I went to hear a great panel discussion on sustainability in Charlotte this week at the Levine Museum. 

The event Tuesday was pulled together by Shannon Binns, who has launched a local nonprofit he calls Sustain Charlotte. Its goal is to advance the goals of "sustainability," which it defines as "meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own."

The topic drew a healthy crowd of about 75 people, and Binns set the scene by noting that when SustainLane.com ranked the 50 largest U.S. cities on "sustainability," looking at factors such as air quality, transit use, tap water quality, "green" buildings, proportion of parkland, housing affordability, and so on, Charlotte didn't do so well.

In 2006 we were No. 34 out of 50. In 2008 we slipped to 35. (The top five: Portland, Ore., San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago and New York. The bottom five: Memphis, Las Vegas, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, and pulling up the rear, Mesa, Ariz.)

What must Charlotte do, Binns asked a panel of experts, to become a leader in sustainability? Answers spilled into many areas.  READ MORE