Bellingham's Climate Action Task Force (CATF) was created in 2018 by our city council to determine the feasibility of reducing greenhouse gas emissions faster than the current targets set forth in Bellingham's Climate Action Plan. The task force met regularly for 15 months and on December 9th, 2019 they delivered an impressive 124-page report to the City of Bellingham (COB). Cointained within the report are 50 recommendations for reducing greenhouse gas emmissions in Bellingham and they're organized into four categories: Buildings, Transportation, Land Use and Energy Supply.

Now that the city has officially received the final report, staff and elected officials will be reviewing the recommendations and formulating a number of resolutions that will be brought before city council over the next few months. If all 50 recommendations are implemented, then there's a possibility that Bellingham could become net carbon neutral by 2040 or even before if bold action continues to be taken over the next decade. If only a few of the minor recommendations are implemented, then our city will still be far from carbon neutral in 2050.

There is a great need to address greenhouse gas emmissions sooner than later and our local government representatives need strong support from us as the citizens of Bellingham in order to implement as many of the task force's recommendations as possible. Unfortunately, opposition to some of the key recommendations has already been strong through a campaign of disinformation and fear with a much larger effort in the works: an energy industry coalition has formed and is preparing to launch a $1 million public relations campaign. There are tough times ahead for citizens who want to reduce Bellingham's ecological footprint and it's more important than ever that each one of us are informed on the issues at hand in order to discern truth from fiction.

Rather than each of us individually reviewing the report, understanding the details and showing our support, let's gather together to unpack and discuss the report as a group. This will also facilitate the organization of sub-groups that want to take specific action on a particular recommendation or set of recommendations. If you're interested in learning more, please join us on Thursday, January 9th at 6pm to meet other like-minded citizens and to discuss how we can collectively move forward in building support for climate action in Bellingham!

RSVP now by clicking on the green ‘Register’ button: