Protecting the Health and Well-Being of Communities in a Changing Climate Proceedings of a Workshop (2018) / Chapter Skim
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3 Regional Perspectives from the South
3 Regional Perspectives from the South
Pages 25-44
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From page 25... ...
In the question and answer period at the end of the panel, she emphasized the important role of strong city leadership and an awareness among city leaders, including the mayor, regarding the issues. Next, Halida Hatic and Rachel Holmes provided a joint presentation on a Louisville project, Landscape Audit for Sacred Spaces, that serves as a tool for religious organizations to conduct tree canopy assessments and evaluate other components of their landscape and their relationship with that landscape.
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From page 26... ...
Urban Heat Analysis: Findings from Louisville In 2012, Brian Stone, Georgia Institute of Technology, released a study showing that Louisville had the most rapidly growing heat island in the country from 1961 to 2010. This finding, Koetter said, raised a red flag, 1 This section summarizes information presented by Maria Koetter, LEED AP, Director of Sustainability, Office of Sustainability, Louisville Metro Government, Kentucky.
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From page 27... ...
The tree canopy analysis showed that areas with the lowest tree canopy coverage (i.e., downtown, up in the northwest quadrant of Louisville) overlap with areas that have lower socioeconomic status, higher disease mortality rates, and 10-year shorter life expectancies than other areas in the community (see Figure 3-1)
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From page 28... ...
are the same areas that were shown in the tree canopy assessment to have lower tree canopy coverage, worse health outcomes, and shorter life expectancies. The urban heat management strategies that Stone modeled in his analysis covered greening methods, cooling methods, and all methods combined.
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From page 29... ...
Additionally, Louisville's Office of Sustainability recently released its Cool Roof Rebate Program for residential and commercial projects, providing $1 per square foot and ranging from $2,000 to $10,000 per project. The goal of the program, Koetter explained, is to inspire and incentivize installation of Energy Star cool roof shingles, which help to not only manage the heat island effect across the city, but also to reduce energy bills.
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From page 30... ...
Hatic commented that the project did not have to "reinvent the wheel" with respect to the tools employed, but they did have to connect and listen to put the tools together in a way that would support a diverse, multifaith audience. 2 This section summarizes information presented by Halida Hatic, director of Community Relations and Development at the Center for Interfaith Relations in Louisville, Kentucky, and Rachel Holmes, conservation coordinator for Healthy Trees, Healthy Cities, The Nature Conservancy.
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From page 31... ...
The genesis of the Landscape Audit for Sacred Spaces, Hatic continued, was four people with shared values and the desire to collaborate who were sitting around a table with what Hatic described as "truly noble intentions." "We had no idea what we were going to come up with," she said, "but we knew we wanted to do something meaningful together." At the time, the Center had been partnering with the Cathedral of the Assumption, the Catholic cathedral in Louisville, on an energy audit. In conversations at the table, with The Nature Conservancy present, participants realized that there was nothing equivalent to an energy audit that could be used to assist faith communities with assessing the health and well-being of their living landscapes.
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From page 32... ...
She reiterated what Hatic had said about the reality that the Landscape Audit for Sacred Spaces partners did not need to reinvent the wheel when developing their methodology. Rather, the methodology and tools came out of work that The Nature Conservancy had been doing with urban forestry across the country and that GreenFaith had been doing with audit programs.
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From page 33... ...
As an urban forester, Holmes expressed excitement that, during the initial focus group sessions, people prioritized tree canopy assessment. She noted that, in addition to the information presented by Jonathan Patz, another important role for trees is the absorption of particulates.
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From page 34... ...
[and] the next energy system." The stated goals of Empower Kentucky are to generate political will for a just transition to a clean energy future; meaningfully engage thousands of Kentuckians; develop an environmental justice analysis for Kentucky; and develop a people's plan for Kentucky's energy future.
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From page 35... ...
Thus, among other parts of the Empower Kentucky public process, KFTC organized community conversations in all six congressional districts of Kentucky in spring 2016. The conversations were 3-hour programs that included locally sourced meals and facilitated table discussion.
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From page 36... ...
The People's Plan: Framework, Recommendations, and Predicted Outcomes Out of the public process, combined with results from the environmental justice analysis, Empower Kentucky is developing a People's Plan
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From page 37... ...
accelerate energy efficiency and renewable energy across the state's economy; (2) create jobs and support a just transition; (3)
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From page 38... ...
She mentioned, as examples, calling on utilities in Louisville to achieve greater energy efficiency, and other local campaigns to get more all-electric buses on the streets. Already, Abbott observed, the Empower Kentucky process has strengthened the network and political will in Kentucky to resist moving in a direction that could be detrimental to health and well-being, and to continue to work for policy change "where we can." She mentioned a very powerful 8 In the final Empower KY Plan, the average residential bill would be 10 percent less than under the business as usual scenario and the percentage was used rather than $13.
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From page 39... ...
Given this urgency, combined with the highly conservative political environment of Kentucky, Rudolph asked about the role of the health sector to help "move things along faster and scale things up." Koetter responded that while the team at the University of Louisville has been a great help to the Office of Sustainability with respect to helping city officials understand the health data that have been collected, she encouraged a greater understanding of the effects of climate change on their part and among all health care professionals. Hatic encouraged a more holistic perspective of health.
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From page 40... ...
Mary Pittman of the Public Health Institute then asked about strategies for state-wide scaling up of some of what has been done in an urban environment given that, she said, "the culture of coal country is a bit different than an urban center." She agreed that part of the challenge is political will, but opined that another part is this culture shift. Hatic responded by telling a bit of her own personal history, including her move from Boston to Kentucky and her initial work with energy management programs in 30 school districts across eastern Kentucky.
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From page 41... ...
He asked Hatic and Holmes about the capacity of the Landscape Audit for Sacred Spaces program to engage other religions or religious organizations, such as the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and particularly some of the more conservative religious networks. Holmes replied that such engagement has to do with how issues are framed.
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From page 42... ...
As she had said during her talk, she mentioned again that hopefully, they will be engaging a biostatistician to help them understand how the improvements in air quality resulting from this reduced energy use will impact health. She encouraged putting health first when promoting energy goals as a way to defray some of the political sensitivity around the issue.
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From page 43... ...
She said, "Thinking about a just community has to include the directly affected workers, but also the broader community in which they live." Dick Zimmer of Zimmer Strategies asked Abbott to elaborate on what she meant by "just transition" and what other opportunities exist for an unemployed coal miner besides stream restoration. Abbott explained that the term "just transition" comes from union movement language, specifically discussions about plant closures.
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From page 44... ...
Zimmer also asked about the role of nuclear power in the Empower Kentucky plan. Abbott explained that Kentucky has banned nuclear power since the 1970s, and while there is an effort in the legislature to remove the ban, Empower Kentucky did not consider it.
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