Cincinnati on Climate Change
Many cities and
states have developed plans to help mitigate climate change. The city of Cincinnati has developed
the Green Cincinnati Plan (GCP). The GCP was approved in June of
2008. Cincinnati is one of more
than 1,000 U.S. cities that has committed to reducing its contribution to
global climate change (cincinnati-oh.gov).
The Green Cincinnati Plan
The GCP identifies
more than 80 specific recommendations for how to reduce contributions to global
climate change. These recommended
actions generally share common themes: reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce
dependence on non-renewable energy sources, saving more money that the
recommend actions cost, support local job creation/economy, help clean
Cincinnati, and rely on voluntary actions rather than regulatory. For a full look at the GCP click this
link à http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/oeq/linkservid/4B125529-56A3-4675-929CEADF49B3663F/showMeta/0/
Implementing the Green Cincinnati Plan
A Steering Committee was established with members from
business, government, and environmental, academic, and civic organizations.
Quarterly meetings serve as status updates and direction setting interfaces
(Cincinnati-oh.gov). After one
year of establishing the plan, implementation activities and projects had begun
for more than 60 recommendations.
Below are some examples of activities and projects
Effectiveness
I feel that these efforts are sufficient, but some not
attainable. In my opinion Cincinnati
has established a few very effective ideas to meet the short-term goal that are most definitely attainable. The two biggest ideas would be The
Cincinnati Streetcar and a Hybrid Bus System.
Cincinnati Streetcar
Local transportation is large contributor of greenhouse
gases, much of it from personal cars and light trucks. A rail transit is a strategy that would
save people money and alleviate congested highways. Cincinnati is talking about constructing a Streetcar system,
a fleet of electric powered streetcars that would operate along a 7.9 mile
route between Downtown and uptown (cincinnati-oh.gov).
According to Cincinnati-oh.gov, the streetcar vehicle production is
underway. Below is a screenshot
from the Green Cincinnati Plan.
| Screen shot from CLIMATE PROTECTION ACTION PLAN - The Green Cincinnati Plan |
Hybrid Bus System
Thousands of people travel on buses each day throughout
Cincinnati. Establishing a Hybrid
Bus system would be great for the climate. The GCP proposes that all Metro buses purchased in the
future should be diesel-electric hybrids rather than standard diesel vehicles. According to the document, Metro currently
operates 390 40 ft. diesel buses.
Replacing these buses with diesel-electric hybrids will save fuel and
significantly reduce CO2 emissions (GCP). Below is the estimated greenhouse gas
reduction to be achieved, according to the Green Cincinnati Plan.
| Screen shot from CLIMATE PROTECTION ACTION PLAN - The Green Cincinnati Plan |
Work Cited
"CLIMATE PROTECTION ACTION PLAN The Green Cincinnati Plan ." City of Cincinnati. 231. Print. <http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/oeq/linkservid/4B125529-56A3-4675-
"Green Cincinnati Plan." City of Cincinnati. Office of
Environmental Quality. Web. 29 Mar 2013.
<http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/oeq/citywide-efforts/climate-protection-green-cincinnati-plan/>.
Hi, Brian:
ReplyDeleteGood job -- you hit the mark on this assignment. You identified multiple different projects Cincinnati is pursuing with respect to climate change, providing specific details. You evaluated the sufficiency of these efforts and provided data on some of the results the effort has produced thus far. My only substantive critique is that I would have liked you to give a bit more support for your argument that the efforts you initially profiled are in some respects not attainable. Why, precisely, did you make that judgment?
Other than that issue, great job. While it is often easy to be critical of the community where one lives/works/grows up, the fact is that Cincinnati is fairly progressive with respect to climate change. I think it is useful for us to recognize the city's efforts and potentially contribute to them -- especially when most any action occurring with respect to climate change is occurring locally or at the state level.
1.8/1.9