A climate change "action plan" to curb greenhouse gases is moving ahead at the Marin County Civic Center.
The new plan, which will weave together and refresh a patchwork of efforts and policies dealing with the risks posed by a warming planet, was authorized this week by county supervisors.
The move came a day before the state Environmental Protection Agency released a comprehensive study by 51 scientists indicating that climate change is already walloping California, with warmer weather reducing snowmelt, boosting sea levels, increasing wildfires, heating lake and ocean waters and altering wildlife migration.
ICF Jones & Stokes Inc., a San Francisco environmental consulting firm, will be paid $95,000 to develop an "inventory" of greenhouse gas production in Marin, analyze existing efforts, policies and progress toward reduction goals, determine what else can be done, and develop an implementation and monitoring program. Most of the tab will be covered by a Pacific Gas & Electric Co. grant.
On a day during which the county board lingered for a scheduled presentation involving the health attributes of breastfeeding, Supervisor Kate Sears noted that the Climate Action Plan aimed at nurturing the earth was on a consent calendar of routine business.
"This is going to address our greenhouse gas emissions," Sears pointed out in brief commentary before the calendar drew swift approval. "The goal is to follow through with a sea level rise study ... to look at mitigation impact opportunities."
State legislators in 2006 approved Assembly Bill 32, the "Global Warming Solutions Act," which set greenhouse gas emission reduction goals for 2020. Marin officials adopted a gas reduction program the same year as "the county did not waste any time assuming a leadership position," said Brian Crawford, community development chief at the Civic Center. Examples include the county's role in launching Marin Clean Energy, which was an outgrowth of the Community Development Agency's sustainability program, and county support of the Marin Carbon Project, an initiative to capture carbon emissions in the soil structure of agricultural lands.
"The county of Marin recognizes the risks posed by climate change and has been committed to addressing the issue," Crawford and county planner Dana Armanino noted in a report to the county board. "The Climate Action Plan will build upon the county's efforts in climate protection, consistent with the Marin Countywide Plan, including the completion of a 2003 greenhouse gas emissions analysis, a 2006 greenhouse gas reduction plan and a re-inventory of greenhouse gas emissions in 2007." Although the county has lagged in producing an updated climate action or "cap" plan, the 2006 gas reduction program was among the first of its kind.
The latest plan will deal with greenhouse gases generated in unincorporated areas and by "internal county government operations," Crawford said. "Existing policies and programs will be reviewed, existing greenhouse gas inventories and forecasts will be updated and new greenhouse gas reduction measures and monitoring tools will be developed."
Consultants also will conduct "a high-level analysis of resiliency and adaptation strategies for anticipated climate change impacts such as sea level rise, increased fire hazards, public health, water availability and food security," according to Crawford and Armanino. "Mitigation strategies and monitoring tools will be reviewed for consistency with countywide plan goals, including those relating to social equity."
He added that reducing transportation-related emissions "is the biggest challenge we face because auto use represents the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions." Influencing people's transportation decisions is more difficult than spurring energy efficiency in homes and businesses, he noted.
Crawford indicated his agency is also seeking "additional funding for a second-phase study to address sea level rise that would include a planning process that involves partnerships with other local jurisdictions, a more comprehensive vulnerability and risk assessment and development of specific local adaptation strategies."
Studies monitoring sea level rise already are under way in Marin, including Bolinas Lagoon, where county parks chief Linda Dahl said open space scientists are monitoring the effects of a rising sea on wetland habitat and are concerned about "the potential inundation of local roads."
Supervisor Sears has launched a community study group that is reviewing sea level rise risks and possible adaptation strategies along the western shoreline of Richardson's Bay.
Rich Walter, who is heading the consultant team's work in Marin, said the project will take about a year and involve three community meetings.
"Marin was very early" in developing a greenhouse gas plan but "a lot has developed since then," he said. Walter noted his firm has developed similar plans for other governments across California, including Napa County, and is currently at work on an overall plan for Sonoma County and eight Sonoma cities.
Nona Dennis of the Marin Conservation League, a county environmental watchdog, was cheered by news Marin's climate plan is moving ahead, calling it "long overdue."
"I gather they have found funds to finally get the CAP rolling," Dennis said.
The Marin program coincides with a detailed report from the state this week called "Indicators of Climate Change in California" that says climate change is occurring from the coast to the Central Valley to the Sierra Nevada.
In Marin, wildlife indicators linked to climate changes affecting food supply range from the early arrival of Wilson's warblers on the Point Reyes Peninsula to the emaciated sea lions that wind up at the Marine Mammal Center.
The state report notes California's high, low and average temperatures are rising, with the rate of warming accelerating, and that sea levels are rising at a pace that will inundate locales including Highway 37, Hamilton Field, Sausalito and the Tamalpais Valley over the next century.
The report concludes that warming can be limited if more is done to reduce emissions from fossil fuels.