TUPPER LAKE - A two-day conference on climate change ended Wednesday at the Wild Center, with a decision to form a steering committee to help direct local efforts to tackle the problem.
The participants also decided to create a blog on the Web site adkcap.org dealing with these issues. The Web site can also be accessed at adkcap.com. Both domains have just been registered, and the Web sites have not been set up yet.
Wednesday afternoon, four "sector groups" that had spent the past day-and-a-half brainstorming gave presentations with their suggestions for actions that can be taken on the local level to help reduce global warming and increase energy efficiency.
Energy-efficient buildings
The first presentation, "Energy-efficient buildings and contractor preparedness," was given by Jim Morganson, code enforcement officer for the village of Lake Placid and town of North Elba, and Dave Trudeau of Honeywell Energy Management.
They led with education and outreach. Trudeau said many programs are available right now to help people make their homes more energy efficient, but people aren't aware of them. He said older homes especially, which tend to be owned by older and lower-income people, are the most energy inefficient.
"We all know we have a lot of older people, a lot of low-income people, in houses that leak like sieves," said Saranac town Councilman Gerald Delaney.
Trudeau also said contractors and builders need to be trained to perform energy-efficiency audits and suggested making it mandatory for building inspectors to perform them. He said code enforcement officers need to be educated on these things as well.
Mike DeWein, who was part of this sector, proposed drafting a model building code for municipalities in the Adirondacks. Morganson, who presented the idea, said DeWein aimed to send out copies of the model code to other conference participants within the week. Responses and comments will be taken until the end of December, and the goal is to send it to municipalities throughout the Adirondacks in early January.
Alternate fuels
Amanda LaVigne of St. Lawrence University gave a presentation on "Alternative fuels and biofuels; small-scale power generation." She suggested "local production for consumption on an appropriate scale" of wind power, hydroelectric power, solar hot water heating, wood pellet and wood stove heating, and suggested encouraging these energy sources with tax incentives and discouraging fossil fuel use with taxes.
Education was listed as the top priority of LaVigne's sector. She suggested using pre-existing organizations such as churches, schools, and clubs such as Moose Lodges, Elks' Clubs and veterans' clubs to spread the word.
"We already meet in these various places for various reasons," she said. "We can use these as a pathway."
Sayles sells "green" Adirondack brand
Maureen Sayles of North Country Community College gave a presentation on "Local 'green' economic development and the role of local government." Sayles said she envisions the Adirondacks as a national model for green economic development.
Specifically, she suggested giving tax rebates for alternate energy use and efficient electric metering, and a "bigfoot tax" on large structures. She also said local governments should form a council to make bulk purchases of energy such as wood pellets.
Sayles said the Adirondacks should create a recognizable, "green" Adirondack brand and take advantage of events like the Ironman and Tinman triathlons to help "people outside the region understand the commitment to green activities in the Adirondacks." Local businesses, she said, should come up with green mission statements and hang them on their walls.
She also said the Adirondacks should work with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to find greener forestry practices.
"The whole process of logging is a very energy-intensive operation," she said.
Climate change and you
Colin Beier gave the presentation for the last sector on "Natural ecosystems and the role of Adirondack lands and forests in carbon mitigation." He said climate change is having a larger impact on people in the Adirondacks than in many areas, since people here are economically, culturally and spiritually "embedded in the land."
One of Beier's priorities was to improve monitoring of climate change in the region, and related threats such as pests and pollution.
"Just because you protect (the land) does not mean things are going to stay the way you want them to," he said. "There are larger forces at play."
Beier said a lot of good work is being done in the Adirondacks right now, but it is "piecemeal." He said better coordination between groups is essential. He suggested selling non-environmentalists on the importance of tackling global warming by pointing out its effects: For example, how are people going to snowmobile in 20 years if there isn't enough snow? Beier also said he is optimistic about the possibilities of cooperation here.
"In the Pacific Northwest, the idea of a forest industry person and an environmental person having a beer together, or even working together, is a joke," Beier said. "The first place I have ever come to where environmentalists and the forest industry work together is the Adirondacks."
Other thoughts
Howard Fish of Points North Publishing said the world is developing at the rate of "six-and-a-half Manhattans a year." He predicted that, in the future, the world would consist of two types of areas: lit ones (built-up areas) and natural ones.
Fish said, despite the press about America's declining reputation in the world, people in many other countries still look to us for leadership on issues such as these. Fish said the lit half of the future will work well if cities are efficiently planned, the unlit half if places like the Adirondacks are places where nature and good jobs can co-exist.
"We live in a country that is optimistic," he said. "We live in a country that is invented."
Fish said he would leave the conference with one message: "Go Adirondacks! The world is watching."
Contact Nathan Brown at 891-2600 ext. 26 or nbrown@adirondackdailyenterprise.com.