Council approves resolution to prioritize climate issues
The Tiburon Town Council has set goals to further reduce greenhouse emissions with the passage of a climate emergency resolution, joining Corte Madera, Novato, San Anselmo and Fairfax.
By passing the resolution, the town makes reducing greenhouse gases a priority as it drafts its 10year climate plan and 20-year general plan. It will also require that staff consider the climate impacts for all policy and planning decisions.
“I am very proud that Tiburon declared a climate emergency and established policy that every future decision Tiburon makes will be viewed through the lens of its impact on climate change,” Mayor Holli Thier said at the council meeting on March 31.
Going on the record that climate change is an emergency will also push residents and city employees to help meet “net zero” greenhouse gas emissions by 2045 or sooner, Thier said.
“Net zero” is when the amount of greenhouse gases produced is in balance with the amount of greenhouse gases removed from the atmosphere.
Since 2011, the town has reduced carbon emissions by installing solar panels on Town Hall and the police station, converting about 125 street lights to LED, purchasing four electric vehicles and two hybrid vehicles for the town’s fleet, purchasing 100% “deep green” power from MCE and adopting building codes that are more stringent about clean energy.
The town is also working on a seawall project to protect residents from sea level rise.
During the council meeting, however, some members expressed concerns that language making climate change the “highest priority” was unrealistic. The language was removed.
Councilwoman Alice Fredericks said she is usually reluctant to pass resolutions that are unrealistic.
“They are policy statements and everyone feels good about it but they kind of disappear,” Fredericks said. “They often suggest taking actions that are infeasible. So I’m very wary. However, a climate action resolution is something we need to pass at some level,
but we need to balance with reality a little bit.”
Councilman Jack Ryan agreed.
“It serves us better to be ‘high’ priority as opposed to the ‘highest’ because we don’t want to be handcuffed to situations where it’s not realistic,” Ryan said.
However, he said he supports having staff evaluate the climate impact for every decision.
“It is very different than what we are doing now and it marks that it is too important to ignore,” he said. “This is not a watereddown, throwaway resolution. This is the real thing.”
Fredericks said strictly looking at decisions through a climate lens overlooks economic barriers such as restricted grants from the state and other inequities.
“Other systems control what we can do with that
it
money,” she said. “And sometimes those actions conflict with equity considerations like, who lives in a place where they have the capacity to safely store electric bikes even if they can afford them? … Who can afford solar panels? Who can afford home electric car chargers or batteries? That will conflict with making climate change actions the ‘highest priority.'”
Still, people called in to commend the council for working with residents on drafting the resolution.
Harita Kalvai, a sophomore at Terra Linda High School, is part of its School of Environmental Leadership project. While she doesn’t live in Tiburon, she said she hikes there with her family and supports the resolution.
“I think Tiburon is such a privileged area. And as a more privileged area it can
set an example for other privileged areas in Marin County,” Kalvai said. “As a young person I will have to experience the devastating events of climate change in my lifetime. I believe climate change is an emergency and it needs to be treated as one.”
Sanna Thomas, one of the Tiburon residents who spearheaded the action, said the resolution is the foundation for more climate action. She suggested that the town expand the number of electric vehicle charging stations and have more stringent building requirements that require electric power instead of gas.
“There is a lot of opportunity for the town and residents to reduce emissions and move toward an allelectric future that decarbonizes our homes, buildings, vehicles and lifestyles,” Thomas said.