Western Dispatch March 2010

Climate Change. Think Global. Act Local.

Friends,

If any of us held out real hopes for meaningful global progress on addressing climate change, last month's Copenhagen Climate Change Conference left them in ruins. The highly anticipated summit of world leaders ended with a toothless agreement that recognizes the need to keep global temperatures from rising, but lacks the emissions-reduction targets or requirements necessary to achieve this goal. The conference was another example of a failure to achieve sweeping change or grand-scale solutions, no matter how compelling the need.

Clearly, on matters as critical as climate change, we can't wait for global or national leadership. We need to also act on the regional, state, and local levels to achieve meaningful progress. Fortunately, at the Sonoran Institute, local engagement is our strength, and "boots on the ground" leadership is our calling card. Let me share with you some new research and highlights of our activities across the West, aimed at inspiring local action on climate change.

Community Planners on the Front Line

At the New Partners for Smart Growth conference held last month in Seattle, we released compelling research showing what western communities are doing about, and not just saying about, climate change.

We found that climate change policies at the federal, regional, and state levels are needed - but that local actions matter most at this point. It is the local planners who are tackling climate change head on: reducing energy consumption, permitting renewable energy facilities, building more efficient transportation systems, and protecting wildlife corridors.

To be successful, western communities must demonstrate that these measures make economic sense. Why? Because when we asked 50 western public officials about local attitudes toward climate change, they told us that many residents are skeptical that climate change even exists or that it is caused by humans, and that people generally perceive the issue as global, remote, and "beyond my pay grade."

To avoid getting mired in controversy, western planners are taking a different tack: "I use terms like 'conservation,' 'energy efficiency,' and 'savings,'" one official told us. "I think those are terms you can use to do these things without getting into the debate of climate change." The fact is that many of the best remedies for climate change also create good local jobs, save taxpayers money and are worthwhile investments.

Published by our joint venture partner, the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Planning for Climate Change in the West, was authored by the Sonoran Institute's Susan Culp and Rebecca Carter.

Community-Based Energy Leadership

We recently hosted a three-day energy workshop in Grand Junction, Colorado, for about 40 community leaders representing the cities, towns, and counties of Western Colorado. Called the Community Energy Futures Institute, the goal of the workshop was to provide the training and tools necessary for these leaders to initiate energy efficiency and renewable energy strategies as part of a vision for sustainable communities.

Community officials from Golden, Colorado, and Park City, Utah, provided inspiration by sharing the progress and techniques they have used to spur local action, and achieve energy efficiency results. The best part of the workshop was the opportunity for participants to share information and experiences. Marjo Curgus, our training director, who led the workshop said, "There are no perfect models of sustainable communities out there, but everyone is learning from each other. Sharing stories and experiences is how we will take big steps forward on this idea."

Harnessing Wyoming's Wind Power

Wyoming's angle on climate change means embracing renewable energy. Wyoming has outstanding wind energy resources, and as wind energy developers flock to the state to take advantage of its great potential, Wyoming has recognized the need to better coordinate how wind energy development will take place. A new law that places a $1-per-megawatt-hour tax on wind energy produced in the state beginning in 2012. This and three other new wind energy laws recognize that energy development cannot be a free-for-all. Residents should appropriately benefit from their state's energy resources, and they also need some measure of protection for their private lands.

The laws extend the state's permitting authority over wind farms and their related transmission lines, impose a moratorium until June 30, 2011 on the use of eminent domain powers to take private land for transmission lines, and set minimum county standards and restrictions for wind energy facilities.

The Sonoran Institute actively supported all of the bills and the Institute's Jim Whalen, based in Cheyenne, continues to work closely with Wyoming's Wind Energy Task Force.

Sun Power for Arizona

Arizona has a mandate by 2025 that 15 percent of the energy sold by the state's regulated utilities be produced from renewable sources. The sun-soaked state's solar energy resources promise to help achieve this goal, but one challenge will be avoiding or minimizing environmental impacts in the development of large-scale solar facilities.

Arizona's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) came up with an innovative solution: the Restoration Design Energy Project. The BLM reached out to the state's residents, conservation groups, energy developers, and others to help identify previously disturbed lands ("brownfields"), where large-scale renewable energy projects could be developed. The BLM received word of dozens of promising locations (public and private) and now plans to conduct environmental impact studies on 42 sites, totaling 26,000 acres.

Renewable energy development on sites such as landfills and abandoned mines is a win-win solution in efforts to decrease greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. It is a local solution that relies on local citizens' knowledge about their own communities. This is the kind of local solution in which our true hopes for global success live.

Sincerely,