7 ways Atlantans are saving the planet—or our little corner of it

The City of Atlanta is replacing their gas-guzzlers

When the City of Atlanta took a close look at the 351 sedans in its municipal fleet, it realized it had some real gas guzzlers, with 59 of them averaging fewer than 15 miles a gallon. This year city officials phased out the worst offenders and replaced them with 60 new electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids. The move is wrapped into Atlanta’s Power to Change sustainability plan, which aims to reduce the city’s share of car and truck emissions by 20 percent in the next four years. By all accounts, Mayor Kasim Reed is a driving force behind Power to Change, which also embraces the Better Buildings Challenge along with projects like installing solar panels on city-owned property. He’s made the director of sustainability a cabinet-level position in his administration, and last year he hired Mario Cambardella as the city’s first urban agriculture director.

This article originally appeared in our August 2016 issue.