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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Spokane wants to keep the air clear


Barb Chamberlain maneuvers through Spokane traffic Thursday at the corner of Washington and Indiana. She bikes to work most days. 
 (Photos by DAN PELLE / The Spokesman-Review)

Barb Chamberlain’s Honda Accord seldom leaves her driveway.

Most days, Chamberlain, 45, pedals 2 ½ miles to her job at Washington State University-Spokane. If she has meetings during the day, she’ll hop on her bike to head downtown, to the Spokane Valley or even to Airway Heights.

“I’ve made the mental shift from ‘sometimes I ride to work’ to ‘I ride to work pretty often’ to ‘I’m a bike commuter,’ ” said Chamberlain, WSU-Spokane’s communication director.

By riding her bike, Chamberlain cuts her gasoline bill by hundreds of dollars each year. She’s also shrinking Spokane’s carbon footprint.

In 2007, the city endorsed the U.S. Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement, which lobbies for a national reduction of greenhouse gases to 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.

By signing the agreement, the city also pledged to cut local emissions. When Spokane officials tracked carbon output from the city’s 200,000 residents, an obvious culprit emerged – the tailpipe.

Ground transportation – primarily private cars and trucks – contributes more than half of the carbon emissions generated within Spokane city limits, according to 2005 figures.

“Getting people out of their cars is the biggest single thing the community can do to reduce greenhouse gases,” said Susanne Croft, the city’s sustainability coordinator.

Burning fossil fuels in vehicles pumped nearly 1.7 million metric tons of carbon into the atmosphere in 2005, according to the city’s baseline data. Private residences and businesses were also big emitters.

Heat-trapping carbon dioxide is one of the greenhouse gases whose atmospheric levels are at the highest in the past 650,000 years, according to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Without effective efforts to curb human-caused emissions, the Nobel Prize-winning panel said Earth faces potentially irreversible impacts from global warming.

The Northwest, which relies on snowpack for water supplies, has a lot at stake.

The American West has heated up faster than the world as a whole, according to a recent report by the Rocky Mountain Climate Change Organization, a consortium of 47 local government, business and environmental groups. The report was co-authored by the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Over the past five years, the global climate was an average of 1 degree Fahrenheit warmer than its average for the 20th century, the report said. Temperatures in Washington and Oregon, however, rose by 1.4 degrees. Idaho was 1.8 degrees warmer, while Montana was 2.1 degrees warmer.

Snow accounts for most of the precipitation in the 11 Western states, and provides about 70 percent of the region’s water, the report noted. Changes in the snowpack’s depth and the timing of the snowmelt will affect hydropower generation, fisheries, irrigation and recreation.

“Climate change,” said Croft, “is all about water.”

Spokane is among 800 cities that signed on to the U.S. Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement. The city’s 2005 carbon estimates, compiled using modeling software, provide a first look at Spokane’s emissions.

“We’re trying to target increasing levels of carbon dioxide, and find out what’s causing them to increase,” said Lloyd Brewer, the city’s environmental programs manager. Emission estimates for 2000 and 1990 are still being calculated. In addition to tracking the community’s carbon output, Spokane’s city government is studying its own operations. The city received a $75,000 state grant to prepare a strategic plan addressing both climate change and surging energy costs.

Reducing energy use and cutting carbon emissions are related goals, Croft said. “Our energy bills are rising just like everyone else’s.”

A draft is due out this fall, with a final plan targeted for release by early 2009. The plan will address city policies, land-use planning, city buildings and its 1,455-vehicle fleet.

“We’re leading by example,” Croft said. “We’re cleaning up our own house. That lets us sit at the table in good conscience.”

Melissa Ahern, director of the newly formed Northwest Climate Center in Spokane, sees a clear path to cutting the community’s carbon output. Address transportation and promote energy-efficient buildings, and most of the battle would be won, said Ahern, who’s also a health care economist.

“Those two strands,” she said, “can lead to significant reductions.”

The Northwest Climate Center is an advocate of an electric light-rail system for greater Spokane. Reducing urban sprawl, building green and retrofitting older buildings with energy-saving measures are other obvious parts of carbon-emission reduction, Ahern said.

Probably “a good quarter” of Spokane’s population is aware of the threats of climate change, she said. As monthly heating bills and gasoline costs rise, conserving energy will become a “pocketbook” as well as an environmental cause, she predicted.

Reclaiming time, as well as money, was Chamberlain’s motivation. In 2001, she moved from Coeur d’Alene to Spokane to be closer to her WSU job, cutting out a 40-minute freeway commute.

Since then, Chamberlain’s lived in two Spokane neighborhoods. Both were near dedicated bike lanes, which helped turn her into a bike commuter.

Cycling to work isn’t as hard as it sounds, Chamberlain said. It takes her 10 minutes to get to work on her bike, about the same amount of time it takes her to drive. She cycles in her work clothes and keeps a container of baby wipes in her office to freshen up.

“You don’t have to wear Spandex,” Chamberlain said. “I do carry a much smaller purse, though, because it has to fit into my bike bag.”

When snow covers the ground, Chamberlain takes the bus to work. She resorts to the Honda only on days when she has to drive to WSU’s Pullman campus.

The ethic extends to the entire family.

Chamberlain’s husband, Eric Abbott, is a graduate student at WSU-Spokane who cycles to class. Her 17-year-old rides the bus to school, “though she’d much rather drive,” Chamberlain said. Her other daughter, 13, rides the bus or bikes to middle school.

The family also runs errands by bicycle.

“I think people would be scared off if they had to change their whole life all at once,” Chamberlain said. “But it’s so doable, once it’s part of your routine.”

Besides the fitness and stress-reduction benefits, bike commuting is fun, Chamberlain said.

“It’s like being a kid again,” she said, “if you remember when having a bike meant freedom.”