As people become more environmentally conscious, governments are often pressed to meet new demands. Renewable sources of energy, naturally produced food, fuel-efficient cars and eco-friendly recycling programs are just a few things that have risen out of the movement for a sustainable economy — an economy built around the idea that Earth’s resources are finite and that people should consume them more responsibly.

The words “green” and “sustainability” are as American as baseball and apple pie. But they are not just American. They are part of a larger cultural movement, dubbed by many as “The Green Revolution,” and it is spreading like wildfire into all corners of the world.

Small town America has only recently jumped on the green bandwagon. The city of Ames, however, has been a leader of the environmental movement for decades.

Ames operates a sustainability program called “EcoSmart” that would make a Swede blush — from its nationally recognized hybrid bus system, to its waste-to-energy conversion plant; Ames is proof that the sustainability movement is a force to be reckoned with.

The city’s crowning achievement is the Resource Recovery Plant, the nation’s first municipally owned waste-to-energy conversion plant. Built in 1975, the facility processes and converts almost all of the city’s waste into usable energy.

“Using waste-to-energy technology is a lot more responsible than taking materials straight to a landfill,” said Gary Freel, superintendent of the conversion plant. “And it is becoming more and more accepted all the time that waste-to-energy is considered renewable energy.”

Ames uses a simplified system of recycling in which citizens dispose of most waste into one container, which is then hauled to the conversion plant for separation. About 75 percent of trash continues on to the power plant, where it is burned and turned into energy. The remainder of trash is brought to the Boone County Landfill, located about 20 miles away from Ames.

Waste like glass and chemicals are not part of the waste-to-energy conversion process. When glass is put through the conversion plant, it can cause costly damage to the machines. For that reason, glass is recycled in a different way, but is still put to good use.

Glass is collected in large yellow bins at 13 different locations around Ames and neighboring towns. The glass is then brought to the conversion plant where it is crushed into small chunks, creating a powerful yet eco-friendly water filtering substance called “bioswale.”

“The thing with bioswale is that it is so much better than other methods of filtration like sand or gravel, because algae and moss have a hard time getting stuck in it,” Freel said. “We’ve used bioswale at places like the Ames water park, where run-off from the park that was entering nearby streams needed to be filtered.”

While the city of Ames provides these recycling services to the public free of charge, other services depend on the responsibility of individual citizens. The city’s official website provides citizens with the knowledge and tools they need to be environmentally responsible.

On the appropriately named “Go Green” section of the website, citizens can access an extensive list of helpful tips, ranging from frequently asked questions to a collection of innovative recipes for alternative house-hold cleaning solutions. Citizen participation has helped to drive the success of Ames sustainability efforts.

“From a financial perspective, the programs have allowed the city to save electric energy and demand, water, and transportation fuel. The programs are working,” said Steve Wilson, energy service coordinator for Ames.

Wilson is responsible for overseeing the Smart Energy program, which addresses the city’s energy supply and demand. Smart Energy is one of five branch operations of the greater Ames EcoSmart program — the others are Smart Ride, Smart Trash, Smart Water and Smart Watershed.

“Smart Energy has saved about 10 million kilowatt-hours of energy, 9 megawatts of demand, and removed about 8,000 tons of CO2,” Wilson said. “The city has set a goal of reducing CO2 levels by 15 percent by 2014. We are making excellent progress toward this goal.”

Recently, Ames has started purchasing large amounts of energy from Garden Wind LLC, a massive wind farm located a few miles north of the city.

All new buildings in Ames will be required to be LEED certified. According to the U.S. Building Council website, LEED — Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design — is a rating system that “provides building owners and operators with a framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design, construction, operations and maintenance solutions.”

As the worldwide movement for a sustainable economy increases speed, cities like Ames will stand out as role models for other cities to follow. Decades ago, Ames took the first steps in creating an environmentally responsible community. Today, the success of the program can be seen everywhere. There is still progress to be made, however.

“We will always strive to achieve greater levels of sustainability. We have been successful so far, but there is much more to be done,” Wilson said. “The future looks bright.”