Climate action starts here

The war against climate change has many battlefronts in South Sound, from Olympia City Hall to the campus of The Evergreen State College to two homes on Rogers Street in west Olympia.

Frustrated by years of inaction by the federal government to combat global warming, citizen groups, families, local governments and the Western states all have mounted their own, diffuse campaigns to tackle what most agree is the most urgent challenge facing mankind.

"It's the overarching issue facing the world today," said state Sen. Karen Fraser, D-­Thurston County.

This year, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued its latest and most sobering report, stating that climate change from carbon dioxide buildup in the atmosphere already is occurring, warming the Earth, causing sea-level rise, threatening the dislocation of hundreds of millions of people, triggering massive water shortages and sending 30 percent or more of the world's plants and animals to extinction.

The inevitable human suffering from global warming only will grow worse if carbon emissions from fossil fuels and other sources aren't stabilized by 2015 and reduced after that, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning climate-change panel said.

It's difficult to fight back and maintain optimism in the face of such overwhelming predictions, said state Sen. Ken Jacobsen, D-Seattle, who describes himself as suffering from eco-depression.

However, a look around South Sound reveals people, local governments and institutions making a difference. For example:

• The city of Olympia reached a milestone last year with its city operations, reducing its carbon dioxide emissions to below 1990 levels, largely the result of decisions to burn biodiesel fuel in city vehicles and buy all green power from Puget Sound Energy.

By the end of 2007, CO2 emissions from the city were about 1,600 tons, compared with 2,357 tons in 2000.

"The city of Olympia is a leader in the region," said Amy Shatzkin of the Seattle-based nonprofit group Local Governments for Sustainability.

• The Evergreen State College has launched a number of programs to generate zero waste and achieve no net greenhouse emissions by 2020. Students there voted to add a surcharge to their tuition to ensure the campus is powered by renewable-energy supplies.

• As of July, more than 3,200 residential and commercial customers of PSE purchased green power in the utility's Western Washington service territory. Olympia had the second-largest number of customers purchasing green power; Bellingham had the most.

• The Olympia headquarters built last year by Washington Public Utility Districts Association has the largest rooftop array of solar panels in the state — 160 — producing enough electricity to more than meet the building's daytime needs.

The public utility office building on Union Avenue also is the first in the state to achieve the highest green building certification — platinum — offered by the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).

• Jerry Parker and Mary Ann Firmin recently moved into a new home on Rogers Street that they intend to nominate as the first residential building in the state to receive LEED certification. It's energy-efficient, built from environmentally friendly materials and within walking distance of downtown, the Garfield Nature Trail and the Olympia Food Co-op.

All of these features, plus a solar hot water system, will reduce the couple's carbon footprint, which is a measure of greenhouse gases that a family, city or nation contributes to the atmosphere.

"It's exciting; it's kind of like playing a game to see how much you can reduce your carbon footprint and energy use," said Parker, a retired state Department of Ecology employee.

• A few blocks away, on Rogers Street, Joe and Kathy Lambrix have an older home and a major commitment to curbing their greenhouse-gas emissions. They drive two all-electric vehicles. They generate about one-third of their home's electricity with a solar-power system they installed in 2006; they plan to expand it before the end of the year.

They also started a nonprofit group called Plug In Olympia with the goal of creating a national infrastructure of plug-in stations for electric vehicles.

"It just burns me up what we've done to the environment," Lambrix, an Intercity Transit bus driver, said of his personal fight to reverse global warming.

Green economy

In Washington, efforts are under way to build a new green energy economy that would add about 25,000 jobs by 2020, a threefold increase from where the green energy sector stands today.

One of the newest members of the green-energy field is Kirk Haffner, who started a business called South Sound Solar in April.

The former teacher and customer-service manager ventured into the business of installing solar power and solar hot-water systems at a time when it still wasn't clear whether Congress was going to renew a $2,000 federal income tax credit for new solar installations.

Congress ended up folding the income tax credit into the $700 billion economic-recovery package it passed last month. The 30 percent credit no longer is capped at $2,000.

Haffner said his customers, who include Parker and Firmin, are driven by a desire to reduce their carbon footprints and lower their energy bills.

"I'm staying in business and looking to add another employee," Haffner said.

Also new to the South Sound climate-change battle is the nonprofit Climate Action Group, which has formed to fight climate change at the local level.

With a focus on public outreach, the group will host lectures and workshops from 7 to 9 p.m. the second Monday of each month at the MIXX96 meeting room, 119 Washington St., Olympia.

One of its members is Gita Moulton, an Olympia grandmother and community activist for 40 years.

"Climate change is the latest and greatest environmental crisis," she said. "When you have grandchildren, what could be more important?"

John Dodge covers the environment and energy for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-5444 or jdodge@theolympian.com.