Niharika Sapre Climate Change. The largest modern crisis humanity faces. Neglected by even the top politicians in this country. Close to no federal laws endeavoring to slow it down. Fortunately, local leaders and lawmakers have been taking a much different approach. In Pleasanton, reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions has been an overarching goal since the year 2005. Today, Pleasanton, especially the Committee on Energy and the Environment, is underway and working hard in creating version two of a Climate Action Plan (CAP). A Climate Action Plan is a guiding document for cities outlining strategization, implementation, and quantification of desired goals to reduce municipal and community-wide GHG emissions, all aligning with the state. Sorry, that was quite a heavy sentence. Read that again. Mr. Zachary Reda, former Pleasanton Energy and Sustainability coordinator, and present Pleasanton Management Analyst, has very kindly given insight into the project.
CAP 2.0 is being formulated since the CAP 1.0, written in 2012, had a horizon year of 2020. The state of California “has different targets that local governments need to achieve. There’s AB and SB 32 that has a 2030 goal of 40% emission reduction compared to the 1990 levels in our city,” informed Mr. Reda. Also, since 2012, there have been significant advancements in sustainable technologies, which can now accommodate new actions in CAP 2.0 that “move the needle a lot.” For example, “there is a lot more emphasis on electrification as a pathway to carbon neutrality because electricity is getting more and more carbon free and renewable.” Mr. Reda optimistically mentioned. As an added bonus, we get to “learn from the first climate action plan on how to produce a better document.” This new plan allows refocus, room for more, and revision. Currently, the committee is working on all of the background items, like “the guiding principles, the values, the vision, the co - benefits, [and] the action prioritization criteria” in order to have a successful jump into the meat of the CAP, the action steps and community outreach. For Pleasanton to reach, and hopefully even surpass the standard, participation of all community members is vital. You, your parents, your family, your friends, your neighbors, we. We all need to congregate and participate in this fight against climate change, together. The community outreach portion of the CAP is of utmost importance. Outreach efforts strive to include diverse perspectives, making sure to voice hard - to - reach communities in Pleasanton. The current goal of community outreach is the following :“Right now, we really want them to become aware of the plan, and then later on we really want as much community engagement as possible throughout the action setting process.” Becoming aware is the first step, and through the committee, we are being handed the knowledge in the comfort of our own homes. If it weren’t for COVID, the medium for outreach would have been public events such as the Earth Day Fair and Farmers Markets. Nowadays, it has become increasingly apparent that staying informed is necessary for survival. We have become invasive inhibitors of the virtual space, where information can be found at the click of a finger. An effective utilization of this can be taking time to check out some local news, to really begin to imbibe the saying “think global, act local”. One thing you can do right now, is go on the Pleasanton website, search CAP, click the first link, and take the survey and sign up for reminders, both on the page. Or just click this link to access the resources. The survey allows the committee to know exactly how many people have been reached. “Another thing is - on the Committee on Energy and the Environment meeting, we saw a lot more people join and listen in.” The city also has a Youtube channel where a video about CAP has been posted, and more are to come. Here’s the link to that! Unfortunately, these items don’t show what groups of people have been reached, so expanding the conversation is essential. The committee has been trying to initiate “certain outreach material in different languages … as part of the plan and … just having smaller focus groups with these harder to reach communities. [It] can really help them feel like their voices are being heard in a large public forum.” What’s really special is that this very club has played a substantial role in outreach! I mean, think about the reason why you are reading this, and why I might be writing this. Mr Reda mentioned, “I anticipate we would like to have some kind of conversation with some of the same groups that Ms. Buck and the Go Green and Local Leaders have reached out to in the past.” That’s our people! If there’s one thing you take away from this reading, it might as well be this. Mr. Reda wanted us to know that “It’s all about creating a narrative that will make people who may not be too climate focused to really care about this issue… It's really about getting out into the community as much as we can, especially the youth, and really make this argument that - this is something we care about, something YOU care about, and we need you to do your part in this and step up for us, if not anything else, do it for the youth in the community, because this is the world you and I will be living in after they’re gone.” Niharika's interview transcript: localleaders.weebly.com/blog/transcript-of-interview-with-mr-zachary-reda
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The journalism small group is so productive, and it actually feels like you are doing something. You have so many opportunities to collaborate with people you probably would not have met otherwise. I have made so many friends in this small group, and club meetings are always entertaining.
- Bavana Pydipati, Journalism Writers Head '24 Author:Local Leaders of the 21st Century Club Categories
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