King County Presentation on Global Warming

On Wednesday, February 20, 2008, at our bimonthly meeting, the South King County Group hosted a presentation by Elizabeth Willmott on King County's Climate Change Plans. The presentation was well received with much good interaction between speaker and attendees. Ms. Willmott, King County Executive Ron Sims' Global Warming Coordinator, described the county's Climate Action Plan. She specifically detailed Mr. Sims' Executive Orders and the county's direct and indirect actions to combat climate change.

Ms. Willmott described King County as a pacesetter for counties throughout the country in developing and implementing climate action plans. She described how the county's plans interact with and complement those of our local cities to meet our state's climate goals, as well as regional, national, and international goals. Please visit http://www.kingcounty.gov/exec/globalwarming to see how King County is taking a proactive stance on combating climate change. Several documents are available on the site: King County Climate Plan (2/07); How to prepare for Climate Change: A Guidebook (9/07); and King County Climate Report (2/08).

Stories on climate change are now in the news daily and many people are very aware of the ramifications for all of us and our children and their children. The Sierra Club Cool City and Cool State campaigns are working at the local and state levels. Please contact Jessica Eagle to get involved in your local community. Finally, the Federal government is waking up to the problem: Congressional committees have proposed several bills to combat climate change; a Senate committee has actually passed a climate change bill which will come to the full Senate this summer; and all major 2008 Presidential candidates have stated they will strongly address climate change.

Nearly 700 “Cool Cities” nationwide have signed up to implement plans to not only curb their greenhouse gas emissions, but also to save money through energy efficiency and create environmental and healthy communities. Several south King County cities have already signed up including Auburn, Burien, and Renton. We continue to work with elected officials in the south King County cities of Federal Way and Kent to help them become Cool Cities.

ExCom Openings

If you would like to direct some of your environmental enthusiasm and have the opportunity to help plan Group activities, actions, etc., please consider running for election to our Group’s Executive Committee. We meet bi-monthly in central locations in south King County. Contact Group Chair Dan Streiffert.