PG&E ~ Strategic Plans & Goals by the year 2020

Not all pilot programs are advertised or widely read by the general public. Some pilot tests, like COMPASS in 2000, are actually denied being in existence. And, not all national/state programs that adhere to U.N. Local Agenda 21 "suggestions" openly establish that connection for voters.

This is a telling matrix sent from our friend Giesla with Alaskans Against the NAIS:

January 22, 2010
Advice 3082-G/3598-E
(Pacific Gas and Electric Company ID U 39 M)
Public Utilities Commission of the State of California
Subject: Green Communities Program Advice Letter Pursuant to D.09-09-047

Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) hereby submits its Green Communities (GC) Program Advice Letter for its 2010-2012 Energy Efficiency (EE) Portfolio in compliance with Decision (D.) 09-09-047, Ordering Paragraph (OP) 20 and other directives of the Decision.

From: Brian K. Cherry
Vice President
Regulatory Relations
77 Beale Street, Room 1087
San Francisco, CA 94105
Mailing Address
Mail Code B10C
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
P.O. Box 770000
San Francisco, CA 94177

"This program supports the Strategic Plan’s goal for 50% of governments to
adopt energy/sustainability/ climate action plans by 2015 and 100% by 2020."
http://www.pge.com/nots/rates/tariffs/tm2/pdf/GAS_3082-G.pdf

The Center for Sustainability California explains:

Energy Efficiency (R.09-11-014)

What’s this? This rulemaking continues the work of R.06-04-010 and serves as the forum for the CPUC’s continued implementation of the California Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan as well as the forum for initiating the next planning cycle for 2013-2015 energy efficiency program plans, funding levels, and related issues.

What’s new?

On August 24, the CPUC issued a Proposed Decision, proposing to adopt the Lighting Chapter of the California Long-Term Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan and require that the chapter’s adopted strategies be incorporated into energy efficiency program planning and implementation starting in 2011. Decision (D.)09-09-047 directed the CPUC Energy Division to create a lighting chapter for inclusion in the plan, including specific goals, strategies and milestones in the chapter for transformation of the lighting market in California and to solicit the input of key stakeholders through meetings and/or public workshops. Comments on the proposed decision must be filed by September 13, and reply comments must be filed by September 20. http://energycenter.org/index.php/public-affairs/whats-new/1044-energy-efficiency

Green Communities http://www.greencommunitiesonline.org/ offers Sustainability Training Grants too.

Is there a Constitution for the New Green Order? http://www.green-agenda.com/agenda21.html

Is there a Local Agenda 21 Model Communities Program? http://www.idrc.ca/openebooks/448-2/ From this link:

FOREWORD

By Maurice Strong Chairman, Earth Council

In 1992, the leaders of 179 countries gathered in Rio de Janeiro for the United Nations Earth Summit to finalize a global action plan for sustainable development, called Agenda 21. In this document, they recognized that because “so many of the problems and solutions being addressed by Agenda 21 have their roots in local activities, the participation and cooperation of local authorities will be a determining factor in fulfilling its objectives.” Agenda 21 further calls upon local authorities in every country “to undertake a consultative process with their populations and achieve a consensus on ‘Local Agenda 21’ for their communities.”

When this mandate was set out in 1992, there was little information available on how to proceed. It therefore gives me particular satisfaction to report that, since 1992, more than 1,300 local authorities from 31 countries have responded to the Agenda 21 mandate by developing their own Local Agenda 21 action plans for sustainable development.

The task of mobilizing and technically supporting Local Agenda 21 planning in these communities has been led by the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) and national associations of local government. Now, with the further support of the International Development Research Centre and the United Nations Environment Programme, ICLEI is able to present the first worldwide documentation of Local Agenda 21 planning approaches, methods, and tools in this Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide.

The planning framework presented in the Guide has been derived from real-life Local Agenda 21 planning efforts around the world. The framework is being tested and reviewed by municipal professionals from 14 countries, North and South, East and West. The Guide should therefore provide a very useful introduction and technical resource on Local Agenda 21 planning to municipal professionals and NGOs facing a variety of development conditions.

The transition to sustainable development is not a soft option, but an imperative for our survival and well-being. It is going to require a great deal of courage and commitment from all sectors, including municipalities, to ensure its success.

Even as urban areas increasingly represent a concentration of our greatest social, economic, and environmental problems, they offer opportunities for some of the most effective solutions. They encompass great pools of talent and expertise within their many sectors, which local government officials can pull together to work on local strategies for action.

In my parting words at the conclusion of the Earth Summit, I said that we all “must move down from the Summit and into the trenches where the real world actions and decisions are taken that will, in the final analysis, determine whether the vision of Rio will be fulfilled and the agreements reached there implemented.” Of the many programs that have resulted from the Earth Summit, none is more promising or important than this one, which has hundreds of local authorities around the world now setting out and implementing their Local Agenda 21s.

Maurice Strong

FOREWORD

By Elizabeth Dowdeswell Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Today, humanity is on the move as never before. Driven from the countryside by political turmoil, population pressures, and ecological breakdown, most of those who head for the city do so to seek a better quality of life.

But this massive movement has only further strained the resources and infrastructure of already overburdened cities. The most explosive growth has been in the Third World, which has 213 cities of more than a million people and some 20 at the 10 million mark. The blanket of smog that hangs over cities such as Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City, Delhi, Beijing, and tens of thousands of smaller cities is symbolic of more critical problems—of vulnerability to environmental sanitation problems, to natural disasters, and to man-made disasters such as chemical plant accidents and urban fires.

The increasing pace of global integration will determine whether in the future the lines that separate a city, a country, a region, and a continent will become progressively more blurred. But one thing is clear: the fate of cities will determine, more and more, not only the fate of nations but also of our planet. We can afford to ignore the issue of the sustainable management of our cities only at our peril.

How can sustainable development be made meaningful at the local level? How can we develop systems to involve the stakeholders in devising appropriate solutions to local environment and development issues? How can the quality of municipal services be improved and integrated to address the environmental, economic, and social prospects of the communities?

These questions are critical, especially since terms like sustainable development and environmental conservation can often conjure up images of processes too grand for local communities and their organizations to handle and influence. Clearly, sustainable development at the municipal level requires an entirely different approach to the planning and provision of services.

The Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide, prepared by the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), introduces just such an approach—a planning framework for sustainable development at the local level. In simplest terms, the Guide documents a process for developing action plans to address complex problems inherent in modern urbanized societies. It presents a framework for engaging local authorities with residents and local organizations in the design and provision of services to the community, while simultaneously protecting local, regional, and global ecosystems.

In presenting this planning framework, ICLEI has given us a book filled with insights that subvert many of our most basic assumptions and suggest fresh ways to think about them.

For all these reasons, the Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide is more than just another book. It is a lever for changing the art of managing sustainable development at the level of local government. Indeed this guide can serve as a symbol of today’s historic transformation in the concept of partnerships—one that no informed person can afford to ignore.

Elizabeth Dowdeswell

Communities and Climate Adaptation in a Post-Katrina World: Are We Prepared?

National sustainable communitarian communities adaptation strategy coming next month!

Communities and Climate Adaptation in a Post-Katrina World: Are We Prepared? By Martin Chavez, Executive Director, ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability USA and former Mayor of Albuquerque, New Mexico

http://www.climatecentral.org/breaking/blog/communities_and_climate_adaptation_in_a_post-katrina_world_are_we_prepared/

August 25th,2010

Of all the lessons and reminders that have followed Hurricane Katrina, the need for better natural disaster preparation is the most obvious. Katrina has even redefined what we mean by preparation: not just organizing better emergency response or building taller levees, but developing long-term holistic strategies to increase resilience to a range of threats and natural disasters – many of which may be exacerbated by climate change.

Katrina is a wake-up call for cities, towns, and counties across the country: You may not be within striking distance of a Category 5 hurricane, but you will be impacted by climate change, and you must begin to prepare. Climate adaptation must address the changes that are already being documented by scientists around the country and are predicted to worsen in coming decades: more heat waves in the Midwest, drought in the Southeast, wildfires and water shortages in the Southwest, and rising sea levels on the East Coast, to name a few. (For further details by region, see the 2009 Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States report.)

Climate scientists tell us that in a warming world, disasters will happen both quickly and in slow motion. For example, Miami, just like New Orleans, faces the threat of more powerful hurricanes generated by warmer oceans. But the entire South Florida region must also deal with slowly rising sea levels, which threaten to swallow coastal property, accelerate beach erosion, and contaminate underground aquifers – which supply drinking water to millions – with saltwater. These threats cannot be ignored: Proactive planning is critical, not to mention incredibly cost-effective (another obvious Katrina take-home); today’s choices will shape tomorrow’s vulnerabilities.

Defining Climate Adaptation

Most local governments that are addressing climate change have focused on climate mitigation, or reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). But even if all emissions could be halted tomorrow, we’d still face rising temperatures in the coming decades due to the GHGs we’ve already emitted. In other words, climate adaptation efforts must become as important as mitigation at all levels of government, but especially local governments, which are on the front lines of responding to any disaster or threat.

Climate adaptation is centered on initiatives that reduce a community’s vulnerability to actual or expected climate change impacts. The initiatives chosen depend on local and regional circumstances. Some communities may focus on building sea walls to protect coastal assets; others may prepare their infrastructure for more severe floods or their community members for droughts and heat waves.

How Can Communities Prepare?

Strong climate adaptation efforts are already taking shape in a handful of leading cities and counties, such as Miami Dade County, Fla., Chicago, Ill., New York, NY, Keene, NH, Homer, Alaska, and others. My organization, ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability USA – the leading membership organization of cities and counties committed to climate protection and sustainability – is working to share their lessons learned and to develop a national program called Climate Resilient Communities (CRC) that establishes the best practices for local climate adaptation. The CRC Program will launch in fall 2010, but some of the basic principles of the program are already in place.

Proactive planning can be undertaken with a five-step process:
• Conduct a climate resiliency study
• Set preparedness goals
• Develop a preparedness plan
• Implement a preparedness plan
• Measure progress, evaluate, and repeat the cycle

Most local governments are still navigating the first milestone in this process, working to identify their risks and vulnerabilities. But others, such as Chicago, have already integrated adaptation strategies into their climate action plans. Planners have discovered that mitigation and adaptation are not mutually exclusive: Some of the same measures to lower greenhouse gas emissions also enhance community resiliency. For example, increasing local renewable energy from various sources – solar, wind, geothermal, biogas – reduces the vulnerability from widespread power grid outages. Planting more trees on city streets helps cool buildings, which require less electricity; urban forestry also lessens the urban heat island effect and reduces storm water runoff during major rainstorms.

Leading Adaptation Efforts

Around the country, adaptation progress is happening at the local, regional, state, and federal levels. For example, Miami Dade County is integrating adaptation measures into its forthcoming community sustainability plan. In the San Diego Bay region, coastal cities and the Port of San Diego are developing a sea level rise adaptation strategy. The entire state of California released a draft adaptation strategy in 2009, and in October 2010, the White House Council on Environmental Quality is expected to release an update on progress to create a national adaptation strategy.

These efforts are encouraging, but far more work remains, and countless communities have not even considered the climate impacts they face. As we look back on the tragedy of Katrina and its aftermath, we must use it as an opportunity and a motivator to begin serious dialogues on climate adaptation.

To learn more about the innovations of sustainable cities and counties, read ICLEI USA’s Planet Earth magazine.

About ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability USA
With over 600 members nationwide, ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability USA is the leading local government association addressing climate protection, clean energy and sustainability. As a non-profit membership organization, ICLEI USA provides the expertise, technical support, training and innovative tools to help local governments achieve their sustainability goals. More information at www.icleiusa.org.

Concerned Citizens Against ICLEI

Freedom Advocates' latest Newsletter included a link to this site. If I still had access to the ACL I'd surely add this to our LA21 page. Michael Shaw is speaking at the Freedom Action Conference this August. The "freedom movement" event is promoted by Tom DeWeese and one of the sponsors is the John Birch Society.. heh. No wonder I wasn't invited. :)

http://www.anticlei.com/index.php?pr=Web_Research

Pittsburgh v the G20- a UN Local Agenda 21 preview?

"Right now, in your town and neighborhood, policies are being implemented that will ultimately eliminate your freedoms and destroy your way of life. You need to know what's going on to stop this process." Freedom Advocates

There's an abundance of evidence at the local level across the United States of the changes made to our local governments over the past 20 years. Neighborhoods First is a new one on me, but I've long since quit doing this level of research, my budget could no longer sustain it. But Freedom Advocates have the resources to keep going, and their work is designed to conform with accceptable levels of reporting. Their brochures are professional, high quality productions and make the whole issue of sustainable development accessible to the most skeptical Americans (who require their information be presented in glossy brochures).

Freedom Advocates Report

Police in Paramilitary Garb Deploy LRAD Auditory Torture in Pittsburgh Neighborhood

Last year, the Mayor of Pittsburgh, PA launched a program called Neighborhoods First Initiative. The grant-driven Mayor promoted public safety, walkable communities, a new police station and a Free Park Initiative. Pittsburgh has been a longtime grant-guzzling city and is a current member of an international Sustainable Development organization called ICLEI: Local Governments for Sustainability.

Unfortunately ICLEI provisions include monitoring and compliance which ultimately can lead to this:

In Pittsburgh, last month, the Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) was used for the first time in the United States. This auditory torture system caused harm to innocent Pittsburgh neighbors and also harm to people involved in a lawful assembly. This onslaught occurred during the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh. The G20 is a group of finance ministers and central bank governors from 20 economies, 19 countries and the European Union. The purpose of the G20 is to advance public private partnerships and world government.

Just who were the Pittsburgh police protecting?

See our ICLEI Primer and LRAD footage on our homepage.