Municipal
Climate Preparedness Planning in Boulder, CO
Daily Camera / Laura Snider / 22 January 2012
Boulder-based Stratus has finished a draft "climate change preparedness plan" for Boulder County and the city of Boulder, which outlines the possible impacts of a warming globe to the area's emergency management, public health, agriculture and natural resources, as well as water supply.
"Water is a huge issue, but we need to look at it from areas on a broader scale," said county spokesman Dan Rowland. "There hasn't been a systematic look at what some of the vulnerabilities are, and we wanted to look at that."
Kingston: 2012 Green Profit Conference and Exhibition
The 2012 greenprofit Conference and Exhibition, Accelerate Sustainable Change will bring together delegates and speakers to learn about sustainable energy innovations and best practices that are making a difference in the world today, and how they can be applied to your business, municipality, home and community. Please join us for this dynamic sustainable energy conference in historic downtown Kingston.
greenprofit presents proven solutions for your business, municipality and home:
° Reduce the real financial and environmental costs of energy
Solutions to Peak Oil Vulnerabilities: A Municipal Response Plan
The Lawrence Mayor’s Peak Oil Task Force / 29 September 2011
Some of the ways that scarce oil could affect our community seem obvious, such as reduced fuel supplies for transportation. But other areas of impact are less obvious, including the production and/or transportation of international and regional food supplies; the continuation of water supply and waste disposal; the operation of heavy equipment; and the use of fossil fuel-based chemicals for agriculture and landscaping. Analysis of the four strategies listed above suggests that in each area of peak oil vulnerability, Lawrence’s responses will consist primarily of reduced reliance on oil, with multiple specific methods for addressing each particular challenge.
If our community fails to anticipate and respond to the end of affordable, plentiful oil, the eventual scarcity and expense of everything dependent on petroleum may well leave Lawrence with a limited and unappealing range of choices. But if Lawrence is proactive in transitioning to lower oil use, it may be able to choose optimal transportation modes and lifestyles. The challenge is to develop local alternatives to oil before the need becomes severe. A related challenge involves presenting those local alternatives as opportunities that Lawrence’s citizens will embrace.
OSEA's Municipal Green Energy Resources
OSEA / 08 December 2011
OSEA has created a Tumblr blog as a jump off point to help municipalities get honest information about their powers and responsibilities when it comes to renewable energy development.
Municipalities are key partners in helping Ontario become a clean energy leader. The municipal role in renewable energy development can include participating as a developer, encouraging projects for economic development purposes, establishing renewable energy policies and targets, providing comments and input on project design via the consultation process, authorizing the use of municipal property, entering into agreements with developers and enacting by-laws affecting projects, or any combination of these roles.
We hope you find these resources useful and we encourage you to look around our website to learn more about how we are working with communities across the province to make Ontario a cleaner, greener and more prosperous place.
OSEA's Municipal Green Energy Briefing Tumblr Blog:
oseagreenmunicipalpower.tumblr.com
OSEA's briefing letter:
Private members bill briefing: Local Municipality Democracy Act
Renewable Energy Facilitation Office, Ministry of Energy guidebook:
Renewable Energy Development: A Guide for Municipalities
Video: London Community Gardens
London Community Gardens from Simon Brothers on Vimeo.
[ Hat tip to Carole Chang and the LLG Health Unit! ]
Bike Action Plan & Energy Resilience
Santa Monica Patch / Gary Kavanagh / 25 November 2011
Despite massive investments and new technology, the oil extraction rate across the world has flattened out since 2005 (the US peak was in the 70’s), and gains in the past few years are increasingly coming from expensive and environmentally devastating tar sands extraction and deep sea drilling. Compounding this problem, the number of cars on the road in China and India competing for fuel imports is exploding.
Some analysis like that in the Department of Energy published report Peaking of World Oil Production: Impacts, Mitigation, and Risk Management from 2005, warn of the potential for catastrophic “oil crunches” before even 2015. The oil price spike we already had in 2008 was a factor contributing to our biggest economic crash in half a century. We do not have 40 years to linger in charting a new path toward.
Climate Change Adaptation Planning: A Handbook for Small Canadian Communities
Canadian Institute of Planners / March 2011
The purpose of the Handbook is to help small Canadian communities to prepare and implement a Climate Change Adaptation Plan (CCAP). The Handbook focuses on small Canadian communities, as CIP has learned from its surveys and focus groups that there is a pressing need in these communities for assistance to address the impacts of climate change.
The Handbook helps community planners take the key steps required to plan for climate change adaptation and decision makers determine what strategic actions need to be taken. It is especially useful for small communities without “in house” planning resources. While the Handbook is aimed at small communities, other larger municipalities may benefit from it. It is a free resource, and CIP encourages its use by any planner or municipality that feels the Handbook is appropriate for their circumstances.
