I attended an MLS event for the City of San Luis Obispo mayoral candidates on Tuesday. As expected the prepared questions focused on point of sale issues regarding greening the existing housing stock. Barasch at least mentioned that there were already point of sale requirements, but none of the candidates, Marx, Barasch and Hedrick, even suggested that point of sale for retrofits, upgrades or even energy ratings was on the near horizon. Fortunately, none of the questions touched on how the City of San Luis Obispo plans to meet AB32 requirements. The plan (see their Climate Action Plan) seems to be "business as usual whenever possible", but just before 2020 a magic energy wise wand (yet to be invented) appears to transform the buildings and behavior of the population to achieve compliance. That's all off in the future. It's all about the current election--whether it's national or local. The idea of working backwards from 2020 to determine what needs to be done in 2012 to meet the AB32 standards, leaving room for economic cycles, unexpected events (good and bad), etc. doesn't receive much attention. The focus is how little can be done. What if AB 32 standards could be exceeded by a substantial margin to the benefit of the community, the individuals in it and the Earth? That's a question that won't be asked. Will the Happiest City in America remain so in 2020? We'll find out pretty soon. 2020 is just around the corner in government years (AB32 passed in 2006).
I promise next post will get back to the POSITIVELY GREEN mode! Elections get in the way of positively anything.
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