The Laramie Joint Climate Action task force discussed recommendations for climate action at the Laramie Community Climate Summit Friday.
“Even though in Wyoming we may feel isolated, we have a significant role to play in the climate issues that impact the entire planet,” UW Provost Kevin Carman said at the summit.
The recommendations, which included nine main points for discussion among attendees, were made with the goal of promoting collaboration and cooperation between the City of Laramie, Albany County, and the University of Wyoming.
Additionally, local organizations like the Alliance for Renewable Energy, the UW Sustainability Coalition and others played a role in the development of the task force.
The list included unified waste and commercial composting, bulk buys, a unified transportation network, electric/hybrid fleets and power packs, home energy audits, community workshops and engagement, emissions inventories, and continued coordination and pursuit of funding.
The event was facilitated by members of the campus sustainability class taught by Professor Rachel Budowle.
After the task force members presented the recommendations, community members had the opportunity to discuss and give feedback.
“Everyone has a voice, and everybody has their own views on the recommendations and some people might have some really good feedback to the task force to change or edit the recommendation to be a bit more inclusive or give more recommendations for the future,” Senior Kiana Lotvedt said.
Lotvedt, a chemical engineering major with minors in sustainability and human and animal physiology, was one of the students who helped organize the summit.
Other speakers at the event included Tom Herrod of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) and Monica Leininger of the Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC).
Leininger discussed plans for climate action planning in Wyoming, addressing the City of Laramie’s goals as well as problems it faces.
According to Leininger, Laramie has previously set a goal to be carbon neutral by 2050, but fluctuations in budget have made it difficult to move forward on action plans. Additionally, UW lacks a permanent office of sustainability.
Herrod emphasized the importance of addressing climate change by applying local solutions.
“We can take practical, pragmatic, existing solutions and apply them in a way that we know,”
Herrod said at the summit. “Bring about the solutions and bring them forth practically and pragmatically and I think they’ll start to speak for themselves.”
Lotvedt mentioned how Wyoming’s close community could apply those solutions.
“Wyoming is a tight knit community, everybody kind of knows everybody and I think that’s a big contributor to climate action and how it proceeds and what has been acted upon,” Lotvedt said.
“One thing that could definitely come from the attendants is people being more involved in their community,” Lotvedt said. “They may not know a whole lot about the organizations that are in their community that act upon sustainable processes and climate action.”
