Seattle's serious about global warming

A grave and present danger threatens life on Earth. The fact of global warming is "unequivocal," according to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The current trajectory of climate change, if continued over the next 50 years, will take untold lives and cause widespread human suffering, destruction of coastal cities, loss of species and destabilization of the world economy. The IPCC urges that carbon emissions, primarily from fossil fuels, be stabilized by 2015 and significantly reduced beyond that.

What are we doing to curb the release of greenhouse-gas pollution into the atmosphere? More than 175 countries have ratified the Kyoto Protocol committing them to reducing emissions that lead to global warming. In the United States, thanks in part to Mayor Greg Nickels' leadership, more than 700 mayors, representing 75 million people, have entered an alliance to confront this danger by agreeing to meet or exceed the very modest Kyoto goals by 2012.

But, while local governments are setting goals for reducing emissions, more-aggressive actions are urgently needed to cut greenhouse-gas emissions.

Even in Seattle we are still taking baby steps. At a recent City Council briefing on the city's progress toward meeting the Kyoto goals, Steve Nicholas, director of the mayor's Office of Sustainability, admonished, "We have made significant progress ... but [the report] will also show that when we project out to 2012, which is the Kyoto timeline, we will lose ground toward the target because of [population] growth and in particular growth in motor vehicle emissions."

During the recent U.S. Conference of Mayors' "Climate Protection Summit," held in Seattle, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg addressed our hesitancy to get real about climate change: "This is the United States of America! When there's a major challenge, we don't wait for others to act. We lead! We must set an example for the world. We can't wait another 50 years to act."

So what can Seattle do to meet the United Nations challenge and dramatically reduce greenhouse-gas emissions that are causing global warming?

We can start by calling for scientific analysis of the amount of greenhouse-gas pollution for all major construction projects, both public and private. This is already authorized under state and federal law, and done for most other forms of environmental pollutants by regulatory agencies prior to issuing permits.

Legislation I'm proposing in the City Council establishes greenhouse-gas emissions as an air pollutant (as affirmed this year by the U.S. Supreme Court) in the review process required for new-built projects under authority of the state Environmental Protection Act. This would mean that all projects in Seattle would have to account for their impact, through emissions, on climate. This would give us an opportunity to gauge the impact and then find ways to reduce it through less polluting alternatives or carbon offsets.

Proposition 1, the $18-billion roads-and-transit package, was handily turned down, in part for ignoring the polluting impact it would have on climate. The Sightline Institute said that just one lane-mile of highway produces more than 180,000 tons of carbon emissions and the people said no to Proposition 1 because there were many such doubts. We must account for these impacts in the future, and be given better, more environmentally responsible, choices.

When a high-rise office tower is proposed for 5,000 employees, instead of building thousands of costly parking spaces, why not reduce the amount of parking provided, pay tenants for not driving to work, or provide free bus passes for those who choose not to drive?

Solutions like this will not happen unless we begin to analyze the impact on climate from larger construction projects, including transportation. For buildings, it is not just the energy used to heat them that creates an impact but production of materials, construction activity, waste disposal and car trips generated by the project over its life. We know that in Washington state, transportation accounts for more than 50 percent of all greenhouse-gas emissions.

Will the regulation of greenhouse-gas emissions cost more? In the short run — probably. But, what will be the long-term consequences of inaction? As U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, "Only urgent global action will do. We are all in this together. We must work together."

By our ingenuity, will and sacrifice we can make the difference and show the world that Seattle is serious about climate change. Regulating greenhouse-gas emissions from new construction is a crucial first step we need to take now.