The 2009 Greening the Heartland conference wrapped up in Detroit yesterday.

AmericaJR covered the event and recorded Council President Ken Cockrel Jr.’s welcome address. In it, Cockrel highlighted Detroit’s green efforts, including our non-motorized transportation master planning efforts.

Of course we are the Motor City… We want to encourage people to get out of their cars and look at alternative forms of transportation.

Regular readers of m-bike know of Cockrel’s strong support for making Detroit more bike friendly. And clearly that support continues despite his recent mayoral election loss.

Also at the conference was renowned environmental activist David Suzuki. In his keynote speach, he spoke of growing up in nearby Leamington, Ontario and how he enjoyed visits to the Detroit Zoo.

The Detroit Zoo is looking to create a green plan in partnership with Detroit Edison. This plan would likely include improving non-motorized access to the zoo — a topic we’ll soon write about in greater detail.