Dear Mayor Combs and Council Members,
Thank you for starting the long process of leading on climate preservation! It is a sobering place to be, and a sobering time to be here just as all plausible deniability of the climate problem has gone up in smoke. I can empathize with people who are not feeling yet fully prepared to face the seriousness of the climate problem and who hope there is time to go slow and wait for perfect solutions. I used to be there too. But, when I look at the climate problem through the generational inequity lens I suddenly realize I’ve had the great privilege of growing up in a fossil fuels era and kept in blissful ignorance by fossil fuel providers denying the science they knew spelt trouble for the world.
But our generation in advisory and leadership roles need to summon our courage to confront the climate problem now and to minimize total costs from here on. That means minimizing the sum of the 1) climate damage costs, 2) the climate related health costs, 3) the stranded fossil equipment costs and 4) the electric equipment costs, 5) the utility bill costs, and 6) the cost of sea walls, firestorm hardening and other climate defenses a package going forward, .
I often hear from folks in forums worried only about costs #4 & 5. As advisors and leaders we need to look at the science and if you need more than the advice you’ve received so far, perhaps bring in trustworthy experts to help the community look at all 6 costs and how to minimize their combined cost.
Folks concerned on costs 4 & 5 often ask for delay and for slow speed.
But, delay is not our friend in climate preservation. Scientists say there are tipping points we don’t want to trigger.
The worldwide expert scientists on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) advised that we radically reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 in ways that are: " Rapid, Far-Reaching and Unprecedented”. A way to interpret that is, scientists are saying : Full speed is the only prudent speed on climate.
The July 2020 adopted CAP is a strong and impactful policy worthy of careful consideration in developing its different actions to take into account all six cost types that includes recognition that climate change isn’t free, and that we owe a viable future to the many generations who are not old enough to vote today, but who will bear much more burden from climate change than a boomer like me.
Menlo Park can demonstrate a viable path forward that takes into account future savings and present opportunities to catch up and keep the climate problem from spiraling.
I feel strong leadership is our best option because it demonstrates an example that other cities can build upon and that gives us multiplied leverage against the climate problem.
I look forward as always to your thoughtful consideration of the problem of preserving our community for the long run in the face of growing inequitable climate risks.
Tom Kabat
Menlo Park Willows resident, just speaking for myself
