13 Climate Action

“TAKE URGENT ACTION TO COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE AND ITS IMPACTS”

FAQ – Climate Action in Marin County

Q. Is Marin County doing everything we can to prepare for climate change?

A. No. As is visible in the Bay Shoreline Flood Explorer, sea level rise threatens many cities and towns in Marin, with low income neighborhoods–the Canal neighborhood in San Rafael, and Marin City in Sausalito–especially threatened. Many cities and towns in Marin County have some kind of climate action plan, as does the County of Marin. However, most citizens are not familiar with the plans in their cities. (Reference the table at the bottom of this page for your area’s plan, or visit the County of Marin plan.) Due to the cost of living, most essential workers have to commute in to Marin County to teach, staff medical offices, administrate county services, etc. Further, most of the food we consume in Marin is produced outside of Marin County.

Q. Is Marin County doing everything we can to avert climate change?

A. No. As a high income community, our residents are some of the highest consumers of goods and services in the world. This includes everything from travel and consumer goods to large homes (few residents) and landscaper services. While great in the short-term for the economy, all of these goods and services carry a significant carbon footprint.

Q. What is the most important action I can take to avert climate change?

A. Attend to your financial investments, including your bank. Unfortunately, most businesses today are not aggressively diminishing their carbon footprints. Take your money out of companies that are not energetically doing so, and put it in the few institutions that are. This includes all stocks and banking institutions, especially large banks.

Who is working on issues related to #13 Climate Action in Marin County?

[List of involved organizations.]

Local Businesses

Good Earth

NGOs & Community Groups

Local Gov Agencies

BayWAVE: Sea Level Rise and Marin’s Bayside

C-SMART: Sea Level Rise and Marin’s Ocean Coast

Drawdown Marin

Marin Watershed Program: Flood Risk Information, Watersheds, and Water Resources in Marin County

Marin Resource Conservation District

Carbon Farming

Marin Climate and Energy Partnership

Climate Action Plans by Town

Marin Clean Energy

One Tam

Local

[The idea is that a coalition of local environmental groups would employ a series of systems thinking models to come to a set of local targets under this Global Goal; targets that at least meet the global targets.]

Global

Visit United Nations Website for Original Source of the Targets Below

13.1 Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries

13.2 Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning

13.3 Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning

13.A Implement the commitment undertaken by developed-country parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to a goal of mobilizing jointly $100 billion annually by 2020 from all sources to address the needs of developing countries in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation and fully operationalize the Green Climate Fund through its capitalization as soon as possible

13.B Promote mechanisms for raising capacity for effective climate change-related planning and management in least developed countries and small island developing States, including focusing on women, youth and local and marginalized communities

*Acknowledging that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is the primary international, intergovernmental forum for negotiating the global response to climate change.