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By ROB BENCINI

Earth Day was celebrated Thursday, and the news was filled with stories highlighting events and green business successes. By all accounts, one would believe that the Greensboro-High Point market is an enthusiastic participant in all things green and sustainable. But is it? Perhaps an independent assessment would be appropriate.

The American City Business Journals (publisher of the Triad Business Journal) recently analyzed data from 43 U.S. markets where it publishes weekly business papers regarding the levels of green planning, building and green business activities. All were ranked in 20 categories under five broad criteria: daily commute time, use of public transit, sprawl, the number of LEED-certified projects and the number of green jobs per capita.

Analysis such as this is not an end in and of itself, but it could gauge whether intelligent local land use, economic development foresight, citizen participation, adaptive training capacity and a cutting-edge knowledge work force are in place.

The first category was a rank of travel (daily commute) time. Despite some aggravating delays during high-traffic periods, the road system in the Greensboro-High Point market is remarkably good. Consequently, the area was rated fourth among the markets surveyed for the ease of commute and total commute time.

The second category was public transit. The Greensboro-High Point market has a commuting culture dominated by single-passenger vehicles. Until very recently, mass transit has been provided by local bus services addressing the work needs of a dependent ridership. Elective bus use is virtually nonexistent, and only recent developments such as HEAT (for college campuses) and PART have added any significant ridership. The Greensboro-High Point market ranked 36th in the survey.

Sprawl, the inefficient use of land related principally to residential building, was the third category. Here, the elements that contributed to the outcome are more visible. High Point's growth pattern has been challenged by its adjacency to Jamestown and Greensboro, interaction with four different counties, the PTI airport noise cone and Randleman Lake watershed restrictions. High Point's development has generally been very efficient from a land-use perspective by quickly annexing properties and serving the newly annexed areas with water and sewer, maximizing the opportunity for land-use efficiency.

To a large degree, Greensboro's growth pattern has become more efficient in recent years, with more infill and fewer outlying subdivisions.

But growth in the unincorporated areas of the county has been a huge contributor to the sprawl in the Greensboro-High Point market. Farm after farm became subdivisions, with large lots, no water/sewer infrastructure and inadequate roads. In 2004, I alerted the county commissioners that Guilford County had become the poster child for sprawl. This national report confirmed the analysis as Guilford County ranked last on containing sprawl.

The fourth area was the percentage of LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) projects. The Guilford County area was very slow to adopt the LEED certification process. The Greensboro-High Point market ranked 40th for LEED-certified projects.

The last category may be the most important of all: the number of green jobs per capita. It is the category that incorporates the market's industrial responsiveness, the acceptance of the community to pursue green upgrades of their homes and businesses, the willingness and ability of institutions of higher education to demonstrate foresight and pursue emerging trends. Every market, no matter how large or small, can gain green jobs. Those with an industrial legacy can take advantage of growth in green manufacturing. Greensboro-High Point finished 39th in green jobs per capita out of the 43 markets.

After all results were tabulated, Greensboro-High Point finished 43rd out of 43 markets measured.

We can do better. The green economy may be the greatest source of both work accessibility and entrepreneurial opportunities on the horizon. And not a single adopted economic development plan, public or private sector, in the Greensboro-High Point area pursues this huge market. The time to move is now. In the area that may hold the greatest promise for putting people back to work, we can't afford to be last.

Rob Bencini, a former planner for Guilford County, is a strategic foresight consultant for business development and governmental policy. His website is www.robbencini.com