City Council Agenda and Packet 2021 11 16 SP

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LCityof 2022 Sustainability Advisory Board Louisville Supplemental Questions COLORADO -SINCE 1878 Applicant Name: Carrie Cortigho The Sustainability Advisory Board promotes sustainability through energy efficiency, resource conservation, and localization to better the environment, social well-being, and economic vitality of the City and advises City Council on approaches to sustainability. The Board meets the third Wednesday of each month at 6:30 pm. Terms are four years. You must be a resident of Louisville to serve. I. Briefly explain your interest on serving on the Sustainability Advisory Board. I've been looking to make an impact on climate change and to get more deeply involved in my community. A position on the Sustainability Advisory Board would allow me to pursue both these goals. At a personal level, I've been finding ways to reduce the impact of my household. We are having solar panels installed in January, I've purchased an electric car for my commute to work and I'm working to install native plants and landscaping that doesn't require much water and supports birds and pollinators. While I find these personal pursuits gratifying, I want to have a bigger impact. Louisville is incredibly forward thinking when it comes to sustainability and has made so much progress. The powering of all municipal buildings with renewable energy is just one example. I'm curious to see how far we can go as a community to advance sustainability and to be a national leader on climate friendly practices and I want to be part of that effort. 2. What does sustainability mean to you and what do you think should be the top three priorities for the Board? Sustainability is the wise use of resources with an eye toward long-term needs of the residents and the community. It also means thinking about how our use of resources impacts the larger landscape, the county, and the state. My top three priorities are: One - Landscaping for biodiversity. I'm very interested in efforts to encourage residents to use native plants, create habitat for birds and pollinators, reduce water usage, eliminate herbicides and pesticides. Two - Water use and conservation. This past summer has made clear that the ability of the mountain west to meet water needs is in jeopardy. For that reason, it's imperative that Louisville take the lead and prepare for a future where there is simply less water available. Three - Electrification and the transition to renewable or non -carbon energy for residential housing and commercial businesses. 3. Discuss how costs and benefits should be considered when making sustainability recommendations and decisions. The most recent report from the IPCC made clear how critical this moment in time is if we want to avert the worst effects of climate change. We simply don't have the luxury of pushing action into the future. At every level, federal, state, local and personal, we will have to rethink how we live and make adjustments so that future generations have a livable planet with diverse, thriving ecosystems. Stll, our constraints in the near term are real so our decisions and actions will require a balance of considering costs and benefits and we will have to prioritize projects with the most long term benefit with the least short term cost. We have to balance the benefits to human well-being and the well-being of ecosystems with the near term financial costs. In order to be successful, we have to find ways to generate revenue streams to pay for sustainability investments and take advantage of all federal, state and private funding sources. Some of the work may be political will -building to get residents invested in changes.