Kansas City officials are seeking community feedback about a plan to reduce carbon emissions.
The Climate Protection and Resiliency PlansThis article examines six main action areas, which include creating programs that grow and share healthy food and exploring new options to provide affordable and clean energy to Kansas City residents.
Kansas City should be carbon neutral by 2040.
Laura Isch, the city’s sustainability manager, stated that she wants this plan to be something Kansas City residents can incorporate into their lives, as well as a guide for city officials to make climate change policy decisions.
Kansas City’s first Climate Action Plan was unveiled in 2008. While the city has made some progress in reducing carbon emissions, the city council directed staff to update the plan in 2020 in order to accelerate the reductions.
Isch stated that we want it to inspire urgent action. This is happening right now. It’s going to keep happening.
The Wednesday unveiling of the new plan places environmental justice at the forefront.
In the opening statement, the climate steering board writes that we recognize the ways in which our past plans and policies have impacted on or contributed to racial inequality, discrimination, oppression of Black, Indigenous, Latino/a/x, and other historically marginalized groups.
The climate crisis has only exacerbated these inequalities, with disproportionately affecting those who are facing systemic barriers to living secure, healthy lives.
Isch stated that the plan is a living document, which residents and stakeholders can examine and comment upon until April 12.
She also said that they want to hear from the community on renaming this document and on initiatives or programs in the region that Kansas City could adopt to help achieve its climate goals.
We are asking for your help to find out what is already available that we can plug into. It may not directly relate to climate but it aligns with some goals or areas in this plan that resonate with people.
The plan is based on six main strategies:
MobilityBy expanding bike and pedestrian routes, improving public transit, and investing into low-emission vehicles, we can reduce the miles traveled by car.
Energy SupplyInvesting in renewable energy generators can increase the city’s clean energy use and improve grid stability, resilience, and stability.
Natural SystemsUse nature to cool your city, prevent flooding damage and clean the water. Also, expand the network and trees of natural areas.
Homes and BuildingsEnsure climate-ready, efficient building and improve the efficiency of homes.
FoodIncreasing access to healthy, sustainable food and encouraging local food production.
Material and WasteDiverting wastes from landfills and reducing illegal disposal, as well removing organic waste from landfills by composting.
Anyone can contribute to the plan by using the citys Playbook siteTo make comments, visit the interactive document. Isch also stated that comments can be made via email or telephone, but she advised citizens to not overwhelm the city’s voicemail systems. She advised people to use the specific links on the city’s website to email or call their comments.
Isch compared the feedback process with crowd-sourcing. She said that the goal was to collect all comments and then use this information to make the document more easily accessible and understandable for all users. She hoped to present her final document to the city council committee by May 4.
We asked people to look at the plan, Ish said. We are half a million people in a city and we don’t know everything.