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Dear Friend -
Global climate change and the impact of harmful emissions are some of the most pressing issues facing the world today. Locally, we see the impacts on our environment, economy and quality of life. Acidification of Puget Sound and warming of the seas, for example, are already impacting shellfish and seafood, and the industries and communities that rely on those harvests. Increased frequency and intensity of severe weather events and forest fires adversely impact our health and safety. While no single community or initiative can address this monumental challenge alone, local action and continued strategic work is essential in combating this serious risk to humanity.
King County has long been a leader in working to reduce carbon emissions. Our Strategic Climate Action Plan guides our work. We are on a path to reducing emissions from County operations to a net zero. We are leading the nation in converting our bus system to a zero emissions fleet. We are conserving farms and forest land and planting 1 million trees to capture carbon. But we all recognize that there is more work to do and that we must pick up the pace.
That is why this week I, along with several of my colleagues, introduced a package of legislation to do just that. Our “Jump Start” program accelerates the pace of converting our transit fleet to a zero emissions fleet by five years. We expand on our electrification efforts to include our van pool system and 2000 vehicle county motor pool. We further commit to support and, where appropriate, build the needed charging infrastructure in King County that electrification of our transportation system will require.
We also know that the new economy will bring new opportunities for workers. Those opportunities will be pursued by many and it will take work to prepare the workforce of the future to compete and win the jobs of the future. The package of legislation therefore includes a “green jobs” component that will lay the groundwork to develop apprenticeship programs and partnerships to ensure that King County workers are ready to compete and secure the new jobs coming with the low-carbon economy.
Climate change will not impact each of us equally and our legislation includes identifying and working with communities facing disparities exacerbated by climate change. Our proposal calls for our climate action plan to use an environmental justice framework, and for communities most impacted and often least resourced to drive strategies to prepare and respond to climate change. Green job programs, emergency response plans, and other components of our plan offer us opportunities to specifically address how we can build sustainable and resilient communities.
Finally, we know that King County is just one player and that partnerships will be necessary to achieve our goals. The third component of this week’s legislation works to build on our existing partnerships with cities to include the private and nonprofit sectors. We also proposed the development of a series of tool kits for use by our partners in achieving their own carbon emission reduction goals.
You can learn more about these proposals here and see how King County is doing in its efforts to reduce carbon emissions, at the dashboard here.
I welcome your suggestions and feedback on this or any other topic.
Thank you for the opportunity to serve you on the Metropolitan King County Council.
Sincerely,
Rod
Rod Dembowski
Chair, King County Council
206.477.1001
http://www.kingcounty.gov/Dembowski
@RDembowski
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