Blog Post – Carbon Neutrality
As you recall, making Seattle a carbon neutral city was one of this year’s Council-adopted priorities. Staff throughout the city are working on evaluating policies and actions that Seattle will need to take to make this commitment a reality. In addition to the great internal work, a number of community groups have formed, met, and drafted recommendations for actions the city can take to meet this commitment.
To hear these recommendations, the Seattle City Council is hosting a Community Forum from 6:00 to 8:30 pm tomorrow night here at City Hall in the Bertha Knight Landes room. The Council will hear from the community members on recommended actions that Seattle should take over the next 1-3 years as we start down the path towards carbon neutrality.
Right now, there are eight groups: Land Use, Transportation, Zero Waste, Food Systems, Neighborhoods, Youth, Energy, and Green Careers. Some groups have been meeting on a weekly basis, others surveying the residents of Seattle in multiple languages, and others going out to the community and working with small focus groups to get as much input as possible on what Seattle wants.
I’ve reviewed drafts of many of these recommendations, and I am impressed with the thoughtfulness of these recommendations that are both grounded in reality and will challenge us to tackle bold issues. We are hosting a website for these efforts, which can provide helpful background on this effort here: http://carbonneutral.seattle.gov/community-ideas/. This work will continue beyond tomorrow night and I hope more and more people will become involved through this portal.
In the meantime, I encourage you to think about what you want the city of Seattle to look like in the future: for yourself, for your kids, for your neighbors and your friends.
Carbon neutrality is a big goal which will require everyone working together to achieve. I hope you will consider joining me at this event to hear ideas and recommendations.