Act Locally to Lead Globally
We know the climate situation is urgent, but one key point, really the most important, that we make with our climate report The Gunnison River Basin: Ground Zero in the Climate Emergency is that with initiative the Western Slope can become a global climate leader.
We have right here all the ingredients to be a model for other rural western communities, to decrease emissions even as we better prepare our own farms and communities for impacts already here and coming.
That is why we are glad to report that we found that there are already cities and counties within the Gunnison River Basin that are taking action to address climate change. Crested Butte, and Gunnison and Ouray counties all have climate action plans that have goals related to renewable energy, land use, water management, building electricity use, and waste management. There is also a greenhouse gas reduction toolkit that was created to help towns create climate action plans.
Now we urge all our local governments, all our towns and counties, to take climate action now. Each jurisdiction can be doing more to reduce emissions, to boost natural carbon uptakes, and to increase the deployment of renewable energy.
All these climate action steps can benefit from cooperation within a sub-region, like all the towns in the North and Smith Fork Valleys, or all the counties across the Gunnison River watershed.
Additionally, there are historic levels of federal investment now available to help spur rural climate action.
In the coming months the Colorado Farm & Food Alliance will be bringing our information to local governments around the region and ask that they make a commitment to address the climate emergency with the urgency it demands.
We want our leaders to get the message that there is an opportunity to position our region as a climate leader. The climate crisis is real, but there is a path forward. Take a look in the list below at some of the goals and actions already in place from each of the three climate action plans in the region, then add your name to our call for all western Colorado elected officials to take immediate climate action.
Some goals and climate-actions from three local governments in the Gunnison River Basin.
Renewable Energy
Crested Butte Goals
100% renewable electricity by 2030.
Increase EV adoption through education, charging stations, and prioritized parking.
Discourage SOV use through no-car zones, bike and bus infrastructure.
Actions
Buy RECs (renewable energy certificates) for the community.
Install solar on town buildings.
Reduce barriers for community members to access solar.
Help expand the community solar garden.
Gunnison Goals
Increase local solar energy generation.
Reduce the city of Gunnison's emissions factor (kg co2/mwh) by 90% for electrical generation compared to a 2020 baseline.
Reduce vmt (vehicle miles traveled) by 8% compared to a 2015 baseline (equal to 2005 levels).
Actions
Install renewable systems on municipal facilities.
Continue to promote ease of solar installation for residents by providing information about tax credits for renewable energy on the city's website.
Increase carbon-free electricity from the utility provider. Purchase 100% carbon-free electricity from the utility provider, MEAN, by 2024. Carbon-free means that generation either does not use fossil fuels or does not emit carbon. Gunnison will be carbon-free when all its electricity is from clean energy sources like wind, solar, and nuclear.
Incentivize the adoption of electric vehicles (EV) by increasing the amount of charging stations available to the public.
Increase walkability and bikeability.
Ouray County Goals
Increase the percentage of electricity provided by renewable energy sources.
Decrease vehicle travel.
Increase use of electric vehicles.
Actions
Establish renewable energy generation target.
Identify and eliminate barriers to local renewable energy production.
Install renewable energy capacity on government buildings.
Land Use and Agriculture
Gunnison Goals
Create incentives for local food production & for local businesses to buy local food sources.
Pledge to purchase a portion of food from local producers for all City-hosted events.
San Miguel County
Actions
Piloting a soil health Payment-for-Ecosystem-Services (PES) Program to develop a protocol to help farmers and ranchers improve their soil and increase the water holding capacity.
Water Management
Gunnison Goal
Ensure the long-term viability of quantity and quality of water resources.
Action
All future land-use decisions will be based on available water resources.
Ouray Goals
Reduce water consumption from municipal and industrial uses.
Improve watershed health and security.
Actions
Track water use data.
Encourage and incentivize low flow water fixtures.
Continue to develop, implement and enforce municipal drought mitigation plans (adopted by Ridgway, Norwood).
Support efforts that focus on water security and watershed ecological health.
Water conservation plan adopted by Ridgway.
San Miguel and Ouray county have adopted hazard mitigation plants for drought.
Building Electricity Use
Crested Butte Goals
Drive and support deep energy retrofits for existing buildings.
Actions
Conduct Investment Grade Audit of Town municipal facilities and complete retrofitting through an Energy Performance Contract.
Educate the community about existing programs and rebate opportunities for residential (including short-term rentals) and commercial buildings.
Launch a Green InDEED program to incentivize retrofits in exchange for a permanent deed-restriction on a property.
Convene a working group of builders and contractors to discuss programming or incentive ideas to drive deep retrofits of existing buildings in the community.
Discuss and implement an energy benchmarking ordinance requiring commercial buildings to report energy use annually.
Discuss and implement an ordinance mandating energy use disclosure at point of sale for residential homes.
Gunnison Goal
Improve energy efficiency of new and current residential buildings by 20% and of commercial buildings by 25%.
Ouray County Goals:
Reduce energy consumption in rentals, apartments and multifamily buildings.
Improve the energy efficiency performance of existing buildings.
Actions:
Incentivize and educate.
Ridgway and Ouray collaborated to examine the use of performance contracting to improve the efficiency of municipal facilities.
Support building automation to optimize efficiency and effectiveness.
Incentive energy efficiency upgrades in rental properties.
Waste Management
Crested Butte Goals
Install an industrial-scale composting facility and require community-wide composting.
Enact waste reduction and recycling ordinances to work toward becoming a zero-waste community.
Support community initiatives that reduce waste such as Green Business Stamp Initiative.
Develop policies and incentives for zero waste events.
Actions
Completed compost feasibility study for the town on how to integrate composting into the town for residents.
Gunnison Goals
Adopt measures to decrease residential waste sent to the landfill.
Adopt measures to decrease commercial waste sent to the landfill, including waste from construction and demolition.
Divert at least 50% of food waste coming from the City of Gunnison from going to the landfill annually.
Ouray County Goals
Reduce the overall volume of waste transported to landfills through efforts to reduce, reuse, recycle, repurpose and compost.
Increase composting use and capacity in the region.
Decrease construction & demolition waste.
Actions
Ridgway has a pay-as-you-throw rate structure for municipal waste.
Regional green waste and food-related waste are now compostable at 3XM, a private composting company located in Olathe, CO.
