Eugene Climate and Energy

Seeing the Connections – Climate, Energy Prices, Health and Social Services

News of the effects of human activities–how we build our cities, grow our food, and get around–on climate and vice versa has dominated climate change media coverage to date.  It’s easy for most to make the connection between these activities and global warming.

When we start talking about health and social services however, media coverage thins and connections blur.  What are the potential effects of climate change on human health?  Should Eugene’s social services sector prepare for the challenges of peak oil and climate change and if so, how?  As we near the Eugene Climate & Energy Action Plan’s next public forum on Health and Social Services, it’s important to educate ourselves and our community on the connections between climate change, peak oil, and human health.

So what are they?

In the Eugene/Springfield area, climate change is expected to cause warmer, drier summers and wetter, stormier winters.  Fuel prices are also expected to increase within the next decade due to increasing global demand for a finite amount of oil and natural gas, and in the event new carbon taxes or cap-and-trade legislation are passed.  These factors are expected to disproportionately affect disadvantaged populations within our community.  Some of the anticipated challenges posed by climate change include:

·         Increased risks of extreme weather events like flooding, droughts, and wildfires

·         Reduced air quality and higher rates of asthma and other respiratory diseases

·         Disruptions to transportation systems due to severe storm events

·         Negative impacts on the drinking water supply

·         Increased energy prices

·         Increased incidents of heat-related illness

Some of the anticipated challenges posed by increasing and volatile fuel prices include:

·         Increasing costs of transportation, food, and home heating

·         Increasing costs of medical services and public health services

·         Increasing demand for social services and public school services (at the same time costs of maintaining these services is increasing)

·         Vulnerable and marginalized populations will likely grow and be the hardest hit by these conditions

How well we make these links and identify the best areas for preparation planning in Eugene will not only guide the future health and wellbeing of our community, it may very well determine our capacity to take action in the other five areas this climate action plan addresses.  From 6pm to 9pm on February 4^th at the EWEB main office (500 E. 4^th Avenue), the City of Eugene and partners will host a public forum on Health and Social Services.  This is a chance to hear more about these issues, learn how other communities are responding, share your views and expertise, and identify and prioritize preparation actions for Eugene.

To find out more, check out the links below.  We’ve found these reports useful in our efforts to lay out the correlations between climate, energy, and health and social services, and hope you do too.

Descending the Oil Peak:  Navigating the Transition from Oil and Natural Gas – prepared by the City of Portland Peak Oil Task Force. March 2007

Preparing for Climate Change in the Upper Willamette Basin – prepared by University of Oregon’s Climate Leadership Initiative, the US Forest Service, and the National Center for Conservation Science and Policy. February 2009

Consumption and Waste public forum

On January 6, 2010, roughly 60 community members joined in a conversation about the importance of managing consumption and waste when trying to reign in greenhouse gas emissions.  David Allaway, Senior Analyst at Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, began by outlining the issue in his informative introductory presentation.  Participants then held small group conversations to discuss details of proposed actions.  During the evening, they also rated the action list to give an idea of their priorities (listed below).  If you are interested in providing your thoughts on this topic, please comment below or take our online survey.

Actions below identified as important based on feedback from the public forum

1 Work with partner organizations to encourage businesses and residents to
 1)purchase durable, repairable and reusable goods;
 2)reduce the amount of materials that go to waste, including food;
 3)reduce consumption of carbon-intensive consumer goods and services.
2 Incentivize residential recycling, composting, and source reduction
3 Promote the utilization of reuse and repair businesses in outreach to businesses and residents.
4 Participate actively in the process to develop local, state, and federal product stewardship legislation.
5 Mandate Construction and Demolition waste recycling
6 In collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce and other business associations, enhance outreach and education to local businesses about the waste embodied in products and packaging and support local manufacturers’ efforts to reduce packaging.
7 Target expanded recycling outreach and services to commercial and multi-family residential buildings, including local businesses, apartment buildings, student and cooperative housing
8 Develop a measurement and evaluation mechanism to track waste prevented through preservation, re-use and thoughtful consumption.

$50k Carrot to reduce waste

In Seattle, the garbage collection company Cleanscapes, is offering $50,ooo to the neighborhood that reduces its waste by the largest margin (details in the Dec. 21st Seattle Times.)  Eugene is well known for its high rate of recycling and composting, but wat other steps could be taken in Eugene to reduce the amount of waste being produced?

Stahlbush Island Farms Unveils State of the Art Bio-Gas Plant

As we prepare for our January 6 public forum on Consumption and Waste, take a view of the KEZI report on the bio-gas digester at Sathlbush Island Farms in Corvallis.

Still photo from television report on Stahlbush Island Farms, courtesy KEZI

Event Summary: The Land Use and Transportation Connection

There’s no turning back now.  The Eugene Climate & Energy Action Plan hit its official halfway point at the Land Use &

Three down, three to go

Transportation public forum held Tuesday, December 1st (check out our events page to see topics already covered and those yet to come).  Familiarity however has not resulted in reduced enthusiasm–turnout at the Land Use & Transportation event topped 100, the largest in the plan’s public engagement phase to date.

Like past forums, participants were greeted with a short intro from plan coordinator Matt McRae and a presentation by the Sustainability Commission’s Joshua Skov.  Skov’s talk grounded land use and transportation in the greater climate change and peak oil picture, noting the two inseparable sectors permeate almost every slice of the greenhouse gas emissions “pie.”  The context for the nights discussion?  One unavoidable energy future (peak oil and the energy economy transformations to come), one transportation-land use system fueling an unsustainable energy ‘present,’ and one chance to create a more ecologically, socially appropriate system, together.

Also true to form, participants were given a list of actions other cities across the country have proposed or undertaken to reduce  their greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to rising fuel prices.  This time however, people may have been surprised by just how many actions were presented.  The task of prioritizing actions that all seem necessary is tough in any sector, let alone the land use and transportation sectors that are so intricately tied to each other and to most other sectors.  We extend a huge thank you to those present who voted for their lowest and highest prioroties.  From this vote, we idenitfied the following community priorities:

An action implementation workgroup takes a closer look at one of the community's top priorities

1.  Make 20-minute complete neighborhoods (places where residents can safely walk a relatively short distance from home to most of the destinations and services they use every day) a core component of the City’s strategic plan. (Portland, Seattle)

2. Identify mobility gaps that could be addressed through additional bicycle/pedestrian infrastructure and create an implementation strategy (Berkeley)

3. Accommodate all population and business growth within the existing urban growth boundary. (Portland, Portland Peak Oil)

4. Implement zoning adjustments to facilitate a mix of housing (including affordable housing), retail services, and employment centers in the areas of Eugene best served by transit. (Berkeley, Seattle, Portland Peak Oil, Fort Collins)

5. Facilitate walking and bicycle use through improved, and new, programs and services that make alternate modes more convenient, faster, and safer.

6. Protect existing intermodal freight facilities and support centrally located and regionally significant industrial areas that may provide for future intermodal facilities and provide for efficient local deliveries (Portland)

7. Integrate bus routes into broader alternative transportation system, identify gaps in bus service routes and potential scenarios for addressing such gaps, and improve frequency and reliability of bus service where required. (Berkeley)

8. Establish sustainable funding sources adequate to maintain the existing transportation system and to invest in transportation capital projects and programs that reduce carbon emissions. (Portland)

9. Accelerate the transition to plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles by supporting the installation of a network of electric car charging stations. (Portland, Portland Peak Oil)

10. Identify, and invest in, infrastructure that meets access and mobility needs with less fuel (Portland Peak Oil)

These public priorities complemented those from our Land Use & Transportation expert panelists, who also agreed it would be wise to address actions No. 1, 2, 4, 7 and 9.  Despite this overlap, panelist and public interests diverged in key areas.  A few panelist favorites that failed to generate much public interest were:

• Make parking requirements more flexible for developers that site near transit and that provide services, infrastructure, and/or mitigation payments to reduce parking demand (e.g. car share or bicycle parking, indoor showers and changing facilities, dedicated parking for electric/hybrid vehicles, implement an employee transit pass program, mitigation payments to be allocated to transportation demand projects). (Berkeley)
• Examine and improve the interface between transit, pedestrians, and cyclists.
• Expand and improve metro and regional service and connections (San Francisco)
• Identify how biofuels can play a role in decreasing Eugene’s vulnerability to energy markets and promote appropraite use and local production of biofuels. (Portland, Portland Peak Oil, Vancouver)

In fact, the issue of biofuels was largely discounted in the public vote, receiving three times as many “lowest priority” votes as “highest priority” votes.  Public discussion also centered on some issues that didn’t provoke as much excitement among our local experts, e.g. protecting intermodal freight facilities (Action No. 6) and establishing sustainable funding for green transportation projects (Action No. 8).  In meeting the needs of the entire community while effectively meeting the challenges of climate change and peak oil, it is especially important to see where experts and community members converge and where they split.

Halfway does not mean slow down.  It means take stock of successes to date, remember that this plan is a first for all of us, and continue to learn from, and contribute to, this process that is just as much about strengthening our community  and our capability to face climate change and peak oil together as it is about the final end product that will guide us in this effort.  It means acknowledge the immense contributions of our community so far–city residents, local experts, CEAP planning team members, the Advisory Team, and the Sustainability Commission.  And it means there are still three more events like this one where we will need your help.  The next public forum (on Wednesday, January 6th) will discuss topics of Consumption & Waste.  Come consume knowledge, responsibility for our future, and free food.  Same time, same place (6 pm tp 9pm at EWEB).

Food and Agriculture Forum – Briefly

While there will be more to come about the Food and Agriculture forum last night, we want to get some of the preliminary information posted so that you can learn about the event (if you missed it) and make comments.

Roughly 80 people gathered last night to help inform the creation of Eugene’s first Community Climate and Energy Action Plan.  There was a tremendous amount of energy in the room and we gathered some very positive results.

After a short introduction to food and agriculture in the context of climate and energy and why we need to prepare now, participants reviewed the list of actions culled from Climate Action Plans and Peak Oil action plans from across the country.   They then took a quick poll to share their priorities.  After tallying votes, the group identified these actions as being the most important:

1)  Increase home – grown and locally sourced food in the city.

2)  Identify and implement City and County strategies to encourage local food production, storage, processing, and distribution.

3) Rebuild local and regional food storage, distribution and processing facilities

4) Increase accessibility of materials necessary for residential and neighborhood-scale food production

5) Strengthen current farmland protections at local and state levels

6) Transition to more sustainable, diverse and ecologically sound farming methods

7) Support and Promote educational programs about food

8)Support efforts to increase food crop diversity

Prior to last night’s meeting, a group of 10 local specialists on Food and Agriculture issues , working from the same list, identified their priorities.  While slightly different, there was some overlap.  Their “short list” below:

1) Strengthen current farmland protections at local and state levels.

2) Transition to more sustainable, diverse and ecologically sound farming methods

3) Rebuild local and regional food storage, distribution and processing facilities

4) Develop a regional emergency food distribution plan

5) Support efforts to increase food crop diversity

6) Increase home-grown, sustainably grown, and locally sourced food in the city

7) Implement a “Buy Local First” food purchasing policy for public institutions – schools, hospitals, prisons, city and county governments

Questions for you:

Given the challenges of Climate Change and the increasing costs of oil due to peaking global oil supply, what do you think are the priority actions that should be included in Eugene’s Climate and Energy Action Plan?

Did you attend the Food and Agriculture forum?  If so, what are your thoughts?

Are you working on a local food initiative that is relevant to these issues?  What are you working on and with whom?

Have you seen models used in other communities that would move us forward on  some of these priority actions?

350 artists make for a well orchestrated day of climate action

Local percussion ensemble Samba Ja and local dancers perform

As we near the next international climate change conference in Copenhagen and myriad press reports warn of the empty promises and weak international political will to come, we may soon find ourselves forced to look within our own communities for solutions to the climate crisis we now face.

This past Saturday, October 24th, the International Day of Climate Action, Eugene residents showed they are ready to meet this challenge and take action against climate change (or at least to listen to others musically and verbally taking action) by packing the Hult Center lobby for the 350! Artists for Climate Action event.

Mayor Kitty Piercy, Commissioner Rob Handy, and U of O Law Professor Mary Wood gave inspirational, empowering speeches to crowds that spilled onto the Hult Center stairs and balconies that reminded us of our own potential and responsibility for, essentially, saving ourselves.  An incredible three hundred and fifty artists performed in total–representing what is fast becoming the most important number in the world.  Leading climate scientists warn 350 ppm (ppm = parts per million) is the “safe” upper limit for carbon dioxide in our atmosphere.  According to the NOAA we’re hovering around 390 ppm now.  We face the very real possibility of runaway climate change if we don’t bring this number down as fast as possible.

Professor Mary Wood speaks about climate issues and the importance of individual action.

Trends in greenhouse gas emissions over last few years makes our progress to date (or lack of) painfully clear.  But this does NOT mean we give up all hope, only that we must do more.  Saturday’s event signified Eugene’s participation in what 350.org has called the “world’s most widespread day of political action ever.”  Globally, this achievement proves we can do more; in Eugene, we proved we can do more and have a good time doing it.

The day was no small feat, for national or for Hult Center organizers.  But CO2 trends tell us efforts of this scale can no longer be the exception to the norm; they must set the standard for future efforts to not only reach but surpass.  Further, actions cannot be limited to a single day; they need to be part of our daily routine.  And yes, there are many things we as individuals can do to reduce our own greenhouse gas emissions–these are largely what got us into this mess in the first place.  But local, county, state, federal, and international governing bodies must also take responsibility for their roles in guiding our behaviors, and for protecting the wellbeing of all of us while we work to make these changes in our everyday lives.

The Eugene Climate & Energy Action Plan (CEAP) accepts its portion of the responsibility we all share for encouraging and supporting the Eugene community–residents, businesses, nonprofit organizations, and city government alike–to take the necessary actions to reach the city’s stated target of 50% greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and for preserving community wellbeing as we face the challenges of climate change and peak oil.  As you think about how to continue to take action beyond this single day, include attending the CEAP’s next topic discussion on Food and Agriculture in your personal action plan, to be held Nov. 5th in the EWEB Community Meeting Room at 500 E. 4th Ave. in Eugene.

Tags: 350 Artists and Day of Climate Action

Buildings & Energy Public Forum Summary

Review the plan’s Building & Energy action working list here

What’s In Your Top 8?

Participants discuss Buildings & Energy actions with a beautiful reminder of Eugene's unique resources behind them.

After finding their way through the hallway of free food and local organic apple cider, around 60 community members–students and concerned residents, city officials and business owners, green tech experts and developers–took their seats at EWEB Tuesday night for a public forum held to identify the priorities that will guide Eugene’s Climate & Energy Action Plan.  The topic?  Buildings and Energy, the first of six plan topics open for public discussion from now through March 2010.  The purpose?  To determine what actions (related to buildings and energy) our community must take as a whole to adapt to, and mitigate, the impacts of climate change and rising fuel costs and meet the plan’s stated goal of achieving a 50% reduction in fossil fuel use by 2030.

Participants were greeted with a short introduction to the plan and how exactly buildings and energy fit into Eugene’s grand cross-sector effort to address climate change and fossil fuel use.  Then the real fun began.

Laura Hammond, member of the plan coordination team, carefully tabulates the votes.

Participants were given a list of actions pulled from other climate and energy action plans around the country and asked to pick their top 8–actions they felt were especially important for our community.  They were also asked to add anything they thought was missing from that list.  A series of small group discussions and rounds of voting allowed community members to share their top priority actions and discuss potential additional actions before the entire group voted actions onto the night’s agenda.

The rest of the night’s activities centered in on these priority actions.  Implementation work groups formed around tables and began to discuss each action–why it is a priority for our community, how it could and should be implemented, who should be involved, and what potential barriers exist.

Priority actions discussed:

1.    Provide / improve upon what is being done to create incentives for energy efficiency measures in existing buildings and increase resources to this end (for example, develop strategies for weatherizing hard-to-weatherize buildings).

2.    Require energy performance and emissions benchmarking for buildings at time-of-sale.

3.    Encourage passive systems (i.e. heating/cooling/daylighting) such as planting shade trees and using light colored roofs.

4.    Identify where we are using and losing the most energy in Eugene.

5.    Implement remote metering for power and peak-load billing for residential buildings and other policies that affect people’s behaviors.

6.    Provide education, assistance, and incentives for on-site installation of renewable technologies.

7.    Require / create incentives for green building standards for all new

8.    Strengthen legislation, local codes and standards (performance-based) with regular updates / Require commissioning certification on buildings – making sure code addresses requirements.

Many important issues were raised Tuesday night that, due to unfortunate time constraints, did not receive the attention they deserved.  Here are just a few:

• Use marketing, education, and outreach to motivate implementation of energy efficiency measures.
• Create an investment fund and provide low interest financing for energy efficiency upgrades for community solar/renewable energy.
• Develop utility-scale renewable energy projects including pilot projects for emerging technology.

All public input was documented and will be thoroughly considered in future planning phases.  For a full list of proposed actions and more detailed results of the implementation work groups, please visit the wiki here.

The night was a  success, but the Buildings and Energy discussion is not over.  If you didn’t make it to Tuesday’s event, there are lots of ways to join the conversation.  You can follow events and contribute your thoughts on our blog, and connect and collaborate with others on the project wiki.  If you did make it and have more to say, your continued input is highly valued.  Contact the Project Coordinator to arrange to continue a topic event discussion.

While the focus Tuesday was on buildings and energy, it was almost impossible to talk about buildings without talking about land use; to talk about renewable energy and ignore waste issues.  This is a testament to just how interconnected these issues really are and how helpful it is for those particularly concerned about one issue to attend more than just that topic discussion.

These topic discussions will inform the action plan that will count on your actions as a member of our community for it to become a reality.  For a schedule of remaining topic discussion events, click here.  The next topic discussion, on Food and Agriculture, will be on Thursday, November 5^th, same time, same place (from 6 pm to 9 pm in EWEB’s community meeting room).

Tags: Buildings and Energy

Saturday’s Kickoff (not the football kind)

Residents put climate & energy issues on the front burner

On Saturday, something really big happened at North Eugene High School.  No, not a free Stones concert, but close.  And maybe more globally significant (depending on your music taste).  The Eugene Climate & Energy Action Plan officially kicked off its public planning process with a day-long, community-wide discussion forum about:

• The impacts Eugene will feel in the near future as climate patterns and energy prices shift,
• What challenges and opportunities we will face,
• And what our community specifically must do to prepare to meet these to the best of our ability and prevent further climate change.

Members of the Eugene community–residents, city officials, business leaders, and members of partnering organizations–gave their time and energy Saturday (and a game day Saturday no less) to come together and successfully get the plan up and running.  You may have been one of these people and if so, THANK YOU.  If not, read on for a summary of the day’s activities and ways to get involved.

The kickoff recap:

Participants were met in the morning with a full spread of free food donated by local businesses, a welcome from Mayor Kitty Piercy and and introduction to the plan and the day’s activities from CEAP Coordinator Matt McRae.  A panel discussion then gave audience members the chance to voice their concerns about climate change and energy, providing inspiration for the world cafe-style discussion that followed.  Participants moved through a number of small discussion groups, linking conversations and ideas in an atmosphere that encouraged citizens to share their thoughts in a respectful and focused way.  As voices filled the NEHS cafeteria, it was hard not to notice the creative energy and shared sense of concern for our future wellbeing building among them.

Exactly what came of all this discussing and idea-generating?

9:00  AM to 1:00 PM – Morning Event – World Café discussion

We were able to identify and rank the issues many of you are most concerned with; where you think we can, and must, make a move.  Here are the top five you came up with:

1.  Strengthening local food systems – Building our capacity for growing, processing, and distributing more of our region’s own food (including calorie crops like beans, grains, meats, potatoes, and dairy), increasing food systems education, and strengthening our local economy and social connections in the process.

2. Increasing and improving alternative transportation - Making it easy and affordable to choose alternatives to the personal vehicle with better infrastructure, more public transit trips and routes, and more appropriately directed subsidies.  Making it harder to choose energy-intensive modes with a gas tax.

3. Confronting the consumption issue - Using public media campaigns to address excessive consumption.

4. Shifting the city’s policy mentality - Putting all land use, transportation, and purchasing policies through a climate and energy filter.

5. Encouraging individual behavior change - Creating action plans for personal change in all areas related to climate change: food, water, consumption, etc.

(For a full list of topics generated in the morning event, please visit our wiki here.)

2:00 PM to 5:30 PM – Afternoon Event – Self-directed discussion groups

The second half of the day revolved around similar activities–and more free food–drawing on the collective intelligence of the whole group and generating ideas for action that will lay the foundations for the plan.

An open space discussion was, well, opened, during which participants created their own topics and joined the discussions most important to them.  Here are some of the questions that came up:

First Session:

• How can we use art to engage people in climate change & peak oil issues?
• Will involuntary simplicity be our only choice as climate change & peak oil converge?
• How do we expand our conversation?
• How do we encourage a passion for nature & climate among members of our community?
• How do we increase and utilize youth involvement?
• What do we need to be happy?

Second Session:

• How do we shut down the coal plants?
• How do we promote a steady-state (no-growth) economy?
• How can we increase food production?  How does preservation and sharing of food at the neighborhood scale come into play?
• Can resource sharing be coordinated on the internet?
• Is “victory speaking” a useful way to talk to schools and the greater community about climate change?
• How can we coordinate individual green development efforts, i.e. with things like sewage and hot water?

Many thanks to all who participated, your presence at this event and future topic discussions is critical to the success of this plan.  For more information on future opportunities to get involved, check out our topic discussions, listed here.  The first of these (on Buildings and Energy) will be held next Tuesday, October 6th, from 6 – 9 pm in the EWEB community meeting room.

Tags: Kickoff Event

Building Community Capacity, Pursuing New Opportunities

The City has chosen to explore the issues of climate change and energy challenges through the lens of six topics –

• Buildings and Energy
• Food and Agriculture
• Land Use and Transportation
• Consumption and Waste
• Health and Social Services
• Natural Resources

While I agree that this will probably be very productive, I want to note that these are static areas that will be effected by climate change and peak oil.  I would also like to see us explore these issues using dynamic inquiries like

• “What capacities do we have — or need to develop — to meet these challenges?”

and

• “What desirable possibilities could we realize while or through meeting these challenges?”

I mention this to encourage us to take into account these latter aspects of our journey while addressing the six topics with which the City will be organizing, catalyzing and supporting community response.  Below are some thoughts on how we might do that.

CAPACITIES

I believe the kind of collective capacity we need to address these issues includes many of the skills, qualities, and resources we will need to address ANY issue well.  So preparing well for climate change and peak oil COULD make our community stronger, more resilient and smarter in the face of ALL challenges.  Four areas that I think deserve special attention are “social capital”, “process”, “democracy” and “systems thinking.”  I’ll explore each of these briefly below, noting that many other capacities may be important, as well.

1.  SOCIAL CAPITAL is the fabric of relationships in a community. It is like the foundation upon which collaborative thinking, response, and initiative can be built — or, to use a more organic metaphor, the ground out of which all effective community collaboration grows.  Like financial capital (e.g., money), physical capital (e.g., tools and buildings), human capital (e.g., knowledge and talent), and natural capital (e.g., clean air and water), the more we have of it, the more we can invest in projects that benefit the community — or in creating even more social capital.

Social capital embraces things like trust and reputation, networks and social connections, goodwill and fellowship, mutual sympathy and respect, social intercourse and celebration, civic engagement and commitment to community, cooperation and neighborliness, reciprocity and mutual aid, social norms and culture, group identity and social cohesion, solidarity, and so forth.  All these contribute to strong relationships, a strong social fabric, and strong community.

Some social researchers point to two types of social capital — bonding and bridging.

BONDING social capital emerges from the interconnectivity WITHIN the various sectors, neighborhoods, networks, subgroups and subcultures in a community.  BRIDGING social capital emerges from the interconnectivity BETWEEN AND AMONG those subgroups, such as through multi-stakeholder dialogues, various interfaith activities and all-community events like a town’s annual celebration.  Bonding and bridging are the woof and warp of the fabric of social capital.  Together, they generate a community resource we already have to some extent, but that we can (and need to) consciously increase through our efforts to address climate change and energy challenges.

2.  The second capacity I want to look at is PROCESS, our ability to explore and learn together. This includes awareness that successful work in a climate change and energy project must include not only outcomes and “getting somewhere” but being alert and responsive to whatever is happening, and knowing how to learn, create and adapt together as we go.  Certain ways of thinking, feeling, seeing, and interacting can help us do all this more effectively.  As part of that, we are trying out certain leading-edge group processes in the public engagement forums and events organized by the City around these issues.  They have been very productive in other places and for other issues, and we expect them to do well here.  But we don’t know.  We are pioneering new and important territory.  If we are prepared to learn from whatever happens, we will become more resilient in the midst of change — which is exactly the capacity we most need.

Becoming sensitive to and adept with process involves becoming more aware of the potentially creative role of diversity and disturbance.  From a process perspective, such dissonance invites and prods us to include more of what needs to be included.  Of course there are always limits to what we can take in and deal with.  But the more we treat whatever happens as an evolutionary process that we can learn from and respond to — rather than as something to accept or reject — the more able we’ll become, together, to make something better out of new changes, challenges and opportunities.

3.  A third capacity relates to DEMOCRACY — a system through which we have effective power to influence the decisions that affect our lives. Democracy is also — ideally — a system through which we, as diverse people, can resolve our different interests, needs, and views in ways that serve and preserve the well-being of our whole community or society.  When a democratic community or society faces major divisive or collective challenges, the strength and functioning of their democracy is both demonstrated and tested.  These are times when we should use existing democratic institutions and traditions to their fullest, fully review them for their limitations and for obstacles that need to be removed to free up democratic functioning, and transform them as needed to enable “we the people” to have effective rule over our lives, individually and collectively.

A strong, functional democracy provides the capacity for self-rule.  Obstacles we run up against as we deal with climate change and energy issues will help us identify where we need more or better democracy.  More democracy involves broader, more effective public engagement with public issues.  Better democracy involves innovating forms of public engagement to produce better solutions — more desirable results for more people, including future generations.

4.  SYSTEMS THINKING is the final capacity I want to highlight.  Systems thinking is about interconnectedness, interaction, interdependence. It is about all the ways that diverse things — people, forces, ideas, stories, etc. — weave together into a larger whole, and how such a whole impacts the things that make it up.  It is about moving beyond oversimplified explanations to understand more complex realities.

Systems thinking has many dimensions and comes in many forms, ranging from computer modeling to shamanism, from feedback loops to gardening metaphors.  The most important gifts of systems thinking, to me, are a mixture of the following blessings.

a.  Systems thinking breeds humility.  So many things are so incredibly interconnected that we can’t really know everything about a complex living system like a planet or a community.  Nor can we predict how it will behave nor the ultimate results of our actions.  But we can be open, curious, empathic, and flexible — and keep on learning.

b.  Systems thinking invites our awareness and inclusion of “the whole system”. This involves a dance between order and chaos:  We attend to the limits to what we are able to productively include — AND we know that whatever we exclude will reduce our potential understanding and effectiveness and probably come back to haunt us someday.

c.  Systems thinking helps us move beyond the obvious, the immediate, the symptomatic, into the big picture. It helps us be aware of and use the background structures, dynamics and feedback loops that shape the way things are and what happens next.  Some dynamics amplify things that we want (or don’t want), while others constrain them.  Some balance things out or resist change in ways we like or don’t like.  Instead of blaming people and organizations as the cause of this or that, we can address the deeper dynamics that lead them to behave that way.

d.  Living systems thinking awakens us to the self-organizing power of Life. We can do a lot to empower the wise vitality of life in our communities and reduce the need for top-down direction and expenditure of resources.  This is especially important in times of resource scarcity which many expect to accompany climate change and energy challenges.  We don’t always have to run things.  We can nurture and ally ourselves with Life’s own power to support itself and evolve.

As we increase our ability to see and work with whole systems, as we increase our social capital, as we build a wiser democracy and as we learn how to play more effective co-creative roles in the larger processes of Life that we are part of, we become increasingly capable of meeting WHATEVER challenges we face.  We also become more capable of realizing the many positive possibilities opened up by the climate and energy challenges.

POSITIVE POSSIBILITIES

We often hear that crisis contains both danger and opportunity.  The danger is usually obvious.  The opportunity comes partially from the way crisis calls forth sudden, unexpected energies, like the adrenaline rush in individuals or the way people “rise to the occasion”.  Opportunity also presents itself in the tendency of crises to shake up business as usual, toppling old habits and structures and making space for something new to emerge.

Of course, just because opportunity presents itself doesn’t mean we take it.  We may feel depressed or crushed by difficulties or even, as Pogo said, feel “confronted by insurmountable opportunities.”  But the opportunities are usually there and some of the most profound and positive transformations in the lives of individuals, organizations, communities, and societies come out of positive response to crisis.

The crises of climate change and peak oil challenge our business-as-usual that is dangerously dependent on cheap oil and other fossil fuels.  So much of the way we live could simply not continue without a continuing supply of this cheap fuel.  Furthermore, billions of poor people who have not had a chance to live like middle class (to say nothing of wealthy) people in affluent societies are rapidly moving into richer lives and demanding the cheap energy they need to do make that shift.  Clearly, things are not going to continue as they have been.

One fabulous example of a positive response to this situation is the worldwide Transition Towns movement (google it), involving people in hundreds of communities making new-civilization lemonade out of the global lemon of peak oil and climate change.  They point out that we COULD end up even better off after the transition from oil-based lifestyles than we are now.  Some of the very real benefits we could create together in response to these crises are these:

• Simpler, richer, more meaningful lives
• Less materialism, more creativity, spirit, and joy
• More deeply healthy lifestyles, work, and children
• Closer, more vibrant communities
• Richer flowering of all our unique gifts
• Wiser, more joyful and powerful use of our differences
• More authentically abundant, just, and sustainable economies
• Engaging, enjoyable education that makes a real difference
• More responsive, empowering and wise democracy
• Renewed connection with place, nature, and the earth
• More confidence in tomorrow and the well-being of future generations
• Deeper understanding of who we are and our place in the world

I would like to see us consider all these things well as we consider what our community could do to respond to the challenges of peak oil and climate change.  We can pursue these WHILE exploring each of the six categories the City has chosen to frame the discussion.  We can also pursue them in conversations outside of the City’s planning process.

Tags: What do you think?

Laurel Hill Valley neighbors save resources

The Laurel Hill Valley Neighbors just held a neighborhood picnic with over 170 people. Event organizers managed to reduce their total waste (90 lbs.) by recycling (7 lbs.) and composting (72 lbs.) the vast majority of the waste.  This was accomplished in part by using durable servingware and napkins for the event.  In addition, they purchased or received donations of locally grown hot dogs, melons, chili, bread, and coffee.

Has your neighborhood association managed to reduce the amount of waste from events? Are there other things that we could do to reduce the impacts (driving, energy use, etc.) of our neighborhood events?

Tags: Action, composting, durables, neighborhoods, recycling

Please share your thoughts

It is an exciting time to be alive.  We are faced with tremendous challenges and incredible opportunities.  The decisions we make over the next decade will be important ones for us, and for our children.

In order to see that our community thrives and is resilient in the face of change, we need to take advantage of our collective intelligence – rather than knowledge embodied in any one person, collective intelligence is what arises when we think and communicate in groups as we work collectively toward a common goal.

That is why we need you here.  If you join in and invite your friends and family and the people around you who care, the conversations that follow are likely to be interesting and insightful.

Please join in the conversation and share your ideas.  We need your perspective.

What’s on your mind?

Matt McRae – City of Eugene Climate and Energy Action Coordinator

Tags: What do you think?

How Can I Participate?

Everyone’s input is important.  Join this blog to tell us what you think and to share your ideas.

Tags: Action

Welcome to the Eugene Climate and Energy Action Plan Blog

We  welcome your comments and suggestions about our new website.  Let us know what you think!

… and… thank you for your patience while we iron out the bugs!

Tags: What do you think?