Current events
Eugene’s climate recovery ordinance has received overwhelming support from a number of sources. The City Council has already met several times to discuss the details of this ordinance, and these meetings can be viewed online here. On Monday, February 22nd at 5:30PST, Eugene’s City Council will meet once more. For those curious about Eugene’s progress, the session will be streamed online here.
On the 22nd, Dr. Andrew Rice, the TEX scientist matched to this project, will field questions on the new emissions target. As a physicist at Portland State University, Dr. Rice was able to provide an expert review of Eugene’s 350 target, and will voice his support at the upcoming work session.
Next steps
The City Council will not be asked to make a decision at the work session on the 22nd. However, progress made so far has been very promising. Eugene has 159,000 residents, all of whom will be partners in meeting the new targets. If adopted, there is a great deal of potential to make a difference. Perhaps Eugene’s ambitious targets may inspire other communities to launch ambitious goals for greenhouse gas reductions.
Ideas on how Eugene plans to address greenhouse gas emissions:
- Eugene has a community climate and action plan which includes reducing greenhouse gas emissions, fossil fuels, and strategies to adapt to climate change.
- The city has a goal of reducing GHG to 350ppm with a goal of being carbon neutral by 2020.
- In July 2014, the city of Eugene passed a climate recovery ordinance and put it into city code. This ordinance lent weight to climate action planning and implementation activities.
- They are looking for oversight and downscaling global prescriptions such as Hanson et al. on carbon reforestation to the local scale.
