The latest UN Climate Report told us that the last decade was the warmest in recorded history. Warmer weather is flooding Venice’s St. Mark’s Square, fueling unprecedented fires in Australia and California, decimating coral reefs and fishing stocks. The list is long; the evidence is clear. We must not only begin to address this “climate emergency” we must act faster as the timeline is getting shorter to save our community and our planet. In 2018 the Bellingham City Council set up a Climate Action Task Force to examine through a social and economic lens the best practices our city and citizens can put in place to bring our carbon footprint to zero by 2035. The Task Force presented their report to the City Council on December 9, 2019.
This presentation will cover the three categories of recommendations in the Task Force Report. Rick Nicholson, recently retired Whatcom Transportation Authority Planning Director, will describe the Transportation recommendations. Erin McDade, Senior Program Director at Architecture 2030, will explain the components of the Buildings recommendations, and Clare Fogelsong, a City staff member of the Task Force, will cover Energy Supply as well as briefly explain the package of recommendations focused on financing Bellingham’s climate actions.