A new solar array will help power Sierra Madre and offset nearly 700 tons of emissions.
The Natural Resources Committee (NRC) has made an important decision about how to bring about a reduction in CO2 pollution and dependence upon fossil fuels in our thirteen LWV-PA member cities. We have abandoned our tedious efforts to examine our cities’ climate action plans (CAPs), which are multi-paged documents. They are usually the product of an expensive consulting firm hired to formulate what a town intends to do to reduce global warming.
The “10 Actions” Plan
Instead, we have come up with our own “10 Actions City Governments Can Take to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions.” We have done this as an efficient and practical way to give our committee a role in motivating our thirteen member cities to take action rather than sit on a voluminous and often vague CAP.
Members of our NRC have agreed to take personal responsibility for reaching out to one or more of the thirteen cities. Our goal is to make a presentation to each, using twenty-six PowerPoint slides. These introduce the urgent actions that must be taken if we are to reach the goal of limiting temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels by 2050.
Our First Presentation: Sierra Madre
We have started with the town of Sierra Madre. This was an easy choice because Sierra Madre has just installed an impressive solar project of photovoltaic panels on two acres near its groundwater replenishment basins and water production facilities. When turned on this month, this source of energy will offset 948,332 kilowatt-hours of energy from the Water Department’s distribution costs. It will eliminate 693 tons of CO2 emissions and the need for 1,457 barrels of oil per year. Sierra Madre calculates that savings to the city—starting with $61,500 the first year and rising to $218,000 in the twentieth year—will add up to $2,665,924 in that period.
When the article about the solar project appeared in the January 29, 2022, edition of Mountain Views News, James Carlson, management analyst for Sierra Madre, was mentioned as a contact person. Carlson responded promptly, inviting our NRC to come to the city’s Natural Resources Commission to present our slides. NRC member Cynthia Cannady had created the PowerPoint talk. We were ready. Peter Parker, Cynthia, and I were present. Cynthia interspersed, among the “10 Actions and Processes and Obstacles” slides, some great photos of what cities have accomplished. One of them showed the Sierra Madre solar project. The PowerPoint presentation ended with an early photo of League of Women Voters members gathered around a sign informing viewers of its “Democratic Platform Committee.”
Reaching Out to More Cities
Our next task, in addition to reaching out to more of the thirteen cities, is to develop an “assessment tool” to help NRC members grade ourselves on how well we are doing in our outreach project. The tool, of course, can also be used to assess the progress our thirteen cities are making on taking the “10 Actions.”
—Julie Parker, Natural Resources Committee
Are you serious about reducing your personal carbon footprint? And what IS your personal carbon footprint? Two easy steps:
Calculate your carbon footprint by using the Environmental Protection Agency’s carbon footprint calculator.
Then try adding a few strategies listed by the Columbia Climate School.
