City Profiles / Small Cities / Sarasota, FL

Sarasota, Florida

A vacation town on the Gulf of Mexico, Sarasota has a transient population that can be challenging to rally for the city's green plans. But the city has involved the public through environmental education at schools, community groups including the local women's club and Boys & Girls Club, and outreach programs like Sustainability Advocacy Volunteer Educators, which provides opportunities for green internships for high school and college-age residents. The citizen group Sarasota Network for Climate Action encourages residents to take action on global warming by working through local government.

To increase public awareness of water conservation and protection, in 1989 the City of Sarasota helped found the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, a group dedicated to protecting the bay and its connecting waterways. The city's water system reclaims 70 percent of wastewater annually. Conservation pricing encourages consumers to use less, and commercial and residential lawn watering is limited to one day a week. The city started a rain-barrel demonstration project at City Hall for watering flower beds without sprinklers, and created a rain-barrel brochure and how-to guide for residents to use at home. To protect the landscape and irrigate efficiently—as well as promote native growth and wildlife, the city encourages Florida-friendly landscaping through tools like www.floridayards.org.

The city's Environmental Management Task Force was formed in 2007 and is currently drafting a Local Climate Action Plan, and in April 2008, the city created a full-time Environmental Services position.