South Carolina was ranked 36th out of the 50 States by Forbes Magazine in regard to being “Green” in 2007.

Our low ranking will reduce the desire of clean businesses to locate here and induce our clean businesses to abandon the state.  It may also lead to dirty businesses deciding we are a good place to locate and turn us into an even worse dumping ground.

To turn this around without new bureaucracy or taxes, we can do the following:

1. Implement a green procurement policy that evaluates both the price of a bid and the “green” potential in life cycle of the services or products. Instead of the short term view of buying cheap, we shift to a longer term view of buying best value.
2. Plant our highway rights of way and state owned vacant land with biomass crops like sunflowers, and canola, switch grass, and other crops that can be converted into fuel.Convert County and Municipal planning departments into “Smart Growth Departments.” 
3. We know that infilling in communities and up-fitting existing buildings reduces the need for new infrastructure and leverages common resources like water.  Developers deplore “Smart Growth” and bankers dislike it because it disperses capital rather than concentrates it.  Putting infilling and up-fitting projects in front of the line for permitting and inspections and offering small “infrastructure leveraging” incentives will help shift us from sprawl to sanity.  
4. Identify community garden locations for depositing state and county grass clippings and other “mulchable” organic material for folks to pick up themselves to take home for their gardens or till into onsite community garden plots.
5. 68% of locally sourced money stays local.  Implement a “local sourcing” program and track and report how the State and Counties purchase locally. Businesses owned and operated locally return more economic value than businesses owned and operated by global corporations or individuals living elsewhere due to a phenomenon known as the "local multiplier effect."  If the State and counties buy local products at locally owned businesses, it keeps the money circulating within the community, rather than having it go elsewhere.