LBCC Tells Global Warming to go to Hell

Mayors, Senatorial Aides, and good ole’ fashioned regular folk gathered in the forums of LBCC on Feb. 4 for a national teach-in about global warming. The purpose was to create a dialogue between officials and students about how energy conservation is being combated on a local level.

Stefan Seiter, program chair of Agriculture at LBCC, emphasized that the gathering was not created to help spread awareness on the issue, but rather discuss actual movement towards minimizing wasteful use of resources in the area, the topic of the day according to Seiter was to be “…actions, actions and solutions that will move us forward.”

In attendance on the panel of speakers were; Dan Whelen aide to Congressman Peter Defazio, Corvallis Mayor Charles Tomlinson, and Albany Mayor Sharon Konopa.

Sustainability, the new code word for ‘going green’, was on the tips of everyone’s tongues as the panel read prepared statements listing their goals on influencing changes around the area. While Konopa spoke about careful urban planning, Tomlinson outlined goals to create more efficient building practices and curbing excessive use of water and electricity. After railing on former President Bush a little, Defazio’s letter went on to speak on the importance of investing in natural gas and the inclusion of the global community in finding solutions saying “Global Warming is by definition a global problem.” Once a review of their statements was concluded the panel of three fielded questions from the audience about what measures are being taken on a City and State level to turn Linn-Benton green.

Whelen briefly spoke about funding allocation from the stimulus package being pushed through right now estimating that of Oregon’s piece of the pie 85 million will be put towards improving transportation and 305 million will be allocated towards updating highways and bridges statewide. Tomlinson later remarked that a team had been put together to discuss ways to reduce congestion on the bridge leading out of Corvallis, with plans to meet on Feb. 6 to start outlining ideas.

After an audience member in attendance inquired about plans for a connecting bike path, Konopa responded saying that it was “Something that is in our plans, it’s just held back by a lack of funds.” Tomlinson followed up by saying that Corvallis had already begun plans to build their own bike path to the extent of city limits, in hopes the two cities might someday be connected.

Discussion about the famed “Green collar” jobs also took place, with Tomlinson saying he hoped that some of the fees recently voted in by OSU students could be used towards helping supplement green collar job creation by stimulating work force development. While LBCC currently lacks environmentally focused programs, interest was raised by students at a later brainstorm session for the creation of a two year degree.

When asked about their influence on making drastic changes to the environment in the area, the mayors stressed their primary role is advocacy, but they did have a hand in altering the landscape in terms of city planning. Konopa spoke several times that she felt strongly about slowing urban sprawl and felt big changes could be made by small alterations in the construction of homes and office buildings. Says Konopa “We’re going to be reviewing our development code, there are many little things that would help.” Among her suggestions were making plug ins for electric cars mandatory in garages, and alterations to new roofs being built on homes to facilitate alternative energy like solar panels and wind turbines.

She also stressed vertical development, like building parking garages up to save on land, or pushing for smaller homes with lower ceilings that required less energy to heat. Tomlinson echoed her sentiments, suggesting a system where new housing was required to fulfill an Eco-friendly point system, making small alterations on buildings until they have enough green accommodations to fulfill the prerequisites to be built. Tomlinson was also excited to talk about other small ways to save energy like using a rainwater catch system to store winter water for summer use or attaching reneweable energy charges on utility bills, who’s proceeds would be invested into conservation programs around the city.

Tomlinson hopes that discussions like the one held on Thursday will continue between the two cities saying to the audience gathered at the forum, “Your university president has been a catalyst to bringing our two cities together.” He further commented that the problem of dealing with Global warming on a local level is sometimes problematic, but he saw real promise in gatherings like the Teach-In, “It’s an issue of political and regional cooperation, I look forward to working with the mayor of Albany and her council in the future.”