North Carolina Sierra Club Cool Cities Best Practices Report

We are proud to unveil our Best Practices Report!

You can see it here.

It's a large file so may take a little while to download.

We hope to start receiving submissions soon for next year's report!

Public Transportation and reducing Global Warming

Excerpted from a TTA Press Release:

Research Triangle Park, N.C. – The most powerful weapon you can use to combat global climate change may be a daily transit pass. A new study released today shows if a solo commuter of a household switches their daily driving and uses public transportation then he or she can reduce their household carbon footprint by 10 percent. If one household’s driver gives up that second car and switches to public transit, a household can reduce its carbon emissions up to 30 percent.

“Switching to public transit gives a person the opportunity to immediately become part of the solution,” said John Tallmadge, Triangle Transit’s director of commuter resources.

Karen Ciccone, a Durham resident and frequent rider of TTA Express Route 600, agrees. "Reducing our greenhouse gas emissions is important to my family, as it should be for everyone. When I learned about the TTA's Express bus from Durham to Raleigh, it was a no-brainer for me. I've been a daily rider for more than a year now."

The study entitled Public Transportation’s Contribution to U.S. Greenhouse Gas Reduction was conducted for the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC).

While it is very important to employ environmentally friendly household activities, commuting by public transportation makes a more substantial impact. An individual switching to public transit can reduce their daily carbon emissions by 20 pounds; that’s more than 4,800 pounds in a year. This is far greater than the many actions people are being encouraged to take, for instance;

* Home weatherizing and adjusting the thermostat for heating and cooling saves 2,847 pounds of carbon per year. Transit use saves almost twice the carbon.
* Replacing five incandescent bulbs to lower wattage compact fluorescent lamps saves 445 pounds of CO2 per year. Transit use saves more than ten times the CO2.
* Replacing an older refrigerator freezer with a high efficient one saves 335 pounds of CO2 per year. Taking public transportation saves more than fourteen times the carbon.

The research points out that due to increases in vehicle miles traveled, the problem of pollution from vehicle emissions is accelerating. Greenhouse gas emissions from mobile sources have grown 27 percent from 1990 to 2004. Autos and light duty trucks represent about 61 percent of the total mobile source of greenhouse gas emissions. The report says single occupancy drivers switching their work commute to public transportation is one of the more effective ways to reduce the nation’s vehicle miles traveled while reducing harmful carbon dioxide.

“Commuting by public transportation is one of the most significant actions a household member can take to reduce their carbon footprint,” TTA’s Tallmadge added.

A couple more Chapel Hill things

-The Chapel Hill Sierra Club candidates forum was last night. You can read the detailed transcript/live blog here and you can read coverage of it from the Chapel Hill Herald here and from the Daily Tar Heel here. A very well done event, congratulations to the Orange/Chatham Group.

-This happened too late to get in our Cool Cities Best Practices Guide, which hopefully will be published next week, but Chapel Hill has gotten into the business of selling solar power. Pretty impressive. You can read about it here in the News&Observer.

Miscellany...

-Today when I bought a plane ticket home to Michigan for Christmas I was asked before checking out if I would like to buy some carbon credits for my flight! I thought that was kind of fascinating.

-On Sunday I went to the SAS Championship Senior Golf tour tournament in Cary. I very much enjoy watching golf and like the personalities but I am not up on the latest in equipment advances. So I was excited to hear people in the galleries all day discussing their hybrids. It was heartening to know that the Country Club set is going green!

Well eventually I figured out, sadly, that they were not discussing fuel efficient vehicles but rather golf clubs that mix components of an iron and a wood. O well...

Guest Post from Rep. Grier Martin

Guest Post by Rep. Grier Martin:

In my job as a state legislator, I’m proud of the work I’ve done for our environment. I’m also proud of what I’ve been able to do to improve our education system.

Recently, I participated in a ribbon cutting of an important project that combines these two crucial issues. On September 13, Wake Tech opened its Northern Wake Campus on Louisburg Road. This campus will allow Wake Tech to meet the exploding demand for the great education the College provides. But the campus is also significant because of the environmental leadership it represents. Every building on the campus is LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified. The college believes that it is the first campus in the entire nation to be able to make this claim, a fantastic achievement.

As a citizen who cares about the air my family breathes and the water they drink, I am excited about this environmental accomplishment. As a legislator responsible for safeguarding our taxpayers’ money, I am pleased about the energy cost savings that will result from the efficient campus, truly a win for both education and the environment.

Upcoming Chapel Hill Sierra Club Events

-The Chapel Hill Town Council Sierra Club Candidates Forum is tomorrow night, Tuesday September 25th from 7 to 9 PM at the Chapel Hill Town Hall.

-The town of Chapel Hill is hosting two events as part of the 'National Conversation on Climate Action' next Thursday, October 4th:

Part I:

2007 Sustainability Workshop

Location: Town of Chapel Hill Public Library
Noon - 4 pm
To register and see the Part I Workshop schedule click here

Lyle Estill, Piedmont Biofuels (biodiesel, sustainable community design, sustainability
movement)
David Lee, Bland Landscaping
Tobin Freid, Triangle Clean Cities Program
Eric Henry, T.S. Designs
Greg Overbeck, Chapel Hill Restaurant Group

Part II:

2007 National Conversation on Climate Change
Location: Town of Chapel Hill Public Library
6 -7:30 pm
Program Agenda: TBA
This program is free and open to the public

Kevin Foy, Mayor of the Town of Chapel Hill
Anne Waple, National Climatic Data Center, NESDIS
Cindy Pollock Shea, Director of UNC Sustainability of Office
Tom Jensen, North Carolina Sierra Club
David Bonk, Town of Chapel Hill’s Long Range Transportation Coordinator

Greensboro Cool Cities Event

Greensboro City Manager Mitchell Johnson and Mayor Keith Holliday check out the solar power source of the 'Cool Cities' event.

Yesterday the Piedmont Plateau Group added a new twist as it celebrated Greensboro becoming a Cool City. The sound system for the event was powered by the sun! The celebration of Greensboro joining the program seemed like as good a time as any to start implementing those Cool Cities principles, and PPG rose to the occasion!

It was a great event to cap off the well done Greensboro Cool Cities campaign. About 50 people were present including Representative Pricey Harrison and Council members Florence Gatten, Yvonne Johnson, and Goldie Wells in addition to the Mayor and City Manager. Congratulations to the Cool Cities team, pictured below with city officials, for a job well done!


Thanks to Margot Robinson and Molly Diggins for their help with pictures!

Building on the Momentum in WNC

We've had a lot of great success with the Cool Cities program in Western North Carolina but tha doesn't mean there's not room to improve.

With that in mind if you live in Marion you can write your leaders through this action alert to show your support for the program and if you live in Sylva you can follow this link to do so.

We're also looking to complete the quarter of Cool Cities in Haywood County by getting Waynesville and Maggie Valley to join in with their peers in Canton and Clyde. If you'd be interested in helping with that shoot me a note.

And of course we're happy to do whatever we can to bring any city across the state on board.

Hillsborough Candidates Forum

Last night the Orange/Chatham Group held its candidate forum in the Cool City of Hillsborough.

You can read the write up of the forum here in the Chapel Hill Herald.

In 2005 all three Sierra Club endorsed candidates won in Hillsborough.

Going Green in Rocky Mount

I had the pleasure last night of joining the Medoc Group for dinner in Rocky Mount. We're looking forward to getting a Cool Cities campaign going there and upping our presence in the east.

One of the folks brought an article that had appeared in the day's Rocky Mount Telegram about the Nash-Rocky Mount Public School System becoming the first district in the state to receive the Energy Star designation for energy efficiency in its buildings.

It's good to see them taking this stuff serious in the schools and hopefully it bodes well for the possibility of Rocky Mount becoming a Cool City!

You can see the district's press release here.

Opportunity for input on Durham Greenhouse Gas Plan

Thank to Durham Transportation Planner Ellen Beckmann for sending this along:

The Durham Greenhouse Gas and Criteria Air Pollutant Emissions Inventory and Local Action Plan will be presented for adoption by the Durham City Council and Board of County Commissioners at a joint meeting on Wednesday, September 19, 2007 from 5:00pm to 6:30pm in the Board of County Commissioners Chambers at 200 E. Main St. (also known as the old courthouse).

There will be an opportunity for public comment and for questions and discussion by the elected boards at this presentation. Please consider attending and sharing your thoughts about the adoption and implementation of the Durham Greenhouse Gas Plan. You may also email the City Council and County Commissioners to let them know your thoughts on the plan.

Use council@ci.durham.nc.us to send a general email to all City Council members and use commissioners@durhamcountync.gov to send a general email to all County Commissioners.

Updated documents including the final plan and executive summary have been posted on the City of Durham Web site www.durhamnc.gov/ghg. Please contact me at 560-4366 Ext 293 or by email at ellen.beckmann@durhamnc.gov if you have any questions.

Sierra Club Events next week

The Orange/Chatham Group of the Sierra Club is hosting its first two candidate forums for this fall next week, in Carrboro and Hillsborough.

The Carrboro forum will be on Monday night the 17th from 7-9 PM at Carrboro Town Hall.

The Hillsborough forum will be on Tuesday night the 18th at the Gordon Battle Courthouse. It will also be from 7-9 PM.

The Orange/Chatham Group sure knows how to put on a forum so if you're a voter in one of those communities you should go!

Also, the Greensboro Cool Cities event will be on Wednesday at noon on the Greene Street side of the Governmental Plaza downtown.

We'll hope to see you at one of these events!

Speaking in Rocky Mount next week

I will finally have visited all 13 Sierra Club groups after I speak to the Medoc Group about Cool Cities on Monday night!

We'll be meeting in the Banquet Room at Mama's Restaurant in Rocky Mount at 7 PM.

If you're in the area, we'll hope to see you there!

The Cool Cities Cake is out of date

Because Concord Mayor Scott Padgett called me last night to let me know they'll be the 24th Cool City in North Carolina.

Other odds and ends:

-I was lucky last night to have an opportunity to make some brief comments at an advance screening of Leonardo DiCaprio's 'Eleventh Hour' sponsored by the Capital Group. When I announced that Raleigh had been honored that morning as a Cool City it led to a rumbling applause from the 150+ folks in attendance. Congratulations again to Raleigh!

-Speaking of which, here is a fuller story in today's paper about Raleigh becoming a Cool City. Thank you to Wade Rawlins for writing it.

-I spent the ExCom last weekend with my grandmother in Greenville, SC. She has been the secret weapon in our Cool Cities success in Western North Carolina because she's put me up now a total of 16 nights this year when I was doing work in WNC- I could not spend nearly that much time out there without her. Thanks grandmother!

But I mostly wanted to say that she needed me to replace a light bulb for her this weekend and I was pleasantly surprised when she came out with a CFL. Go grandmother!

More Raleigh Cool Cities Event Pictures

Capital Group Conservation Chair Tim Reed speaking at the Raleigh Cool Cities Event.

Vice Chair Sharon Hazouri spoke as well.

Raleigh Cool Cities Event Wrap Up

Mayor Meeker talks about how becoming a Cool City will result in a major change in the way the city does business.

We had a great Cool Cities event in Raleigh today with about 30 people present to celebrate the city's commitment to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. Raleigh is the biggest Cool City in North Carolina.

Mayor Meeker's comments were great to hear. He emphasized that this was the beginning and not the end of Raleigh's commitment to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, and made it clear that the city would be willing to spend the money needed to reach its goals.

At the same time he emphasized that taking steps to reduce energy use save money too and that many of the initiatives Raleigh might look at will be good for the bottom line too.

He particularly stressed the importance of the city keeping up with the newest green technologies available.

Great comments were also made by Council Members Russ Stephenson and Thomas Crowder, as well as Environmental Advisory Board Chairman Denny Murphy and citizen activist Marvin Woll who worked persistently to ensure that Raleigh adopted this initiative.

Sharon Hazouri and Tim Reed did an outstanding job representing the Capital Group and made it clear that the local group will do whatever it could to help the city reach its goals.

Here is an N&O story about the event. Congratulations to Raleigh and the Capital Group!

Conservation Forum Wrapup

Guest Post by Bill Fisk, Chapter Conservation Chair:

What event in the mountains could cause the State Police to call a National Forest and ask what’s up? The Quarterly Meeting of the Sierra Club, the Conservation Forum part of the meeting to be exact. With a room capacity of 130, and 130 plus people in attendance, it was the biggest Conservation Sierra Club Meeting in North Carolina. Sadly, some people who showed up Saturday morning but hadn't registered in advance with Meagan actually had to be turned away so we could be in compliance with fire codes.

Some of the Sierra Club people in attendance had never been to any sort of Sierra Club activity previously. They live too far from their Groups to participate and this was their first opportunity to attend a Forum. We tried to hook them up with the Conservation Forum Listserve through Meagan at the Raleigh Office. Hopefully these good folks will continue to stay connected through the internet.

We had a diverse line-up of speakers from the worlds of business, academia, and environmental activism. Each did a fabulous job of covering their topic, and each was met by an attentive audience. Topics covered were, federal regulations, wind power, solar power, water quality, individual attitudes and actions toward environmentalism, and the future of wilderness areas. The scheduled end for the forum was 2:30, and we finally had to call a halt at 3:30. No apologies from me as each topic was important and each speaker had many questions from the audience.

Pisgah Group, as usual, did a fabulous job of organizing the function as well as providing great food. And could there possibly be a better location to talk about conservation than the Cradle of Forestry in the heart of the Pisgah Forest?

We learned a few lessons about planning a forum. Another time we might be a little less ambitious with the number of speakers, and we might schedule a potty break into the time schedule....aside from that it was a great event and we wish all of you could have been there.

Celebrating 23 Cool Cities!

We had a great cake at the ExCom over the weekend to celebrate 23 Cool Cities! Christa Wagner did a masterful job putting each of them on the cake. Pictured from left to right are Len Griffiths, Kathy Pounds, Bill Kloepfer, Ginny Kloepfer, Dave Pritchard, Elyse Jung, Jerry Varner, Kim Yarbray, John Calhoun, and Henry Fansler. Between them they worked to make Brevard, Winston-Salem, Greenville, and Greensboro Cool Cities!

WNC Cool Cities make the grade!

The Asheville Citizen-Times published its 'report card' today and gave the Cool Cities in Western North Carolina an 'A!'

Check it out here.

Monday Cool Cities Updates

-There's been some nice media coverage of last week's events. The Mountaineer covers Clyde while the Asheville Citizen-Times gives Black Mountain some recognition.

-Surf City is the 23rd Cool City in North Carolina.

-Concord is taking a vote Thursday night about whether to become the 24th. If you live there you can express your support to the City Council through our easy to use Action Alert system.

-The Raleigh Cool Cities event is this Wednesday at 10:30 AM at Nash Square. The Greensboro Cool Cities event will be next Wednesday at noon in the plaza outside of the Melvin Municipal Building.

Meet the Candidates for Raleigh City Council!

Clyde Cool Cities Event

We had a great Cool Cities event this morning in Clyde. That town has the nicest Board of Aldermen you could ever meet. It also has a great Town Administrator, Joy Garland, who joked to me that she is Planning Director, Public Works Director, Recycling Coordinator and whatever else needs to get done. An added bonus was the attendance of Rep. Ray Rapp.

Clyde is a very small town and is happy for it to stay that way. Because of its size many of the suggestions for action outlined in the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement don't really apply to it.

They are doing their part though especially in two realms:

-Public education about conservation. They use the town's newsletter, which is mailed to residents, to promote living a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. In such a small town, simply making residents more aware about what they can do in their own lives that will cut down on greenhouse gas emissions should go a long way toward helping them to reach their Cool Cities goals.

-Increasing recycling rates. They are working proactively to make it easier to recycle, to build public awareness about how important it is, and to basically make sure they do everything they can to make sure folks don't forget.

I am really inspired when towns like Clyde make it a point of doing everything they can to be good stewards of our natural resources. We can't just wait for DC to solve all the world's problems- the leadership shown by places like Clyde is the Cool Cities program at its best.

Black Mountain Cool Cities Event

Sierra Club member Sheridan Hill, Mayor Carl Bartlett and I celebrate Black Mountain's Cool City honor.

We had another great Cool Cities event today in Black Mountain! A couple dozen people and a healthy amount of media folks turned out to hear about what their community is doing to fight global warming.

Mayor Carl Bartlett, who has lived in the town since he was a boy, told me that beyond the scientific consensus he had pretty strong anecdotal evidence for the reality of global warming. He related that when he was a child in Black Mountain, 'we didn't have air conditioning and we didn't need it.' Now he says 'all we need to do is look at what the temperature was like last month' to see how things have changed.

It was a nice ceremony, with Sierra Club member Sheridan Hill making some great remarks in addition to Mayor Bartlett. It was great to meet Sheridan! She is a former Black Mountain Planning Board member and also used to be active with the Foothills Group when she lived in Winston-Salem. She is an accomplished writer and author and you can see her website here. If there's one thing I've learned in this job it is that Sierra Club members are sure talented people!

I wrote earlier this summer about a lot of the good work Black Mountain is doing. Black Mountain is continuing to look for good new things they can do though. They have:

-Secured a grant for an electric car for the Police Department
-Done two energy audits of town facilities and come up with resultant initiatives for reducing energy usage.
-Begun to fuel many of its vehicles with B20 biodiesel.

Thank you to Assistant City Manager Bo Ferguson and Planning Director Elizabeth Teague for all their great work, and congratulations Black Mountain!

A sign of the Changing South

When I was walking through downtown Black Mountain today looking for somewhere good and southern to eat lunch I saw a place called Mountain Kitchen that boasted its 'Southern Mountain Cuisine.'

Sounded pretty good to me.

Until I noticed that it was out of business. And that it was being replaced by Thai Basil!!!

Southern food getting replaced by a Thai restaurant in downtown Black Mountain!?!?! We are sure an evolving state.

Upcoming Cool Cities Events

We're having three Cool Cities events in the next week or so:

Tomorrow we'll honor Black Mountain in a 2 PM ceremony at Town Hall.

Thursday, Clyde is the honoree in a 9 AM event at its Town Hall.

Next Wednesday, 9/12, Raleigh will get its Cool City designation in a 10:30 AM function at Nash Square.

If you're in the area for any of them, come on out!

Another Day, Another John Locke Foundation Complaint

This Cool Cities stuff is just killing the John Locke Foundation guy in Greensboro. Every time something about it shows up in the newspaper or elsewhere he complains again.

Once again, his biggest concern is that, horror of horrors, Greensboro might actually spend some money so that it can do better on the environment:

Still bothersome, though, is council member Florence Gatten’s wishful comment that the carbon inventory would be completed just in time for the 2008-2009 budget. I can’t imagine why that’s significant for any reason other than the city will use the inventory as an excuse to spend money.

You can read his full post here.

New Carrboro High School a Green Model

Close to home (or my home anyway) the new Carrboro High School opened last week. It's one of the most green High Schools in the state.

Here's an excerpt from a recent Daily Tar Heel story about it:

Besides solar panels to help heat water and provide electricity, light sensors to minimize fluorescent lighting and organic carpet, the school has three cisterns that will each hold 35,000 gallons of rainwater to help with toilet flushing and irrigation.

This will save Carrboro High 1.2 million gallons of water per year, Thomas said.

School officials are in the process of obtaining Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification for the building. This national ranking system labels buildings "green" for their sustainable qualities.

You can read the full story here.

I think every single new school or municipal building that opens up should be the most environmentally advanced in the state that day. Green technologies are becoming cheaper and more available, and everyone should strive to construct new buildings utilizing the best tools available.

Greensboro Cool Cities in the Media

It took a little while but the Greensboro media has written a couple good stories about its becoming a Cool City.

The first was in last week's Yes! Weekly. In that story Kim Yarbray did a great job outlining how the Cool Cities effort has really strengthened the environmental community in Greensboro:

For Yarbray, the process leading up to council's approval of the measure was about much more than emissions reduction.

"It really felt great to have the citizens, city council and city manager come to one place," she said. "We hope that the relationships that got formed during this process will continue to strengthen over the course of the project."

You can read the full story here.

Then there was a well done Cool Cities story on the front page of today's News&Record. I need to give some nice words to Taft Wireback who has written two of the most thorough Cool Cities stories that have been written all year and did so again with this one. You can read that story here.

Our thanks to the many media outlets that have done such a nice job of covering the Cool Cities program this year.