Sept. 26, 2007

Wynn Says Austin Will Take Lead

in Fight Against Global Warming

By Ashley Warren

The Austin community has an urgent responsibility to fight global warming, said the city’s mayor to a packed crowd at the McCombs School of Business Sept. 21.
 
Mayor Will Wynn gave a slideshow presentation, followed by a question and answer session with the audience, as part of the school’s Sustainability and Business Speaker Series. 
 
Wynn summarized global warming, acknowledging that the main debate surrounding the issue relates to the degree of human involvement.
 
What is clear, Wynn said, is that the earth is heating at an increasing rate.
 
“In fact, 21 of the 22 hottest years ever recorded have happened in the last 25 years,” he said. “And 2005 and 2006 both set all-time records for high temperatures worldwide. Folks, I’m sorry, but it’s not supposed to be 120 degrees in Fargo, North Dakota, like it was last July.”  (Continued below.)

Wynn explained various effects of global warming, including the presence of disease-carrying creatures, the melting and moving of ice and the growing severity of storms.
 
The mayor noted that Americans contribute to, but more importantly, can help solve the problem. Per capita, the U.S. causes more than 30 percent of greenhouse gases, despite constituting less than 5 percent of the world’s population, he said.
 
“As Americans and Texans, it’s time that we take responsibility for our big, big part of the problem,” he said.
 
The Austin Climate Protection Plan will make Austin a national leader among cities in the fight against global warming, he said.
 
Under this plan, Wynn has set up one of the most aggressive greenhouse gas reduction and clean energy strategies in the nation.
 
Since 70 percent of energy consumed is in homes and offices, the city’s primary strategies will focus on improving efficiency in this area.
 
“We are going to offset and/or eliminate all greenhouse gas production by 2020,” he said.
 
Also, all City of Austin facilities will be powered with renewable energy by 2012, though the mayor said he intends for that to happen by 2009.
 
Wynn wants to enhance another part of the plan, the Green Building Program, working with architects, builders and realtors in the process. “We, in Austin, are going to have the most efficient—or aggressive, as some people would call it—building codes to reduce energy consumption exactly where we use it—in our homes and offices,” he said.  
 
In the program, existing buildings will have mandatory energy-efficient upgrades at the point of sale, providing many solutions before buyers ever move into the homes.
 
Energy consumed during transportation is another issue the city hopes to address, but Wynn said it can not be fixed at this time.
 
Instead, Wynn promotes the construction of centrally-located mixed use buildings that have both living areas and retail space where citizens can live, work and socialize within a short radius. Developments of this kind are being built downtown, in the university’s West Campus neighborhood and at the Robert Mueller Municipal Airport site.
 
Of course, the mayor has to set an example. He lives in an energy-efficient condo downtown and walks to work every day. Wynn also has posted his personal electric bills on the city’s Web site, showing that 16 of the last 20 totaled less than $75 each month and proving that the bill for a 2,500 square foot home can be economical. 
 
His message is clear: Keep your money in your pocket, don’t give it to the government in gas taxes and you save the planet.  
 
Wynn believes that message resonates in Austin because citizens understand, take responsibility and feel a moral obligation to act. “We should be leading the way,” he said, later adding, “Having The University of Texas in the middle of our urban core is the most valuable asset this city has and will ever have.” 
 
The mayor hopes that Austinites will follow the “Go Neutral” Plan, ideally eliminating their carbon footprints. Simple actions like weatherizing homes, conserving water, inflating tires properly, buying local, driving less and walking or biking more can have positive rippling effects, he said. 
 
“These are fun and obvious, hippy things to do,” he joked. “Spread the word.”

 

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