Carbon neutral

— Rollie Atkinson
Just as there are many inconvenient truths about global climate
change and the destructive increase of greenhouse gas emissions,
there are also just as many convenient lies.
Saving our planet by preserving its limited resources of clean
water, breathable air, fossil fuels and the diverse habitats that
breed our multitude of plant and animal species should not be the
subject of political rancor and intentional deceit — but it is.
And, with the early leadership by Sonoma County to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions and promote an aggressive series of local
government initiatives in sustainable and restorative economic and
environmental practices, we find ourselves in the crossfire of
these truths and lies.
Seven Sonoma County residents and government officials are
attending the current U.N. conference on climate change in
Copenhagen, Denmark where 12,000 delegates from 200 countries are
meeting to expand efforts for all nations to reduce greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions and their impacts on climate change and dangerous
ozone depletion.
The $23,000 travel expenses to send our delegates to this
world-saving conference has met with controversy here at home.
Easily, half as many delegates could have represented our county.
Then again, if any county in the United States deserves to have the
largest delegation in Copenhagen it would be Sonoma County.
All nine cities and the county government have pledged to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by the year 2015. This is
the boldest goal and statement by any local government or region
across the entire United States.
To date, the county and most of the nine municipalities are
ahead of schedule to meet the goal of reducing our annual GHG
emissions by 1.4 million tons. Every individual is being urged to
invest in energy efficiency and water conservation measures,
including retrofitting our homes and using “green” building
materials and practices in all new construction.
Part of the county’s Climate Protection Plan also calls for
reducing single-occupancy automobile use and supporting
transit-oriented land use where possible. Governments have deployed
electric and hybrid vehicle fleets and the Sonoma County Water
Agency is approaching a “carbon neutral” operation.
Sonoma County’s governments and many residents have not waited
for more federal incentives to mount rooftop solar collection.
Instead, in places like Sebastopol and spreading, Sonoma County has
again become a national leader with its program Solar Sonoma.
The county has an Integrated Waste Management Plan, one of the
nation’s largest agricultural and open space conservation agencies
and is home to the nation’s largest geothermal energy field where
billions of gallons of treated wastewater is recycled.
If Climate Change is a cruel hoax and the anti-capitalist
subterfuge that people like Rush Limbaugh and others accuse Al Gore
of perpetrating, then Sonoma County must be the gag line of a
global joke.
County supervisors Paul Kelley and Valerie Brown are leading our
Copenhagen contingent, joined by two water agency and
transportation commission staffers. Also attending is Rohnert Park
Councilman Jake MacKenzie, Healdsburg resident and consultant Tod
Brilliant from the Post Carbon Institute and Evelina Molina of the
North Bay Institute of Green Technology. We await their report upon
their return home.
Government leaders and climate protection activists are ready to
launch new economic and environmental initiatives that go beyond
sustainable practices into broader-reaching “restorative”
measures.
Sonoma County is set to prove that reducing GHG emissions and
conserving natural resources can build a stronger economy, not a
weaker one.
Among these restorative measures is reduced reliance on foreign
oil, creation of jobs and businesses to complete housing and
infrastructure energy-saving retrofits and the emergence of new
private-public innovations and technologies.
Instead of Sonoma County going to Copenhagen, perhaps the
Copenhagen delegates should come to Sonoma County.