Eugene weekly., January 10, 2019, Page 13, Image 13

Local
Vocal
and
CLIMATE REALITY BY PATTY HINE, DEBBY MCGEE AND SARA BURANT
Climate Recovery
Starts at Home
Catalyzing environmental action in the community
n July 2014, as youth and adults testified
on behalf of Eugene’s Climate Recov-
ery Ordinance (CRO), the fierce urgency
of now was palpable in the Eugene City
Council chambers. 2014 was shaping up to
be the hottest year on record, and Eugene
was poised to become a national leader in
science-based climate recovery solutions.
We remember feeling giddy and hope-
ful when the council passed the CRO. The councilors
seemed to recognize that tomorrow is indeed today, as
Reverend Marin Luther King Jr. wrote.
Climate action was coming to Eugene at a time when
climate inaction was the norm across the U.S.
Fast forward to January 2019. 2018 appears to be
the fourth hottest on record, following 2015, 2016 and
2017. We’ve left the record-shattering 2014 far behind;
we have a new emergency-level report form the United
Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
— and the city of Eugene is not even close to being on
pace to meet the CRO’s modest goals.
As early as 2010, Eugene published a solid Climate
Energy Action Plan; in 2014 the CRO was passed and
in 2016 was updated to include a goal reflecting the
Paris Accord targets. The CRO set goals for reducing
Eugene’s fair share of pollution in two categories:
“internal city operations reduction goals,” 2 percent
of the total, and “community reduction goals,” the
remaining 98 percent.
The real work is in reducing community emissions.
The CRO addresses both “fossil fuel use” and “green-
house gas (GHG) emissions.” Its fossil fuel reduction tar-
get specifies: “By the year 2030, all businesses, individu-
als and others living or working in the city collectively
shall reduce the total (not per capita) use of fossil fuels
I
by 50 percent compared to 2010 usage.”
In addition, the CRO stipulates that by the year
2100, “Eugene’s average share of a global atmospheric
greenhouse gas level of 350 ppm, which is estimated in
2016, requires an annual average emission reduction
level of 7.6 percent.”
Considered ambitious when adopted, these goals
now seem dated. Scientists warn that we have 12
years to respond robustly to the climate crisis before
unstoppable feedback loops start unraveling the
ecosystems on which all life depends.
Since 2016, the city has been working on a process
to update its Climate Action Plan, CAP2.0 — a process
consisting of three rounds of meetings with system-
level actors, called Large Lever Shareholders (LLS).
LLS organizations include representatives from city
of Eugene Transportation Planning, Lane Transit
District, University of Oregon, Lane Community
College, Bethel and 4J school districts, Metropolitan
Wastewater Management Commissions, NW Natural,
PeaceHealth and EWEB.
In spring 2018, round one introduced the predicted
regional and local climate impacts (water flows,
weather, snow pack) and previewed the update process.
Completed in December, round two revealed a first look
at the numbers compiled by the city’s contractor, Good
Company, reflecting LLS organizations’ voluntary plans
for reducing emissions. These were presented as an
initial forecast and comparison against the CRO targets.
Round three continues in 2019, with an updated
CAP2.0 expected in late spring.
The CAP2.0 Update Project, as it’s now called, is
heavy on analysis. It has clear measurable targets
but contains few implementable actions. More aptly,
it might be called “a gap analysis” and, as such, will
require a follow-up plan before it can be put to work to
reduce our community’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Eight crucial years after the first Climate Action
Plan, our updated plan-in-the-making indicates that
the city will miss our sector-based, community-wide
GHG emission reduction targets by 84 percent and
our fossil fuel reduction targets by 40 percent; and the
city’s biggest challenge, consumption-based targets —
which include consumption of Eugene manufactured
and imported items — are off by 102 percent.
Without an immediate and serious effort to reduce
fossil fuel use and GHGEs across the community, we’ll
quickly surpass even current emissions levels.
The Eugene Community Climate Coalition (ECCC)
has been meeting for five months now. We are a
citizen group committed to educating ourselves,
“bird dogging” the implementation of the CAP2.0 and
strategizing how best to help our community reach the
CRO’s goals.
The CAP2.0 Update Project or “gap analysis” has
not delivered. The city must not be allowed to spend
another year, with all the financial resources involved,
to further document the CAP’s failures. A “course
correction” is in order.
Citizens of Eugene, let’s be bold! We invite the
community to lead the way forward. We plan to kick
off a crisis-response effort with a Community Climate
Town Hall Feb. 21.
For the sake of future generations, let’s embrace
with fierce urgency the need to respond locally to the
climate crisis now.
Patty Hine and Debby McGee live in a log cabin and grow most of their
own food in a 7,000-square-foot fenced garden and a 100-square-foot
greenhouse. They are retired public employees, dedicating the last
chapter of their lives to fighting for a stable climate future. Poet, writer
and climate activist Sara Burant lives on Grant Street in west Eugene’s
Amazon Creek watershed.
COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS | SCHOOL OF ARTS AND COMMUNICATION
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eugeneweekly.com • January 10, 2019
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