Hello friends,
This message is addressed to all Columbia residents concerned about the
environment and, in particular, about climate change.
Columbia is currently seeking citizen input as to which direction we should
head regarding refuse collection. While much of the discussion centers on
whether or not to switch to roll carts, there is much more at stake in terms of
the climate. We expound on this below and hope you will read it.
We also hope you will take the opportunity to have input into the process. You
can do this in several ways including:
1) Attending and speaking at a public input meeting to be held at the
ARC 6-8 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 31. 2) Taking a survey the City has put together
that can be accessed if you CLICK HERE. and 3) Contacting the City Council
sharing your thoughts. Their contact info is available if you CLICK HERE.
Below you will find some of Peaceworks’ thoughts as to how to address this. We
also welcome your feedback on this. And, of course, please feel free to share
this.
Waste Minimization: The
Climate Imperative.
The City of Columbia
has made a commitment to address the existential threat represented by climate
change. To do this, we—as a city and as individuals—need to reduce greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions by one-half this decade and work to get to zero emissions
as soon as possible. Waste minimization has a major role to play in allowing us
to meet this necessary goal.
While many are eager to debate roll carts vs. trash bags, too few Columbians
today are addressing the climate implications of our solid waste choices,
despite the fact that the City Council, in adopting the Climate Action and
Adaptation Plan (CAAP), recognized the necessity of considering the climate
implications of all policy decisions.
As the North Carolina Dept. of Environmental Quality shares via their website:
“Greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) are embodied in the materials and products we
use every day – our food, clothes, cell phones and computers, purchases
and packaging, the materials used to build our homes. Extracting raw materials
to make new products uses large amounts of energy, which comes from burning
fossil fuels. Energy produced from the combustion of fossil fuels releases
carbon dioxide and other GHGs that cause climate change into the
atmosphere.
Regarding the issue
at hand, Peaceworks is not currently taking a position on roll carts vs. trash
bags on the curb. Rather, we are urging the City to embrace a set of policies
that ensures that, whatever plan Columbia ends up adopting, will incorporate
incentives to reduce waste generation and to increase diversion through
promoting re-thinking, reuse, repurposing, recycling and composting.
A critical component of such a plan is Pay As You Throw (PAYT). Whatever plan
we adopt must require those who generate more waste to pay more, which is
consistent with what we do for electricity, water, sewage, gas, etc. Just as we
meter these other utilities, we need a system that charges more to those who
are sending more to the landfill. Or looked at another way, rewards those who
make the effort to divert as much as possible of what’s currently going to the
landfill. This can be done through not buying these so-called “disposable”
items or their packaging in the first place or through reusing and repurposing
things currently being sent to the landfill, or through recycling and
composting.
Whatever means of refuse collection the City adopts needs to be seen as just
one part of the solution to waste problems. The plan must be complemented by a
city-wide educational effort to raise awareness as to the urgent need for all
of us to reduce our contribution to what gets landfilled. The failure to lay
all this out contributed to the failure to support the logo-bag modified PAYT
system.
We need to explain to our fellow residents not just the mechanics of the
system, but also the rationale for waste minimization. This effort needs to go
beyond just articles in City Source or social media posts and emails from the
Office of Sustainability, as important as these are. We need to reach out through
houses of worship, through our children’s schools, through neighborhood
associations, through our colleges and the University, and through other
community groups and events. Outreach tables at public gatherings and festivals
reach many who otherwise are not being reached.
Just as the attack on Pearl Harbor at the beginning of World War II united the
country in a recognition of the existential threat the country was facing, and
led to the embrace of many changes that impacted our entire society (including
the wartime need to recycle), so today we must recognize the threat to our
lives and those of our progeny, and take action to address the threat.
The fact that the city is likely embarking on a new system for waste collection
provides an excellent opportunity to reach out to all our fellow residents and
make them more aware of the nature of the Climate Emergency we are facing and
explaining some of the solutions. We, at Peaceworks, are hopeful that our
community will rise to the challenge and take effective action, setting an
example for neighboring communities to emulate.
For more information or dialogue on the issues at hand, please contact:
Mid-Missouri Peaceworks via mail@midmopeaceworks.org or via Facebook.com/MidMoPeaceworks or 804
E. Broadway Ste. C, Columbia, MO 65201 or 573-875-0539.
