2017-11-02 Mayor's Climate Protection Committee MinuCitizens Committee on U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement
Mission:
1. Encourage citizens to be a part of the solution
z. Encourage City staff and citizens to conserve current resources
3. Work with the City Council to implement ideas
4. Effectively address the future impacts of climate change
Climate Protection Committee CPC
November z, 2017 - Meeting Notes
In Attendance: Cynthia Pruitt, Steve Fisher, Hank Landau, Josh Thompson, Diane Buckshnis,
Jen Machuga, Shane Hope, Janice Freeman, Mayor Earling
Call to Order and Approval of Minutes: The meeting started at 8:5o am and the minutes of
the previous meeting were approved.
Taming Bigfoot Edmonds (TBE): Members gave their impressions and comments on the TBE
Kickoff event that took place October 24. The turnout was great, and the speakers were well
received. Hank offered that it would have been better if the concept of carbon
sequestration was explained further. Steve added that with 3 wonderful speakers there
ended up being little or no time for emphasizing the building of teams for the competition,
but still had zz people sign up to participate. Janice asked if links to the presentations could
be available.
Resolution 1389: Shane summarized the background of how Council Resolution 1389 came
about over the summer and the extent of its initial direction to city staff and the CPC, in
regards to moving toward loo percent renewable energy and reviving the effort to inventory
the city's GHG emissions. It seemed unclear if renewable energy sources would be explored
or if purchasing credits would be a viable pursuit.
Subsequently, on October 17, PUD representatives gave a Council presentation which
outlined their revision of how the utility was approaching the area of renewables and its
comments on how one could or could not attain loo percent renewable energy. This caused
some Council members to question the intent and goals that were outlined in the Resolution.
Shane mentioned the amount of work it may take to tackle a GHG inventory and make it an
ongoing activity. At this time she was unsure what the Council may potentially change to any
of the specific provisions in the Resolution, if at all, since there was discussion of further
clarification and analysis needed. She suggested that the CPC start looking at the Climate
Action Plan (CAP) in any areas that could be triggered by direction from the Resolution and
noted that the CAP did not have enough specific implementation steps for many of its stated
goals.
Climate Action Plan: The group agreed that a closer review of the CAP to identify these
areas needing updating and Cynthia suggested that a subcommittee form to do this task,
which was agreeable to all. Diane, Hank and Shane asked to be on the subcommittee.
Gas -powered Leaf Blowers: There was a summarization of the ENAC's proposal before the
CPC to support an effort to restrict the use of gas -powered leaf blowers in the City. The
ENAC wants to present to Council their agenda. Diane repeated that she told the ENAC to
proceed cautiously and that they would be better received when more preparation and
research was done by them before approaching Council. Steve said his understanding was
the group was already compiling research to support their cause and had an education
element to offer. It was decided to invite members of ENAC to an upcoming meeting with
the purpose of learning about this educational aspect. Diane also said that ENAC outreach to
the community could be part of further TBE community meetings.
Subcommittee updates:
Zero Waste: Steve said that Sandra had an interest in reviving the ZW subcommittee but that
it has not been discussed further. One topic that might involve the subcommittee would be
the City's research on further restrictions on food service items such as Styrofoam, plastic
utensils and straws, etc.
Hank asked about China's Green Sword program. Steve relayed that the overall news about
this was correct in that China was very serious about imposing some harder restrictions and
bans on several commodities that the country imports, mainly citing recyclables collected
and shipped from the US west coast. Steve cautioned that for now nothing was changing
from a customer standpoint but that there was an increased effort to educate about getting
the recycling stream cleaner.
Sustainable Heroes: Steve said that at the last meeting Sandra had handed out a draft of
criteria and asked members to review and report back with their comments and suggestions.
Hank heartily approved the outline and thought the definition of who could be considered
for recognition was spot-on. Cynthia added that she did not want this recognition to be
considered an "award", just a recognition that might now be issued with a certificate to that
end. All agreed that now adding a certificate to the recognition would be appropriate.
Since the designation of any Sustainable Hero begins with an interview, Hank wanted to
clarify the structure of questions to the group. All agreed that the subcommittee could make
the decision on the type and style of interview questions, recognizing there were some core
questions to ask and then others that would be tailored to the interviewee.
Green Business: Steve mentioned that since there was not currently a Green Business
subcommittee, he wanted to report that the City had signed on to be part of the regional
EnviroStars recognition program which reaches out to business with certification that is
tiered according to accomplishments and has several sustainable disciplines to attain.
Adjourn: The meeting adjourned at 1o:o5 am.