Climate Change and City Hall: What local governments need to consider Jane Goodman Council Member, City of South Euclid Outreach & Communications Director,

Climate Change and City Hall:Climate Change and City Hall:What local governments need to considerWhat local governments need to consider

Jane GoodmanCouncil Member, City of South Euclid

Outreach & Communications Director, Cuyahoga River Community Planning Organization/RAP

Climate Change and City Hall: What local governments need to consider

“My experience in government is that when things are non-controversial and beautifully coordinated, there is not much going on” – John Fitzgerald Kennedy

• What Local Governments Do

• What Local Governments Face

• How (some) Local Governments Think

• Mitigation

• Preparation

• Adaptation

• Communication

• Information

Climate Change and City Hall: What local governments need to consider

Disclaimer:

Generalizations will be made.

Your experiences may differ.

Any criticism implied or expressed herein is not about you, it’s about those other people.

Climate Change and City Hall: What local governments need to consider

“I believe there is something out there watching us. Unfortunately, it's the government.” – Woody Allen

When smart people get frustrated with the actions or inactions of local governments, they should bear in mind:

• Climate change may be your full time job, but it’s not for most public officials.

• Most public officials have had little or no education or training about climate, geophysics, or sustainability.

• The folks who pass the laws are mostly part-timers.

• Ignorance is not bliss, and at this time in history it could be fatal.

• You elected these people, or elected those who hired them.

Climate Change and City Hall: What local governments need to consider

WHAT LOCAL GOVERNMENTS DO

Keep us Safe & Secure – Police, Fire and Emergency Response

Provide Services – waste management, snow removal, social

services, traffic management, recreation

Construct and Maintain infrastructure – roads, bridges, water and sewer, urban forest

Plan Land Use and zoning, building and housing policy and inspect for safety and property values

Support Quality of Life – laws regulating behavior, businesses, aesthetics;

Collect and Expend funds to support the above activities

“…establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity…”

Climate Change and City Hall: What local governments need to consider

PHYSICAL EFFECTS: • milder, wetter winters, more ice storms than snow storms• more extreme weather events, big rain with heavy runoff = flooding• hotter summers, longer stretches of extreme heat• overall drying (evapotranspiration,) more droughts

WHAT LOCAL GOVERNMENTS FACE

Climate Change and City Hall: What local governments need to consider

PHYSICAL EFFECTS: • milder, wetter winters, more ice storms than snow storms• more extreme weather events, big rain with heavy runoff = flooding• hotter summers, longer stretches of extreme heat• overall drying (evapotranspiration,) more droughts

ECONOMIC EFFECTS:• reduced funding from federal and state sources as money shifts to disaster

relief and mega projects• some will gain as property values, business relocations and inmigration rise in “safe” areas, others will lose (coastal and southern cities.)

WHAT LOCAL GOVERNMENTS FACE

Climate Change and City Hall: What local governments need to consider

PHYSICAL EFFECTS: • milder, wetter winters, more ice storms than snow storms • more extreme weather events, big rain with heavy runoff = flooding • hotter summers, longer stretches of extreme heat • overall drying (evapotranspiration,) more droughts

ECONOMIC EFFECTS:• reduced funding from federal and state sources as money shifts to disaster relief, mega projects• some will gain as property values, business relocations and inmigration rise in “safe” areas, others will lose (coastal and southern cities.)

OPERATIONS:• shifts in emphasis and demand for services

WHAT LOCAL GOVERNMENTS FACE

Climate Change and City Hall: What local governments need to consider

PHYSICAL EFFECTS: • milder, wetter winters, more ice storms than snow storms • more extreme weather events, big rain with heavy runoff = flooding • hotter summers, longer stretches of extreme heat • overall drying (evapotranspiration,) more droughts

ECONOMIC EFFECTS:• reduced funding from federal and state sources as money shifts to disaster relief, mega projects• some will gain as property values, business relocations and inmigration rise in “safe” areas, others will lose (coastal and southern cities.)

OPERATIONS:• shifts in emphasis and demand for services

CAPACITY:• population shifts• lower lake levels, drier surface & soil affects water availability• more demand for emergency services, power backups, evacs

WHAT LOCAL GOVERNMENTS FACE

Climate Change and City Hall: What local governments need to consider

PHYSICAL EFFECTS: • milder, wetter winters, more ice storms than snow storms • more extreme weather events, big rain with heavy runoff = flooding • hotter summers, longer stretches of extreme heat • overall drying (evapotranspiration,) more droughts

ECONOMIC EFFECTS:• reduced funding from federal and state sources as money shifts to disaster relief, mega projects• some will gain as property values, business relocations and inmigration rise in “safe” areas, others will lose (coastal and southern cities.)

OPERATIONS:• shifts in emphasis and demand for services

CAPACITY:• population shifts• lower lake levels, drier surface & soil affects water availability• more demand for emergency services, power backups, evacs

PUBLIC PUSHBACK

WHAT LOCAL GOVERNMENTS FACE

Climate Change and City Hall: What local governments need to consider

The Kübler-Ross Model for Climate Change

1. Denial - It’s a hoax.

How (some) local governments think

Climate Change and City Hall: What local governments need to consider

The Kübler-Ross Model for Climate Change

1. Denial - It’s a hoax.

2. Anger - Okay, maybe it’s real but it’s not our fault. So who can we blame?

How (some) local governments think

Climate Change and City Hall: What local governments need to consider

The Kübler-Ross Model for Climate Change

1. Denial - It’s a hoax.

2. Anger - Okay, maybe it’s real but it’s not our fault. So who can we blame?

3. Bargaining - Okay, so maybe it’s partly our fault, we’ll need to commission our own study just to be sure, and I promise, if we could just have a little more time we’ll attend to it just as soon as we can.

How (some) local governments think

Climate Change and City Hall: What local governments need to consider

The Kübler-Ross Model for Climate Change

1. Denial - It’s a hoax.

2. Anger - Okay, maybe it’s real but it’s not our fault. So who can we blame?

3. Bargaining - Okay, so maybe it’s partly our fault, we’ll need to commission our own study just to be sure, and I promise, if we could just have a little more time we’ll attend to it just as soon as we can.

4. Depression - Well, now it’s too late and too big to do anything about it.

How (some) local governments think

Climate Change and City Hall: What local governments need to consider

The Kübler-Ross Model for Climate Change

1. Denial - It’s a hoax.

2. Anger - Okay, maybe it’s real but it’s not our fault. So who can we blame?

3. Bargaining - Okay, so maybe it’s partly our fault, we’ll need to commission our own study just to be sure, and I promise, if we could just have a little more time we’ll attend to it just as soon as we can.

4. Depression - Well, now it’s too late and too big to do anything about it.

5. Acceptance - Oh, all right. I guess we’d better do something.

How (some) local governments think

Climate Change and City Hall: What local governments need to consider

The Dick Cheney Model for Climate Change

“If there's a 1% chance (that Pakistani scientists are helping al-Qaeda build or develop a nuclear weapon), we have to treat it as a certainty in terms of our response. It's not about our analysis ... It's about our response.”

Dick CheneyRon Suskind, The One Percent Doctrine,

(New York Simon & Shuster, 2006.)

How local governments SHOULD think

Climate Change and City Hall: What local governments need to consider

1. Learn from history

2. Plan with timelines.

3. Involve your stakeholders. All of them.

4. Don’t make things any worse.

What local governments should do

Climate Change and City Hall: What local governments need to consider

• CONVERT to non-carbon sources of energy

• CONSERVE energy, water, soil and green space

• REDUCE greenhouse gas emissions and sequestration of carbon emitted

• PLAN LAND USE for previous three objectives, and to create a city that can operate as if it were totally isolated from the world and in survival mode.

• IMPLEMENT SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS e.g. zero waste; closed-loop manufacturing; local energy generation; water storage and quality; local food; reforestation for temperature moderation

MITIGATION

Climate Change and City Hall: What local governments need to consider

“In New Orleans the resilience of the city to withstand winds and waves from Katrina was reduced by the loss of wetlands and mangroves around the Gulf shores, and by the inadequate infrastructure provided by the levees.

But the main human disaster came about because the transit system was so inadequate that people who did not own a car (around a third of the population) could not evacuate, and the freeways were at capacity due to the number of individuals in cars. No plan for using school buses and other transit vehicles was in place, so those resources were all washed away with the first floods. The transport system was not resilient and it undermined the rest of the urban system, which turned rapidly into social chaos.”

Newman, Beatley & Boyer, Resilient Cities, (Island Press, 2009.)

PREPARATION

Climate Change and City Hall: What local governments need to consider

• EDUCATION - decision makers and stakeholders

• REGIONAL or LOCAL?

• RESOURCE ASSESSMENT and PLANNING

• RISK ASSESSMENT and DISASTER PLANNING

• FUNDING

PREPARATION

Climate Change and City Hall: What local governments need to consider

PHYSICAL conservation • water • energy • building standards • storm water • transportation

ECONOMIC growing sustainable businesses and green industries • collaborative procurement interchangeable pieces, modular systems • local supply chains

OPERATIONAL energy efficiency • KISS • flexible work schedules / telecommuting • reduce areas needing to be maintained

CAPACITY shelters for short term/small incidents and big disasters; cooling centers • housing, schools and infrastructure that are expandable or shrinkable • recreation

ADAPTATION

Climate Change and City Hall: What local governments need to consider

COMMUNICATE

• Stakeholders

• Message

• Physical communication networks

INFORMATION

Climate Change and City Hall: What local governments need to consider

INNOVATE

“The most successful people are those who are good at Plan B.”James Yorke, University of Maryland, defined the mathematical term “chaos.”

Climate Change and City Hall: What local governments need to consider

RECOMMENDED READING

Resilient Cities: Responding to Peak Oil and Climate Change, Peter Newman, Timothy Beatley and Heather Boyer

Climatopolis: How our cities will thrive in the hotter future, Matthew E. Kahn

ONLINE RESOURCES

ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability • www.iclei.org

ICLEI Canada - Changing Climate Guide & Workbook • www.iclei.org/index.php?id=11710

Chicago Climate Action Guide • www.chicagoclimateaction.org

Toronto Action Plan • www.toronto.ca/changeisintheair/

YOU CAN REACH JANE GOODMAN at: [email protected] or 216.241.2414 x610

RESOURCES

Climate Change and City Hall: What local governments need to consider

The message to take to your local government:

You must not get caught up in small scale mitigation efforts like the planting of one tree at city hall or the replacement of the light bulbs at the community center and think that’s enough.

We must get to work, seriously and immediately, on adapting to the changes we’re already seeing and on the ones most likely to occur over the coming decades.

Thank you.

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