Climate change is the current warming trend of the earth's atmosphere. Climate change is caused by the heat-trapping gas, carbon dioxide, which is released into the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels. When emitted, carbon dioxide acts like a greenhouse, trapping heat into our atmosphere and affecting the temperature of the planet. Evidence for climate change is overwhelming as it triggers significant changes in the planetary climate across all continents: rising temperatures, shrinking ice sheets and glaciers, rising sea levels, warming oceans, etc. The warming climate is over 95% likely to be the result of human activity, and is occurring at an alarmingly fast rate.For more information on climate change, you can visit NASA's website on Global Climate Change.
The best estimation of the changes Spokane will experience due to climate change can be found in the Climate Impacts Research Consortium (CIRC) report. In 2017, CIRC team members partnered with the Spokane community to kick off the Spokane Community Adaptation Project, and created a comprehensive report to analyze how our region will be impacted by climate change. To read the full report, you can visit the Spokane Climate Project Website.
As a result of climate change, the Spokane region will experience the following and more: rising temperatures, particularly in the summer months; changes in precipitation patterns, with less rain in warmer months and more rain in colder months; a decrease in snowfall and fewer freezing days ideal for snow; drier, warmer summer conditions that are ideal for larger, more destructive wildfires; and altered timing of streamflow on the Spokane river due to changes in precipitation and earlier snowmelt. Not only will the physical aspects of the environment be impacted, but the local economy will be impacted by climate change, as well. Namely, the summer and winter recreation industries, which are vital to the Spokane economy, will be affected by the projected changes in streamflow, snowpack, and precipitation. Certain groups and communities are most at risk from climate change in our region, including: children, elderly, low-income communities, pregnant women, outdoor athletes, outdoor workers, people of color, individuals with cardiovascular or respiratory diseases, first responders, and people experiencing homelessness. For more information, you can visit the Spokane Climate Project website and read the full report on how climate change will impact Spokane now and throughout the century.
The Sustainability Action Subcommittee (SAS) defines sustainability as the balance of ecological, social, and economic aspects of our community to ensure the health and prosperity of all people living and working in Spokane, as well as for future generations.
The ecological aspect of sustainability prioritizes conserving finite natural resources and protecting natural spaces. In Spokane, this includes transitioning to renewable energy and moving away from fossil fuels. It also includes protecting the Spokane river and other flora and fauna.
The social aspect of sustainability acknowledges that equity and diversity must be included in sustainable policies. The SAS plans to prioritize actions in communities we believe will be most impacted by climate change, including low-income and Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities.
The economic aspect of sustainability focuses on leaving no one behind; this includes providing a just transition for workers in polluting industries that may be affected by sustainable policies. The SAS has collaborated with labor unions and other workforce development organizations to discuss the transitioning energy sector and the economic opportunities available with green energy jobs, the circular economy, etc.
A climate action plan is a strategic document that identifies how a community plans to achieve goals that create financial, societal, and environmental sustainability while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating the impacts of climate change. Climate change is already having devastating impacts, so it is important that our city invests in mitigating climate disasters and pollution, and preserving ecological systems. A climate action plan will better prepare Spokane residents for future challenges of any kind and ensure that our city is resilient and adaptable to future climate changes.
The Sustainability Action Plan (SAP) proposes to encourage more efficient, renewable energy buildings; promotes local production and sourcing of renewable energy; and engages the community in energy efficiency and renewable energy. In 2016, the City of Spokane worked with the Civil Engineering Department at Gonzaga University to conduct our most recent greenhouse gas inventory. They determined that our largest contributing sectors to carbon emissions were associated with buildings and energy, and transportation and land use. 48% of Spokane's greenhouse gas emissions come from heating, cooling and powering our buildings, and another 46% comes from transportation, primarily light duty, passenger vehicles. Our goal is to have a 45% emissions reduction in buildings and energy use by 2030, a 70% reduction by 2040, and 95% reduction by 2050. This can be achieved through the 6 comprehensive strategies outlined in the SAP proposal. The strategies include: ensuring new construction is as efficient as possible and fully reliant on renewable fuels; upgrading existing buildings to high efficiency and renewable energy sources; investing in city-scale and distributed energy generation and storage; harnessing energy from waste resources; neutralizing carbon emissions from fossil fuels used in buildings and transportations; and partnering with regional building, energy, and efficiency organizations for public education and outreach.
The Sustainability Action Subcommittee (SAS) has created a set of land use strategies for Spokane that minimize the negative impact on the natural environment while also promoting equity through conscious development. This includes diverse housing options for all income levels, promoting walkable neighborhoods, preserving and expanding green spaces, supporting more sustainable modes of transportation, and reducing the financial burden of maintaining city-owned infrastructure. In 2016, vehicle emissions in Spokane, which includes both city fleet and personal vehicles, exceeded 610,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide. Our objective is to have a 100% reduction in vehicle emissions by the year 2050. This can be achieved through the strategies outlined in the Sustainability Action Plan (SAP), which include: advancing land use planning to minimize vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and increase community resilience; encouraging land use that promotes varied housing options; increasing public transit ridership; increasing the adoption of walking, cycling, and micro-mobility; improving transportation safety; supporting new or existing programs to reduce VMT; and increasing the adoption rate of Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEVs).
Although Spokane is currently an innovative champion in waste diversion and material conservation, the Sustainability Action Subcommittee has created goals that will ensure our city is able to reduce how much waste we create and how much it impacts both our economy and environment. In 2016, the City of Spokane emitted over 237,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide from both the Waste to Energy facility and Biogenic emissions. Our objective is to reduce city-wide carbon emissions from waste by 95% by the year 2050. The Sustainability Action Plan has outlined specific goals regarding our waste diversion and material conservation. These goals include: reducing waste going to landfills or the Waste to Energy plant by 95% by 2050; diverting waste materials toward the highest and best use; prioritizing materials re-use and conservation to minimize climate impacts; considering environmental equity in waste and recycling policy; and minimizing economic costs of waste management systems for low-income residents. These goals can be achieved through the strategies in the plan, which include maximizing composting of organic waste, minimizing food waste, promoting a circular economy, and supporting state-wide and regional waste management solutions.
The Spokane River and the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer (SVRP Aquifer) are critical to the health of both the human and natural communities in our region. The City of Spokane is committed to protecting our regional water sources so they can remain abundant and unpolluted for future generations. The Sustainability Action Plan encourages collaboration amongst existing organizations and initiatives to protect our water resources. Climate change and a growing population will both have major impacts on the Spokane River and the SVRP Aquifer due to changing precipitation patterns and increased water consumption. In 2016, the City of Spokane emitted just over 7,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide through pumping water alone; even though this is below 1% of the city's total carbon emissions in 2016, the Sustainability Action Plan proposes to further decrease our pumping emissions by 95%, or around 10 metric tons of carbon emitted annually. The City of Spokane can protect our water systems and decrease our emissions through the goals outlined in the Sustainability Action Plan, which include: protecting the Spokane River and the natural aquatic systems through watershed-level planning and policy; ensuring a clean and sustainable water supply; educating and engaging the community in water resources stewardship; and establishing mutually beneficial partnerships with community organizations and agencies to leverage funding and invite community input.
As the City of Spokane transitions to a more sustainable model of development, it is important that City leadership prioritizes the prosperity of residents by investing in healthcare, housing, and workforce development. Creating a more resilient economy can reduce wasted resources and pollution, encourage more environmental innovation, build a workforce that has access to living wages and benefits, and create a just distribution of opportunities and benefits. Introducing a greener economy can also introduce a more resilient economy that is better prepared for future challenges of any kind, including climate change. The City of Spokane currently has city and regional initiatives to ensure equitable access to housing, employment, healthcare, and education. These initiatives are the Spokane Housing Action Plan (under development), the Washington State Universal Health Care Work Group, the Urbanova's Neighborhood Impact and Smart & Connected Streetlight Projects, and the ZoNE's Equitable Employment Pathways Program. Along with these existing initiatives, the Sustainability Action Plan has outlined goals that will ensure economic prosperity as we address the climate crisis. The goals include investing and promoting a just, regenerative, and resilient local economy; and ensuring the local workforce has access to affordable healthcare, transportation, housing, and education. These goals can be achieved through the following strategies: engaging with regional and neighborhood business associations to create coordinated economic resiliency; expanding access to sustainable business practices and resources; adopting and implementing regional policies and initiatives that support workers; and supporting just and sustainable State and Federal economic development policies.
The City of Spokane is lucky to be situated in a naturally vibrant ecosystem, with the heart flowing right through our community, the Spokane River. There are many benefits to protecting natural ecosystems in our region, including improving livability measures, supporting a visitor economy, adding value to the natural resource industry, encouraging urban tree-planting in underserved neighborhoods, improving equitable access to green space, and increasing positive social, mental, and physical health outcomes. The Sustainability Action Plan proposes to ensure clean air, clean water, healthy terrestrial ecosystems, and a robust, equitably distributed tree canopy as a right of the community to best adapt to the impacts of climate change. Our Plan places value on the health of living systems and prioritizes their optimal function; communities with a high degree of environmental quality can support vibrant, life-sustaining communities, now and for future generations. One way to support the natural environment is to increase the urban tree canopy. In 2012, the City of Spokane conducted an economic analysis of the City’s street trees and found that from the 76,533 street trees, the City saved $714,302 annually in reduced heating and cooling costs and $290,602 annually in stormwater mitigation by rain interception and storage. Street trees also beautify Spokane and increase property values. The Sustainability Action Plan has outlined goals to increase urban tree canopy and climate-adapted plant landscapes within the built environment, as well as goals to educate and engage the community in natural resources stewardship, establish partnerships with organizations and agencies to leverage funding and invite community input, and protect and build climate resilience in natural ecosystems within and surrounding the City of Spokane. These goals can be achieved through the following strategies: strengthen and support regional land conservation; prevent negative impacts to natural resources and build climate resilience; increase carbon sequestration by growing the urban tree canopy; establish diverse, ‘future climate’-adapted landscaping within the built environment; support the development of volunteer opportunities to engage citizens in City project; promote City programs and projects that align with sustainability goals; establish a City funding source for education and outreach programs; work with regional partners to align natural resource management; and establish funding for management of City lands.
By investing in the health and wellbeing of its residents, the City of Spokane can ensure our community has the systems in place to adapt to the impacts of a changing climate. Climate change poses many threats to health and wellbeing, such as heat-related illnesses in hot temperatures and respiratory issues with wildfire smoke. This is especially critical for those who are disproportionately exposed and susceptible to climate change, such as low-income residents, people of color, the elderly, children, and people with pre-existing health conditions. By focusing on the health and wellbeing of residents, the Sustainability Action Plan aims to promote local food systems, decrease healthcare costs over time, increase the safety and security of Spokane residents, ensure health benefits are equitably spread across the community, and empower residents with information on how they can take climate and sustainability actions within their own lives. The City of Spokane currently has two initiatives that support equitable access to housing, employment, healthcare, and education: the Spokane Housing Action Plan (under development) and the Washington State Universal Health Care Work Group. The Sustainability Action Plan has proposed its own goals for health and wellbeing, which include: prioritizing and investing in underserved communities, implementing climate adaptation strategies into emergency and disaster response, and creating community engagement around sustainability and climate action. These goals can be achieved through the following strategies: increasing household food security regionwide, increasing access to affordable housing and healthcare, including climate impacts in disaster and emergency management response, and increasing community awareness of climate change risks and impacts.
A healthy economy and a clean environment can and should co-exist. This can be done through what is called a just transition, a process that should not cost workers or community residents their health, environment, jobs, or economic assets. Any losses should be fairly compensated. The Sustainability Action Plan has set their objective to reduce the City's greenhouse gas emissions by 95% by the year 2050, compared to 2016 levels. This can be achieved by investing in energy efficiency, clean energy, infrastructure improvements, materials conservation, and nature-based solutions. This will require investments and preparation in workforce development, labor protections, and place-based solutions developed by those industries and people most impacted in order to ensure that no one gets left behind. The Sustainability Action Plan has crafted a strategy to ensure a just transition, by identifying regional workers and industries most vulnerable under a clean-energy economy, and developing programs to support them through the transition. The Plan has also listed priority actions for a just transition, which include: establishing a workforce development technical advisory group for the purpose of identifying opportunities to preserve existing skilled workforce while meeting emerging needs in clean energy, circular economy, and conservation sectors; expanding local and national apprenticeship programs to meet growing demands for a skilled workforce; working with Avista to support workers currently employed in the natural gas sector; establishing a long-term platform for meaningful and continued engagement of stakeholders; and ensuring that any equity framework for decision-making includes an analysis of workers in potentially vulnerable sectors.
The strategies and actions addressed in the Sustainability Action Plan will both reduce the impacts of climate change and enhance our lives in Spokane. The SAP determined four co-benefits that Spokane will experience while building our climate resilience. The benefits are: an improved environment, increased economic opportunity or cost savings, increased equity, and increased health and wellbeing.
Visit the SAS website where you can:
You can also request a presentation to your faith, social or activity group. Email Lori Kinnear at lkinnear@spokanecity.org.
Sign up for the Sustainability Action Subcommittee newsletter. We send periodic updates on our work as well as opportunities for community involvement. If you have any troubles with this form or questions for our team, send an email to sas@spokanecity.org
Kelly Thomas
808 W. Spokane Falls Boulevard,
Spokane, WA 99201-3335
kthomas@spokanecity.org
