Meeting notes: April 29, 2008

City of Lawrence
Mayor's Climate Protection Task Force
April 29, 2008 (4:00 PM) Meeting notes

HOUSEKEEPING NOTES:

• Brandon Womack is the engineering intern who prepared the greenhouse gas inventory.  He is attending this meeting, but will be leaving Lawrence for a professional position in May.  Meghan Dodge will be working on the projects as needed for this task force.
• Three members of the task force will attend the MARC Sustainability Workshop - John Geist, Carey Maynard-Moody, and Susan Rodgers.
• Website enhancement: Staff regularly updates the Climate Protection Task Force website with additional resources, as those come to staff attention.  Reference:  http://www.lawrenceks.org/climate_protection -->  resources link.

GREENHOUSE BASELINE REPORT - follow up discussion

• Task force member did not present follow up discussion items on the inventory report.
• Comparison to other communities:
  
  • Brandon contacted ICLEI to obtain comparative information from other communities who have completed their greenhouse gas inventories.  ICLEI staff was clear in discouraging comparisons between cities and would not provide any specific emissions information.  The focus of the inventory and climate protection plan should be on improving your cities performance over time.  There are too many variables to compare cities directly.  [General reluctance to compare emissions data between communities was confirmed later by Dennis Murphy, with examples of why it is not an effective or meaningful strategy.]
  • In an effort to obtain some comparative information for the task force, as requested, Brandon made contact with a number of comparison cities (list provided by city auditor) to get emissions data.  A spreadsheet was presented with that emission information and is attached. 
  • Discussion of comparison cities:  The list of comparison cities provided by the auditor were determined for general governmental purposes to be appropriate comparisons based on the following factors:  low population density, similarities of populations (demographics, education, income), trends in housing stock (e.g., 50% of housing built since 1978), and so on.  The cities were not selected as comparison cities for this specific project and may have very different economic bases and patterns of greenhouse gas emissions.
• Electric data for municipal operations:  A chart was distributed showing electric use (in dollars) by various facilities and work groups in the city.  This will be a tool for targeting high use operations.

KANSAS CITY CLIMATE PROTECTION TASK FORCE PROCESS - Dennis Murphy

Dennis Murphy, Chief Environmental Officer for the City of Kansas City, Missouri, presented the efforts of that community to complete their greenhouse gas emissions inventory and establish a public process for creating their climate protection plan.  KCMO has a steering committee (11 members) and 4 workgroups (approximately 20 members each).  Detailed information on the make-up, activity, and progress of the Kansas City initiatives are found in the PowerPoint presentation attached.

Primary lessons learned to date:

• Partnerships.  Build partnerships among broad range of community leaders including diverse interests and perspectives.  The ultimate recommendations will carry more weight politically, and many of the players needed to implement changes will already be on board.
• Connect the dots.  Things are often connected in ways not inherently obvious.  Find things that meet multiple goals (e.g., save money and reduce greenhouse gas).
• Technology is not the solution.  Technology will be part of the solution in the end, but the solution is going to require behavioral change!

CHAMBER GROW GREEN INITIATIVE  - Beth Johnson

Beth Johnson, Vice President Economic Development, presented briefly on the Chamber of Commerce Grow Green Initiative.  One of the primary focuses is education.  This may be a good opportunity for partnership or collaboration between the Chamber of Commerce and the Climate Protection Task Force.  One of the first initiatives is a GREEN CHECKLIST for local businesses.  The checklist is designed to recognize smaller environmental achievements in an effort to encourage more significant environmental changes.  She is willing to work with the task force at any time.

TASK FORCE STRUCTURE / SUBCOMMITTEES - Chairperson Michael Dever

The task force was not able to have extensive discussion regarding structure and subcommittees within the time constraints of the meeting.  A summary was provided that highlights some organizational units used by other communities in developing a climate protection plan.  Chairperson Dever will develop some recommendations for subcommittees or work groups.  He requests each task force member respond via e-mail before the next meeting.  In addition, he requested that members begin brainstorming a list of community leaders who would be good appointees for the work groups. 

FUTURE MEETINGS: