Author Archives: Thad Curtz

F4 – Reduce food packaging F4.1 Drink tap water According the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Cooler Smarter: Practical Steps for Low-Carbon Living, beverages such as soda, sports drinks, and bottled water account for roughly seven percent of the average American’s … Continue reading →

F3: Local food Research on food miles and food choices has concluded that transportation as a whole is only responsible for 11% of the life cycle emissions of US food, and transportation from producer to retail stores only accounts for … Continue reading →

A1.4 Water use Develop an incentive program (ex. technical assistance) to improve the efficiency of agriculture irrigation systems. Identify grant funding. Currently, Olympia offers a non-tiered drinking water rate of $2.63/ccf in the winter and $7.73 in the summer for … Continue reading →

A2.4 Soil carbon research Fund/encourage regional soil carbon sequestration research to encourage adoption of region-specific conservation farming practices that store carbon. The USDA’s Northwest Climate Hub “delivers science-based knowledge and practical information to farmers, ranchers, forest landowners, and Native American … Continue reading →

A2.3 Biochar Thurston EDC, Port Authority and TCD partner to explore feasibility of biochar enterprise in Thurston County to promote amending soils with biochar. The Pacific Northwest Biochar Atlas has a suite of educational resources, decision support tools (including a … Continue reading →

A1.6 Regenerative agriculture * Support/educate farmers about regenerative agricultural practices, such as low-till, no-till, silvoculture/silvopasture/agroforestry, and treecropping. Project Drawdown ranks this as the 11th most promising idea for reducing global emissions of the eighty they prioritized. (Their definition includes no … Continue reading →

B5.1 Clean energy bonds Sell municipal bonds for clean energy projects. Sound Transit issued nearly a billion dollars in green bonds in 2015, in the largest municipal sale of them in the world up to that time. King County has … Continue reading →

B5.4 Net metering production incentive Increase incentive ratio for connecting residential solar from 1:1 to 2:1. PSE is already legally required to provide 1:1 net metering to customers until 2029 (assuming their systems produce less than 100kW, and provided that … Continue reading →

B5.3 Municipal building solar * Install solar photovoltaics on all available municipal sites, including building rooftops, city hall, schools, police/fire, community centers, municipal water pump sites, and transit depots. Olympia – There’s currently solar on the roofs of Olympia’s City … Continue reading →

W4.8 Reduce construction debris According to the National Association of Homebuilders, building an average 2,000-square-foot home generates 1,500 to 3,700 pounds of solid wood waste and 1,000 to 1,800 pounds of engineered wood waste. Three components of it — cardboard, … Continue reading →