City Climate Corner

ICLEI, Local Governments for Sustainability, has been helping local governments with climate action for three decades. Learn how they're evolving with some exciting new tools, cohorts, and programs. And hear how the Race to Zero is showing cities that it's possible to cut carbon emissions 60% in 8 years. We interview Executive Director Angie Fyfe, Sr. Program Officer Kale Roberts, and Zero Carbon Cities Advisor Josh Radoff.

Resources

• ICLEI USA website
• Race to Zero webpage
• Race to Zero white paper
• LEARN Forest and Trees Emissions Mapping Tool
• ICLEI Atlas of Sustainability Action Planning

We review our first year of podcasts, including what we've learned, emerging themes, and our biggest takeaways.

See out our episode map for a geographic view of our episodes. 

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On July 20, 2021, Santa Barbara City Council voted unanimously to ban natural gas from all new construction in the city. A powerful partnership, encompassing grass roots activism, staff analysis, and city council support, led the way. We interview Council Member Kristen Sneddon, Acting Sustainability & Resilience Director Alelia Parenteau, and Sierra Club Santa Barbara Chair Katie Davis and learn how they did it.

Resources

• City of Santa Barbara information on natural gas ban (FAQ, electrification resources, webinar recording, more)
• Santa Barbara Natural Gas Ban Ordinance
• Sustainability Department webpage
• Article from the Santa Barbara Independent newspaper
• Matter of Degrees podcast episode with more information on natural gas bans

The National League of Cities (NLC) is the oldest and largest organization in the country representing local governments and has been ramping up their climate change and sustainability support. We interview Cooper Martin, Director of Sustainability & City Solutions, about tools they have and especially about lessons learned from grants and support given to 33 smaller cities over five years in their Leadership in Community Resilience program.

Resources

• NLC Sustainability and Resilience webpage
• NLC City Solutions webpage
• Leadership in Community Resilience program and cohort info
• NLC SolSmart resources
• NLC and Reloop - Beyond Recycling: Policy to Achieve Circular Waste Management
• Smart Surfaces Coalition
• America's All In
• Race to Zero
• COP26 explanatory twitter thread (mentioned in episode)

Etna, a small suburb of Pittsburgh, became the country's first certified EcoDistrict in 2019. From a place that saw 25% of its homes flood in 2004, learn how collaboration within and between communities made it possible for Etna to green its infrastructure and undergo a grassroots revival. We interview Borough Manager Mary Ellen Ramage and Megan Tuñón, Executive Director of the Etna Community Organization.

Photos

• Etna Riverfront - before and after
• Etna EcoPark - creation

Resources

• Borough of Etna website
• Etna Green Infrastructure projects
• Etna EcoDistrict Plan
• Etna Community Organization
• Triboro EcoDistrict website
• River Bend Comprehensive Plan (for Etna, Sharpsburg, and Millvale)
• EcoDistricts - website for background information
• evolveEA environmental consulting firm in Pittsburgh
  • Etna EcoDistrict info
  • Triboro EcoDistrict info

Eugene Oregon has some hugely impressive trees and canopy management tools. We interview City of Eugene Urban Foresters Scott Altenhoff and Heidi Lakics, and learn how trees are intimately woven into Eugene's climate action plan and how Giant Sequoias are a key part of their urban forest.

Resources:

• Interactive map of Eugene street & park trees
• TreePlotter Canopy Tool (new) produced by Plan-it Geo
• American Forests Tree Equity Score tool
• Eugene Climate Action Plan 2.0
• Mapping Eugene's urban heat island
• Approved street tree list and planting guide
• 2021 Giant Sequoias in 2021 - video
• Eugene tree stories
• The Biocycle Farm and biochar production at the farm

Duck Hill, a town of about 1000 people in north central Mississippi, experienced constant flooding until a team of young "Creek Rangers" took it upon themselves to address it. We interview high school senior and Creek Ranger Mersie Watkins, and Romona Taylor Williams, Executive Director of Montgomery Citizens United for Prosperity, about the program and how it has impacted the lives of the young people involved and the residents of Duck Hill.

Resources

• EcoAdapt
  • ASEEDS initiative
• Local Foods, Local Places Report: Duck Hill MS (Creek Rangers on pg 3)
• Greening Youth Foundation
• National Adaptation Forum
• Hechinger Report: How some Mississippi teens are saving their town from climate change

Ithaca, NY, adopted a Green New Deal in June 2019. Their goal is achieving carbon neutrality community-wide by 2030, while ensuring benefits are shared so as to reduce historical inequities. We interview Luis Aguirre-Torres, Ithaca's dynamic new Sustainability Director, about his big plans for achieving Ithaca's goals, and how he's already raised $150M by creating ground-breaking relationships between private capital, business, government, and philanthropies.

Resources

• Ithaca Green New Deal website
• Ithaca's Energy Efficiency Retrofitting and Thermal Load Electrification Program - RFP
• Federal Green New Deal - House of Representatives resolution
• Federal Green New Deal - background from NY Times
• Sunrise Movement national and Sunrise Ithaca

Recast photo by Kenneth C. Zirkel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Asheville, NC adopted a food policy action plan in 2013 and updated it in 2017 to ensure residents have access to healthy, nutritious food in the context of creating a thriving and resilient city. We delve into what the plan is, how it relates to climate change, and how it has impacted the city in this interview with Asheville Sustainability Coordinator Kiera Bulan and Keith McDade, a member of Asheville's Sustainability Advisory Committee and a Professor of Sustainability at Lenoir-Rhyne University.

Resources

• Food Policy Action Plan information and resolution links
  • 2013 resolution establishing plan
  • 2017 resolution updating plan
• Asheville Buncombe Food Policy Council website
• Asheville Edibles map
• Climate Justice initiative and Climate Justice data map
• Bountiful Cities organization
• Asheville Sustainability Department
• Lenoir-Rhyne University Sustainability Studies program

In 2018, Savannah received a grant to create an urban tree nursery to grow their tree canopy, mitigate the increasing impacts of climate related flooding, do workforce development, and engage the community. We interview Savannah's Director of Sustainability Nick Deffley, University of Georgia Marine Extension's Coastal Resilience Specialist Jill Gambill, and program apprentice and now owner and operator of Corinthian Gardens, Robert Hartwell. We learn how the program has gone and the life changing impacts it has had.

Resources

• Urban Tree Nursery Program webpage
• Green Infrastructure to Green Jobs presentation
• Savannah's Office of Sustainability
• UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant
• Savannah Tree Foundation
• Corinthian Gardens (Robert's business)
• Loop It Up Savannah (kids that decorated the tree pots)