On Monday, June 17, the Council unanimously adopted an update to Seattle’s Climate Action Plan that sets Seattle on a course towards our goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050. I proposed adopting the ambitious ‘Carbon Neutral by 2050’ goal as a Council priority in 2010, and legislation accepting the goal was approved by the […]

As I noted in an earlier post in this series, the food system and agriculture generate somewhere between 15% and 20% of America’s carbon emissions (depending on the study and what it counts).  American food travels an average of 1500 miles from farm to plate.  Then there is the processing, storage, marketing, packaging, and shopping […]

Much of the work on climate change has focused on making major policy or systems level changes that will have dramatic impacts on carbon emissions.  Critical as it is to change emissions systems, create new technologies, develop energy efficient buildings, or provide better travel options and renewable energy systems, most such big ideas require people […]

Increasing density is a key strategy for achieving carbon neutrality.  However, it requires a significant level of effort and planning to ensure that dense neighborhoods include good schools, parks, public safety, and many other factors that make communities work. Dense communities reduce climate impacts through energy efficiency and conservation.  They also can reduce transportation emissions […]

Choices about controlling carbon emissions are shaped by public policies. Carbon emissions are lower in communities that are compact and that provide access via transit and non-motorized travel among jobs, homes, and commercial and recreational activities.  New York is the classic example – with great transit connections and many multi-family dwellings, New Yorkers emit much […]

We cannot create an authentic carbon neutrality policy without dealing with the esoteric sounding issue of “embedded carbon”. You can easily identify the carbon that results from driving a car or running a coal-fired power plant, but to really reduce your emissions, you have to dig deeper.