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SCB ENGAGES WITH CHATTANOOGA PLANNERS ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA -- the host of SCB's 2008 annual meeting -- is a mid-sized city (approximately 150,000 residents) known for its cooperation between the public and private sectors, citizen appreciation of the outdoors, and proximity to natural areas with remarkably high species richness, especially of freshwater taxa.

In 2006, the Mayor of Chattanooga, Ron Littlefield, signed the United States Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. This agreement committed the city to meeting or exceeding the Kyoto Protocol targets: reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 7% from 1990 levels by 2012. The city aims to achieve that target through diverse actions such as encouraging smarter growth patterns and promoting urban greenways. In late 2007, Littlefield appointed a 12-member steering committee, drawn from professionals within the community, to help guide him through the process of making Chattanooga more environmentally sustainable. The Chattanooga Green Committee submitted their Interim Chattanooga Climate Action Plan to the Mayor on 1 July, 2008 and plans to complete and submit a final Climate Action Plan on 1 December.

The Green Committee felt strongly that they should take advantage of the expertise of SCB's members and solicit their input in refining the Climate Action Plan. Accordingly, they hosted a roundtable on 17 July that brought together approximately 20 members of SCB from around the world and another 20 members of the Green Committee and citizens of Chattanooga.

Karen Hundt, Director of the Planning and Design Studio, and Jim Frierson, Vice-Chair of the Chattanooga Green Committee, asked SCB members to consider four questions: (1) What biological indicators can tell us when the impacts of human development are stressing the integrity of natural resources? (2) Why are these the best early warning indicators? (3) What actions or public policies should be adopted to protect these resources? (4) What is most critical? How should we prioritize our policies and actions? SCB members provided input that drew from their experience in applying natural and social science to land-use planning for urban and exurban areas worldwide. They also commented on management and policy responses to natural and anthropogenic environmental change.

The Chattanooga participants came away from the roundtable with a clear sense of the range of perspectives in the conservation community on issues related to climate change and its economic impacts, including water availability and urban ecology, and metrics and planning paradigms that they had not yet considered. The dialogue among the Green Committee and SCB served as motivation for all participants to engage more fully with their communities and regions.

The Chattanooga Green Committee and their Interim Chattanooga Climate Action Plan can be accessed at www.Chattanooga.gov/ChattanoogaGreen

Sarah Rankin
Sustainability Staff
Chattanooga Green Committee

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