WEEK 13 - Planning For Sustainability

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/related/111757

Other states eclipse Arizona's efforts to lure solar industry

This article discusses the state initiatives taken to entice solar companies to locate in their states. Located in the Sonoran Desert, Arizona has an opportunity to capitalize on their natural habitat including large amounts of sunlight. As Wheeler states, “For the purposes of sustainability planning, state or provincial governments often have key roles to play in overseeing land use planning, transportation systems, environmental protection, equity and the formation of municipal governments” (Wheeler, 125). State governments play a very important role in implementation of initiatives which aid the greater picture of sustainability. For example, the Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) that have been initiated in 24 states, are renewable energy goals set for states. Arizona has an RPS goal of 15% by the year 2025. Yet, Arizona has lost to the competition of other states in the battle to gain solar manufacturers. Most competition for the solar industry comes from other western states. Some of which have used tax incentives to lure the solar industry base to their state. “Oregon, for instance, offers a 50 percent tax credit to pay construction costs for renewable-energy equipment manufacturers. Development officials say it has helped them land seven international solar manufacturers in two years. Most of those companies had considered coming to Arizona.” In addition, New Mexico has provided tax benefits in addition to reimbursement for job training, and aid in infrastructure needs. "When I was in Phoenix, we didn't consider New Mexico competition," said Jim Colson, a former economic-development official for New Mexico, Glendale and the Greater Phoenix Economic Council. "That has shifted. Now, New Mexico doesn't consider Phoenix competition."

Phoenix has until now relied on climate and population growth to drive industry. Yet, their lack of incentives and high property taxes has veered renewable energy companies away from Arizona. Sen. Barbara Leff, from Paradise Valley mentions, "If you're a company and you are trying to decide what state to move to, and some states are embracing you with open arms and you've got Arizona saying, 'We are not doing anything,' which one are you going to pick?"

Due to the new administration making steps to engage the environmental realm with the economic stimulus package has brought the alternative energy industries to a new arena. Yet, some companies tend to locate near their industry hubs. Arizona, needs to make a hard and steady attempt to become one of the hubs, or we may lose out on these high-paying manufacturing jobs. The Senate Bill 1403, is currently in the Arizona Senate seeks to bring incentives to solar companies to locate in Arizona. This includes “a 10% income-tax credit on capital investment which would be paid out over 5 years”. The incentives are no where close to as striking as the Oregon Tax Credits. Yet, it also looks at the workers benefits. The company must pay 80% of premiums and provide health care coverage to its employees. In addition, a majority of jobs must pay 25 percent more than the median wage in the state.

Peter Green, president and chief executive of Advent Solar in Albuquerque and a former executive with ON Semiconductor in Phoenix, does not seem optimistic. He agrees that even if the tax-incentives bill passes, the state lacks the strong political backing, the money for sweeteners such as infrastructure improvements, and the word-of-mouth industry buzz that help foster a solar industry.

The issue of increased solar energy consumption and thus a larger solar industry job force can be addressed at both a federal and city level. The federal level could create a national mandate of increased solar consumption. However, at the State level, as Wheeler mentions “certain relatively progressive states, or states with particularly serious problems, can at times go much further than a national government in developing policy and programs” (125) The city level could also create policies and programs for the energy crisis. In the case of solar energy, a municipality may have better luck at gaining residents’ support for environmental stewardship in the form of renewable energy sources. Efforts such as creating environmental organizations and groups at the city level will gain both knowledge and enthusiasm for solar projects. Although municipalities have the opportunity to create policies and programs more generally cater towards their communities’ circumstances, State policies and programs can affect a larger amount of people.

I believe that in this case, the State level is has a better chance of having a larger effect on the increase of renewable energy. The city level can only do so much, but the state level can aid in luring multiple renewable energy companies to the state. This would in turn, aid in economic restructuring and a new possible vision of the state. Although the State governments should create the framework for the future of renewable energy, the local level should work pro-actively to connect and add to the policies and programs set out by the state. With this in mind, the State level should build the framework while the local level can add programs to support the framework. Once again, education at the local level can gain support and enthusiasm for topics such as renewable energy sources.

Week 12 - Tools for Sustainability Planning

How Green is My Orange?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/business/22pepsi.html

This article falls under the category, “Tools for Sustainability Planning-Ecological Footprint Analysis”. Yet, it also relates to the International Planning Issue of Global Warming. The tool of a measuring a carbon footprint, finds the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the ozone by producing a product, in this case orange juice. This tool can help to address the depletion of the Earth’s ozone layer while giving businesses a simple measurement of carbon dioxide emissions that they can attempt to reduce. As Bryan Lembke mentions, “If you don’t measure it, you can’t improve it.”. Wheeler points out that “Many key elements of urban sustainability, especially involving equity, livability, and social well-being are virtually impossible to incorporate into such a quantitative model.” However, these quantitative models are tools to give people a visual understanding of the affects that they have on the planet.

Within the article, author Andrew Martin describes that the company PepsiCo has done a carbon footprint analysis on Orange Juice. PepsiCo hired professionals to measure emissions from the orange juice processing behaviors; such as the factory work and transportation of the juice. All companies are affected by this type of process. Once one company promotes a low-carbon product, a trend may occur where all companies will have to also address their carbon output. “As public concern grows about the fate of the planet, companies will find themselves under pressure to perform such calculations”


Wheeler mentions “the usefulness of such statistics is questionable. What does one do with such figures?”(95). Although talking about the ecological footprint, the carbon footprint can also be related. The calculations “can become tremendously complex spreadsheet exercises.” Instead of finding the equivalent amount of land that would be required to produce resources, the carbon footprint finds the about of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere when producing a product. Each footprint gives humans a measurable quantity that they are able to visualize. The findings of PepsiCo was “the equivalent of 3.75 pounds of carbon dioxide are emitted to the atmosphere for each half-gallon carton of orange juice”

Wheeler reveals that the footprint analysis “seems to be a limited sustainability planning tool with applications more useful in public education than in specific policy making”(95). In my mind, education is still a powerful tool for sustainability, the more we know about our effects on the planet and ozone. This knowledge may be a key in providing people with enthusiasm and encouragement to improve our destructive habits. These tools may result in only knowledge about how each action affects the environment. The results may be action to mitigate the impact, even if these actions seem small, they still make a difference.






Article 2
Europe Wants U.S. to Join Carbon Trading Market
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/24/business/worldbusiness/24greenhouse.html

4-6 paragraph analysis of the sustainability issue that is outlined in the article.

This article falls under the category of “International Planning Issues”. Wheeler mentions that “Sustainability issues at an international scale are numerous and many by now well known”(108). Global warming is one of the areas where international agreements have been made to jointly combat the problem. In this article by James Kantar, it is announced that “the European Commission will call on the United States to create a trans-Atlantic system of carbon trading to limit greenhouse gas emissions and to press for the establishment of similar markets in developed countries”.

Wheeler describes the prior international agreements including the Kyoto Accords, surrounding global warming as “one area in which the world’s nations and other institutions can be said to be planning jointly.” However, there has not been much success from these international agreements such as the Kyoto Accords. In 2000, George W. Bush renounced any affiliation to the agreement in the Kyoto Accords. Other nations such as Germany have reduced emissions close to the Kyoto target. The United States have unfortunately not held up their end of the bargain. In 2000, “the US was 14.2 percent above the 1990 carbon dioxide emissions. Adding the United States to the list countries that have actively tried to reduce emissions will be a powerful tool for globalization of the fight against global warming.

In the article mentioned, Kantar talks about a climate treaty that will be discussed in Copenhagen this December. This treaty will be presented to take place of the Kyoto protocol which first phase will expire in 2012. A “strategic bilateral partnership with the United States, to create a trans-Atlantic carbon market” is at the heart of this new treaty.
Kantar also mentions that past efforts to gain global action on climate change have been hindered mostly because of the United States insisting on emission limits for countries such as China and India. Those countries believed that they had the right to improve their standard of living by industrialization (108). To create this central carbon market, the United States involvement is critical. However, this article mentions the debate on adopting market based system approaches or implementing a tax to limit gases that impose a threat on the ozone. The Obama administration must be willing to accept this treaty and form an international market based system approach or else this treaty will not be effective. To fight global warming effectively, it must be a global effort. It is unfortunate that the Kyoto agreement did not set targets for developing nations. However, will a global effort, this problem will can be addressed more thoroughly. The global warming challenge presented in this article is only one sustainability subject that should be addressed internationally. Wheeler also mentions that issues such as loss of biodiversity, depletion of fossil fuels, and other nonrenewable resources, damage to the Earth’s oceans, overpopulation, global inequities, and various forms of violence and welfare should also be at the top of the agenda (108).

Week 11: Sustainability

1. How do you believe sustainability should be defined for policy-making?

Stephen Wheeler mentions in his book, Planning for Sustainability, that the term sustainability has become “…one of those inevitable expressions that so neatly encapsulate what many people are thinking that it quickly becomes ubiquitous. Yet the conceptual roots of the term sustainability go far deeper and have to do with the evolution of human attitudes towards the environment within Western culture” (19). In addition he mentions that “ most sustainability advocates throw up their hands when faced with the definition question and fall back on the Brundtland formulation”(24) The Brundtland Commission defines sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”(24). This definition is vague when it comes to policy making. It tends to address both weak sustainability and strong sustainability without defining how to meet the needs of the future. My view is that sustainability needs to be redefined in terms of policy-making to incorporate meeting criteria needed to create a more sustainable world today, while also being able to alter policies for the betterment of future. Because policy making for the future is a difficult task to gain popularity votes, the definition of sustainability must address both generations while looking deeply at our goals for the present generation. In my mind, sustainability for policy making should be defined as creating and maintaining holistic conditions that address the goal of social, economic, and environmental equity of today while also addressing possible future needs to the best of our scientific knowledge.

2. What are the difficulties associated with making sustainability a policy goal?

As Solow mentions “Sustainability is a problem precisely because each of us knows or realizes that we can profit at the expense of the future rather than at the expense of our contemporaries and the environment” (183). With the same view as Solow, it is difficult to get citizens and voters to act voluntarily on something that they will probably not see results of in their lifetime. As a policy goal, one difficulty is encouraging people with selfish mindsets to invest with time, money and energy into a possible outcome in a formless future. With the cluster of different values and outlooks on sustainability, the difficulty relies in establishing one goal, one focus that all citizens agree upon. This is echoed by the many definitions of sustainability presented in Planning for Sustainability, by Wheeler. How can citizens agree on sustainability as a policy goal, if we cannot agree on one definition of the term sustainability

3. If you had to design a practical framework to help a state environmental agency(e.g. Arizona Department of Environmental Quality) achieve ecological, economic and social sustainability, what would that framework look like? A. For example, how would you include citizens? How would you include experts? Which experts would you include?

Designing a practical framework to help a state agency can be complex. A proportional goal of environmental values, social values and economic values must be in sight when developing such a framework. To start I would appoint a panel of experts to address the current state problems. These experts would be a mix of government officials, as well as scientific, economic, environmental, and social professionals. With a motley mix of professionals a thorough understanding of each problem can be clarified. For each problem, education must be set in place. Without knowledge equity in the social realm will be completely lost. In addition, the panel should hold frequent meetings to gain insight from surrounding communities and other professionals about the issues at hand. With the integration of experts and the community, environmental problems will be addressed more carefully without a tendency to lean towards one realm or another. Thus, the environment, economy and social realms will all benefit from this framework.

4. Voters and politicians often want short term results, but many argue that sustainable development calls for a long-term policy plan. How do we take the long term view that sustainable development requires in this political environment?

According to Solow, our future is “inevitably vague”. We cannot determine the technological capacities, or future values of the next generations, thus planning for the future is a difficult task. It is human nature to act first for our own survival. Thus, the short term policies that address air quality, health issues, and economic certainties are often at the forefront of our minds as voters and politicians. However, has become apparent that our actions of today will greatly affect future generations. By degrading the environment for economic gains, our future for humanity is appearing grim. In order to accommodate both generations in our policy plans, we must begin with holistic short term needs which voters will hold as important values, while also leaving flexibility to address future needs. A holistic approach to short term planning will address the problems of today while also addressing the social, economic, and environmental implications that it will cause in the future.