Seattle Is Updating Its Climate Plan for First Time in 13 Years
For the last two decades, Seattle has sought to be nimble and advance climate action while the nation writ-large stalled. Although its ambitions have so far outshone its actual achievements, Seattle is seeking to rectify that via an update of its 2013 Climate Action Plan. City staff across departments are now working to gear up to make the municipal engine churn with more torque toward its climate goals.
The need to accelerate climate action is urgent. In the race to save the Earth from climate catastrophe, the starting gun sounded decades ago, and the world needs to catch up to avoid catastrophe. The Pacific Ocean is all but simmering. The Southwest is in a water crisis. America is hotter than any time in history. Climate change is accelerating, and humanity has pushed the Earth past seven of nine planet-threatening boundaries.
It will be hard for the global emissions curve to bend fast enough given governments of the world aren’t known for swift action. Making matters worse, some nations are run by out and out climate deniers, like the current Trump administration. Given such obstacles, many researchers have pointed out that if any political entity has the agility to act fast, it’s a city.
“We’re thinking bold, transformational types of actions at this stage,” said Narita Ghumman, the climate action plan program manager for Seattle's Office of Sustainability and the Environment.
https://www.theurbanist.org/seattle-is-updating-its-climate-plan-for-first-time-in-13-years/