“In our decades of advocacy, we have seen time and time again that cities are on the front lines of environmental issues and often the birthplaces of innovation and progress. As Americans across the country grapple with the impacts of climate change, mayors across the country are rising to meet the challenge…”
Those were the introductory words of Casey Bowers, the Executive Director of the Environmental League of Massachusetts, when she introduced guests to a March 28, 2022 League of Conservation Voter sponsored panel on how cities are acting on Clean Energy and Climate Justice.
Among the invited panelists were Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, and Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb.
Echoing Bowers comments on the importance of mayors in implementing policies adopted at the state and federal level and the importance of implementing the Bipartisan Infrastructure legislation with clean energy components, Secretary Buttigieg relayed:
“The job of mayor has only become more important, more demanding, and more difficult since I left it…We recognize in the context of this federal agenda and policy that we’re pursuing that ultimately, it is going to fall to local and state leaders to provide so much of the leadership that’s actually going to decide whether the 2020’s are the decade in which we rose to the climate challenge and beat it and set our infrastructure on the course that was going to keep America competitive and healthy for the rest of our lifetimes or not…The opportunity is transformational with the bipartisan infrastructure law. But to fully seize the opportunity-to create climate jobs, to prevent the worst consequences of climate change, to protect Americans from the kinds of shocks that happen when foreign wars break out or oil markets go through their ups and downs…Renewable energy is the key to insulating the U.S. from the international energy crisis and the long run is actually increasingly upon us…”
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego Discusses Phoenix Progress in Heat Mitigation and Climate Justice.
In introducing Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego to the panel, Ms. Bowers said:
“Mayor Kate Gallego has a long history of working on infrastructure, including expansion of light rail, and in a city facing extreme heat, interconnecting cooling corridors with public transit, ensuring residents of her city, particularly those living in EJ (Environmental Justice) communities, have safe access to sustainable transportation.”
During the panels discussion, Mayor Gallego was asked to discuss Phoenix’s progress in extreme heat mitigation and promoting climate justice.
On heat mitigation, Mayor Gallego discussed how Phoenix had adopted several policies to reduce extreme temperatures in the city, explaining:
“We have made responding to heat a whole of government approach here. We have the first in the nation permanent office in city government called the Office of Heat Response and Mitigation that says addressing heat is something that is in everybody’s priority list…Our office is able to look at really innovative solutions on how do we use the best building materials and construction materials. We have a cool pavement program where we put a light colored coating on our city streets which have been black asphalt. We found, in partnership with Arizona State University, that the coating reduces street temperature ten to twelve degrees at the surface. That’s a difference that our residents can feel and just by using more advanced science, we can make life more comfortable.”
“In addition to using cutting edge technology, we’re also trying to use some of the most established techniques to address heat. We have a major strategy to plant more trees particularly in low income communities. Phoenix was the first city to participate in the American Forest Tree Equity Pledge which says that as we plant our trees will really have an eye toward equity…We’re hoping to use federal dollars from the American Rescue Plan to try to plant trees but then pay local residents to maintain them. So we’re creating local economic development as we help homeowners have up to four trees which can really cool the home temperatures, reduce energy bills and that’s also been a priority of ours as we reduce heat, we want to make sure our residents see that. We’ve put in shaded tree canopies at our public housing with solar on top and then our residents are getting a $15.00 bill credit so that they can benefit from both the shade and the solar…”
She also noted that federal infrastructure dollars going to infrastructure improvements and expansions at Sky Harbor Airport would, after meetings with Secretary Buttigieg, incorporate materials and techniques that employ carbon sequestration.
On promoting Climate Justice, the Mayor noted the continued development of the Salt River area and the placement of electric vehicle charging stations in needed communities, conveying:
“The river is something we really hope to be part of our future as well. It’s become an industrial zone with a lot of rock products mining projects. My council just had a very exciting vote at our last meeting, unanimously for our first raise project to try to build multi-modal transportation infrastructure but really focused on active bicycling, walking infrastructure along that and try to really redevelop the river. It’s an area of our city that’s been subject to redlining in the past. Communities of color. We have a lot of public housing in the neighborhood and if we could really get that investment going forward, I think it would be a perfect example of the values that the Biden Administration is trying to align with as well as honoring the history of Phoenix…”
“…We’ve had great conversations with the Secretary and his team about the EV (Electric Vehicle Charging) program and how the administration might have some metrics to make sure charging is deployed in a way that helps all communities…If we look at where population centers and needs are, that might be a way to make sure that type of resource gets distributed with equity in mind. Climate Mayors (where Mayor Gallego is Co Chair) has partnered with others… to provide our suggestions of metrics that might allow these resources to be deployed in a way that puts climate justice at the forefront and also help cities and population centers thrive…”
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