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Boston, Tucson and Miami-Dade County are among the eight cities and counties participating in the first comprehensive climate adaptation program developed for local governments in the United States.
The nonprofit organization ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability USA announced the inaugural participants in its Climate Resilient Communities program last week. The program's launch capped a month of events and developments, including the release of goals and guiding principles, that were aimed at making U.S. cities, counties and communities more sustainable.
ICLEI, like many organizations focused on sustainability, helps its members understand and mitigate the impacts caused by climate change. The nonprofit's new Climate Resilient Communities program was established to also recognize the importance of local governments' responsibility to "protect their communities from unavoidable climate change impacts" and prepare them so they can thrive despite the change, according to the organization.
In addition to Boston, Tucson and Miami-Dade, the initial program participants are the cities of Cambridge, Mass., Flagstaff, Ariz., Grand Rapids, Mich., Lee County, Fla., and the San Francisco Conservation and Development Commission in California.
Previously considered unpopular and akin to conceding the battle against climate change, pursuing adaptation in tandem with mitigation is now being broached as an important strategy.
At this year's Climate Week NYºC, Walter Bell, the chairman of Swiss Re Americas Holding, led a discussion about "the need to elevate adaptation issues within the debate on international policy and finance," The Climate Group's Emily Farnworth said in an article posted on GreenBiz.com.
"In the talk," Farnworth wrote, "speakers agreed that the case for adaptation has been the poor relation to the case for mitigation in the international climate negotiations process for too long, and the situation needs to change."
The local governments participating in the Climate Resilient Communities program realize that their communities "face serious climate change impacts" and are laying the groundwork to withstand the effects, said ICLEI USA Executive Director Martin Chávez.
The potential impacts include a rise in sea level in Boston, Miami-Dade and the San Francisco Bay Area; flooding in Boston, Cambridge and Miami-Dade; water shortages and more intense droughts in Flagstaff and Tucson; heat waves in Grand Rapids; and more bouts of extreme hot and cold weather in Florida's Lee County, according to ICLEI and the program participants.
"These communities see what is happening, so they are aggressively planning, " Chávez said. "They are the early adopters and are taking action."
Next Page: Green standards and goals for cities.
Here's hoping that Tucson
Here's hoping that Tucson isn't a typical example of a sustainable city. It has bike paths, all right, but they taper off into nothing wherever cars need right of way. It has sunshine, but virtually no solar. It has lawns and swimming pools for the wealthy where terrain should be xeriscaped (but most land isn't). The flow of cars into the sprawling suburbs is remarkable, day in and day out, decreased only when the price of fuel rises -- and then just for a moment. Lastly, for all the talk, the city is strapped and can barely afford to keep police and fire fighters on the payroll (in fact, it's letting many go) let alone plan for a sustainable future.
Developers run the show. A recent report by The Sonoran Institute, our local public policy think tank, advised Tucsonans to roll over and enjoy becoming a part of the Phoenix sprawl reaching down from the north. That's how enlightened Tucson is.
Here's hoping that Boston Miami-Dade are better role models, but from what I've read so far, they're better in promoting their farsightedness than actually seeing into the future. Sorry.