Catalyzing Change: Sustainability In A Southern Town

What did I do this summer? Fun stuff! Read on for more...this is all from the Environmental Defense Fund's Energy Exchange blog, through my work with the Climate Corps Public Sector Program.

This summer, I am working with the Town of Cary in North Carolina to identify energy efficiency improvements throughout its organization. My focus is on two projects: fire and emergency services sustainability, and energy planning. Cary’s commitment to saving energy deserves applause.

My goal is to see tangible energy efficiency improvements. Some of these changes are easily measurable: energy use reductions, dollars saved, and greenhouse gas emissions avoided. Others will be tougher to track, such as determining the number of Cary employees who are aware of sustainability initiatives.

Catalyzing change takes time, certainly more than 10 short weeks. However despite this limited time period that I have, there are many strategies that can be used to point organizations in the right direction. During the Climate Corps Public Sector training, Paula Thomas, the Sustainability Director for the City of Raleigh, gave the fellows a list of ways to become agents of change in the municipalities, churches, and universities that we are working with. Her seven core steps to catalyzing change are:

1. Make it official.
2. Identify the changers.
3. Change is not binary.
4. Operate in parallel.
5. The Rule of 7.
6. Market internally and externally.
7. Celebrate successes.

#1: Make it Official

The Town has already taken action on the first step: ‘Make it official’ with its mission statement, adopted by the Town Council in 2006. The statement upholds Cary’s sustainability goals and includes, “We will preserve and protect our environment. We will be good stewards of our finite resources.”

Making good on its word, Cary established the Environmental Advisory Board in 2008. Comprised of sustainability experts and community members, the board evaluates and recommends best practices to Cary to reduce its impact on the environment and use of natural resources.

Cary’s creation of a Sustainability Manager position last year came from the advice of the board. The Sustainability Manager, Emily Barrett, addresses energy efficiency for the entire town, not just departmentally. Emily’s work has led to the development of a comprehensive greenhouse gas emissions inventory. This type of investment is crucial to making energy efficiency improvements, since it establishes the baseline and helps identify low-hanging fruit.

The Town’s inventory is the basis for the Strategic Energy Plan that I am working on, which includes fire and emergency services sustainability and energy planning.

Paula Thomas’ seven steps are proving to be very helpful as I work with the Town to pursue sustainability in meaningful ways. Check back soon for more on the remaining six steps!

This post reflects the personal opinions of Kealy Devoy, and does not reflect the positions, strategies, or opinions of the Town of Cary.

EDF Climate Corps Public Sector (CCPS) trains graduate students to identify energy efficiency savings in colleges, universities, local governments and houses of worship.  The program focuses on partnerships with minority serving institutions and diverse communities.  Apply as a CCPS fellow, read our blog posts and follow us onTwitter to get regular updates about this program.

Oil, Gas, and the Nation's Energy Future

I spent last weekend in Houston, TX, learning about the oil and gas industry with a group of my classmates, a PhD student, and the head of the Energy and Environment concentration. Why Houston? Well, it's the hub of hydrocarbons in the US. Why oil and gas? Because our current and future energy systems are and will be based on oil and gas.

You might be surprised that I would say that, given my obvious environmental bent. However, what I learned last weekend makes it clear that oil and gas (o & g) will be with us for a long time, and I'm going to have to learn to live with that. In fact, I'm going to have to learn to work with that to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in spite of our dependence on o & g.

What did I learn this weekend? It can be summed up in 3 lessons, which I will address in brief below.

1. Climate change legislation will not happen during the current administration.

There was much excitement over the summer about the climate legislation that reached the Senate. However, the bill fell flat on its face (for many reasons, not the least of which is that climate change has become a partisan issue instead of a scientific one). With elections coming up next month, we are likely to see a shift in the House and Senate that will not work in the planet's favor. Sadly, it looks like we'll need to wait until the next administration.

2. The price of oil and gas largely determines the feasibility of renewable energy.

This seems obvious, but it became even more evident during my time in Houston. People want to pursue the alternatives. Texas has high potential wind capacity, but no one is willing to build wind farms in West Texas because there is no infrastructure to get the power to the populated areas that need it. Of course, no one is willing to put in the necessary infrastructure because there are no wind farms to connect to. Until the price of oil is high enough to offer monetary incentive to seek out alternatives, we won't do renewable. We just won't.

3. Natural gas could be an appropriate, lower-carbon substitute for coal.

This is the idea I found most interesting about the weekend. We spent a lot of time talking about natural gas, both conventional and unconventional forms. The price of gas has dropped significantly, in part due to technology that has increased domestic production. While this does not give us any reason to move towards renewable energy, it could make a compelling case to move away from coal. Coal has traditionally been an inexpensive, easy material with which to generate electricity. However, if the price of natural gas stays low enough, it would offer a pretty attractive alternative to coal, at least environmentally speaking--it emits about 50% less greenhouse gases than coal. It's not perfect, but it's a start.

Crazy Stunts Don't Help the Environment

If you've seen the news today, I'm sure you've gotten wind of the situation at the Discovery Channel headquarters in Silver Spring, MD. Evidently a man named James Lee has a major beef with Discovery Channel for promoting the propagation of the human race. Lee is convinced that the best and perhaps the only way to save the planet is to cease human reproduction entirely and halt modern civilization until nature takes over.

Right.

To get his point across, Lee has taken hostages at the Discovery Channel headquarters and is evidently making demands. The police won't release specific information about the demands, but many are guessing that it has something to do with a document Lee posted on a website earlier today.

You see, Lee is so dedicated to his cause that he has written a manifesto. It's an interesting read, to say the least. To save you a little time, I'll summarize his points below. *Note: Lee organizes his thoughts into 11 numbered items and some disorganized rambling. However, upon closer reading, I realized he has only a few things to say...

Humans are ruining the planet, therefore we should not only cease population growth, but stop having children all together. Sterilization and infertility are the answer. Obviously. To go along with that, war (and peace movements for that matter, which are all fakes and lies) promote population growth, so we have to stop them, too. Also, no more using fossil fuels or growing crops. Both of these promote reproduction. Stop producing food, stop producing humans. It's as simple as that. 


The best way to accomplish these goals would be through TV shows on the Discovery Channel and its affiliates. Game show formatting would work particularly well for these topics. Just keep beating society over the head with this stuff until they change their ways and destroy themselves. It's your civic duty.


Oh, and once you're done destroying modern civilization, please find solutions for unemployment and homelessness, too. Thanks.

We're all entitled to our own opinions, but this little stunt isn't going to do anything for the planet. The only thing these attention-seeking actions do is make the rest of the country think that all environmentalists are crazy tree huggers who share the same beliefs as the folks on TV calling for sterilization and other nonsense. For those of us trying to make an actual difference, people like this make our job a hundred times harder.

So, to all you crazy environmentalists out there who are thinking about taking hostages, ramming whaling ships, burning down buildings, or any number of other equally idiotic and counter-productive activities: please, for the planet's sake, just stay home.

Greening Your Move

Moving is hard. It is stressful. It is exhausting. It is not sustainable.

However, there are several things you can do to have less of an impact as you cart your material belongings across the country, across the county, or across the street. The best news about this? It will probably save you some money, too.

• Rent boxes. Yes, you can rent boxes for your move, and return them when you're done to be used by the next person. Check out Rent A Green Box, who rents plastic tubs made out of recycled materials. They have other moving supplies made out of recycled materials, too, like zip ties, paper, and other fillers. (Full disclosure: I have never tried this)
• Re-use boxes. You can get gently used boxes from liquor stores, big box stores, and websites like Freecycle and the free section of Craigslist. Reinforce the tape and you're all set.
• Use your paper recycling bin to pack your stuff. I find myself with copious amounts of paper to be recycled as I prepare for a move. Use this paper to layer between plates, wrap picture frames, and ball up to fill space in boxes. Not enough? Ask your neighbors if you can go through their recycling bins, too. Also, check your local coffee shop an hour or two before closing. They often have stacks of newspaper from the day that they will give to you.
• Hire a green cleaning service. Your home will be full of dust, bits of packing paper, and who knows what else. Hire a cleaning service that uses green cleaning agents. Not sure what they use? Just ask. Look/listen for key words and phrases like "non-toxic", "chlorine-free", "Green Seal Certified", and "Green Clean Institute Certified".
• Get a one-way moving truck rental. Even if your move is between neighboring cities, a one-way truck rental can save a lot of gasoline.
• Buy offsets for your travel. Several websites offer carbon offsets for travel of all types. Try Carbon Fund or Terra Pass.
• Don't trash your boxes. After your move, put your boxes on Freecycle or the free section of Craigslist. Someone will come pick them up and use them for their move. Your boxes aren't in good enough shape to reuse? Gardeners often use cardboard to start new planting beds. You can also recycle them in most cities.