By Maggie Gates
The Sustainability Action Subcommittee (SAS) is a group of appointed community members who care about the greater Spokane community and want to see it thrive. City Council created the SAS in early 2019 in order to focus on issues surrounding climate change and its effects on Spokane and the region. Lands Council staff members Mike, Chelsea, and Maggie all serve on the SAS in various committees that align with our goals. Through this work, The Lands Council is pushing for on-the-ground action for sustainability and climate resilience.
Mike serves on the Energy work group, envisioning community-wide energy use — both electricity and natural gas — to be carbon neutral. To make city operations will become more energy efficient, this group is prioritizing:
Creating a solar-based energy economy based on using above-ground energy resources and using innovative storage to make the best use of renewables.
Using the most cost-effective pathway and our unique local opportunities.
Making full use of beneficial by-products, i.e. biochar.
Spokane will become Eastern Washington’s regional “plug-in” for sustainable energy, shaping the way surrounding communities can think about the options available to them.
Chelsea is working on the Natural Resources group to protect an abundance of natural areas that are connected regionally to land supporting diverse plant communities, wildlife, soils, and water. These natural resources will be protected and managed through a proactive process to ensure ecological services provide environmental resilience to climate change impacts. Chelsea is focusing on the group’s goal to grow our urban canopy. The Natural Resources group is working diligently to create bold strategies for the Climate Action Plan and strategizing a plan to accomplish the City’s ambitious goal of 40% urban canopy cover by 2030.
Maggie is working on the Climate Action Planning, Health Equity, and Communications teams. She is currently working on creating an equitable and accessible public outreach campaign and community feedback process for the Climate Action Plan (ssCAP). Find out how you can be involved with creating a Climate Action Plan for Spokane below!
Climate Action Planning
The SAS has spent the past 18 months researching climate mitigation strategies and drafting the Spokane Sustainability & Climate Action Plan (SSCAP), which will hopefully be adopted by City Council. As part of this process, we need your help! In February, we'll be looking for volunteer community members who are willing to host virtual events to help us spread the word about Spokane’s Climate Action Plan and gather feedback.
Anyone willing to host a virtual meeting on the topic of Climate Action & Sustainability is welcome. Volunteers can present to a group of friends, a local business, a nonprofit organization, a school group, church group, book club, etc. We will have all the presentation materials and instructions prepared in advance.
If you’re interested in this opportunity, please go to the SAS website and sign up for our quarterly newsletter. This way, you will be one of the first to see the draft Climate Action Plan when it’s available for feedback in early 2021 and you’ll receive detailed information about how to volunteer.
P.S. For more information, feel free to email sas@spokanecity.org or contact Kara Odegard at kodegard@spokanecity.org.
