CitiesGoGreen - January 2009 - (Page 5) From the Editor the sustainability magazine for people in local government January 2009 Issue 6 Daimon Sweeney Publisher & Editor Daimon@CitiesGoGreen.com Judith Sult Publisher & Marketing Director Judith@CitiesGoGreen.com Stephanie Hopkinson Creative Director Stephanie@CitiesGoGreen.com Page Buono Editorial Assistant Page@CitiesGoGreen.com Elizabeth Johnson Circulation Coordinator Elizabeth@CitiesGoGreen.com Anna Koeppler Production Assistant Anna@CitiesGoGreen.com Letters to the Editor Editor@CitiesGoGreen.com Subscriptions (866) 686-8101 or www.CitiesGoGreen.com Digital subscriptions are free to those with a government email address. Print subscriptions are $72 for 12 issues per year CitiesGoGreen is published by Verde Publishing, Inc. 1155 North State St., Ste 510 Bellingham, WA 98225 We can be reached at (360) 306-8101 or (866) 686-8101 © 2009 by Verde Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved ISSN #1944-4664 Cover photograph: First LEED Platinum Recycling and Transfer Station. King County, Washington. January 2009 Transition Time—For the World his month a new US president will be sworn in. For him, for the US, and for the world, this is a time of transition, of change. Here’s one I like: Obama’s nominee for Energy Secretary is a Nobel-winning physicist, Steven Chu, head of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Chu considers climate change an urgent problem. In a National Clean Energy Summit speech he demonstrates the enormous potential of conservation with a graph showing that the energy savings from more efficient refrigerators alone has reduced energy use far more than the amount of energy all our renewables currently produce (not counting hydro). He is also an avid proponent of renewable energy research. Obama said Chu’s nomination is in part to show that this administration values science. His other science picks are equally impressive. This is a welcome transition to a new attitude. . Furthermore, while Chu was born in St. Louis, both his parents are from China. That nation is very excited at his selection, featuring his picture on page one of state-run newspapers. Chinese officials say his involvement will make negotiations on energy and greenhouse gas production much more productive. That’s global change in the making. At the end of 2009 a new international agreement on greenhouse gas emissions will replace the Kyoto Protocol. The recent preparatory meeting in Poznan, Poland, left many dissatisfied but produced at least one very positive development. The science-based target of 350 parts per million CO2 became established as a concept, and can now compete with the more politically palatable and until now accepted target of 450 ppm. The higher number would still produce havoc, according to James Hanson, our leading climatologist. Perhaps our progress on energy efficiency and other useful matters will accelerate apace with the recently discovered melting of Siberian permafrost, the vast “permanently” frozen layer of dirt and organic matter that contains and caps enough methane to flood the atmosphere. That’s a change we don’t want. Rapid change we do want is possible, though, and we explore Ed Mazria’s 2030 Challenge Stimulus Plan, a concrete way to get it going soon. The plan is in the hands of the Obama Transition Team. Mazria shows us how we can address climate change with irresistible incentives to make millions of buildings more efficient, at the same time creating green jobs in every community and restarting the economy, affordably. Jerry Berry, City Manager of Nanaimo, British Columbia, shares his 30-year perspective on the likelihood of bold action for climate change in local government, and finds it wanting. He has a radical proposal for staff on page 32. The mayor of Minneapolis is taking bold action, and his city is a leader in moving toward sustainability. With a staff of only two, everyone is involved. We look into how that works. Our feature article this issue is Greening the Office. You probably work in an office. With many resources and ideas, you’ll almost surely find a way to make your office more sustainable and even safer, if you take the section on cleaning seriously. If you’re not in charge and think your own actions couldn’t do much, read the “Broken Windows” item in In Motion. You’ll see how individual actions affect others. How could that apply to your office? Your community? There’s so much good and so much bad. Overall, I have a weird sense of optimism. Obama’s personnel picks in some areas, the signs that the US may take the lead in climate response using the best of science, and that other nations would respond, the fact that we are not yet succumbing to the usual brain-fog induced by low gas prices, the brilliance of ideas like Mazria’s, a beginning focus on science over politics in global negotiations, the continual emergence of new energy technologies which can scale to our need, and others, all contribute. Are we nearing a positive tipping point of exponential growth in rationality, efficiency, and clean energy production, even as we near a negative tipping point of runaway climate change? Stay tuned, and think about which way you want your office, your community, and the world to tip. Warmly, T 5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfLaQUD86Mw&eurl=http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/12/10/151122/96?source=rss&feature=player_embedded http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfLaQUD86Mw&eurl=http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/12/10/151122/96?source=rss&feature=player_embedded http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/12/081219-methane-siberia.html http://www.CitiesGoGreen.com http://www.CitiesGoGreen.com
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