What do Reno, George W. Bush, the U.S. military, the Pope, Will Ferrell and the CEO of Nike share in common? All made Newsweek magazine’s top 10 list of “surprisingly green” people and things, released earlier this month.
The magazine lauded the city of Reno’s decisions to make lighting, cooling and boiler systems more efficient, its wind turbine on the roof of City Hall and several other “greening projects” that reduced energy by 17 percent and created over 200 jobs. It was also impressed that the Natural Resources Council named Reno a 2010 Smarter City.
“Reno is a burgeoning hub for green-energy research and production,” the magazine proclaimed.
That said, Jessica Schneider, owner of Junkee Clothing Exchange, posted on her personal Facebook page: “OK … We are green. We are into saving our planet. That is so great … but we are not into saving our own community. We still support corporate business, we still shop online. We do not blink an eye about sending our money to some corporate office. Well, being green is so important!—which it should be—but we are not saving our own little planet (RENO)! I might have a meltdown if we lose one more business!”