The Intersection of Climate and Economic Planning (Sonoma Gazette 3/23)

 How would you live differently if all of a sudden gasoline were $20 per gallon?

Answering this hypothetical question should get you closer to understanding how

things might be in the not-so-distant future if we are to seriously address climate

change. We are living in a ‘climate emergency’. Many governments have echoed

this phrase, hopefully bracing us for some fundamental lifestyle changes.

It seems that for the most part, we are focused on maintaining our quality of life

while attempting to meet the corresponding energy requirements through ‘green

energy’ alternatives, such as electric cars and hydro-electric power. These two

examples are presented here to demonstrate the trouble with this way of

thinking. The production of large batteries—for electric cars, and for regulating

solar power supply—is currently far from sustainable. Hydro, we have learned

during recent years, can’t produce power during a drought.

In addition to our efforts to cultivate green energy, we need to learn how to live

with an overall reduction in power usage. The exercise of imagining our life while

facing exorbitant fossil fuel costs should help us understand what’s necessary.

Transportation —burning fossil fuels—is a leading cause of greenhouse gas

emissions, so we need to get on our bikes and feet. We need to divorce

ourselves from the need to travel the distances we are used to driving now.

Here in Healdsburg we are taking steps to increase bike safety along our main

thoroughfare, and there is interest in doing so throughout town. It’s an important

step, but it is somewhat meaningless if our economic planning does not mirror

the effort.

In a future where travel and the luxury of having anything we need driven to our

doorstep is diminished, it will become increasingly important for our city’s

commercial center to function as it did not too many decades ago. Our downtown

should serve the needs of the local community by providing essential goods and

services at a conveniently close location. Convenience is nice. Shopping locally

may limit one’s selection, and the prices may be a smidge higher, but who

doesn’t relish the opportunity to avoid the hassle of traveling down the road to

another city to shop? And the environmental benefits are obvious.

In Healdsburg, like several neighboring towns, we are struggling with downtown

being ‘overtaken’ by businesses that cater to mostly high-end tourists. Despite

the clear and obvious benefits a tourism based economy has on sales tax

revenue, we are finding that the corresponding gentrification of properties (= high

rents) is making it hard for local-serving entrepreneurs to get a foot in. The result

is that we are seeing a slow decline in businesses providing goods and services

to our low and middle income majority. Add the lure of online ordering, and you

can see that local retail is in need of a boost. Not just for the sake of resiliency

and community—but because our climate challenged future depends on it.

There are a number of creative ways we can diversify our local economy without

compromising our robust tourist economy. It’s time to tackle climate and

economic planning within the same movement, and for a variety of good reasons,

prepare ourselves for a future where a journey out of town to shop is a less

common occurrence.