City Climate Corner

On the shores of Lake Superior, Duluth has received publicity as a "climate proof city" though faces distinct challenges with its cold weather climate. With grants, they are pursuing exciting approaches to creating a geothermal district heating system from their waste water treatment plant and separately, creating resilience in their building stock with solar plus storage and microgrids. We interview Sustainability Officer Mindy Granley,  Community Resilience Project Coordinator Bret Crecelius, and Americorps service member Ella Stewart about Duluth's unique 5-year at a time approach to climate planning.

Resources

• Duluth Climate Action Work Plan
• Grant for geothermal district heating
• Renewables Advancing Community Energy Resilience (RACER) Funding Program
• Duluth Sustainability webpage

Groundswell's exciting SOUL (Save On Utilities Long term) program is rolling out right now in LaGrange, GA. SOUL is a Pay As You Save model that reduces utility bills by improving home energy efficiency, without upfront costs. It prioritizes households with lower incomes and high energy burdens. We interview Nicole Sonderegger of Groundswell and Leon Childs of Groundswell and a City Councilmember in LaGrange about how the program works and the lives it is changing.

Resources

• Groundswell SOUL program website
• LaGrange SOUL program
• City of LaGrange website

Morris is a small community in conservative western Minnesota that is doing groundbreaking sustainability work. Inspired by students at the University of MN Morris and a partnership with Saerbeck Germany as part of a unique "Climate Smart Municipalities" program, local leaders have come up with "The Morris Model" that guides the community's efforts. We interview former City Manager Blaine Hill and Univ. of MN - Morris Vice Chancellor Bryan Hermann to learn how the Morris Model started and about ongoing solar, wind, biogas, battery storage, composting, and EV infrastructure programs.

Resources

• The Morris Model
• Sustainability at University of Minnesota Morris
• Saerbeck Germany City Climate Corner episode
• Climate Smart Municipalities program at the University of MN's Institute on the Environment
• Flow Battery proposal mentioned in episode
• Volts podcast episode where Larry is interviewed about MN's new climate smart transportation law (mentioned in intro)

Regenerative Agriculture can improve soil health and water quality, sequester carbon, and increase farmer profits. It has become a key part of Boulder County's climate action. We interview Natural Capitalism Solutions President Hunter Lovins to understand regenerative agriculture's potential, and Boulder County Sustainability Office Director Susie Strife and Sustainability Strategist Tim Broderick to learn about some of the exciting actions underway in the county.

Resources

• OSCAR - Boulder County Office of Sustainability
• Natural Capitalism Solutions - website
• Boulder County Carbon Removal Playbook
• Sustainable Food & Agriculture Fund - Grant Program
• Sustainable Food & Agriculture Fund - Grantees
• Article: CO expands regenerative ag program started in Boulder county
• Gabe Brown and 5 principles of soil health
• Colorado's STAR program on soil health
• 4 Corners Carbon Coalition
• Mushroom bricks / concrete

Elected Officials to Protect America (EOPA) empowers local elected officials and civic leaders to fight the climate crisis, with a special focus on lawmakers who are veterans. With leaders from all 50 states and Puerto Rico, EOPA is an organizing force for local officials to increase their impact in their own communities as well as on regional and national issues. We interview co-founders Alex Cornell du Houx, and Dominic Frongillo about their programs and some of their work, including banning fracking in NY, supporting offshore wind, and fighting for environmental justice. EOPA is also City Climate Corner's fiscal sponsor.

Resources

• EOPA website
• EOPA's Certificate of Public Leadership Program - Application
• Form to join EOPA as an elected official
• Mentioned during intro and debrief
  • Larry's Op-Ed in the Minnesota Star Tribune
  • City Climate Corner episode with Max Gruenig - on running for office as a climate candidate

Larry recently visited Saerbeck, a village in northwest Germany that has done incredible things with renewable energy, biogas, and now green hydrogen. We interview Martin Sammler, Manager of Saerbeck's Climate Action Department, about how this village of 7200 people is producing 4 times the energy it needs with renewables, is planning to decarbonize its heating system by 2030, and is becoming a proving ground for the production of green hydrogen and electrolyzers.

Resources

• Saerbeck - climate projects backgrounder (English)
• Saerbeck website (in German)
• Climate Community Saerbeck
• Enapter's Saerbeck electrolyzer production facility - Article

With this summer of one climate disaster after another, Abby and Larry talk about how they deal with the depressing parts of climate change, and especially, what gives them hope.

More and more we're learning that protected bike lanes with physical separation from car traffic are the best at changing behavior and getting a lot more people to cycle. But they can be time consuming to construct. We interview Bike Program Coordinator Kyle Kozar, Mobility Manager Jason Kligier, and Principal Civil Engineer Selim Eren, from the City of Santa Monica, about their efforts creating bike infrastructure, and an innovative use of a construction machine to, effectively, 3D print protected bike lanes.

Resources

• Bike Action Plan Amendment
• 3D bike lane printing in action (Twitter video)
• Protected intersection in Santa Monica (photo)
• City of Santa Monica Climate Action and Adaptation Plan

Though Hopkins is one of the smaller Minneapolis suburbs, it packs a big punch on climate action. We dig into two really innovative programs they're doing on reducing the urban heat island effect and speeding deployment of clean energy and energy efficiency solutions with a cost share program. We speak with Hopkins Mayor Patrick Hanlon and Special Projects and Initiatives Manager, PeggySue Imihy Bean, to understand how this small community is taking on big challenges.

Resources

• Hopkins Heat Vulnerability
  • Story map - DEFINITELY look at this!
  • Webpage and background information on study
• Star Tribune 5/11/23 article on Hopkins urban heat island program
• Cost Share programs mentioned (Hopkins program is not live yet)
  • Green Cost Share program (Minneapolis)
  • Climate Champions (St Louis Park)

Transportation is now the #1 source of greenhouse gas emissions in the US. While electrification is the most obvious emissions reduction strategy, it isn't enough. We must reduce VMT, or vehicle miles travelled. We interview Anna Zetkulic, senior associate on the Carbon Free Transportation team at RMI and Miguel Moravec, an Associate with the US program, about how cities and states are tackling the issue, and the huge side benefits that come with VMT reduction.

Resources

• Article: Our Driving Habits Must Be Part of the Climate Conversation
• Analysis: Minnesotans Would Save up to $91 Billion from Climate-Smart Transportation
• Buffalo NY: Green code
• Colorado's Greenhouse Gas program
• THE HIDDEN CLIMATE SUCCESS IN MINNESOTA’S NEW TRANSPORTATION LAW
• America Is All In