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INTRODUCTION

Making it a climate change for the better

Climate change is real, and its many impacts are already being felt, from changing precipitation patterns to an increase in forest fires. There’s no getting around our need for power, or the fact that power plants also produce climate changing greenhouse gas emissions, in addition to electricity. But we can change how we use that power. LADWP offers an array of rebates for appliances, lighting, and equipment that use energy and water more efficiently, save money, and improve our environment. Simple conservation, like turning off unnecessary lights, will reduce usage even more. Renewable energy, which is generated from the wind and sun and is pollution free, is another important strategy. That’s why LADWP has nearly tripled its renewable energy portfolio, and will reach the 20% mark by 2010.

How to keep your cool
If you happen to live or work in the Wilshire Center, which is bounded by 3rd and 7th streets, and Wilton Place and Hoover, then you’re in the Cool District! The Cool District is a project of the Wilshire Center Business Improvement Corporation (WCBIC), which was established 13 years ago to help improve the area by creating a mechanism for community input, offering increased security, attracting businesses and creating jobs. Rather than waiting for “someone else” to do something about climate change, WCBIC management decided to lead. They’ve pledged to reduce the District’s own greenhouse gas emissions 2% a year, starting in 2010 – for the next 40 years! They’re now determining the amount of greenhouse gases (the inventory) produced by the District, and developing a plan for achieving annual reductions. The Cool District is a model for businesses and governments across Los Angeles, the state, and the country.

Take the pledge: the 2% solution

Take the 2% solution pledge! 2% may not sound like much, but if each American reduced emissions by just 2%, the world would be a much cooler place. This Web site provides a way to stay informed, and easy tips on reducing your own greenhouse gas emissions at home, at the office, on the road, everywhere!

A MISSION STATEMENT FOR THE DISTRICT’S FUTURE (2050)

Pedestrian focused; a district designed for people, a district of walkers, bicycles, shuttles and transit.

The District becomes a place where we minimize (by 80%) the impact on our biosphere and natural resources; an eco-district.

The District becomes a green sustainable urban village.

“Imagine a building like a tree, a city like a forest.”

A Wilshire Center Cool District program was approved by the WCBIC Board to reduce the District’s greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by 2% in each of the coming years. Our hope is that this program will become a model for the other (about 1000) business improvement districts in North America.  Wilshire Center Cool District goal is to see an 80% reduction of our GHG by 2050.

FOUR STEP PROGRAM
2% Solution Climate Reduction Pledge:

Step 1: Take the “Cool District” Pledge: The first step towards curbing global warming pollution in our district is to ask the District Board to sign on 2% Solution Climate Reduction Pledge. This pledge sets the goal of reducing the district’s global warming carbon dioxide (CO2) by 2 percent a year for each of the next 40 years.  (Done - WCBIC Board pledged on July 19, 2007)

Step 2: Conduct a Global Warming Emissions Inventory: The next step is to conduct an inventory of our district’s current global warming emissions. This information will identify the district’s major CO2 sources (and the greatest opportunities for reductions), and will provide a baseline to judge the district’s progress towards its goal. The District could possibly receive technical assistance to conduct a global warming emissions inventory from a variety of sources including state and federal agencies as well as through ICLEI’s Cities for Climate Protection program. (Currently ICLEI will not accept a district as a member. We are in discussion with consultants on how to do the inventory. The first activity is to get utility release forms from most of the building owners - this task will take some time. )

Step 3: Create a Solutions Plan: While working on the global warming inventory, our district will be developing a solutions plan to reduce emissions while lowering energy costs for the district. The District’s energy solutions plan includes four important strategies: Green Vehicles, Public Transportation, Energy Efficiency, and Renewable Energy. In some combination, these solutions will form the foundation of our district’s comprehensive energy-saving plan. The Sierra Club has examples of Solutions Plans at sierraclub.org/coolcities. A potential goal is to work toward all buildings within WC to become at least LEED Silver compliant (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System, www.usgbc.org). (We are working with the consultants and the Los Angeles Chapter AIA Committee on the Enviorment (COTE) on  a series of Eco Charrettes.)

Step 4: Implement and Monitor Progress: It is essential that our district put the plan into action and monitor its progress periodically. With a strong commitment, a sound plan, and real action, our district will be on its way toward meeting the goals of the 2% Solution Climate Reduction Pledge.

WCBIC Board pledged on July 19, 2007.  BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Chairman, Paul Kim, Jamison Services; Vice Chairman, Linda Hedden, Paramount Plaza; Secretary, Mike Sarebanha, Seligman Western Enterprises; Treasure, Debra Leathers, Southwestern University School of Law; Eileen O'Brien, Archdiocese of Los Angeles; Jennifer C. Choy, Wilshire Colonnade

Comments from Herb J. Wesson, Jr., Councilmember, 10th District

Overview article by Linda Russell, Managing Director, WCBIC

Article on the March 15 Eco Charrette by Cynthia Phakos and Richard Rollins

Supporters:
AIA COTE Eco Charrettes
WCK CRA

Tools for next the 15 years which may get us to 30% reduction in GHG:

AIA Sustainable Design Assessment Team
LEED-New Construction
LEED-Existing Building
LEED-Neighborhood Development
Energy audits

Tools for the next 20 years which may get us to 50% reduction in GHG:
AIA Sustainability2030
The 2030 Challenge

DESCRIPTION OF THE WILSHIRE CENTER DISTRICT

A Regional Commercial Center per the City’s General Plan and is approximately 100 acres in size. The District bounded by 3rd Street on the north, 8th Street on the south, Hoover Street on the east, and Wilton Place on the west. WCBIC represents over 33 million square feet of residential, office and retail space. There is about 12 million square feet of residential space (approx 25,000 residents), 19.5 million square feet of office space (approx 75,000 workers), and 1.5 million square feet of retail space.

WHAT IS GLOBAL WARMING?

"Global warming, caused by a man-made blanket of greenhouse gasses (mainly carbon dioxide) that surrounds the earth and traps in heat, is well underway and if allowed to intensify over the coming years will seriously threaten our planet. Unknowingly, we are chiefly responsible for these gasses and we have a unique and historic opportunity to reverse that for which we are responsible The scientific consensus is that we must limit the rise in global temperature to less than 2° C above pre-industrial levels to avoid disastrous impacts. At 2° C, it is likely millions of people will be displaced from their homes. Impacts do not end there. Food production will decline, rivers will become too warm for trout and salmon, snow pack will decrease threatening urban water supplies, weather will become more extreme, sea level will rise inundating coastal areas, the world’s coral reefs - home to 25% of all marine species - will be destroyed, a quarter of all plant and animal species on earth will become extinct and the Greenland ice sheet will begin to melt. ( "Greenland's glaciers are melting into the sea twice as fast as previously believed, the result of a warming trend that renders obsolete predictions of how quickly Earth's oceans will rise over the next century, scientists said yesterday." By Shankar Vedantam, Washington Post Staff Writer, Friday, February 17, 2006).  At 3° C the impacts are projected to be catastrophic. We can only imagine what the socio-economic and political consequences will be given this scenario. If we continue on our present course of burning fossil fuels, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projects that we could reach 2° C by 2050 and 3° C by 2070. We are running out of time."  a quote from Edward Mazria AIA - founder of Architecture 2030 (www.architecture2030.org)

Recent scientific predictions are that the world has just 10 years to reverse global warming or a tipping point will be reached beyond which it cannot be stopped. Scientists warn of ecological catastrophe across Asia as glaciers melt and continent's great rivers dry up.

More on the need to stop global warming here:

It is time that we lower our impact on the world. We need to do long-term planning and be willing to reconsider how we live. If we do not succeed at living within our means , "the world as a whole within the next few decades will face a declining standard of living or perhaps something worse" (from Jared Diamond's "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed".)  “The lesson of “Collapse” is that societies, as often as not, aren’t murdered. They commit suicide: they slit their wrists and then, in the course of many decades, stand by passively and watch themselves bleed to death.” ““Collapse” is a book about the most prosaic elements of the earth’s ecosystem—soil, trees, and water—because societies fail, in Diamond’s view, when they mismanage those environmental factors.” “--we can be law-abiding and peace-loving and tolerant and inventive and committed to freedom and true to our own values and still behave in ways that are biologically suicidal.” - Malcolm Gladwell, with the New Yorker.

"You don't change the world by hiding in the woods, wearing a hair shirt, or buying indulgences in the form of save the earth bumper stickers. You do it by articulating a vision for the future and pursuing it with all the ingenuity humanity can muster. Indeed, being green at the start of the 21st century requires a wholehearted commitment to upgrading civilization. Four key principles can guide the way:

Renewable energy is plentiful energy. Burning fossil fuels is a filthy habit, and the supply won't last forever. Fortunately, a growing number of renewable alternatives promise clean, inexhaustible power: wind turbines, solar arrays, wave-power flotillas, small hydroelectric generators, geothermal systems, even bioengineered algae that turn waste into hydrogen. The challenge is to scale up these technologies to deliver power in industrial quantities - exactly the kind of challenge brilliant businesspeople love.

Efficiency creates value. The number one US industrial product is waste. Waste is worse than stupid; it's costly, which is why we're seeing businesspeople in every sector getting a jump on the competition by consuming less water, power, and materials. What's true for industry is true at home, too: Think well-insulated houses full of natural light, cars that sip instead of guzzle, appliances that pay for themselves in energy savings.

Cities beat suburbs. Manhattanites use less energy than most people in North America. Sprawl eats land and snarls traffic. Building homes close together is a more efficient use of space and infrastructure. It also encourages walking, promotes public transit, and fosters community.

Quality is wealth. More is not better. Better is better. You don't need a bigger house; you need a different floor plan. You don't need more stuff; you need stuff you'll actually use. Ecofriendly designs and nontoxic materials already exist, and there's plenty of room for innovation. You may pay more for things like long-lasting, energy-efficient LED lightbulbs, but they'll save real money over the long term.

Redesigning civilization along these lines would bring a quality of life few of us can imagine. That's because a fully functioning ecology is tantamount to tangible wealth. Clean air and water, a diversity of animal and plant species, soil and mineral resources, and predictable weather are annuities that will pay dividends for as long as the human race survives - and may even extend our stay on Earth. It may seem impossibly far away, but on days when the smog blows off, you can already see it: a society built on radically green design, sustainable energy, and closed-loop cities; a civilization afloat on a cloud of efficient, nontoxic, recyclable technology. That's a future we can live with."  by Alex Nikolai Steffen who runs Worldchanging.com

In about 20 years we have a convergence of two major issues that will hit us; global warming and peaking of global oil production.  See article “Global Warming Impact Like ‘Nuclear War’” http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/09/12/3791/ To quote from a 2005 report by the US Dept. of Energy “Peaking of World Oil Production”; “Waiting until world oil production peaks before taking crash program action leaves the world with significant liquid fuel deficit for more than two decades … the problem of the peaking of world conventional oil production is unlike any yet faced by modern industrial society … without timely mitigation, the economic, social, and political costs will be unprecedented.” We need to work toward a greener and more justice planet.

“Cool Individual” Pledge

We need to begin reducing our global warming carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions as individuals by at least 2% a year over the coming years by reducing our utility consumption, and becoming zero waste individuals by reducing, reusing and recycling. The following steps will get us there - 80% reduction of CO2 by 2050.

Step 1: Take the “Cool Individual” Pledge: The first step toward curbing global warming is to ask yourself and your family to sign on to a 2% Solution Climate Reduction Pledge. This pledge sets the goal of reducing you and your family’s global warming carbon dioxide footprint (CO2) by at least 2 percent a year for each of the next 40 years.

Step 2: Conduct a Global Warming Emissions Inventory: This step is to conduct an inventory of your current global warming emissions. This information will identify the major CO2 sources (and the greatest opportunities for reductions), and will provide a baseline to judge your progress towards the goal. One could possibly receive assistance to conduct a global warming emissions inventory from a variety of sources on the web. The City, Edison, Gas Co., State and Federal Government have web sites that can assist. There are some rebates and incentive programs. The State has a good one: www.fypower.org/. For saving water, there are suggestions at a good site: www.bewaterwise.com.
Step 3: Create a Solutions Plan: While working on the global warming inventory, develop a solutions plan to reduce emissions while lowering energy costs. The energy solutions plan includes six important strategies: Green Vehicles, Public Transportation, Zero Waste, Energy Efficiency, Water Conservation, and Renewable Energy. In some combination, these solutions will form the foundation for a comprehensive energy-saving plan. The Sierra Club's web site can assist along with many other environmental web sites.

Step 4: Implement and Monitor Progress: It is essential that you put the plan into action and monitor its progress periodically. With a strong commitment, a sound plan, and real action, you and your family will be on its way toward meeting the goals of the 2% Solution Climate Reduction Pledge.

LINKS & WEB SITES

Flex Your Power's website is your resource for energy efficiency and conservation information.

California Climate Action Team

LADWP Green Power
101 Ways to Help Planet Earth

BOMA-Top 10 Ways for Commercial Buildings to Save Energy

SolveClimate

Two Percent Solution
Sierra Club Cool Cities

SustainLA

CARBON CALCULATORS

Earthlab

The Nature Conservancy's online carbon footprint calculator

Q&A/Comments (send to email: gary@wilshirecenter.com)