Seattle hopes to become climate-neutral

Reduces carbon footprint

Marci Gilbert, Jan 28, 11.

Seattle hopes to become the world’s first climate-neutral city, according to a story in Yes Magazine:

The City Council’s goal of reaching carbon neutrality will take many years—and we are leading the world in making this commitment and trying to figure out how to get there. At the current rate, it will be a long time before we have a coordinated national strategy, and progress toward an international agreement is painfully slow.

But even if the world achieved carbon neutrality overnight, the climate is already changing, and we must adapt to that even if atmospheric carbon begins to decline. In all likelihood, we have at least several decades of changing climate before we can turn around greenhouse gas concentrations. Some of the more pessimistic assessments suggest that not even a turnaround will undo the changes that are likely to happen this century.

There is great uncertainty about what the climate future looks like or will bring, with a range of computer models ranging from the challenging to the disastrous. However, we know enough now to inform our actions, and the City Council and our Departments have been working for several years to identify strategies for adaptation. In 2008, the Council received a consultant report that outlined possible mitigation and adaptation strategies, and in 2010 the Office of Sustainability and Environment (OSE), in response to a Statement of Legislative Intent (a Council policy guidance tool), submitted a comprehensive assessment of areas of vulnerability, actions taken to date, and proposals for additional actions. In 2011, the Council will begin reviewing and acting on these recommendations.

Source: Yes Magazine
(via SmartGrowth.org)

Photo credit: Simonds