The Central Trend recently reached out to the Grand Rapids Climate Action and Adaptation Plan EE coordinator, Kat Hart, for her insight about the future of the plan and what it will look like.
How can students and community members aid in the implementation of a cleaner, healthier city?
I would focus on different parts of your life: what you eat, how you get around, what you buy, etc. Making small choices in each of these areas will really add up to a very real impact. As we try to reduce our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from our community—it will take all of us working on incremental progress. My top three tips to reduce the amount of GHG your lifestyle emits would be to:
- Reduce the amount of meat (specifically beef) you eat. I highly encourage everyone to try out “Meatless Mondays” or “vegetarian before 6pm” for at least one month to see how much you can focus your diet around plants and still be eating delicious food! The amount of GHG that is emitted by cows is huge compared to plants and even other types of farm animals. Above is a graph to show just how extreme this difference is.
- Plant native plants in your lawn or backyard. Kentucky bluegrass is not healthy food for bees, butterflies, or bugs. Native plants like grasses, trees, and flowers are built for our native pollinators, and we desperately need to invest in these plants for a healthy environment. I highly encourage anyone who has the space to try out a few milkweed or a packet of native wildflower seeds this summer.
- Refuse and reduce the single-use, disposable goods you encounter in your daily life. We all can recognize the “pre-trash” that we receive from various places in our life—it’s the stuff that you are almost certainly going to throw away.
Common items that you can refuse would be
-
- receipts (which you cannot recycle because it is special paper)
- Plastic straws
-
- to-go cutlery packages (the ones with the utensils, napkins, and straws)
- free “swag” items—from events that are not durable
- paper flyers/handouts—you do not want
- Junk mail
- Single-use plastic bottles of water
Common items that you can reduce:
- Packed, single-serve foods (I could eat a Smuckers’ PB&J every day, but reducing the amount of these packaged sandwiches with ones I make myself has prevented so many plastic wrappers)
- Styrofoam (this type of foam has almost no value, and avoiding it at all costs will make our planet healthier)
- Plastic clothes (fabrics like acrylic, polyester nylon, rayon, spandex, lycra, and polar fleece are all plastic and made from fossil fuels. As you wear and wash these clothes, this plastic will shed off and create microplastics that are a major threat to our environment.
Does the CAAP involve any new public transportation plans?
Yes, but indirectly. Writing a public transportation plan is beyond the role of the Office of Sustainability, so we would be supporting other organizations and city departments who manage those areas of our community, such as The Rapid and Mobile GR, which do have intentions to develop further plans for better transit.
There is a list of complementary plans (documents written by other city departments) on Page 23 of the CAAP. I highly recommend checking out the Equitable Economic Development & Mobility Plan (2020) for a wonderful exploration of public transit and inclusion.
What are some of the most effective innovations that will be used in the implementation of the CAAP?
The most effective innovations for the implementation are still to be identified, but I would guess that we will see the most GHG reduction in home energy use with energy efficiency upgrades and solar power. In addition, sustainable transportation will reduce the amount of single-person, single-destination car trips with other options such as the bus or biking.
The two technologies associated with these areas would be heat pumps and electric bicycles/scooters.
Will there be construction or renovation of green spaces around the city?
To be honest, there is always construction and renovation to be done. Our city constantly needs to be maintained and upgraded and our green spaces (mostly parks and cemeteries) are no different. The City of Grand Rapids has an initiative called Vital Streets that looks at all the sustainability options during a city road project. Our Vital Streets program is responsible for curbside rain gardens, pedestrian bump-outs (where the curb cuts into the road a bit at a crosswalk) and many other upgrades.
What are the target chemicals and pollutants that the CAAP will address and by how much will our air quality improve?
Our local air quality will absolutely improve if our entire community learns more about air pollution and how they contribute. That means our streets, parking lots, and schools will have less carbon monoxide and nitrous oxides floating around at our breathing level.
How will the CAAP affect citizens of Grand Rapids on a daily basis, during and after the full implementation?
The CAAP actions build a cleaner, healthier, and happier city where all of our residents and visitors can access green spaces, engage with the Grand River, and spend time outside without suffering health effects from polluted air or water.
But day to day, the CAAP is 100+ pages of paper that currently sits on my desk. Or the CAAP is a digital file that is saved on your computer to a folder only you can see. Day to day, it is up to us to bring the CAAP to life by following through on small lifestyle changes for the better of everyone. It looks like offering a ride to a friend and carpooling or investing in a reusable water bottle to call your own, or even talking with your friends and family about climate change during days with poor air quality because of wildfires.
