Tag Archives: participation

Cambridge to host 3rd Climate Congress

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EarthA third Climate Congress will be held on Saturday, March 6, 2010, from 9am to noon, in City Hall. The Climate Congress is open to the public. The main aim will be for delegates to unite on specific recommendations for City action. The Congress will use the opportunity to decide on whether to accept a final report on proposals and to bring the new citizen action teams together.

During the second Climate Congress, 75 delegates convened to develop recommendations to the city for addressing climate change, but also organize and develop citizen generated solutions.  Highlights from the second congress include:

  • The Congress discussed priorities among the proposals in the Draft Report. Several common themes emerged and these will be documented in the final report of the Congress.
  • Delegates formed action teams to work in specific areas: outreach, resilience, solar and other renewables, process for future climate emergency response (drafting), protection of trees and natural resources, building efficiency, and measurement . Several of these groups have already agreed to meet again. (If you are interested in participating in any of these groups contact Joanna Herlihy <joanna_herlihy@yahoo.com>)
  • Recommendations for climate emergency response by the City were considered and received broad support. However, there were questions about the specifics and report structure, that required more time to consider. Those present unanimously agreed to meet again for a third session to address those questions.

For more information about the climate emergency and the Climate Congress visit: http://www.cambridgema.gov/deptann.cfm?story_id=2457&pv=Yes

See also previous coverage I & II.

Report on Second Climate Congress

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by congress planning committee member Joanna Herlihy:

The second session of the Climate Emergency congress was even livelier that the first. Delegates found that prioritization of their recommendations had not progressed much beyond the ‘laundry list’ categorization of the ‘Draft Recommendations’ issued a few weeks earlier. Apparently this was partly due to technical and organization problems with incorporating responses to the online survey, most of which came in during the last few days.

The version of the recommendations presented to the second session included a new proposal advanced by the drafting group to encapsulate suggestions to set up provisions for ensuring citizen participation in and adequate city staffing for follow-up on the recommendations.

The next breakout into small groups was self-organized by delegates according to ‘open space’ principles,  grouping according to areas of interest, which resulted in several potential task forces that intend to continue working in the areas of environmental justice, education, building energy efficiency, and urban forestry. Discussions on goal-setting and how best to coordinate city-community initiatives would have been useful but did not occur.

The finale, which extended an hour overtime, focused on whether the congress should endorse some broad principles or recommend formation of a City Manager-appointed committee of citizens to promote and coordinate response to the climate emergency. In the general discussion, observations ranged from “the city already has such a committee with almost the same mission” (Climate Protection Action Committee) to “such citizen groups function better independently of the city government”.

The facilitator’s suggestion that the option of a citizen committee be voted on without specifying who would appoint it was rejected. An intriguing new suggestion was advanced during the discussion: add authority over a ‘carbon budget’ to the duties of the city council-appointed City Auditor. The congress finally agreed to reconvene for a third session, probably in March, to vote on some well organized recommendations in printed form to strengthen local climate protection efforts.

Report from the Cambridge Climate Emergency Congress

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CambridgeMACityHallAs world leaders gathered in Copenhagen,  Our Fair City held its own climate summit inviting townspeople to gather together and brainstorm ideas on how to reduce local greenhouse gas emissions.

On December 12, 100 Cantabrigians from a high school student to a climate expert spent the day at City Hall developing proposals that included eliminating all street parking by 2020 and incorporating landscaped or reflective roofs into building codes.

The ideas seemed rather ambitious, but if the city plans to start meeting its greenhouse gas reduction goals it will likely need to get creative.  In 2002 city officials launched a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2010. Earlier this year, however, they announced that despite their best efforts emissions have not only not decreased, but, have continued to grow.

City officials will review recommendations from the recent summit and will announce how they plan to proceed on January 23.

Opening the talks

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Burke lecture panorma by Colm MacCárthaighWhile we still have great expectations of the upcoming talks in Copenhagen are all fine and dandy, it’s a rather elite event about a topic that touches us all. There have been efforts to democratize the discussion, such as the Museum of Science’s, “World Views on Global Warming,” but participation is still limited to those who can be physically present. Of course, you have another chance to do so at a follow-up session tomorrow (12/5) morning. MIT’s Center for Collective Intelligence has also launched a new project, the Climate Collaboratorium, to allow people to share, vote on and discuss ideas about reducing emissions on a large scale.