Concerned residents want Grand Rapids to deliver on climate goals

By Cristina Stob

As a midwesterner, I have spent many long gray days in February and March wishing for warmer weather. Toes numbed to a deep purple and fingertips a ghostly white, I dreamt of being able to afford a Floridian escape from the parkings lots piled high with snow, the forever thawing of boots scattered in the entryway of my home and the treacherously slippery walks I felt compelled to fulfill for the dog. Now though, the jealousy I’ve harbored for the southern states has morphed into concern, concern for the longevity of our planet, our country, our state and our city.

As the second largest city in Michigan, Grand Rapids is a pacesetter for climate adaptability. Despite being considered a “climate haven,” Grand Rapids is experiencing an increase in annual precipitation, extreme weather events and overall temperature. Even with strong preventative action, Grand Rapids will continue to have more and more days above 90F, more precipitation in short bursts, which increases the chance of flooding and drought, and warmer winters, which increases the lifespan of vectors of disease, thereby increasing exposure to West Nile Virus and Lymes Disease. A detailed report of climate effects on Grand Rapids is available on this webpage from the Office of Sustainability. 

In 2022, The City of Grand Rapids made a pledge to reduce community-wide emissions by 62.8% by 2030 and 100% by 2050. In order to reach these goals, The City of Grand Rapids is following a 5-Milestone action plan designed by the global network, Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI). 

During Milestone 1, an inventory of emissions was collected and categorized to establish current baseline levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and serve as a benchmark for future progress. During this process, the largest sectors for GHG emissions were attributed to; transportation 30%, residential energy 28%, industrial energy 25% and commercial energy 11%, the rest of the emissions are from several different sources.  Milestone 2, established the target goal of decreasing GHG by 62.8 % by 2030 and 100% by 2050. The City is currently in Milestone 3, which is developing a climate action plan. The plan is expected to be completed by the end of 2024. A period for citizen input is open until October 30th, please provide your input to the climate action plan here. Milestone 4 is implementation of the action plan, followed by Milestone 5, which is to monitor and evaluate the plan's goals. 

As supporters of these goals, the Grand Rapids Climate Coalition and its 95 member organizations, have put out a call to city officials asking for an increase in public input, city funding and financial transparency to achieve them. Visit here to read the open letter in full and send city officials your own version of the letter if you agree. 

A report of The City’s 2025, $690 million dollar budget, is causing doubt among GR Climate Coalition members as to whether city officials have allocated enough money to realistically meet its climate action goals. The budget report mentions the specific acts of changing city street lights to energy-efficient LEDs and installing an array of solar panels over the old Blodgett Landfill site. The solar power generated will be used to power 100 government facilities, streetlights and traffic signals. While these are very positive steps for The City to be taking, they fall far short of addressing the main causes of GHG emissions, which are transportation, and the energy used by residential, industrial and commercial facilities respectively. Meanwhile, government facilities only contribute 2.2% of community-wide emissions, making strides to improve that 2.2% is necessary but also of a less urgent nature than addressing emissions generated from the private sector and energy providers. If Grand Rapids stands a chance of reaching the 62.8% GHG reduction by 2030, we will need large investments in reducing combustion engine transportation by increasing incentives to buy battery powered vehicles and investing in public transportation. Residential homes would benefit from increased affordability of solar panels, increased solar buy-back rates with energy companies, increased incentives for high-efficiency appliances, electric heating and cooling units. There are many steps that could be taken to improve Grand Rapids, but they must receive funding in order to be effective. The GR Climate Coalition requests that the government budget direct funding straight to the Office of Sustainability, which can then employ the use of line items that are specifically addressing climate change goals.

We can borrow a page from other similar cities, like Pittsburg, on how to adjust the city budget to reflect the current climate goals. Along with 300 other local governments, they employed the software from ResourceX to adopt priority-based budgeting. After tracking every dollar in their $600 million dollar budget, Pittsburg discovered an additional $41 million dollars that could be reallocated to address climate solutions. It is measures like these that can assist in achieving positive climate effects.

To increase public awareness of, and participation in, the climate goals for The City of Grand Rapids, the Climate Coalition is hosting a gathering and march at Calder Plaza in downtown Grand Rapids this Saturday, October 12th. This event will include family-friendly events, a group march, speakers and informational booths. See this Facebook page for additional event details. 

The convergence of individual residents, grassroots organizations, and government policy makers is necessary in order to achieve an environmental outcome that will allow future generations to flourish. Please join us this Saturday and meet the vast array of like-minded neighbors, volunteers, and coalition members. Hope to see you there!