I attended the
AltWheels festival in Brookline, Massachusetts on Saturday. With climate change and environmental issues getting a lot of attention on dKos recently, I thought I'd report on a workshop I attended featuring activists and public officials talking about municipal and state-level efforts. I'm a perpetual note-taker, so I'm going to reproduce them below in the hope that they will give you ideas on steps to take in your local community. Forgive the lack of eloquence in this diary.
I think we feel a lot of despair at the enormity of the changes that have to take place to combat global warming, but the good news is that "all politics is local" applies here, too. There are lots of things that can be done at the city and state level. I urge everyone to find out if there are local environmental or climate action groups and join them -or start you own. Even if you must start small, every change will help in the long run, and every person that is educated to change their consumption habits is one more person helping the cause. Many of these local proposals have other beneficial effects (improve children's health, bring in jobs), so you can educate about global warming and alternative fuels as you go along.
The panel was entitled "States and Cities - Building Toward Sustainable Transporation Across New England" The moderator was Marc Breslow, director of the Massachusetts Climate Action Network. He noted that city level measures can include the purchase of alternative fuel vehicles for the city fleet or a policy of buying the most fuel-efficient vehicles available.
Mayor Jill Duson of Portland, ME, discussed her efforts first on the school committee and then the city council to pass anti-idling legislation(which also helps with asthma issues around schoolyards), and to bring in LNG buses. Portland has signed a pledge put forth by Maine's governor to reduce CO2 by 10% in 5 years.
Cambridge, Mass., city counselor Henrietta Davis discussed the efforts that lowered the number of people driving alone to work in Cambridge. Cambridge has substantial public transportation, but they also have zoning and ordinances rules to limit the amount of parking lots that are built.
A push to build new housing gives some people the option of living closer to work. They also performed a series of changes to encourage bicycling and walking - better intersections, sidewalk maintenance, and such basics as clearing bus stations of snow so they are usable in the winter. The city vehicles are now running B20 (20% biodiesel), and there is a policy to buy/use the minimum required vehicle for the task at hand.
The next speaker was Wendy Landman of the organization WalkBoston. She discussed steps that can be taken to encourage walking - good sidewalk maintenance and safe intersections, good lighting, and ways to make walking more pleasant (benches, trees, water fountains, public art). Working with police to ensure the safety of walkers is important, as are providing safe routes for kids to walk or bike to school. Walking or biking to school is also good for children's health, connects them to their community, and fosters their independence.
Walking and public transportation need to be considered when planning new public buildings. Parking fees and zones can be modified to discourage driving. Design buildings and landscapes with walking in mind - if pedestrians have to walk through a parking lot to get to the building it sends a message.
Next, State Representative Anne Paulsen discussed state initiatives to encourage biking and walking and make them safer experiences. They are pulling together all the legislation around bicycles into one place so it can be easily reviewed, and adding policies to make bicycling safer (motorists cannot use the excuse that they didn't see a bike to avoid penalties for an accident). There are also responsibilities for bicyclists and more stringent ticketing policies for bikes to reassure drivers that bicycles are going to follow the rules of the road predictably.
The legislature is also using some federal safety funds to improve routes to schools. (Massachusetts hadn't been using the money, how about finding out how your state uses it?). Rep. Paulsen also noted that one roadblock to rails-to-trails initiatives in MA is that cities fear liability from environmental contamination; a proposed program would give cities insurance to help with clean-up costs. Massachusetts is also updating its state bike plan and the state highway plan to include bike and pedestrian accommodation. They are working on a provision that would require cities to have a bicycle committee and consider bicycles issues before getting certain types of state funding for roads.
State Sentator Bruce Tarr (a Republican, interestingly) is sponsoring a bill (S 21760) to encourage alternative fuel use in Massachusetts. It includes allowing hybrids in HOV lanes, tax credits for buying hybrids or alt-fuel vehicles, a bond measure for CNG and other alt-fuel stations using existing infrastructure, incentives for companies doing alternative fuel r&d, and the establishment of Alternative Fuel Institutes at the University of Massachusetts. Senator Tarr is a believer in the hydrogen economy (I know there's been debates about this on dKos and elsewhere), and one of the focuses of the bill is to get alternative fuels that already exist out there so that people begin to think of the alternatives. He also discussed a proposal being floated at the Mass Maritime Academy to use windmills to create hydrogen to power fuel cells, to put these fuel cells into tug boats, and to do other research into maritime uses for alternative fuels and alternative energy.
If you've read this far, I hope these notes gave you some ideas of initiatives you can take to your state, city or town. There are planning commissions that generally hold public hearings - go and ask what's being done. Ask your local reps - they're generally much easier to get a meeting with than your Congresscritter, and don't hear from their constituents much so you can start an actual relationship with them. Good luck!