By Jessica Edwards
Some solutions for lowering emissions that speed climate change can be
money-saving as well as resource efficient – and are as easy as changing a light
bulb.
Martha Levensaler, climate change project director for the Alaska
Marine Conservation Council, said just changing incandescent lightbulbs to compact
fluorescents or light emitting diode (LED) lights has saved municipalities thousands of
dollars and significantly lowered carbon emissions at the same time.
A package of two compact fluorescent bulbs at a local grocery store
costs $4.99, but each one lasts about seven years – 10 times longer than a standard
incandescent – and saves about $45 in electricity over its lifespan.
Levensaler presented switching bulbs and switching lights off as one of
many community-based solutions to climate change at the Sheldon Museum Monday. About 25
residents attended. Her presentation followed one by scientist Jeffrey Short on the
effects of ocean warming and acidification on Alaskan fisheries.
About 20 residents, many who had not attended Monday night’s
presentations, joined Levensaler for a second meeting Tuesday, Dec. 11 to discuss
strategies for addressing climate change locally.
Changing lights is an example of what Levensaler called "low
hanging fruit" when it came to lowering carbon emissions at the local level.
Other "easy" measures include turning lights and computers
off when not in use, building homes to energy star standards, purchasing energy-efficient
appliances and vehicles, turning vehicles off instead of letting them idle, carpooling,
biking or walking instead of driving, and keeping tires inflated to correct pressure.
Levensaler said identifying local solutions was essential because
communities had different resources and strengths. In Haines, for instance, electricity is
generated by hydro power and is relatively "green."
The borough’s peak oil task force staff person Stephanie Scott said getting more
residents to "plug in to the green electricity" for heat would lower oil use and
carbon emissions.
Resident Tim June, who also served on the AMCC board, said eating
locally produced food when possible and giving up the "3,000-mile Caesar salad"
was a good way for individuals and families to reduce their carbon footprint.
Resident Daphne Ormerod said she attended Levensaler’s
presentation to learn more about "losing gas dependencies" because of the high
cost of fuel, including to the environment. Transportation increasingly is an issue in
Haines for those who can’t afford a vehicle or the high price of gasoline and was
less physically mobile, she said.
Others agreed transportation was an issue in Haines and said making
local roads more walkable and bikeable should be a priority.
Art Jess and Steve Smith each said Haines had alternative energy
sources, such as wave and wind power, that needed to be developed. June added that he and
neighbors had for years relied only on solar power for 10 months out of the year. "We
don’t have long to do solutions," Jess said.
A Gustavus resident in attendance highlighted the high fuel usage in
small Alaskan communities as a product of remoteness.
"We might need to change our idea of what it means to live
here," said resident Susie Scollon. "We spend a lot of time traveling out by
air. (We use) twice the national average of aviation fuel."
Peak oil task force spokesperson Mike Denker said the issue of climate
change dovetailed with many of the recommendations in the group’s forthcoming report,
set to be complete in February.
Although the task force focused on solutions to deal with the peak and
subsequent decline of oil production, the specter of climate change guided their
recommendations, Denker said.
"We fully realize that our solution set has to accommodate this
grander problem of climate change." Other peak oil groups had focused on less
"green" solutions, such as developing coal reserves, Denker said.
"We’re coming at the same problem from two different
angles," Levensaler said.
She said one of the first steps to lowering carbon emissions locally
was to do a greenhouse gas inventory.
Levensaler said 700 cities and towns worldwide, including Juneau,
Homer, Kodiak, Anchorage, and Fairbanks, had become members of the Inter-national Council
for Local Envi-ronmental Issues (ICLEI) in order to lower carbon emissions at the local
level.
With ICLEI membership, municipalities get software that helps them
account for their city’s greenhouse emissions. Levensaler said with the guidance of
the software program, doing a community emissions inventory takes about 400 hours.
She said Kodiak had hired a student intern to complete the inventory.
The program suggests five "milestones" to be reached,
including making a formal commitment at the level of municipal government, taking an
inventory of emissions, determining a community-specific action plan, implementing the
plan, and assessing the results.
"Reducing emissions is a matter of percentages," Levensaler
said. The ICLEI software and membership cost about $600.
