Environment
La Crosse city council set to vote Thursday on Climate Action Plan
The plan addresses 9 sectors and includes 281 detailed actions the city should take. The sectors include transportation, housing, waste management, water and agriculture, and health and public safety.
Weird winter storms, warmer temperatures and higher rainfall. La Crosse is already seeing the effects of climate change, and it’s only getting worse.
According to a new 170-page climate action plan — that could be adopted by the city council at Thursday’s 6 p.m. meeting — by 2050 La Crosse will see an increase in average temperature between 4-6 degrees, 15-20 more days a year that reach 95 degrees or higher and a 69% increase in air conditioning demands.
Over the past year, the city has been building on the existing Strategic Plan for Sustainability, which was adopted in 2009. The new plan establishes goals and actions over the next eight years to try and reach carbon neutrality.
The plan addresses nine sectors and includes 281 detailed actions the city should take. The sectors include transportation, housing, waste management, water and agriculture, as well as health and public safety.
“These are ideas that we are starting with and it’s going to take a conversation and working with the parks board to make these changes happen.” La Crosse environmental planner Lewis Kuhlman told La Crosse Talk PM. “While we have these actions, how they manifest in reality is going to really be dependent on all the different players involved.”
One of the sectors identified as having the most room for potential impact is transportation, which accounts for 34.4% of community-wide greenhouse gas emissions.
Kuhlman said that although transportation is one of the most important sectors, it is also the most challenging to improve.
“Transportation, I think, is going to be the hardest to tackle.” Kuhlman said. “There’s so many moving parts — literally. You’ve got the cost differential between gas powered vehicles and electric vehicles. … The infrastructure for electric vehicles, we don’t have the charging stations to power a rapid shift to electric vehicles.”
The plan proposes that La Crosse increase its public transit options, improve the safety of walking or biking and make 50% of buses operating in the city electric by 2030.
If all of the transportation goals are achieved, La Crosse would see a decrease in emissions by 61,375 metric tons annually.
Chip DeNure
January 11, 2023 at 6:50 am
What nonsense. The city council getting hepped up for a non-existent problem. Again we see, for the thousandth time more predictions. Tell me, city council member who might be reading this, why don’t you look out the window, and examine the climate we’ve had since early November. The severe cold temps were not supposed to happen because we were told the world was burning up, the coastal cities would be under water, the crops would burn to a crisp, and we had only 8 or 9 years to save the planet. And now we have little kids terrorized for nothing. This global warming/climate change nonsense is the new religion. There is absolutely no evidence humans have the ability to change the climate.None.
R.Walker
January 11, 2023 at 8:21 am
Considering the city has still not found a solution to our booming homeless situation which is still going strong, I have little faith that our leaders will be able to come up with a sensible solution to our future energy needs.
Rhead
January 11, 2023 at 9:24 am
Just think if we have global worming in La Crosse we could have the homeless stay a Huska housing year around!
Carol
January 16, 2023 at 8:01 am
Climate change is a 22billion $ charge to the American tax payers!!! We should not pay for
Cbina, russia, turkey, india, when they still polite the world!!!??? We need er should have joined
Nato. These idiots should be taken to vital and Carter with treason!!! That I would like to see on tv…..
Kent Porter
January 31, 2023 at 10:09 am
Look at this picture of La Crosse , I DON’T SEE A CLIMATE PROBLEM , JUST CLEAN AIR AND WATER , GO AWAY GREENIES