Climate Column: Back-to-school edition

NATASHA JULIANA

ARGUS-COURIER COLUMNIST

October 1, 2024, 4:21PM

Autumn is here. The light is slowly fading, the leaves are just starting to drop, and the 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. traffic has returned to a dull roar.

In the spirit of back-to-school time, let’s take Cool Petaluma’s five-part framework and assign a little bit of homework for all of the adults out there.

Prepare for emergencies

With the summer over, it may feel like we’ve made it through another fire season unscathed, but it’s good to remember that some of our largest blazes have taken place in the fall.

The Sonoma Complex Fires of 2017 started on Oct. 8, requiring 100,000 people to evacuate and destroying more than 5,300 homes including 3,043 within the city of Santa Rosa. The Kincaid Fire of 2019 started on Oct. 23, leading to the evacuation of 186,000 people. The Camp Fire of 2018 started on Nov. 8, killing 85 people, displacing over 50,000 people, and destroying most of the town of Paradise.

By now, hopefully, people living in fire-prone areas have created an emergency go bag and an evacuation plan. But when was the last time we checked those emergency supplies and revisited those plans?

Our homework is to refresh those go bags and make sure our evacuation plan is up to date. And those emergency plans should cover more than fire-weather needs. Last winter, I went through my emergency supplies during a big storm, which made me realize I also needed to be prepared to leave home in intense rain and wind, if necessary.

For extra credit, don’t forget to update the value of your property periodically if you have renter’s or homeowner’s insurance.

Rethink consumption

When we think about our impact on the world, we need to consider all of our food and stuff – including where it comes from and where it ends up. Given that this is the season of abundant produce in Sonoma County, now is a good time to focus on food.

Did you know that Americans waste up to 40 percent of our food – all while at least 1 in 10 have too little to eat? On top of that, food that ends up in landfills turns into a potent greenhouse gas – methane – adding significantly to the climate crisis.

Our task is to stay on top of perishables before they spoil. What are the food items you most often have to throw away? Reorganizing the refrigerator, buying smaller quantities, planning meals, and tossing leftovers in the freezer are simple solutions that can help reduce food waste. And if some food does end up going bad, make sure it ends up in the compost bin where it can be turned back into rich soil to nourish another crop.

Transform transportation

I live near an elementary school and, now that my own child is grown, I have the luxury of sitting on my front porch drinking tea as hordes of busy parents shuttle tiny children in gigantic vehicles. Even more enjoyable is watching a new generation of families taking advantage of the e-bike revolution to haul their kids around on two wheels instead of four.

We may not all be headed to school, but we all have somewhere to go, and our city is making it easier to reduce our transportation footprint. This summer, Petaluma made headlines when it was announced that all city buses would be fare free for a year. Ridership immediately went up.

Now, a new free, on-demand shuttle service called LumaGo just launched on Sept. 30. This one-year pilot project by the city currently only serves the core areas of Petaluma, but it offers an exciting opportunity to test another alternative to automobiles.

Try it out by downloading the LumaGo app on your phone and requesting trips that start anywhere and end anywhere within the zone covered. These micro buses hold up to 11 people, so this could be a great way to take a mini field trip with family or friends.

Improve buildings

The weather is changing, but one thing remains the same. Whether it’s hot or cold outside, we can improve the shell of our buildings to help keep us more comfortable without needing to use more energy.

Simple solutions like window coverings can actually make a difference. They allow us to let the sun in when it’s cold and keep it out when it’s hot. This can be especially effective when sun angles are low, allowing light and heat to get farther into our buildings.

So take a look at the sunlight in your rooms and decide when you want to let it in or keep it out. Do you already have window coverings that just need to be opened or closed, or are there places that are missing shades that could use them?

If you are adding new curtains or blinds, keep in mind that the darker the color, the more it will heat up. I learned this lesson at my office. I was thinking more about keeping the west sun off the computer screen than about the temperature of the room. The dark-gray shades cut the light but also acted like big radiators, overheating the room, whereas the light-gray shades cut down on glare and heat simultaneously.

Restore nature

When we stop to think about the diversity of life on this magical and finite ball called Earth, we begin to understand the interconnectedness of everything. Not just plants and animals, but the water and soil and air that make life possible.

Our homework is to simply go outside and observe all that comprises the world around us. Just out my front door, I watch squirrels running back and forth across the utility lines, turning it into their own super highway. I hear crows repeatedly dropping walnuts onto the street until they crack open their meal. I smell the autumn leaves and dry grass getting crisper. I feel the dampness of coastal fog blowing in from the Pacific Ocean.

Remembering that we are an influential participant in this web of life can only improve the decisions we make as we move through the world.

If any or all of these five topics resonate with you, the Cool Petaluma website has Action Plans with curated resources to help you get started. To make taking action more fun and more powerful, we encourage people to do this as a team of friends or neighbors. We have our final team leader training of the year coming up on Sunday, Oct. 13. This free half-day workshop will give you all the tools you need to start your own Cool Block or Cool Friends team. Learn more and RSVP here!

Natasha Juliana is the campaign director for Cool Petaluma. She can be reached at natashaj@coolpetaluma.org. For information on how to get involved, visit coolpetaluma.org.