CitiesGoGreen - February 2009 - (Page 26) take hold. “You have to try things though, to find out if the community is ready,” she said. The campaign also has a goal of inspiring other communities. On an expedition to neighboring Napa County, campaign emissaries invited several mayors to a briefing and requested them to bring dark glasses. After the briefing, the mayors posed for a photo opportunity in their dark glasses—looking cool and ready for action. “It’s a heavy topic, and you have to lighten it up a bit,” Hancock said. Mayors who attended a climate protection campaign briefing in Creating the plan “We play on the Matrix theme Hancock said they researched Napa Valley were charged with a task of Matrix-like proportions. and say, ‘Climate protection is the best examples of commu- “Climate protection is not a job for the weak,” they were told. not a job for the weak.’” nity climate action plans idenThe campaign encourages tified by ICLEI. “We interviewed partnership politics, not power politics. Hancock hopes other communities depeople who had developed these stellar veloping their climate plans will borrow “Sometimes environmentalists beat up plans to learn from them.” on people. But you never know who your The campaign established four criteria heavily from their work rather than start- allies will be. No blame, no shame. We’re ing from scratch “We had a lot of technifor potential solutions for the Plan: cal people doing the analyses. Learn from all in this together.” Their model worked 1. Significant, rapid GHG reductions us. Use our numbers.” Hancock said a plan well for them. “Everyone plays a role and 2. Cost effective like theirs should be feasible for anyone, we all have to go our various distances.” 3. Under local control Hancock credits much of the shift in even in states that aren’t as progressive 4. Politically feasible public sentiment about climate change After two years of community engage- as California. She also suggested that other com- to Al Gore and Hurricane Katrina, which ment and work by technical consultants showed the consequences of climate and staff, the campaign released the munities have a plan manager. The plan change in unmistakable terms. Sonoma County Community Climate Ac- manager for the Sonoma County plan, Leadership at the state level from Govtion Plan. About 70 pages long, it includes Alden Feldon, was only hired part time, ernor Schwarzenegger and Attorney Geneverything from the history of climate but Hancock said he was doing a full time eral Jerry Brown may make climate prochange in Sonoma County to detailed re- job’s worth of work tection easier in California than in other duction requirements in water, electricity, states. Brown has sued local governments new construction, and other sectors. The Implementation and advice for failing to consider climate change in Plan is underpinned by over 500 pages of In January the campaign will organize their general plans, and the reverberatechnical documentation. various implementation working groups tions of that possibility continue to be felt A reader-friendly eight-page summary to begin coordinating county-wide ef- around the state. of the Plan is divided into five manage- forts to make the plan a reality. There is If President Obama does what he has able sections: Efficiency First, Smart Tran- little Hancock would have done differ- promised, there is potential for big investsit and Land Use, Power up Locally, Con- ently. “We had a lot of good advice going ment in sustainability initiatives. Hancock serve and Capture, and Financing Tools. in, and a lot of good tools and people to believes Sonoma County will be well-poHancock said the readability of the doc- work with.” sitioned under his administration. uments cost well-spent time and money, Some programs the campaign looked Hancock says that despite the econombecause it helps citizens stay involved, as at, such as a small business program, didn’t ic crisis, climate protection will prevail in well as making the plan more accessible. large part because many of the solutions The Plan calls for investing $3.5-5 bilfor the climate crisis are synonymous with lion over the next few decades. Many fithose for the economic crisis. “Investing Climate Protection Milestones nancing tools are described in it, and the in green infrastructure creates green jobs ICLEI’s Cities for Climate Protection focus on financing is one of the Plan’s disand energy independence. This is a win all program has five steps: tinguishing aspects. the way around.” v • Inventory GHG emissions “The $168,000 that local governments, • Set a reduction target and a businesses and private donors invested Page Buono is an editorial assistant target year to produce this Plan resulted in a lot of at CitiesGoGreen. She graduates from • Create a plan of action product,” Hancock said. “A general plan Western Washington University in • Implement measures for a city would cost millions, so we feel March with a degree in environmental • Track progress toward the target we did it very affordably.” journalism. one championed the cause at an international climate conference in Bali. The community-based target-setting was to help build buy-in for later steps—developing the plan, selling the plan for achieving the target to local governments and funding it. “Governments are like sailboats; they go nowhere without wind. Community members provide the wind in the sails,” said Hancock. 26 February/March 2009 http://www.coolplan.org/ http://www.coolplan.org/ http://www.iclei.org/index.php?id=810 http://www.CitiesGoGreen.com
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