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| Students lead the march from UTSA's downtown campus to the City Chambers in Main Plaza during the March for Science held April 6. |
San Antonio has already realized itself as a city that's ready to adopt climate change legislation.
It has done this by investing in carbon-free buildings and vehicles. Helping create a circular economy by diverting organic matter from landfills and installing solar panels. Promoting ecosystems and biodiversity. Mitigating the city's urban heat island to improve carbon sequestration. Adding more bike lanes. Improving strategies to educate people about why climate matters.
The list of initiatives goes on.
The City's effort to mitigate climate change is already underway. Between 2014 and 2016, the City reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 10%, received recognition as sixth in the nation for installed solar capacity (161 megawatts), and began implementing adaptation actions outlined in the SA Tomorrow Sustainability Plan.
In January, it released SA Climate Ready, a draft of the Climate Action Adaptation Plan released in January. Steering committees and work groups will gather public input on the document through April 25 with a final plan set to be released this fall.
The City received support and partnership from more than 90 stakeholders to compile the report, including CPS Energy, the City of San Antonio Office of Sustainability, the Sierra Club, and Climate Action SA.
Mayor Ron Nirenberg has been a vocal advocate of strategies to address climate change. He joined a coalition of mayors across the U.S. to uphold the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement weeks after President Trump announced his intention to withdraw from it and created a Climate Action Plan that City Council passed on June 22, 2017.
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| San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg speaks at the March for Science rally held in San Antonio April 6. |
The plan is designed to provide a roadmap for the necessary greenhouse gas emissions reductions San Antonio will need to meet its goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, as well as establish a process for identifying and evaluating the impacts of climate change solutions for the city's most vulnerable population.
With its adoption of SA Tomorrow Plans in August 2016, San Antonio should be set to meet present and future challenges and energy scenarios.
Yet it currently lacks a meaningful plan that will help implement these changes throughout the city's neighborhoods and populations.
What's more, making San Antonio a greener city will require the participation of all San Antonians, not just some. We need to redesign the buildings in which we live and work, adding rooftop gardens and smart energy. We need to change how we eat, what we classify as trash, and start taking recycling seriously.
While the City can enact policies and provide incentives, but it will be up to individuals to urge their lawmakers to help create and implement the plan we need to address the issues we face down the road.
San Antonio is projected to change quite a bit in the next 30 years. The population is estimated to grow by 1.1 million people in the next 20 years. It is supposed to get hotter and drier with less rainfall.
Area environmental advocacy groups are heeding the call to do more to take climate action and adaptation.
On April 6, March for Science - San Antonio, climate leaders marched from UTSA's downtown campus to the City Chambers in Main Plaza.
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| Mayor Nirenberg poses for a photo with high school students from the Ignition Green program. |
The forecast called for thunderstorms with hail possible, but there was no rain that morning, and the sun even peeked out from behind the clouds a few times in the afternoon.
This year, march organizers dedicated their efforts to supporting CAAP. Guests at the rally heard from march leader and CAAP Steering Committee Member Peter Bella, San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg, Associate Professor of Atmospheric Sciences at Texas A&M University Gunter Schade, and District 7 City Councilwoman Ana Sandoval.
"We're not marching because we're a tribe that's going to cut through all the noise and change the world ourselves--we're marching to make our numbers grow, and they're growing in cities across the country," Nirenberg told the crowd. "They're growing in cities across the world. They're growing because people are starting to change in their hearts. They're starting to change the economies we live in. They're starting to change the businesses that depend on the consumer dollars that we provide. And guess what? Everybody's benefiting."
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| District 7 City Councilwoman Ana Sandoval encourages people to talk to their representatives. |
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| Attendees listen to speakers during the rally in Main Plaza. |
Sandoval implored attendees to visit with neighbors who are skeptical about climate change and remind their council representatives of the urgency of the issue.
"Arm in arm, we evaluated this issue and talked about (the) ways we could take action in San Antonio-- not just to reduce greenhouse gases or soot, but to prepare us for what's coming," she said. "We know there will be hotter days. We already see them. We know there will be more intense flooding that's going to affect our community--the residents of my district and the districts of all our other councilpeople," she said. "How can I, in good conscience as a leader not be concerned just about today in the city, but the future of the city?"
