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A small city named Claremont is located about 30 km at the east foothill of the San Gabriel Mountains. It has been a winner of the National Arbor Day Association’s Tree City USA award for 22 consecutive years and rated as the fifth best place to live in US. America is not a country short of eco-friendly towns with exquisite sceneries； still， with its unique ecological and cultural ambience， Claremont becomes an extraordinary， harmonious and habitable town for people to live in US.
Trees or PhDs， which are more important？
Claremont is also a college town， and many of its citizens have PhD degrees. The famous Chinese Diva Mei Lanfang got an honored PhD degree here. Its not-so-big downtown area has seven higher education institutions， including Pomona College， a college with a hundred year history only second to Stanford in the US Colleges Ranking rated by The Forbes in 2013. Moreover， Claremont is full of tree-lined streets， which earned the city a name -- the "City of Trees and PhDs".
However， the former mayor of Claremont and current councilman Larry Schroeder said in an interview with China's Reference Information， "In our city， trees are more important than PhDs".
Over 100 years ago， the place was only a patch of barren desert. It became a tradition of the city to plant trees ever since the establishment of the city in 1907. Nowadays with a population of over 30，000， it already has tens of thousands of trees. To protect the natural environment of the city， Claremont also built the largest desert wildlife botanic garden in South California and raised money to buy the entire back mountain， which significantly benefited the citizens.
The energy saving houses
It's also worth to mention the "Cherp" house energy retrofits projects in Claremont， which can be deemed as an emblem of Claremont's policy of advocating green economy and ecological architecture.
It is learned that， many years ago， C. Freeman Allen and other professors co-founded the community organization "Cherp"， which is dedicated to housing retrofits， such as providing better solutions for air-conditioning or heating facilities so as to improve energy efficiency and protect the environment.
Shroeder also reformed his own house's air-conditioning and heating facilities according to the "Cherp" methods， and saved an electricity bill of 700 USD and a natural gas bill of 100 USD in the time of a year. In the interview he said， "I found it was really amazing， so I encouraged people to do the same retrofits. At first， there were difficulties in promoting it， but when people saw the benefits that the remolded houses -- it can save a huge amount of energy， more and more people began to accept and were willing to reform their houses". Now， there are over 130 such retrofitted houses in Claremont. The green architecture surge should be attributed to the continuous efforts of the local government and the outstanding contribution of ordinary citizens. Since 2008， the Claremont government implemented Claremont Sustainable City Plan， adopted eco-friendly measures to save energy and water so as to strike a balance between economic prosperity and environmental health. Besides， it is learned that Claremont citizens founded a NGO -- "Sustainable Claremont". They play a very important role in contributing the ecological civilization construction of the city by doing their own parts in their respective field.
Experimenter of leading-edge ecological philosophies
Shroeder said， "A lot of PhDs， Post-PhDs， and thinkers are actively participating the municipal construction and reflecting the direction of the development of the city， which makes the city stand out". At springs it will host high-end international forums on ecological civilization. Many famous personages work and live here， along with a batch of advocates and practitioners of "ecological civilization". They do not practice low-consumption lifestyle by themselves， but also advocate ecological architecture， post-modern agriculture， green cities and ecological economy.
The original inventor of the green GDP John Kibly and his wife live in a modest apartment of the famous green senior community -- "Pilgrimage"， which is the pride of Claremont. All the inhabitants consciously practice green and eco-friendly lifestyle to reduce carbon emission， for instance， buying eco-friendly cars， remolding electrical appliances and so on. Dr. Kibly believed that， medium and small cities are more sustainable compared with large cities. A city with a population of several hundred thousand can provide all kinds of facilities necessitated by the urban environment， and can sustain itself by its own food and resource. In addition， sustainable small and medium cities need sustainable agriculture to prop up. Hence， developing agriculture should be developed not at the cost of polluting the environment and land. Instead， eco-agriculture should be promoted.
Many local seniors led a life "that is retired yet not rested"， pursuing their own interests as usual. Eco-agricturalist Dean Dernburg led an agricultural group in a local senior community. A dozen of seniors planted several dozens of vegetables and fruits like lettuce and carrots， etc. and some pot flowers. They never use any pesticide which is chemically synthesized， but only organic fertilizers. Their yield not only is provided to the community， but also sold to neighboring citizens to subsidy the expense of the community.
"The petrifaction products like fertilizers or pesticide not only rely on oil resources， but also kill the microorganisms in the soil， causing long-term damage to land and ecological environment"， he said， "we should not only consider the immediate interests， but also protect the soil and ecology， leaving a healthy and fertile land for our offspring".
Trees or PhDs， which are more important？
Claremont is also a college town， and many of its citizens have PhD degrees. The famous Chinese Diva Mei Lanfang got an honored PhD degree here. Its not-so-big downtown area has seven higher education institutions， including Pomona College， a college with a hundred year history only second to Stanford in the US Colleges Ranking rated by The Forbes in 2013. Moreover， Claremont is full of tree-lined streets， which earned the city a name -- the "City of Trees and PhDs".
However， the former mayor of Claremont and current councilman Larry Schroeder said in an interview with China's Reference Information， "In our city， trees are more important than PhDs".
Over 100 years ago， the place was only a patch of barren desert. It became a tradition of the city to plant trees ever since the establishment of the city in 1907. Nowadays with a population of over 30，000， it already has tens of thousands of trees. To protect the natural environment of the city， Claremont also built the largest desert wildlife botanic garden in South California and raised money to buy the entire back mountain， which significantly benefited the citizens.
The energy saving houses
It's also worth to mention the "Cherp" house energy retrofits projects in Claremont， which can be deemed as an emblem of Claremont's policy of advocating green economy and ecological architecture.
It is learned that， many years ago， C. Freeman Allen and other professors co-founded the community organization "Cherp"， which is dedicated to housing retrofits， such as providing better solutions for air-conditioning or heating facilities so as to improve energy efficiency and protect the environment.
Shroeder also reformed his own house's air-conditioning and heating facilities according to the "Cherp" methods， and saved an electricity bill of 700 USD and a natural gas bill of 100 USD in the time of a year. In the interview he said， "I found it was really amazing， so I encouraged people to do the same retrofits. At first， there were difficulties in promoting it， but when people saw the benefits that the remolded houses -- it can save a huge amount of energy， more and more people began to accept and were willing to reform their houses". Now， there are over 130 such retrofitted houses in Claremont. The green architecture surge should be attributed to the continuous efforts of the local government and the outstanding contribution of ordinary citizens. Since 2008， the Claremont government implemented Claremont Sustainable City Plan， adopted eco-friendly measures to save energy and water so as to strike a balance between economic prosperity and environmental health. Besides， it is learned that Claremont citizens founded a NGO -- "Sustainable Claremont". They play a very important role in contributing the ecological civilization construction of the city by doing their own parts in their respective field.
Experimenter of leading-edge ecological philosophies
Shroeder said， "A lot of PhDs， Post-PhDs， and thinkers are actively participating the municipal construction and reflecting the direction of the development of the city， which makes the city stand out". At springs it will host high-end international forums on ecological civilization. Many famous personages work and live here， along with a batch of advocates and practitioners of "ecological civilization". They do not practice low-consumption lifestyle by themselves， but also advocate ecological architecture， post-modern agriculture， green cities and ecological economy.
The original inventor of the green GDP John Kibly and his wife live in a modest apartment of the famous green senior community -- "Pilgrimage"， which is the pride of Claremont. All the inhabitants consciously practice green and eco-friendly lifestyle to reduce carbon emission， for instance， buying eco-friendly cars， remolding electrical appliances and so on. Dr. Kibly believed that， medium and small cities are more sustainable compared with large cities. A city with a population of several hundred thousand can provide all kinds of facilities necessitated by the urban environment， and can sustain itself by its own food and resource. In addition， sustainable small and medium cities need sustainable agriculture to prop up. Hence， developing agriculture should be developed not at the cost of polluting the environment and land. Instead， eco-agriculture should be promoted.
Many local seniors led a life "that is retired yet not rested"， pursuing their own interests as usual. Eco-agricturalist Dean Dernburg led an agricultural group in a local senior community. A dozen of seniors planted several dozens of vegetables and fruits like lettuce and carrots， etc. and some pot flowers. They never use any pesticide which is chemically synthesized， but only organic fertilizers. Their yield not only is provided to the community， but also sold to neighboring citizens to subsidy the expense of the community.
"The petrifaction products like fertilizers or pesticide not only rely on oil resources， but also kill the microorganisms in the soil， causing long-term damage to land and ecological environment"， he said， "we should not only consider the immediate interests， but also protect the soil and ecology， leaving a healthy and fertile land for our offspring".