Millennials & Home Ownership

During the "future-Bloomington" drawing activity in class last Tuesday, one of our group members brought up the fact that our generation is less interested in owning homes than our parents or grandparents. We discussed how this trend could have a major effect on the way cities look in the future, and specifically on the role of rental housing in building sustainable communities.

Home ownership by age bracket
Source: US Census/npr.org

Indeed, according to US Census Data from 1990-2010, there has been a gradual but steady decline in  home ownership among the millenial generation. This has most likely been excacerbated by the 2008 housing crisis, but one can see the slow decline in the graph above starting as early as 2004, supposedly in the middle of the housing boom. According to a survey by US real estate giant Trulia, millennials are 15% more likely than adults to rent versus buy (although, I am a bit skeptical of both the motivations and results of this survey).

I am pretty confident that even when the economy recovers, our generation will continue to bear the housing crisis in our memory and be less inclined to pursue the American Dream of home ownership with such passion as our parents. Perhaps our inclination towards renting also can explain phenomena such as Zipcar? Why take out a hefty loan on top of those you already have, when you can use a car only when you need it for a fraction of the price?

Based on these changing attitudes, one can imagine the communities of the future utilizing mixed-use zoning with a higher proportion of rental properties. 

Project Update #3

What dead basil looks like

Last week was the first frost of the year. While covering with a blanket was enough to save most of the plants, basil in particular was a hard hit casualty of the early cold. I learned that basil is very sensitive to frost, so we had to pull up all the plants and try to salvage what green leaves we could for drying and handing off to RPS. Unfortunately, most of the basil leaves had turned a purplish grey color, and had to be thrown in the compost.

Michael Simmons

In other garden news, we recently had a visit from local garden guru Michael Simmons, who taught our Garden Corps group about how to install a drip irrigation system. Currently the corps member take shifts to garden by host or bucket, but the plan is to install a comprehensive drip system by early spring to save both water and labor and still meet all the watering needs of the plants in the garden. In addition to being a patient and effective teacher, Mr. Simmons inspired us all with his cowboy-aesthetic fashion.

Lastly, this week I sat down to speak with Steve Swihart, president of the Bloomington Independent Restaurant Association (BIRA). Following up on my discussion with the Local Growers' Guild, I wanted to get an understanding of how local restaurants view local food, and their attitude to a potential local food hub and distribution network.

According to Steve, the most important thing to restauranteurs is a steady and reliable supply of food, and that would be the most important element of a local food hub. So,  if there were a product that for some reason couldn't be fully supplied on a given week from a local farmer, it would be up to the food hub to source that product, even if from conventional wholesalers. Currently 50-75% of BIRA members are interested in local food sourcing, but without the guarantee of a steady supply it just would not be practical economically for them. Right now Steve is working to get accurate forecasts of the type of demand the food hub could anticipate for local restaurants, but otherwise it is 'wait-and-see' until the food hub is up and operational. BIRA is optimistic about the benefits more local sourcing, both for the boost to restaurant quality and branding through fresher ingredients, and for the contribution to the local economy. Steve cited a study that 82 cents of each dollar go back to the community when a local product is bought, as compared to 51 cents from a national outlet. So although there is slightly more cost upfront, a local food hub could certainly have benefits for many stakeholders in the region.

Green Procurement & the US Government

In Chapter 13, Roseland writes about Green Procurement as one example of a holistic government policy tool to mitigate climate change, and the example of the Environmentally Preferably Purchasing (EPP) program developed by the EPA. As a budding supply chain wonk, I knew I wanted to dig a little deeper into the details and history of the program.


The history of green procurement by the U.S. government goes back as far as 1976, when Congress passed the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), which sought to protect human health and the environment while reducing the already existing volume of waste.


The first formal green purchasing program was signed into existence in October 1993 under President Bill Clinton, and created an EPA comission by executive order to establish guidelines and metrics for government purchasing, with an initial emphasis on using products with a high level of recycled material, making use of the findings of the first Energy Star  project in 1992. This commission worked with industry and labor groups to explain the role of green procurement and build consensus on how to work more effectively. The program was updated in 1998 to expand into stronger language on waste reduction activities: "Pollution that cannot be prevented should be recycled; pollution that cannot be prevented or recycled should be treated in an environmentally safe manner. Disposal should be employed only as a last resort."

A third executive order by Clinton in 2000 strengthened language of obligation to every government department agency to be proactive in leading environmental management. The goal at this point was for the federal government to become an example for not only state and municipal governments, but also the private sector.

Although leadership from the executive branch was markedly weaker during the Bush administration, the EPA was quite active during the 2000s in establishing guidelines (ex: guide to Buying Green Online)  and incentives (ex: the Federal Electronics Challenge)  for green procurement for the federal government.

Interestingly enough, the Department of Defense  has been one of the most active government agencies in pursuing green procurement strategies along with energy efficiency and waste reduction initiatives overall. This may seem like strange political bedfellows, but think about it: if you are running a large military base in a hostile country, you have a real reason to want to be off the grid in the case your supply lines are broken. Broaden that scope, and you are thinking about energy as a national security issue. This has led to the DoD taking a aggressive stance on innovating and deploying renewable energy technology and even net zero waste efforts.

Of course, one must remember that the DoD is one of the country's largest energy consumers, using roughly 80% of federal government energy purchases. Within that the Air Force in particular boasts a large chunk, so perhaps we should pay extra attention and expect a lot more from green procurement policies of future administrations.