Local governments fight climate change
The ski slopes of Aspen, Colo., have attracted thousands of vacationers for decades, but warmer temperatures in the last 10 years have cut the ski season by 20 days. Along the coast, beach towns may soon have to protect their shorelines from rising tides. Faced with climate change and its effect on businesses, some local governments are taking steps to limit their harmful effects on the environment.
Aspen officials acknowledge some culpability for the city’s predicament. “Our emissions are roughly double what would be considered average emissions [per capita] nationwide,” says Dan Richardson, Aspen’s global warming project manager. Many of Aspen’s residents drive large sport utility vehicles and live in large homes with heated driveways, pools and spas, he says.
Aspen is fighting its warming trend to serve as an example for surrounding communities and for visitors. “What we expect is that other people can use us as an example,” says City Attorney John Worcester.
By the end of 2006, Richardson says that 70 percent of the electricity from the city’s public utility will be generated by renewable power sources. Aspen has purchased hybrid-fueled buses and is constructing a housing project using green-building practices. The city’s Community Office for Resource Efficiency offers grants, rebates and low-interest loans for residents installing efficient lighting retrofits, buying energy-efficient appliances and using photovoltaic solar thermal systems to heat water.
If the warming continues, Aspen could lose 75 percent of its ski season by 2030, possibly reducing the sales tax base from 16 percent to 4 percent, Richardson says. In that case, the city may start charging a fine for the use of carbon dioxide-producing machines, or it could charge more for parking tickets.
Climate change is also affecting Carolina Beach, N.C., where Town Manager Tim Owens says he has heard reports that rising sea levels could threaten towns like his. “It’s not something that comes to the forefront that often,” Owens says.
The town already has a program to protect its beaches from normal erosion. The project involves taking sand from a nearby inlet and transporting it to the beach. However, higher sea levels could cause serious flooding and might require a dike system to keep the town intact. “It would be very costly,” Owens says.
Midwestern cities like Chicago and Springfield, Ill. — suffering from a heat-related drought — also are attempting to lower their greenhouse gas emissions, installing solar power panels and water heating devices on city buildings, and replacing lights with more energy-efficient units. Springfield is planning a cleaner-burning coal power plant that will help the city reach its goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent by 2012.
More than 200 cities in 38 states have signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protocol Agreement initiated by Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels in early 2005. Participating communities also are members of the Sierra Club’s Cool Cities program, which provides information on greenhouse gas reduction efforts at www.coolcities.us.
“The federal government has been a total no-show with global warming,” says Eric Antebi, a Cool Cities program spokesman. “But by having all these cities take the lead, it’s really creating a lot of momentum,”
Susan DeGrane is a Chicago-based freelance writer.
