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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-11-19 CAC Approved MinutesJefferson County/City of Port Townsend Climate Action Committee Meeting Minutes November 19, 2014 Cotton Building Port Townsend, WA Members Present: John Austin, Stanley Willard, Laura Tucker, Tammi Rubert, Cindy Jayne, Deborah Stinson, Barney Burke, Brian Goldstein, Scott Walker, Eric Toews, Kevin Scott Absent: Valerie Johnstone, Jack Pokorny Staff: Judy Surber, City of Port Townsend Guests: Matt Stewart, Kevin Clark, Jessica Randall Scribe: Brian Goldstein Topic Recommendation/Action Call to order 3:35 p.m. Approval of Agenda & Minutes CAC Chair, Cindy Jayne, started the meeting. Brian Goldstein agreed to take minutes. Cindy proposed modifying the agenda to move Eric Toew’s presentation to later in the meeting (to the 4:40 slot). Barney moved to approve the modified agenda. Eric seconded. Approved unanimously. John moved to approve the 8-27-2014 minutes. Laura seconded. The minutes were approved unanimously. Public Comment The public was greeted and given the opportunity to comment. There were no public comments at this time. Membership Update Michael Tweiten resigned from the CAC, leaving 2 openings. We are focused on bringing in business owners as CAC members. Conversations with Circle Square and Teresa of the Chamber of Commerce did not result in any nominations for new CC members. Action item:  If anyone knows of business owners that would be a good fit, please have them apply; the application form can be found HERE.  Brian agreed to contact Liz and Kevin Coker  Brian will talk to Judy Alexander about permaculturist possibility.  Cindy will talk to Main Street and Chamber contacts Sunday Parkways – Scott Walker Scott presented the concept of building community awareness around non-motorized transportation. Portland has done this successfully using Sunday Parkway program. Scott is organizing a Port Townsend event on Sunday, July 12, 2015, that will promote this type of program, with a bike/walk event starting and ending at Jefferson Healthcare campus. Other possible partners: PTPD, Fire, Health, PTMSC, County Parks and Rec, YMCA, PTSD, Students for Sustainability, Transit Comments from the CAC members:  Street closures are expensive, who pays for this?  Christine Pivarnik should be contacted to investigate City lodge tax funding  Local QFC might be interested in providing snacks  Transit could demo the bus bike racks and help disabled participate Scott estimates 30 volunteers are needed. He wants to know which CAC members would like to help, whether partner orgs would like to have tables, etc. A motion was made by Cindy, seconded by Brian, for CAC to support this Sunday walk as a partner. The vote was unanimous in favor. Action Item: If you are interested in helping to plan and/or volunteering for this event, please contact Scott Walker. Climate Action Outreach/Branding – Laura Tucker Summary of updates:  The presentation by former NASA Scientist Bob Bindschadler was well attended, with over 100 attendees.  The Students for Sustainability group at the PT High School has grown to around 30 members. Their chair is Jack Pokorny, a member of CAC. They are working on reducing cafeteria waste, developing a composting system, and developing a proposal for downtown recycling containers. Adaptation Planning Update – Cindy Jayne Here is a brief summary of where we are on the Planning for Climate Change in the North Olympic Peninsula Project:  We held 4 workshops the week of 11/10/14 for the project on the following focus areas: o Community Vitality: Climate Change impacts to Cultural/historic/recreation/ tourist sites, land-use planning, regional population growth, human health, demographics of low-income and aging population o Water Resources: Climate Change impacts to water supplies, water quality, and watersheds. o Natural and Managed Ecosystems: Climate Change impacts to agriculture, forestry, fisheries, aquaculture, wildlife. o Critical Infrastructure: Climate Change impacts to Ports, Transportation Corridors, Emergency Services, Sewer and Solid Waste  The purpose of the workshops was to first provide an overview and a hardcopy summary of the trends and projected changes in climate for the North Olympic Peninsula, and to then explore through breakout groups with local experts how sensitive different sectors / areas in the North Olympic Peninsula (NOP) might be to climate change, and also what their ability to adapt is (adaptive capacity). The net result is a score sheet of overall risk, based on the combination of sensitivity and adaptive capacity. Rolling them up from all workshops gives us a first cut at identifying and prioritizing the highest risk areas for the NOP.  The workshops were well attended, with 20 – 35 people at each. We had great representation from the cities and counties, tribes, ports, PUDs, etc, CAC members who attended, in various capacities, were Barney Burke, Deb Stinson, Eric Toews, Kevin Scott, and Cindy Jayne. Project & Work Plan – Brian Goldstein Judy merged the CAC project spreadsheet with the Climate Action Plan to create a spreadsheet that documents the work we are doing to address the City and County GHG emission. Brian will send this spreadsheet to all CAC members to get their comments and suggestions. This spreadsheet with document our committee actions and be used for City, County and public updates. Climate Change and the Broader Economic and Energy Context – Eric Toews Eric gave a presentation on the history of world energy demand and the growing cost of generating energy. He asked the question of how we can prepare to live in a world where we all need to use less energy to attain a sustainable existence. Several keys points that Eric made:  In less than 25 years we've burned over half the oil that has been produced in human history.  This energy surge is unprecedented in earth’s history.  "The End of Growth", by Richard Heinberg, is a good read.  Peak Oil has already occurred in over 80 oil producing countries in the world.  What we face now is unprecedented in human history. We will need to move from high density energy sources to low density.  Our monetary system, especially loans, relies on growth. That model does not work in a declining energy environment.  It is important for us to localize our economy; increase local food, local energy production. Eric agreed to share his presentation with anyone who is interested. Next Steps & Agenda Planning Next meeting agenda items:  State and Federal updates by Stanley  Discuss local implications of Eric’s talk on our energy future  Review of outreach presentation to Community organizations/stakeholder groups (e.g., Kiwanis, Rotary, Chamber) Action Item: Other suggested topics for next meeting should be emailed to Cindy. Adjourn The meeting was adjourned at 5:30 p.m. Next Meeting Next meeting is scheduled for February 25, 2015, 3:30-5:30 pm, at the Cotton Building.