COMMUNITIES

Many governors, mayors, and town boards are pledging to move their communities to 100% renewable and searching for wind, solar and hydropower opportunities to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels. East Hampton, in New York State, is moving towards bringing wind turbines 30 miles off-shore whereas Palm Springs has already entirely electrified its entire community through an immense wind farm. Many communities are recognizing that their communities are going to have to make changes in order to mitigate their particular climate impact and adapt to the climate change consequences coming their way. This is called resilience. They are mitigating and adapting through green architecture, electric transportation and charging stations; battery storage, creating Community Choice Aggregation plans, rethinking ways to conserve, switching out light bulbs, altering building codes and planting trees. This includes planning public spaces to withstand sea level rise and rethinking their waste disposal and recycling.

This section takes a look at what individual towns, cities and states are doing as they prepare for climate change consequences. A number of states have passed significant energy legislation with 100% energy goals and others are moving in that direction.

US cities, towns and municipalities are equally motivated: over 139 cities, and twelve counties have already adopted ambitious 100% clean energy goals but few have achieved it. Six additional cities — Aspen CO, Burlington, Georgetown, Greensburg KS, Rock Port MO, and Kodiak Island — have already hit their targets, generating 100% of their energy from clean, non-polluting and renewable sources…In 2008, Rock Port, MO became the first city that could claim to get all its power from wind. 

In partnership with the global covenant of mayors, Google has begun estimating carbon pollution from cities around the world, as a way for leaders to focus and improve local climate programs.  Two of the cities, including Pittsburgh, Pa. and Mountain View, California, are in the US so far.