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Green Communities event in Waco brings climate risks, solutions into focus | Local Govt. and Politics

A warming planet is on track bring more sweltering summers to Waco in the next decade or two while devastating coral reefs, melting the planet’s ice and causing oceans to flood coastal cities, attendees at Waco’s first-ever Green Communities symposium were told Wednesday.

The good news, according to speakers from the city of Waco and the private sector, is that Waco has immediate opportunities to shrink its carbon footprint without breaking the bank.

Opportunities include new federal funding sources that could finance solar projects on city property, improve energy conservation and build green transportation projects, officials said.







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Waco resident DeShauna Hollie posts her message on the window as attendees were prompted at the Green Communities event, hosted by Keep Waco Beautiful.




Some 200 people came to the Baylor Research and Innovation Collaborative for the all-day event organized by Keep Waco Beautiful and sponsored by Lush Cosmetics, the city and Baylor University.

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The 14 sessions included insights by Baylor scientists, city of Waco department heads, food and water and land use experts, an electric vehicle advocate and officials with local plants operated by Amazon, Mars Inc. and Balcones Distilling.

Attendees included Waco City Council Members Jim Holmes and Kelly Palmer.

“There’s a level of excitement that we’re naming that climate change is real and that we’re facing an existential crisis, with a particular effect on communities of color,” Palmer said during an afternoon panel session she moderated with nonprofit leaders.

She said that when she speaks to students at local schools, they want to know what the city is doing to combat climate change.







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Attendees listen to speakers at the Green Communities event, hosted by Keep Waco Beautiful at the Baylor Research and Innovation Collaborative.




Officials outlined new federal funding possibilities that the city could pursue that could make financial and environmental sense.

The Inflation Reduction Act that passed last month was the most ambitious climate legislation in history, with $391.7 billion in incentives for carbon reduction. That includes energy efficiency funding and a solar subsidy of up to 40% that is now available to local governments and nonprofits.

Centrica Business Solutions is doing a preliminary study for a city of Waco energy efficiency initiative that would target heating and cooling at city facilities as well as LED lighting conversion, water conservation and solar and battery installations.

Brian Burcham, a representative of Centrica, said the firm is looking at community centers, which are used as emergency heating and cooling stations during extreme weather. The city could install solar panels on the roofs that could charge batteries for times when regular electrical service is down.

That would be in addition to diesel generators, city sustainability programs manager Eric Coffman said. He said the community centers would be designated as “resilience hubs” for the city.

Meanwhile, the city is also studying the feasibility of installing solar panels at the Waco Regional Landfill when it closes in a few years and using its methane for power.

Waco Metropolitan Planning Organization Director Mukesh Kumar told attendees additional money is available to communities for carbon-reduction transportation projects under the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed last year.

Kumar said the MPO expects to receive almost $550,000 a year for the next five years for projects such as pedestrian improvements, streetlight changes and public transportation.

He said $500,000 normally would not fund a single mile of sidewalk, so the money needs to be spent wisely and with an eye to helping areas of “persistent poverty.”

He said he was glad to see the conference promoting electric vehicles, but he said less car-dependency is the real goal, to be achieved through more walkable communities and public transportation.

“Every car dropoff that happens at school has a carbon footprint,” Kumar said. “Walking is the best way to get there. … We have been focused on single-occupancy vehicles, but mass transit inevitably and in all cases reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

“I know that individual choice-making and technology is an attractive way of seeing how we can get out of this mess, but without changing the system itself, … I highly doubt we can make a difference.”

Baylor environmental scientist Sascha Usenko highlighted the dangers of climate change in a one-hour primer in which he detailed the accelerating trends of both carbon dioxide levels and global temperature in the last 50 years.

“The worst part of this talk is a lot of not-good news,” he said.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported a peak of 421 parts per million of atmospheric carbon dioxide at its Mauna Loa Observatory in May, a level unseen in 4 million years. CO2 concentrations have increased about 27% in the past 50 years, NOAA data shows.

Climate scientists have warned that the Earth will reach a tipping point if its average temperature increases by 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to preindustrial levels, which could happen by 2040, Usenko said.

By that point, 70% of coral reefs will disappear, spelling catastrophe for fisheries, and extreme heat waves will quadruple in frequency, he said. The collapse of a region of Antarctic ice the size of Florida could come in just the next few years, leading to a one-foot increase in sea levels, which would inundate coastal cities.

But Usenko said the worst effects could be averted if countries and communities commit to carbon reduction.

He said Texas is known as an oil state, but it is also No. 1 in wind and No. 2 in solar, and renewable energy accounted for 34% of the state’s power grid in the first quarter of this year.

“Waco is growing, and now is the time for sustainability,” he said. “When we think about climate, it’s cities and local communities that have taken this on. This conference is a step forward.”

Charles Dowdell, city of Waco chief sustainability officer, told Usenko his talk was strong medicine.

“It’s a wakeup call to see how the Earth is affected by changes to CO2 levels,” Dowdell said.

Keep Waco Beautiful Executive Director Carole Fergusson said the second Green Communities event is already being planned for next year.

“Today was amazing,” Fergusson said. “People felt inspired, energized and hopeful.”

She said this year’s Lake Waco water restrictions and food shortages in grocery stores show how the environment cannot be taken for granted.

“I’m hopeful this can be the catalyst for change in the community and excite city leaders to act,” Fergusson said.

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