potential customers, including local governments.

To contact CitiesGoGreen magazine, see citiesgogreen.com or call 306-8101.

So they decided to bring the two together through a new trade magazine, CitiesGoGreen.

It's published right here in Bellingham, with Sweeney the editor and Sult the marketing director.

Sweeney says national governments and international agencies can dawdle when it comes to making big changes for the environment. But cities and counties can use their power over land use, buildings and transportation to bring speedier change.

"I realized that local governments are where the action is," he said. "They're small enough to act quickly, and big enough to make a difference."

The 32-page first issue came back from the printer on Friday, but their new Web site already offers numerous links, resources and stories, including an interview with Bellingham Mayor Dan Pike that was featured in the magazine's smaller promotional issue.

While Sweeney and Sult both live in Bellingham, their magazine will reach far beyond the Northwest, targeting government readers in the United States and Canada. They already have subscribers in every state except North Dakota.

The magazine seems a natural fit for Sweeney and Sult.

Sweeney grew up in Southern California, where even as a kid he worried what would happen if the country ran out of oil. He's been involved in publishing and consulting, and graduated from Fairhaven College in 1994 with a self-designed degree in sustainable culture.

Sult, a native of the Southwest, has lived overseas and once published a folk music magazine in California. She has worked in marketing for years, including seven years at New Age Retailer, a Bellingham publication where Sweeney was publisher and remains a part-owner.

A year and a half ago they bumped into each other at A. W. Asian Bistro in Fairhaven. When Sweeney mentioned his notion of an environmental magazine for local governments, Sult liked the idea but wanted to see if it would fly.

Calls to city officials across the country and contacts with companies in the field convinced her that both sides wanted a way to communicate with each other.

It costs $72 a year to subscribe to the magazine, but employees of local governments can receive the digital version for free. Members of the public can get the digital magazine for $20 a year.

There should be plenty of content for the magazine and Web site, including interviews, information from environmental and governmental organizations, and new products and technologies.

Sweeney and Sult want the magazine to focus on success stories, on what works for cities and counties around the country.

Some information will be strategic. For example, governments in politically conservative areas can better rally public support for environmental programs by emphasizing clean air and tax savings, rather than mentioning climate change, Sweeney said.

Other information will be technical, such as tax breaks for buildings with green roofs, or research into the idea of collecting solar energy by running water lines under asphalted parking lots and roads.

"One thing that's enjoyable about this is that we have solutions to offer," Sweeney said.