San Diego gets high marks for recycling programs

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published May 31, 2006 at 9:00 PM PDT

This story was published more than 18 years ago.

San Diego lags nearly all the 50 largest cities in the country when it comes to air and water quality. But the new report says the city gets high marks for recycling programs and park space. KPBS Repo

San Diego lags nearly all the 50 largest cities in the country when it comes to air and water quality. But the new report says the city gets high marks for recycling programs and park space. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce has details.

The non-partisan group, SustainLane.com, ranks cities based on 15 economic and
quality-of-life categories, including healthy air, drinking water and land use
planning. The city scored well in some areas, but trails most of the other cities when it comes to housing affordability, use of public transportation, air and water quality.

Warren Karlenzig is the study's director. He says the city's commuting lifestyle is a drag on the local economy.

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Karlenzig: Because who's going to want to pay their workers extra money to commute to their job, or who's going to want to live in a city where they're forced to drive their car even though it's costing them hundreds of dollars a week. And that's going to take an impact in terms of San Diego's economic competitiveness.

San Diego ranked 17th overall, while Portland Oregon was number one and San
Francisco was ranked second. Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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