Land Use, The Forgotten Climate Solution: Help Advocate for Friends of Clark County’s Climate Change Priorities with the New Clark County Climate Surveys!
Clark County has launched 2 new surveys to collect feedback on climate change for unincorporated Clark County: one on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and improving air quality, and one being another opportunity to provide input on climate resilience.
CLARK COUNTY WANTS AND NEEDS YOUR INPUT, so please take some time to fill out these surveys and remember that FOCC’s climate priorities are targeted toward tackling the root causes of much of our climate woes: land use.
The county’s consultant has already done the leg work by graphing the data about sources of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) in unincorporated Clark County:
Air Pollution Survey
Photo from the Columbian
Here are FOCC’s highest priorities in the air pollution survey, and why they should be yours as well:
1) Reduce sprawl and build dense, transit-oriented development. To bring down transportation emissions (the category contributing the most GHGs), the highest priority solution should be for key services, jobs, and amenities to be close to where people live, shortening the distance people need to travel to meet their needs.
2) Protect existing trees. The largest contributor to agriculture, forestry, and land use emissions is tree loss, followed by livestock and soil amendments. The highest priority solution should be to protect existing trees (by halting surface mining expansion and other development of forest land). FOCC and others’ research indicates that we have enough aggregate in the area to accommodate Clark County for decades into the future, despite the industry’s corporate scare tactics, and the county must understand that retaining forest for climate mitigation is essential for addressing this emergency to protect the public health. Planting new trees does not match the carbon sequestration that comes from protecting old growth.
3) Protect our precious and limited land. There is an opportunity to write in additional ideas, and we recommend you spell out exactly what needs to be done: Clark County can accomplish these climate mitigation priorities by committing to NO UGA expansion, NO loss of agricultural land, and NO loss of forest land in the Comprehensive Plan Update.The climate resiliency survey includes a summary of the feedback the county has received so far, and it is clear there has not been enough emphasis on impacts to food production—likely because residents were questioned about the impacts of severe weather events that they have already and directly experienced. Most people likely do not yet understand how severe weather events elsewhere are already impacting the cost of food.
FOCC’s Priorities for Climate Resilience
Photo from Clark County Food and Farm Network
The climate resiliency survey includes a summary of the feedback the county has received so far, and it is clear there has not been enough emphasis on impacts to food production—likely because residents were questioned about the impacts of severe weather events that they have already and directly experienced. Most people likely do not yet understand how severe weather events elsewhere are already impacting the cost of food.
Therefore, we must emphasize that climate breakdown causes food price spikes from extreme weather events, which disrupts the supply chain and reduces crop yields in regions the US has traditionally relied upon for agriculture, and that these impacts are getting worse very quickly. Building a movement for local, sustainable food production is the most important climate resilience measure we as a community can take, and the county’s role in this is to protect agricultural land while supporting a return to a robust local food economy, rather than welcoming harmful, extractive industries that threaten the public health.
Take the Surveys!
Responses to both surveys are requested by 5 pm on Tuesday, Aug. 27. Surveys are available in multiple languages at each link. Print copies may be requested by contacting 564.397.4968.
- Survey #1
Clark County is seeking community feedback about priorities on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving air quality in the unincorporated county. Provide your input through this survey: https://bit.ly/clarkcoghgreduction.
- Survey #2
The county hosted a community workshop about resilience in June. If you missed the event and would still like to share feedback about how to address climate resilience in the unincorporated county, you can provide your input through this survey: https://bit.ly/clarkcoresilience.
*Comprehensive climate planning like Clark County and its cities are working on is funded by Washington’s Climate Commitment Act, which is under threat of repeal in November. Friends of Clark County has endorsed the No On 2117 campaign which is fighting the repeal and we encourage you to support this campaign as well!