By Amy Serafin and Heather Stimmler-Hall

It might be true of Copenhagen or Vancouver, but “green” isn’t the first adjective that springs to mind when one thinks of Paris.

The lush vertical garden at the Musée du Quai Branly, an inspiration for similar plantings throughout the city.

That may soon change, says French journalist and tourism consultant Josette Sicsic, sitting on a café terrace overlooking a row of newly planted trees on the Place d’Italie. “The French always take a long time to be convinced of something. We have a rebellious nature. Then all of a sudden, there’s a collective intelligence. Ecological awareness has been a long time coming, but in less than two years, we’ve caught up; now we’re as mindful of the problem as the Scandinavians or Germans.”

Here as in other parts of the world, scientists and environmentalists are finally getting their message across. Since 1990, TV personality and veteran ecologist Nicolas Hulot has run a foundation that has doggedly labored to modify individual and collective behaviors. A shift in public attitudes was evident during the 2007 presidential campaign when Hulot circulated a “Pacte Ecologique” pledging to make the environment a priority. It was signed not only by some 733,359 citizens but also by all the major candidates.

Other national environmental milestones have included the French government’s introduction in 2004 of its “Plan Climat” to reduce carbon emissions in accordance with the Kyoto protocol agreement, and the 2008 passage of the “Grenelle de l’environnement,” a bill based on a series of roundtable discussions about environmental policy and sustainable development. This past June, the well-organized Europe Ecologie party received more than 16 percent of the French vote during the European Parliamentary elections (Parisians gave them 28 percent of their vote), and the save-the-planet documentary Home by French aerial photographer Yann Arthus Bertrand filled big and small screens around the world, quickly topping the list of best-selling DVDs in France.

Located on the site of a former auto factory, the modernist Parc André Citroën reflects Paris’s commitment to making green spaces an integral part of contemporary city life.

On the municipal level, Paris has been going green ever since the 2001 election of Bertrand Delanoë, a Socialist who became mayor thanks to an alliance with Les Verts (he was re-elected in 2008). In 2005, the French capital established its own Plan Climat, pledging a 30 percent reduction in emissions and energy consumption of public buildings by 2020. The city has also given the label “Agenda 21” to a number of local projects, signifying that they respect a U.N. blueprint for sustainable development. These initiatives run the gamut from future éco-quartiers, or green neighborhoods, to issuing uniforms made from fair-trade cotton to sanitation workers.

The difference is already visible. Sicsic gestures at the greenery all around her. “Here on the avenue des Gobelins, cars were parked on the sidewalk just 10 years ago. Since then, the city has widened the pavement and created an alley of trees; it’s completely different now.” Paris is one of the most densely treed cities in Europe, with new plantings and old growths totaling some 485,000 in all. More than half are in the Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes; 36,500 are in parks and gardens, and another 96,500 line the streets. Resident associations are also contributing to the greening of their city by creating community gardens with the help of City Hall. And Parisians can write to the mayor’s office and suggest blank walls as candidates for vertical gardens, the hippest thing in horticulture since the Musée du Quai Branly created its dramatic mur végétal. Read the end of this article on France Magazine’s website.