Climate Planning in Galt

On June 29, 2020, the Environmental Council of Sacramento, Sierra Club Sacramento Group and 350 Sacramento submitted comments on three projects being planned for the City of Galt. Our comments focus on potential (Greenhouse Gas) GHG impacts.

Click the links below to view each letter.

Implementing Vehicle Miles Traveled Guidelines

On May 26, 2020, ECOS joined other organizations in sending a letter to California Governor Gavin Newsom in response to requests from some parties to postpone the implementation of SB 743 (2013). Environmental groups urge the Governor to not further delay the implementation of this very important statute.

Click here to read the letter.

Photo by Markus Spiske from Pexels.

Summer Days Often Feel Much Hotter If You Live In One Of California’s Historically Redlined Neighborhoods

May 26, 2020 | By Randol White | Capital Public Radio

California’s triple-digit heat is back — and new research shows residents in the state’s most underserved neighborhoods suffer the most when the mercury rises.

Portland State University’s heat-mapping project tapped volunteers last summer in four California metro areas to attach GPS-equipped temperature collection gadgets to their cars and drive along set routes for an hour in the morning, afternoon and evening. They drove through the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Victorville and Sacramento.

The research project was led by Vivek Shandas, a professor who believes this form of heat-data collection can help city planners solve decades-old problems.

“We’re trying to bring the understanding of climate change and the changes happening on a planetary scale down to the individual person and down to the individual city block,” Shandas said.

The data collected that day indicates the temperature differentials between neighborhoods can vary by as much as 20 degrees.

Wealthy, tree-canopied neighborhoods are typically cooler, and low-income, asphalt-heavy communities run hotter.

Click here to read the full article.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels.

Putting Vehicle Miles Traveled Guidelines Into Action

On May 26, 2020 the Environmental Council of Sacramento joined a large coalition of organizations in sending a letter to the Governor of California urging our state to move forward in implementing the Vehicle Miles Traveled guidelines for transportation impact analysis per Senate Bill 743 (2013).

We, the undersigned organizations, are grateful for the decisive actions you’ve taken to protect Californians during the COVID-19 pandemic. We understand the far-reaching impacts of COVID-19 and know that difficult choices will need to be made. We are aware that there are requests from some parties to postpone the implementation of SB 743 (2013); we urge you to not further delay the implementation of this very important statute.

COVID-19 has created an economic crisis for California, and the magnitude of the challenges ahead for our state’s recovery are immense, but postponing implementation of SB 743 would be a mistake. Rather, expeditious implementation of SB 743 is now all the more important to ensure a more sustainable, equitable, and resilient future for California.

Click here to read the letter in full.

Photo by Robert Couse-Baker via Pxhere

New Harvard Study Links COVID Deaths and Air Pollution

Gretchen Goldman
April 8, 2020
Union of Concerned Scientists (blog)

The most important result is that we found that people living in counties in the US that have experienced a higher level of air pollution over the past 15-17 years have a substantially higher COVID-19 mortality rate. To quantify, we found that a one unit increase in long-term average exposure to fine particulate matter is associated with a 15% increase in COVID-19 mortality rate on average in the analysis. This increase accounts for adjustments for any systematic differences between county level characteristics [such as population density or smoking rates].

Click here to read the full article.

Image from Getty Images.

City Announces Temporary Ban On Residential Tenant Evictions

The Sacramento City Council adopted an ordinance on March 17 to establish a temporary ban on evicting residential tenants unable to pay rent due to a loss of income caused by the Novel Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19).

“It is vital for us to protect residential tenants during this tenuous time,” said Assistant City Manager Michael Jasso. “This ordinance is part of the City’s efforts to address the financial impacts of the disease on renters locally, the population most at-risk of swift housing displacement.”

Click here to view the article on the City of Sacramento’s website.

Why is this an environmental issue? People need to have the option to live near their jobs and other every day destinations. This means making sure there are enough affordable, quality residences in the urban core of Sacramento, even in the face of a pandemic. If people who work downtown cannot afford to live downtown, we are not going to meet our region’s greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. To do our part as a city, Sacramento must find ways to reduce the need for workers to commute every day.