Green Ribbon Task Force Unveiled ( 3. April 2008, 09:50 by Whitney Rhodes) ~ Green Input
The Green Ribbon Task Force is a 25 member board appointed by the City Council a little over a year ago. They were charged with developing recommendations for actions the City and community should take to reduce greenhouse gases and curb global warming in accordance with the Kyoto Protocols. They’ve been hard at work and are ready to present their recommendations to the public for comment.
Four meetings will be held where task force co-chairs Joanne Buselmeier of the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce and Ryan Mello of the Cascade Land Conservancy will outline the recommendations, which include a variety of actions to be taken by City government and community members. The strategies include green building, smart growth strategies, expanding urban forests, preserving open spaces, increasing recycling, and promoting the reuse of buildings and building materials.
Following the public meetings, the task force will finalize Tacoma’s Climate Action Plan, which will be presented to the Tacoma City Council in June 2008.
Details
- April 9, 6 – 7:30 p.m. – Landmark Convention Center (Temple Theater), 47 St. Helens Ave.
- April 10, 6 – 7:30 p.m. – University of Puget Sound, Kilworth Lounge (in Kilworth Chapel) on North 18th Street, between N. Puget Sound Ave. and N. Warner
- April 16, 6 – 7:30 p.m. – Allen Russell Building, 1321 Martin Luther King Jr. Way
- April 17, 6 – 7:30 p.m. – South End Neighborhood Center, 7802 S. L St.
The draft plan will also be posted on the task force Web site, www.cityoftacoma.org/greenribbon, where people will be able to submit comments.
For more information on the public meetings, call Sarah Andrews at (253) 573-2506 or visit the task force Web site here.
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Overall, I’d say the task force did a great job. They identified many of the major avenues for reducing carbon emissions. What seems a little odd is how the emissions reductions from transit are computed. A full bus or streetcar uses very little energy per capita and would produce close to no CO2 per passenger mile. I don’t see why the conservation number isn’t higher for that.
Additionally, the Committee could have looked into the concept of Peak Oil, which we will hear an earful about from Kunstler when he gets here later this month.
What would have been great is if the transport subcommittee had done a little brainstorming about how existing bus service could be augmented with real time transit information, lower fares, and traffic signal priority – maybe even electrification of a couple of routes.
1 | Posted by Chris Karnes | Apr 3, 02:47 PM
The only assurance I know of is that the Mayor is very gung ho on creating an actual “Office of Sustainability” with paid staffers to implement and coordinate the policy approved by Council.
3 | Posted by Chris Karnes | Apr 3, 11:48 PM
Commenting is closed for this article.
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