Climate Smart Missoula

  • Home
  • Who We Are
    • Our Story
    • Blog
    • In the News >
      • Sustainable Missoula Column
      • Summer Smart News
    • People + Partners
    • Smarty Pants Awards
    • Jobs and Opportunities
    • Contact Us
  • Adaptation
    • Overview
    • Summer Smart >
      • Wildfire Smoke >
        • HEPA Air Filtration
        • Improving Indoor Air Quality
        • Clean Air for Schools & Daycares
        • Pregnancy + Infants and Smoke
        • Older Adults and Wildfire Smoke
      • Active Fires
      • Hotter Days and Nights >
        • Shade
      • Drought and Low Flows
      • Shareable Products
      • Partners and Supporters
    • Resiliency Planning
    • Health and Climate >
      • Mental Health
    • Art and Humanities
    • Adaptation Resources
  • Mitigation
    • Overview
    • 100 % Clean Electricity Resolution
    • Energy Smart >
      • Reduce our Use
      • Energy Stories
      • Footprint Fund
    • Solar Smart >
      • Solar Ease
    • Transportation + Smart Growth >
      • Land Use Planning
      • Electric Vehicles
      • Electric Buses
    • Buildings
    • Financing
    • Zero Waste
    • 2017 Emissions Inventory
    • 2015 Action Plan
    • Mitigation Resources
  • Get Involved
    • Advocacy >
      • State Legislature 2021
    • Connect >
      • 2020 Year-End Happenings
      • COVID-19
      • Dear Tomorrow
    • Footprint Fund
    • Act, Advocate, Assist
    • Calendar
    • Volunteer Opportunities
  • The Science
    • Climate Science Basics
    • Wildlife and Ecosystem Climate Impacts
    • Forests and Fire
    • Local Climate: Signs of Change
  • Donate
    • 2020 Year End Letter
  • Home
  • Who We Are
    • Our Story
    • Blog
    • In the News >
      • Sustainable Missoula Column
      • Summer Smart News
    • People + Partners
    • Smarty Pants Awards
    • Jobs and Opportunities
    • Contact Us
  • Adaptation
    • Overview
    • Summer Smart >
      • Wildfire Smoke >
        • HEPA Air Filtration
        • Improving Indoor Air Quality
        • Clean Air for Schools & Daycares
        • Pregnancy + Infants and Smoke
        • Older Adults and Wildfire Smoke
      • Active Fires
      • Hotter Days and Nights >
        • Shade
      • Drought and Low Flows
      • Shareable Products
      • Partners and Supporters
    • Resiliency Planning
    • Health and Climate >
      • Mental Health
    • Art and Humanities
    • Adaptation Resources
  • Mitigation
    • Overview
    • 100 % Clean Electricity Resolution
    • Energy Smart >
      • Reduce our Use
      • Energy Stories
      • Footprint Fund
    • Solar Smart >
      • Solar Ease
    • Transportation + Smart Growth >
      • Land Use Planning
      • Electric Vehicles
      • Electric Buses
    • Buildings
    • Financing
    • Zero Waste
    • 2017 Emissions Inventory
    • 2015 Action Plan
    • Mitigation Resources
  • Get Involved
    • Advocacy >
      • State Legislature 2021
    • Connect >
      • 2020 Year-End Happenings
      • COVID-19
      • Dear Tomorrow
    • Footprint Fund
    • Act, Advocate, Assist
    • Calendar
    • Volunteer Opportunities
  • The Science
    • Climate Science Basics
    • Wildlife and Ecosystem Climate Impacts
    • Forests and Fire
    • Local Climate: Signs of Change
  • Donate
    • 2020 Year End Letter

Climate Smart Missoula's Blog

Green Building and Energy Efficiency Meet-Up Recap

9/13/2019

0 Comments

 
A lively group came together at Imagine Nation on Thursday for our monthly meet-up on Green Building and Energy Efficiency. The group spanned the fields of architecture, real estate, finance, concerned citizens, and some Lord of the Rings aficionados that dropped some references (which this author didn’t fully understand).Green building can sometimes be seen as a daunting and overwhelming topic, especially considering its potential for emissions reductions. Residential and commercial buildings comprise 52% of our community carbon footprint; the opportunity is massive, but it can be difficult to understand which point of intervention will be the most impactful.  

Where are the “pinch points,” we asked? What changes can we make that will ripple outwards and push the built environment towards a net zero future? The conversation was wide ranging, but ultimately we coalesced around the following ideas because of their potential to drive change in the building industry: 

Labeling
    What if when every home was posted on the market, it included a transparent, easy-to-read label that told you about the home’s energy usage, the materials used to build the home, and what you would need to do if you wanted to make your new home more energy efficient? If you were selling a home, how would knowing your efficiency score change what you did before you listed your property? Conversely, if you were looking to buy a home, how would a label factor into your consideration of multiple properties? The group was very excited by the potential of this idea to create market-driven change, starting from a point of voluntary disclosure and possibly moving towards a requirement to include a label in every sale, as is the case in Portland, Oregon. 

Streamlining Retrofits
    The creation of a label program spoke to Thursday’s broader discussion of which sector of the building stock we should focus our efforts. While Missoula is certainly growing and new houses are being built, older structures (pre-1980) make up a much greater percentage of our energy usage, and they are also ripe for cost-effective, energy efficiency improvements that could make a big difference. As a community, we’re getting better at educating homeowners and renters so that they are aware of the potential for energy efficiency and motivated to take action, but we’re lacking a robust workforce to evaluate, advise, and implement the steps needed to move an older home away from “energy hog” status.  A few programs that we love from across the country include Oregon Energy Trust and Efficiency Vermont, both of which benefit from strong support from their state government and utility. 

Finally, we can’t forget that energy efficiency is also a social justice issue and that green buildings do not exist in a vacuum. Low-income renters and owners are more likely to find themselves in older, more affordable units (often considered naturally occurring affordable housing or NOAH). Older housing is abundant in Missoula, but it often brings cold drafts in the winter, hot air in the summer, and high utility bills throughout the year. These higher bills can lead to energy insecurity, a situation when a household has received a utility shut-off notice for failure to pay bills, foregone a basic necessity like food or medicine in order to pay utility bills, or opted to keep their home at an unhealthy temperature in order to reduce energy bills. 
​

Reducing emissions in our building stock has major implications for human health, job creation, and creating a more equitable Missoula. If you want to join the conversation, email us at caroline@climatesmartmissoula.org for more information.

​
0 Comments

April recap - Local food & ag meetup and Earth Month!

5/1/2019

0 Comments

 
April was Earth Month - and it was a busy one! We kicked it off with a great conversation as usual at our monthly meetup, on the topic of Local Food & Agriculture. Just in time for the beginning of outdoor farmers market season!

We talked about everything from efforts to protect local farmland via the Missoula Area Mapping project, to the many environmental benefits of mushrooms, to saving seeds and supporting our local farmers. Here's a few links to some of the people, organizations and ideas that were part of the conversation:
  • Community Food & Agriculture Coalition 
  • Missoula Area Land Use Mapping Project 
  • Front Street Fungi - William Gregg
  • Red Hen Farm & CSA - Julie Peters
  • Oxbow Cattle Company - Bart Morris
  • Five Valleys Seed Library - Anne Little
  • UM Dining Sustainability - Trevor Lowell and Stasia Orkwiszewski
  • Grain by Grain - new book about Montana agriculture

We're grateful to be part of a community of locavores who understand and value agriculture and local food as important tools in Missoula's climate resilience toolbox!

We hope you also had a chance to take part in some of the great community festivities around Earth Month. From the International Wildlife Film Festival, to MUD's Annual Earth Day Celebration, to celebrating trees and their climate benefits, we had fun out and about in April. 

Next Monthly Meetup is Health & Climate - hope you'll join us on Thursday, May 9!
0 Comments

No time like the spring time for zero waste

3/20/2019

1 Comment

 
Picture
Art courtesy of a fifth-grade participant in Home ReSource's ZWAP! program; Photo credit: Home ReSource
One month since my last blog post, and the sun is shining, the sky is blue, and the snow is melting away--quite a shift from the height of February winter blues! Some things have changed, but here at Climate Smart we're doing the same work: plugging away, advocating, and educating for a resilient, climate and energy smart community. As always, an ever-important part of that transition to cut our greenhouse gas emissions is our ever-popular bucket of Zero Waste: the topic of this month’s meetup!

I’ll set the scene: We’re in Imagine Nation Brewing’s cozy community room, standing room only. Drawings of happy planets and solar-powered spaceships are scattered across the tables, courtesy of the fifth-grade participants of Home ReSource’s Zero Waste Ambassadors Program (ZWAP!). The prompt for the drawings was simple enough: what kind of world do you want to grow up in? Based on the many colored pencil masterpieces we passed around, the students had no trouble answering the question. When Jeremy Drake, Home ReSource’s Community Engagement Manager, asked us what kind of world the adults in the room wanted to live in, however, it gave folks pause. We all know the issues and problems climate change and a dependency on fossil-fuel products presents us, but how do we envision a future beyond the issues?

One idea that resonated with folks was a world where we’ve reduced the barriers to doing the right thing: where composting and recycling services are accessible and it's possible to function throughout a day without needing a single-use plastic item. What a magical world, right? But how do you go about reducing those barriers?

One way Home ReSource and partners are trying to do just that is through the development of the Zero by Fifty Missoula website--Missoula’s one-stop shop for all things waste! When I moved here last summer, it was so difficult to find information about recycling and composting providers, as well as what to do with different harder-to-recycle items like batteries and light bulbs. This zero waste website aims to avoid all the google searching and phone calling by keeping that information accessible and, most importantly, up-to-date.
Not only will you find service providers listed, but the website also provides an awesome tool called “What do I do with…” that allows you to type in an item you’re not sure how to recycle and be directed to information about how to reduce that type of waste, how to reuse it, and how to recycle it if all else fails. Right now, the website has information on over 20 different items, and that number will continue to grow as more feedback comes in on what recyclables people need more information about. The energy behind the development of this web-source comes from the creation of Missoula’s Zero By Fifty plan to move the community towards zero waste. Details of the plan can be found on the website, and future tracking of Missoula’s progress will also be available there once an initial baseline study of our community’s waste is completed (hopefully by this year!). Check it out.

After we were taken through a tour of the new website, folks shared the inspiring ways that their organizations and businesses were taking on zero waste structures and transitions. From the replacement of plastic water bottles with recyclable aluminum bottles at Logjam Presents (woohoo!), to local artist Bonnie Tarses collecting bottle caps to make big beautiful art pieces, our community is bursting with energy and new ideas. And there are so many ways folks can plug in! This spring is chock full of opportunities to learn about zero waste, so bare with me as I lay them all out for you:

  • Home ReSource, Zero Waste Missoula, and Climate Smart Missoula have partnered to organize the Zero by Fifty Community Series, “the mission of which is to spark conversation about opportunities for waste reduction and prevention and inform the community about current innovative efforts to address wasted materials in Missoula.” The first event in that series will be focused on glass, featuring a panel of local glass recycling and reusing experts. It will take place on March 21st (tomorrow!) from 5-7 pm starting in Home ReSource’s community room and then to Bayern Brewing to check out their bottle washing machine. Keep an eye on our calendar for info on the next events in this series which will focus on plastic and wasted food--they’ll surely be awesome conversations.
 
  • Is the spring broken in your toaster or has the hole in your sock become too large to ignore? While you’re stopping by MUD’s Earth Day Celebration on April 20 (we’ll be there!), check out the new series of Fixit Clinics hosted by MUD and Home ReSource. You’ll learn to disassemble, troubleshoot, and (hopefully!) repair your broken things. As always, check out our calendar for details as this event gets closer. Interested in leading the charge as a Fixit Coach at one of these clinics? Stop by the Home ReSource community room on March 21 (tomorrow!) at 4 pm for more info, or email Noelle Herring at noelle@homeresource.org.
 
  • ​Did you know that 40% of all waste in the United States originates from construction and demolition? It’s a big issue, and Home ReSource has been doing an incredible job of tackling it. On April 4 from 2:30-5 pm at the Missoula Federal Credit Union’s Training Center, Home ReSource will be hosting an event entitled “Constructing Solutions, Demolishing Waste” where they will work directly with folks in the building sector to develop ways to conduct construction and demolition more sustainably. If you work in the building sector and are interested in this effort, connect with Jeremy Drake at Home ReSource at jeremy@homeresource.org.

Whew. That’s all for now. As we move into what we’ve dubbed Earth Month (aka April), keep checking out our calendar and Happenings page for all the info on what’s going on. We’re grateful as always for such an engaged and active community--it’s a true privilege to be so busy.
​
Happy Spring!

-Anna
1 Comment

Busing, biking in a winter wonderland

2/19/2019

2 Comments

 
Last October, I wrote my first blog post for this organization all about sustainable transportation and navigating a new city. This month, we were back at it with another engaging conversation on buses, bikes, and roads, and I definitely feel more grounded now than during our meetup last fall. The great thing about this topic is it feels there are an ever-expansive number of things to discuss and connections to make, making this sustainable transportation chat no less interesting than the last, if even more engaging for me now that I’ve explored this city and have observed so much of what works well and what doesn’t. So let’s get to it and I’ll fill you in on all the big topics.
Picture
One theme we touched on several times throughout our conversation was the intersection of sustainable transportation and health. Beyond the seemingly obvious connection that the physical activity of walking and biking is good for you, fuel emissions from vehicles have a large and negative effect on our air quality. Because of how inversions affect Missoula, vehicle emissions, especially during the winter time, have a significant effect on the city’s air pollution, and consequently community health.

That is why Mountain Line’s unveiling of its six soon-to-be new electric buses is exciting on many levels. Not only do these buses represent the city transitioning away from carbon-dependent transportation, a necessity for electrifying our grid and transitioning off fossil fuels, but the shift will also positively affect air quality by 1) those buses not contributing emissions, and 2) a thriving public transportation infrastructure encouraging more ridership and subsequently less people to be driving their cars-- how good can it get? We celebrated these transitions at our meetup, and discussed other ways to make both the Mountain Line and UDASH bus systems more efficient.

Our meetups provide awesome opportunities for collaboration with local organizations already fully invested in the work of each climate action plan “bucket” that Climate Smart is committed to advocating for. We were joined this month by one such group, Missoula in Motion, a program of the City of Missoula’s Transportation Division that encourages and educates Missoulians about sustainable transportation. After leading us in a rousing round of sustainable transportation “speed dating” (tis the season, what can we say?), they told us about their many initiatives and how to get involved, especially their Way To Go! Missoula program. By using their Way To Go trip planner, you can find all the ways you can get where you need to be by using sustainable transit. For each transportation method, it will even tell you how many calories you burn and the pounds of CO2 you save from being emitted--how cool is that? On top of all that, you can log those sustainable trips on their website and receive awards to different local businesses each month for free or discounted food, vouchers, and gifts. I’m still dreaming about the incredible free Chai latte I got from Lake Missoula Tea Company last month! Check it all out.

Finally, we rounded out the night with some updates from Bob Giordano, the director of MIST (Missoula Institute for Sustainable Transportation). MIST is committed to developing infrastructure in Missoula that makes sustainable transportation options safe, accessible, and equitable. We heard some awesome statistics from him about roundabouts (or traffic circles..whatever you call them) that are too cool not to share. We learned that a well-designed roundabout can lead to a 65% decrease in idling and 95% fewer crashes at that intersection, let alone the electricity that is saved from not needing stoplights! Personally, I’ve never been more interested in roundabouts than after our conversation.​ 

​In addition, Bob alerted us to an action item: the Higgins Avenue Bridge Rehabilitation. Wouldn’t it be great to actually walk side-by-side with someone on that walkway? What a dream. The city has been working away to come up with a rehabilitation plan of the bridge, and they have proposed designs. Check it all out here, and please take a moment to leave a comment on the project here. Public comments are truly read and considered in these processes, and are an excellent opportunity for direct action! We’re urging the city to keep bike and walk lanes wide, and cut down to two lanes of traffic, or at least maintain the bridge to be able to be retrofitted in the future through this process as our city continues to grow and develop in new ways.
Picture
The existing and proposed new deck configurations.

​That’s all for now! Stay warm out there, fellow Missoulians--you’ll see me walking to work bundled up in a giant scarf this month, racking up those Missoula in Motion points: free latte at Clyde Coffee, I’m coming for you.
​

-Anna

2 Comments

Missoula: Renewable energy action-ready

1/17/2019

1 Comment

 
A new year. With so much uncertainty of what the next few will bring for environmental and climate work, it’s understandable to feel unease as we press onward. Still, this past year brought important media attention and discussions to climate change in a way that motivates and excites us to keep the conversation growing. So, what better way to kick off a year of renewed focus and activity on climate change than with a beer, a handful of popcorn, and a community meetup on renewable energy? We thought so, too.

Our January meetup was jam-packed with updates from some of Missoula’s key players in the renewable energy world. Diana Maneta, Missoula County’s Energy Conservation and Sustainability Coordinator, gave us the run-down on cryptocurrency and how its current effects on Missoula County could continue to worsen. Cryptocurrency mining, such as the digital currency Bitcoin, is a major energy user that is steadily finding a foothold in Montana. Our state’s cool temperatures and low energy prices have been too good to resist for this industry, and we are already feeling its effects. A cryptocurrency facility in Bonner is estimated to have already increased the county’s energy use by 20%, and representatives have stated publicly that they intend to triple the size of the facility in the near future.

Cryptocurrency is a daunting issue, but our own Missoula County is at the forefront of addressing the industry’s effects, as Diana and others work to understand options to regulate the industry’s impacts and ways to motivate companies to make greener decisions (what if these facilities were required to have solar panels on their roofs to offset their energy use?). We’ll be closely following any developments on this issue and we encourage you all to do the same. For more info, check out our Advocacy page.

After a crash course on Bitcoin, we transitioned our discussion to some direct action items and things to look out for during Montana’s 2019 legislative session happening right now. Andrew Valainis, the Executive Director of Montana Renewable Energy Association (MREA), and his team are watching closely for bills that could help and harm renewable energy transitions throughout the state. We’ll do our best to keep you updated (again, via our Advocacy page), but we also recommend getting on MREA’s email list. MREA does an excellent job here of summarizing the situation and laying out what they expect to see in the coming months. Here are two big things to look out for:
PictureState Capitol building in Helena; photo credit: Montana Renewable Energy Association
  • January 18th from 9 am- noon, the Montana Public Service Commission and the state legislature's House and Senate energy committees are holding a hearing on NorthWestern Energy’s newest long-term resource procurement plan, a document that guides the utility in how it decides how it will meet its energy needs with which types of resources. This plan will have lasting effects on Montana’s energy future, and we need your input and voices! Join folks in Helena to tell officials you want more lower-cost renewable energy and less fossil fuels. Check here for more info and contact David Merrill at david.merrill@sierraclub.org for info on carpooling.
  • Last year, NorthWestern Energy filed a general electric rate case, the process through which utilities make changes to their rates and charges for their electricity customers. Its current proposal recommends changes to net metering customers that could drastically harm the solar industry here in Montana. Find out more from MREA here, and keep a lookout for opportunities to share your voice and demand a change.​

PicturePEAS Farm, Missoula
​Despite potential challenges, Andrew reminded us that now is still a good time to go solar if you can! We’ve got resources (including 2 new short videos!) HERE.

We’re so grateful for everyone who showed up to delve into these complicated issues with us at this last meetup. These conversations always end in an electric atmosphere (pun intended) with folks riled and ready to get stuff done. In addition to those topics discussed at the meetup, we need to give one more shoutout to an important event happening this week.​  Our community is currently in the midst of developing 
Missoula’s Downtown Master Plan, an exciting and meaningful process where community members have the opportunity to share their visions and hopes for the future of downtown Missoula. ​Some things we’re personally advocating for are more sustainable transportation infrastructure, energy-efficient buildings, climate resilient roofs, and more urban trees to combat the heat island effect. Again, check out our updated Advocacy page for more details on how you can get involved in-person, or share your comments and thoughts through this online form.
​​​
-Anna

1 Comment

Local Foods, Local Businesses, Local Climate Solutions

11/8/2018

1 Comment

 
At November’s monthly meetup, we tackled a big, daunting, but important bucket: sustainable economic development. What does that even mean? Good question. That’s where our conversation started!

Katie Deuel, Executive Director of Home ReSource, joined us to help facilitate the discussion. She and the HR team have done a lot of work around this topic over the years, and consider it part of their organizational mission to spur opportunities for sustainable business growth across the broader Missoula community. Katie asked us to consider what a sustainable economy would look like in Missoula. Ideas that people shared included:
  • Uses renewable electricity
  • Prioritizes achieving zero waste
  • Promotes local food and local self-reliance
  • Resilient!
  • Involves a circular economy where resources would not be extracted, used and then disposed of, but instead recovered, reused and recycled for other purposes
  • Natural resource use and carbon footprint is decoupled from economic growth; in other words, as our community grows in number and wealth, we maintain or even reduce our individual and collective carbon footprint/consumption/resource use. ​​
PictureThe Clark Fork Market
All of these ideas and more mentioned were great to consider, and we had a lot of new faces at the meeting to help spur some brainstorming. But jeez: with such big visions for a more economically sustainable Missoula, where do you even begin?

The short answer: we don’t know!  But we do know that we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. When it comes to climate change and the economy, there are lots of great resources nationally and in other communities that Missoula can draw on, in addition to the wisdom of our homegrown sustainable entities and enterprises.

Over the course of our conversation, three main sustainable economic development pathways seemed to emerge:

Programs and policies that recognize and incentivize existing local businesses and buildings to become more sustainable
  • Several great minds from the now-dormant Sustainable Business Council (SBC) joined our discussion and explained what the SBC had been all about. In addition to providing support and sustainability resources to its members, the SBC also educated Missoula businesses and consumers about the value of local purchasing. One of SBC’s most successful programs was its Buy Local Campaign during which the organization asked community members to pledge to make 10 percent of their food purchases from local sources.
  • We also heard from folks connected with BALLE, the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies. BALLE provides resources and support to communities developing their local economies in healthy, sustainable, and equitable ways. Dawn McGee, a BALLE board member, talked about how much of BALLE’s framework could be implemented in Missoula, again discussing the success of the organization’s local food and businesses campaigns.
  • While it would be awesome if the SBC is revived, in the meantime, one idea is to develop another local sustainable/climate-friendly “seal of approval” and/or certification process for local businesses and organizations. Climate Smart Missoula might serve as the home for this effort, but other entities could bring their expertise to help develop guidelines or certify member groups. Might we use the framework of “0-50-100” as a guide? (Zero Waste, 50% sustainable travel trips, and 100% clean energy.) Businesses that sought a 0-50-100 seal of approval could commit to taking certain steps under those three sustainability areas. Tell us what you think about this idea - funding, as usual, would be a challenge, but we do think this could be a really powerful tool to reduce our community’s carbon footprint.
PictureSolar panels atop the Front St. Parking Garage!
Strategies and policies to attract sustainable/climate-friendly businesses and industries to locate in Missoula
This is an interesting approach, another one that has tons of potential for Missoula. How might we attract businesses or industries that are compatible with our community’s short- and long-term climate and energy goals (and on the flipside, disincentivize those that are not, such as energy-intensive industries like cryptocurrency mining). The time seems ripe for more of an intentional conversation among “economic development” professionals and organizations - like Missoula Economic Partnership, Missoula Downtown Association, Destination Missoula and more - to think about how Missoula can become known for building the green, climate-friendly economy of the 21st century.

Policies and approaches to ensuring that expansion of our community’s physical infrastructure (e.g. residential and commercial buildings and services) happens sustainably
  • This pathway is obviously related closely to smart growth. (That’s the nature of our buckets, and of climate change in general - issues intersect in such interesting ways!) The recently adopted long-range Our Missoula Growth Plan does emphasize the importance of sustainability, but it’s not always clear what that looks like in practice.
  • Some communities have implemented Stretch Building Codes, ordinances that reward developers for exceeding the baseline building codes in terms of energy efficiency and green building. Several groups here have considered and even advocated for stretch codes, but they have yet to come into fruition - this could be a great option, especially since over half our community’s carbon footprint comes from residential and commercial building energy use!
  • The Missoula Redevelopment Agency may also offer incentives for sustainability when it comes to redevelopment of properties - we’d love to know more about their current policies and ways to boost climate-friendly development. In any case, revitalizing and increasing density in our urban core is certainly an important strategy for sustainable local growth.
​There are a lot more folks that we would like to have join this conversation going forward!

We unfortunately didn’t have time to draw up an entire plan. But we did discuss what has already been done and the clear need for a way to connect the sustainability efforts that are already happening in our community. A big bucket like sustainable economic development requires cooperation and partnerships between all facets of our community--including businesses both local and non-local, nonprofits, municipal agencies, and our creative community members. As we more forward with discussions about our city’s growth, it’s important to keep in mind something we all share: we all love Missoula, and we all want it to grow in a sustainable, forward-thinking way!

And on that note, come celebrate these developing partnerships and love for community with us at our Year 3 Celebration on December 6th. Details HERE. We hope to see you there!

-Abby & Anna
1 Comment

A City Walking, Biking, and Busing Forward

10/10/2018

1 Comment

 
As a former Midwesterner and a two-month-old Missoulian, I was excited to talk and connect with community members at Climate Smart’s Monthly meetup on transportation. As I began navigating my new home in pursuit of used furniture and cheap bulk foods, I was excited to see the level of accessibility Missoula provides (zero-fare buses, wow!) but also acknowledged ways it can improve (what’s up with the tiny walkway on the Higgins Bridge?). Our conversation on transportation this month echoed that feeling of hope and excitement at what has already been accomplished, as well as reminded all of us of what work we can still do to make our community more sustainable and healthy. ​
Picture
With a room full of experts, there’s so much to discuss with so little time. Much of our conversation focused on ways the city was (or should) be transitioning its streets into more walkable and bikeable avenues for the community. Missoula has been developing its public transportation infrastructure since the 1970’s, which luckily allows plenty of room for green development. Bob Giordano, the director of Free Cycles and the Missoula Institute for Sustainable Transportation, discussed the idea of “complete streets,” streets that are usable for all people, no matter their form of transportation or accessibility needs (cars, bikes, crosswalks, sidewalk ramps, etc.). He also talked about “road diets,” decreasing the number of lanes on a street, and how they provide benefits for all commuters, whether driving a car or riding a bike. He along with Aaron Wilson, a Transportation Planner with the City of Missoula, emphasized that we’ve done a lot to develop these types of infrastructure, but there are always ways we can improve.  ​

Giordano brought up many exciting opportunities for community engagement in our city’s transportation decisions. This fall, the city council will be voting on whether to shift 5th and 6th streets from a two-lane road to one, with a buffered bike lane. (Head here for more info.) This will increase bike and pedestrian safety without cutting down travel times for car drivers. The vote is happening at the council meeting at 7pm on Monday, December 3rd in City Council Chambers --feel empowered to come share your voice or simply be there for support! The issue will be heard in committee the previous Wednesday (11/28), and supporters would also be welcome there. Please email Bob directly if you have further questions about how to be involved - and we’ll also do our best to remind you of these opportunities for action.

Additionally, the first open community meeting of the year on the revitalization of the city’s
Downtown Master Plan is happening October 18th at 5:30 pm at the Wilma Theater. The master plan is a comprehensive strategy set to strengthen and invigorate Missoula’s downtown into the economic and cultural center of the city; it covers everything from housing and retail to transportation and parking. This will be a great opportunity to hear how downtown Missoula might be changing in the coming decades--come share your vision! If you want to get more involved in how transportation will look in the updated plan, consider joining the Transportation Focus Group starting in mid-October. Contact Bob Giordano at mist@strans.org for details.

Did you know that we are in the Top 10 list for biking accessibility in U.S. communities our size? How cool is that! And we’re not finished yet. As part of Missoula’s
Long Range Transportation Plan, the city has committed to an ambitious mode split by 2045 that would triple the number of bikers, walkers, and public transit users while cutting the number of drive-alone commuters by about 30%. Not only does this increase road safety and community health, but it also decreases the amount of greenhouse gas emissions our community is releasing into the atmosphere. Are you interested in shifting your commuter mode of travel but you don’t know how? Katherine Auge, Missoula in Motion’s program specialist, told us all about the organization’s exciting program, Way to Go! Missoula. By simply entering your starting and ending points on their website, you’ll be provided with information on all the different modes of transportation and routes you can use to safely arrive at your destination including distance, travel time, and the pounds of carbon that are emitted from your chosen method (hint: biking and walking emit zero!). This includes ride-sharing or carpooling opportunities. You can also participate in the organization’s Commuter Challenge to motivate those at your workplace to try a different mode of commuting to work every day.
PicturePhoto credit: Mountain Line
Not only do Missoulians bike, but we love our public transit. Ever since the Mountain Line Bus system went zero-fare in 2015, ridership has increased 70 percent! Vince Caristo, Mountain Line’s Project Management Specialist, filled us in on some of the exciting developments they are considering for the bus line. More expansive routes as well as buses running on Sundays were a few of the possibilities he mentioned. Mountain Line is currently strategizing to expand their services even further. Check out this recent article in the Missoula Current for more details on what Mountain Line’s future could look like.

The meetup made it clear that Missoula is passionate about transportation and accessibility. Not only does a diverse transportation mix lead to better environmental and community health, but it just as importantly provides options and amenities for low-income, disabled, and elderly community members. Providing better and safer transportation options for everyone is important for the prosperity of our beautiful city.

I was as excited as anyone about our conversation. I’m happy to be here in an engaged community with such ambitious goals for safety, sustainability, and health. Join us next month for a discussion on how to develop Missoula’s economic prosperity in a sustainable, equitable way. I know I’ll be there!

-Anna Weinberg, Energy and Climate Educator


1 Comment

Water + Climate: Cool and Crazy Connections

8/6/2018

0 Comments

 
PictureSummer smoky skies along the Clark Fork in Missoula. (Photo: Abby Huseth)
Call me biased, but our monthly meetups are pretty great.  I think you’d be hard pressed to find a more interesting and wide-ranging conversation anywhere in town. Where else can you talk about pumped hydro energy storage technology, the virtues of lentil farming, the perils of human urine, and industrial-scale composting, all in the span of an hour and a half?

If you couldn’t tell, the common thread running through these subjects is water – more specifically, the implications of climate change when it comes to our rivers, our drinking water, and our wastewater. That was the theme on tap for our August 2, 2018 monthly meetup - here's a recap of our conversation.

Our Rivers
Alex and Katie from the Clark Fork Coalition joined us to talk about what they’re seeing along the Clark Fork, here in town but also throughout our larger watershed. Alex was one of the authors of the Montana Climate Assessment, so he knows his stuff. CFC measures water all over the river, and this year there was a record snowpack in the upper Clark Fork, and a fairly wet spring. But this July was also the second driest on record – which, sure enough, was what the MT Climate Assessment predicted. Despite this lack of rainfall, we’re still seeing decent flow levels and relatively cooler water temperatures all along the Clark Fork because of something you might not have guessed: groundwater. In fact, we learned that 90% (!) of a watershed’s waterflow is actually underground. Whoa. So despite the trend of more spring precipitation and longer droughts in our region, the snowpack and rain may end up boosting the “natural storage” capacity of the watershed.  That might sound good, but we’re definitely not out of the woods climate-wise when it comes to our rivers. Hotter temperatures mean higher rates of evapotranspiration, thus plants need more water to grow. More study is needed on what this means for the long-term evolution of our forest ecology.

Alex reminded us that 95% of our state’s water use is due to agriculture. This is where we wade into the complicated realm of water rights and Helena lobbying interests, and then wade right back out again, because we could really get stuck there. Suffice to say, even when a rancher wants to return their water right to in-stream, it’s super hard to do. And most of the agriculture in our state is low-value commodity ag, so it’s hard to economically justify efforts to conserve water. What we could really use is more lentils! No, seriously – legumes and other dry-farmed products are a growing sector of Montana agriculture, which is pretty cool, and water smart. (Check out the Lentil Underground!)  

Ok, one last interesting issue at the nexus of water and climate that I hadn’t considered before. Katie from CFC talked about their recent studies on recreation on the Clark Fork river. As we experience more heat waves during the summer, more and more people are using the river to cool down. On one hand, dunking in the river is better than cranking the A/C. But in addition to bumper-to-bumper tube traffic on certain sections of the river, more river recreators means streambank erosion, more trash, and an overabundance of human urine. Yep. So it’s possible that we might we need more official river access points…with port-a-pottys. Thanks, climate change!

Missoula Water and our Amazing Aquifer
Ok, so if 95% of our state’s water use is related to ag, does the other 5% matter? Someone was brave enough to ask this, and our short answer is yes! (Bet you knew we’d say that!) This is where we got into water+climate issues closer to home – like, literally in our homes. With the City’s still fairly recent purchase of Missoula Water, opportunities abound for conservation of both water and the energy footprint associated with our water system. We don’t have numbers for what that energy footprint looks like (yet!), but it’s safe to assume it takes considerable energy to pump water from our aquifer to homes and businesses, and then clean it at our wastewater treatment plant. Transitioning Missoula to 100% clean electricity would certainly be one way to shrink our water system’s energy footprint (that’s a topic for another time – more soon…). Water is also connected to clean energy in a different way – it’s being used as a sort of battery storage that can balance the intermittent nature of renewables. But since, for now, turning on our taps still means using fossil fuels, we can all take steps to be smarter about water use at home. (We’ve got a few tips on how to cut back.) 
Picture
Water your trees! (Feel free to use a hose.)
Avoiding overwatering outdoors is important too (those subdivided ranchettes with giant lawns don’t help...), but by all means keep your veggie patch green and water your trees - we need them to keep our city cool! If you’ve ever wondered about graywater systems (where water from sinks and laundry is recycled, either to flush toilets or for irrigation), they are allowed here but you’ll want to read up on the rules and regulations.
PictureA primary treatment pond at the WWTP where most of the bio-waste settles before it is dewatered and composted. (Photo: Mattie Lehman)
Our Wastewater Treatment Plant Rocks!
So, what about that last piece of the water+energy puzzle – the treatment of our sewage and wastewater? Turns out, our humble little municipal wastewater treatment plant is light years ahead of most facilities around the country! Our intern Mattie shared what she recently learned on a tour, which was that there’s resource recovery happening with all three different waste streams created by the plant: the bio-solids (solid waste), the effluent (liquid waste), and methane gas. The City-owned Garden City Compost, right next door, accepts treated bio-solids, which are then turned into compost that’s available for sale, as well as used on the neighboring plantation of poplar trees. The poplar plantation is also a destination for a large volume of the effluent. The trees and soil filter the effluent before it returns to the aquifer, and the nutrients benefit the fast-growing trees, which can then be harvested in succession and sold for wood products. And if that wasn’t enough, the wastewater treatment plant also recently put a new methane cogeneration plant online. This dual technology recovers lost heat as well as generates electricity from the recaptured methane – covering 25% of the plant’s usage at peak! All of these sustainable elements reduce the impact of the resource-intensive process needed to get wastewater to meet the high standards for discharge back into the river, and mean that ultimately less has to get discharged. (Mattie's been working on a "Storymap" project highlighting this story as well as other "energy stories" around town - we're looking forward to sharing her great work soon. In the meantime, check out this handy infographic on the WWTP resource recovery efforts that she created.)

Water, Climate, and Missoula’s Future
As our climate changes and our population here grows, keeping our rivers cool and plentiful for fish and humans, and conserving water and the energy embedded in it will be more and more critical. We’re grateful for the visionary and hard work of the Clark Fork Coalition, our Wastewater Treatment Plant staff, Missoula Water, Garden City Compost, and so many more great organizations that maintain this resource which is so important to our identity as Missoulians as well as to building climate resilience for a hotter, drier future that is already here.
​
Join us next month for our September meetup on Renewable Energy! Thursday, September 6th, 5-7pm at Imagine Nation as usual. Snacks, tasty beverages, and good conversation guaranteed! 

-Abby Huseth

0 Comments

Manufactured Home Rehab Project- a Fair, Design Charrette and more!

6/21/2018

1 Comment

 
​Last October, I started my 11 month journey as an AmeriCorps Energy Corps service member with Climate Smart Missoula. I was thrilled to get started on my primary project, developing a pilot weatherization program aimed at enhancing energy efficiency, health and safety of manufactured homes, with an emphasis on homes built before the 1976 federal building code. I was surprised to learn that there are 6,000 manufactured homes in Missoula, and about half of them were built before this time. An estimated 1200 of these homes could be lost by 2025 due to deteriorating conditions and issues with moving them. To address and help preserve community members' homes, Climate Smart has partnered with NeighborWorks Montana, the Human Resource Council,  and Home ReSource (full disclosure Climate Smart is in awe of our partner organizations). We're now a Team, and our Team has done a lot to set ourselves up for success: defining the scope of our efforts, building community awareness, engaging  stakeholders, and providing resources directly to residents. I’m proud of our accomplishments. 

I’ll share a few examples of the work we’ve done this year and upcoming efforts:
Picture
Resource Fair
​
This Spring, ​our Team hosted the first ever Manufactured Home Resource Fair. Our goal: provide resources for manufactured home residents around Home Repair, Weatherization, Financing, Legal Counseling and Health.
​

Along with our Team,  a handful of local organizations joined. MUD co-hosted at their site.  The National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) generously donated “light weatherization materials”. We gave away LED lights, weather-stripping, window insulation kits, and water pipe insulation. Climate Smart provided informational pamphlets on the energy savings associated with each. These materials can benefit manufactured homes in particular because upgrades are especially cost-effective, given rates of heat loss and wasted energy.  Participants were thrilled with what they received, and we have more left to give out!  We're planning mini “pop up” fairs in manufactured home communities in July and August to provide resources directly to residents.

​To assist with financial counseling, 
HomeWord provided materials on their financial education program that can help residents looking to save for improvements on their homes.  MoFi provided information on their small dollar loan program, a low interest loan specifically for manufactured home repairs. as did the Missoula Federal Credit Union.  Additionally, Montana Legal Services offered legal counseling resources. 

Picture
For help with home repair, MUD offered discounts to their “Tool Library” where folks can access tools for home repair projects. Home ReSource provided coupons for their store which has a plethora of hardware, tools, and home repair materials.  Other groups shared assistance programs.

The goal of the Fair was to support residents as they work to improve the safety, health, energy efficiency, livability and longevity of their homes, and ultimately to preserve existing affordable housing. Manufactured housing, in fact, represents the largest supply of unsubsidized affordable housing in the country. I was grateful for the all the organizations that came out and for the opportunity to help coordinate this effort.  I'm hopeful for more of these Resource Fairs in the future! ​​

Picture
Design Charette
We hosted a “design charrette” in February aimed at building community awareness, engaging key stakeholders and generating designs for our energy retrofit.  We invited local builders, architects, weatherization professionals and manufactured home residents to design models of skirting that fir our project goals: energy efficiency, health and comfort. We sought improvements that were long lasting, safe and affordable. We split into teams and, working together, successfully generated new and creative ideas for improvements in this sector which we're excited to implement. 
​
​During the event, I interacted with homeowners who'd received weatherization services from the Human Resource Council (HRC) and gained a sense of the profound effect an energy retrofit can have on an individual's life. A mobile home resident commented that the weatherization work the HRC recently did allowed her to be comfortable and was so thankful that her house “wasn’t cold in the winter anymore”.  She also mentioned saving nearly $50/month on utility costs. Speaking to residents personally about the benefits of weatherization was really encouraging. The models created at the design charrette could improve many community members’ lives, making their homes more energy efficient, comfortable, ​ and healthy.  ​Bringing experts to the table was incredibly beneficial, and we plan to use the re-skirting ideas on manufactured homes in July and August. 

Re-skirting Five Manufactured Homes 
After all this good work, our Team is now poised to work on skirting replacements for 5 homes in the Missoula area and are in the process of creating a “design refine team”. This team will visit five homes and refine the "charrette" skirting designs based on the specifications of the home and wishes of the homeowner. If you have building, architecture or weatherization experience and are interested in helping with our skirting repair model, please reach out to me, Max.

Stay tuned, and check for updates on the Home Rehab section of our web page. 

​- Max Longo, 
Energy and Climate Coordinator

1 Comment

Being Proactive: Climate, Health, Nurses, and Us

6/8/2018

0 Comments

 
PictureThe amazing Beth Schenk at our meetup!
Late last August I eagerly packed my things while profusely sweating in the hot and humid climate of northern Indiana. I naively looked forward to the cooler, drier weather of my new home in Missoula where I would be attending graduate school. Instead I arrived to a hot, smoke filled valley. Looking out my window on one of my first morning I mistook the smoke for a beautiful morning fog.
​

Since then I have heard many horror stories of the impacts of wildfire smoke on physical and mental health. I had a professor who skyped in from Seattle because she was so sick she couldn’t be in Missoula. A parent told me their child could not play outside for nearly two months. While a sort of post-traumatic stress may keep wildfire smoke at the forefront of Missoulian minds, this is just one example of how climate change and community health are related.

At Thursday night’s monthly meetup covering the topic of health and climate, participants helped generate a list of what we knew about the possible global health consequences of climate change. Here are some of the things we came up with:
  • Heat related illness
  • Food insecurity
  • Outdoor occupational hazards
  • Air quality related illnesses due to smoke and worsened smog (related to ozone)
  • Changed disease vectors
  • Disease and sanitation issues due to overcrowding
  • Mental health consequences

A recurring theme throughout the night’s discussion centered on how we define vulnerable populations. In the context of climate and health, vulnerable populations have traditionally been defined as the young and elderly. Several participants called for outdoor workers to be included in this definition as they face numerous occupational hazards. Think local farmers and highway workers.

Let’s Be Proactive
Thankfully, as the meetup’s title “Healthy Community and Summer Smart” suggests, Thursday night’s discussion was not all doom and gloom. Nurse scientist, St. Patrick Hospital’s sustainability coordinator, and Climate Smart executive team member Beth Schenk spoke with us about some of the exciting efforts she, the hospital, and local health researchers are making to create a healthier community. Amy added to this proactive message by discussing some of Climate Smart’s “Summer Smart” work.

Nurses: The New Climate Messengers
Beth mentioned a few of the efforts she has been involved with both nationally and around Missoula:
  • Nurses Climate Challenge: A project of Health Care without Harm and the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, the goal of the Nurses Climate Challenge is to, “mobilize nurses across the country to educate a total of 5,000 of their colleagues about the impacts of climate change on human health.” To find out more or sign up to get involved visit their website. 
  • Nurses Climate Survey: Drawing on the long-term survey model of Yale’s Program on Climate Change and George Mason’s Center for Climate Change Communication (find more here), Dr. Schenk and colleagues have developed a similar survey to study the climate attitudes of nurses. Nurses are considered some of the most trusted voices in the United States and number over 4 million making them an important demographic. If you or someone you know is a nurse, the survey is ongoing and can be found  here. 
  • Anesthesia and Greenhouse Gas Emissions: An expert in anesthesia and greenhouse gas reduction will soon be visiting St. Patrick Hospital to meet with doctors about best practices for patient care, cost reduction, and greenhouse gas emissions. The gases used for anesthesia can be far more harmful than carbon dioxide emissions and account for an estimated 5% of the carbon footprint of our healthcare system. Keep your eyes out for a possible article in the Missoula Current about this issue, but for now, find this statistic and more information here. at . For more information about actions taken by St. Patrick Hospital check out Beth’s recent contribution to the Sustainable Missoula column.
  • Impacts of Long-Term, Chronic Smoke Exposure: Curtis Noonan, an environmental epidemiologist at the University of Montana, received grant funding for new research into the long-term impacts of smoke exposure. We generally understand short-term impacts, but lack much needed science on long-term risks. 
  • Nurses for Healthy Environments Podcast: For this podcast Beth interviews fellow nursing and environmental health leaders about their inspirations and work. Check it out wherever you get your podcasts. Further description and a link to episodes can be found here. 

More local efforts
Check out our “Summer Smart” tab for information about some of our health and climate efforts. Here are a few highlights:
  • HEPA Air Filters: Check out our educational materials and consider supporting our Summer 2018 efforts to distribute free filters to vulnerable populations. 
  • Shade Shelters: In 2017 we built a shade shelter and have another in the works for this summer. 
  • Tree Cover: Climate Smart partners with Trees for Missoula to advance our goals of increasing tree cover to act as a carbon sink and natural cooling mechanism. Consider volunteering this summer as they conduct an extensive and needed tree inventory. 

Since August I have come a long way from mistaking smoke for fog. As a new member of the Climate Smart team, I am excited to continue learning about the local effects of climate change and what we can do here in our own community. I found the proactive message of Thursday’s discussion an inspirational launch point as I dive into the world of climate change work this summer.

- Mattie Lehman, Intern and UM Brainerd Fellow


Picture
0 Comments
<<Previous
Forward>>

    Authors

    Abby Huseth
    ​Amy Cilimburg
    Caroline Lauer
    Hailey Jorgensen
    ​Terri Nichols
    ​Max Longo
    ​Mattie Lehman
    Anna Weinberg

    Archives

    August 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016

    Categories

    All
    Bicycling
    Clean Energy
    Climate Change
    Climate Resiliency
    Community
    DearTomorrow
    Earth Day
    Energy Efficiency
    Food Systems
    Forestry
    Health
    Heat
    Local Food And Agriculture
    Monthly Meetups
    Policy
    Recycling
    Renewable Energy
    Shade
    Smart Growth
    Solar
    Summer Smart
    Transportation
    Trees
    Urban Forests
    Volunteer Opportunities
    Water
    Zero Waste

    RSS Feed

Connect with us! 

Picture
Picture
Picture

Sign Up For Our E-News

* indicates required