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City of Seattle Blog

Seattle Launches New ‘Climate Portal’ to Track and Visualize Climate Emissions Using Updated Neighborhood-Level Data  

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The Office of Sustainability and Environment (OSE) is excited to debut the first components of a new map-based website, featuring dashboards that track building and transportation greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) across Seattle neighborhoods. As called for in the Green New Deal Resolution (Res 31895), the site will be updated on a quarterly basis to provide more frequent and granular data indicators of emissions in Seattle’s neighborhoods.

“Fighting the global issue of climate change requires cities to take bold action, reduce emissions, and protect our communities here at home. Through the new Climate Portal, we can now see where climate emissions and pollution are occurring in our city and make decisions guided by science and equity — bringing people together to create more effective policies and programs that drive progress and invest in those hardest hit by the climate crisis.”

– Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell

The Climate Portal launch comes after the recent 2020 GHG Inventory report, which found a significant, but temporary decrease in emissions attributed to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Seattle’s 2018 inventory showed emissions increased 1.1% since the last report, and without additional action the City projects emissions will not only rebound to pre-pandemic levels but also continue this upward trend.

“Our GHG inventories can give us a broad understanding of how our emissions are trending, but they’re not detailed enough in scope or depth to use as the primary source for making decisions that center racial equity. The Climate Portal comes in to address these limitations and provide more frequent, neighborhood-level data that show how climate pollution is worse in certain parts of the City. There’ll be more coming next year – it’s our goal to keep iterating on the Portal to make it more useful and accessible to all Seattle residents.”

– Ani Krishnan, Climate Data & Policy Manager, OSE

In addition to continuing GHG inventory reports and maintaining the Climate Portal dashboards, OSE is exploring new updates to the portal which will incorporate community led data efforts, as well as ways to spatially track city-led investments that are informed by budget recommendations from the Green New Deal Oversight Board. The Portal will also feature community climate stories and track additional indicators that can help inform Seattle’s progress in equitably stewarding a healthy and sustainable city.

“We know that not all in Seattle bear the burden of climate change and air pollution equally. Our communities experience this disparity everyday, and now we have better quantitative data to back up these lived realities. This data can help make the case for investments to ensure communities are supported in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from climate change related emergencies such as extreme weather events and wildfire smoke.”

– Debolina Banerjee, Green New Deal Oversight Board, Puget Sound Sage

The creation of the Climate Portal was guided through feedback from a 2021 community engagement series of listening sessions to identify data gaps, equitable approaches to data collection and more. A report outlining the takeaways from these sessions can be found here.

“As the climate changes, Seattle residents are noticing environmental, health, and economic effects. These changes are harmful for everyone, but our frontline communities bear a disproportionate burden of harm. I thank the Oversight Board, City staff, and community members, who have worked together to guide the development and future iterations of the Climate Portal.”

– Jessyn Farrell, Director, OSE

Learn more about the climate portal and watch a brief video demonstration featuring OSE Climate & Policy Manager, Ani Krishnan.

Seattle’s Green New Deal Wins Global Recognition and Award at the C40 World Mayors Summit

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On October 19, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell accepted an award from C40 Cities and Bloomberg Philanthropies for the critical work Seattle is doing to advance community-driven, tangible climate action and justice through the Green New Deal. Seattle was nominated for “Building a Climate Movement” alongside other projects reflecting ambitious city-led efforts to support a diverse, inclusive, and equitable climate movement.  

“Seattle, like cities represented around the globe, is no stranger to severe climate events – over the last few weeks, our residents were blanketed in choking wildfire smoke – with historically underserved communities hit the hardest,” said Mayor Bruce Harrell. “That’s why Seattle’s Green New Deal centers the people, connections, and partnerships needed to take bold action, deliver tangible solutions, and support those most in need during climate events which are already impacting us.”  

The award decision was made by a panel of esteemed jurors, including climate experts and former mayors. 

“We’re honored to receive this award and grateful for the tireless work of community leaders, advocates, and partners helping Seattle create a thriving and sustainable future,” said Mayor Harrell. “While the issues of the day in our city demand action and attention, we also know the climate crisis – and its consequences – are not just a future challenge but are being clearly felt today. Our Green New Deal response is a new kind of community-centered effort – addressing longstanding inequities, creating good jobs, and investing in healthy communities as we reduce emissions and build resilience.” 

Seattle recently signed into law $6.5 Million in 2022 Green New Deal Opportunity Fund investments that will accelerate the City’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, build community resilience to climate change, and increase net zero affordable housing. These investments were the first set recommended by the City’s Green New Deal Oversight Board of 19 community representatives and are funded by proceeds from the JumpStart Seattle payroll expense tax legislation passed in 2020. 

“Cities are positioned to experience some of the most dynamic on-the-ground realities of climate change – from the impacts of smoke, flooding, and extreme weather on our large populations and our infrastructure, to climate migration that will find millions of people around the world seeking safety, services, and stability in our communities,” said Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda. “We’re proud to join cities across the globe that are stepping up to create an equitable response to climate change, from the ground up. Our efforts in Seattle are frontline and fenceline community led—and this honor goes to the advocates and communities in our city who have worked to build this vision, and the broad coalition who fought to create a dedicated stream of funding for the Green New Deal – along with affordable housing, equitable development, and economic resilience investments – through the JumpStart progressive payroll tax.” 

The Oversight Board also provided recommendations toward the Mayor’s proposed 2023 budget, which includes over $20 million in new and climate-forward investments. Key investments include:  

  • Economic development investments to support local businesses in the Duwamish Valley and funding for clean energy scholarships and workforce development capacity to connect climate policies to the needs of an inclusive and equitable and low carbon economy.  
  • Investments to ensure an equitable transition away from fossil fuels in buildings and transportation by expanding rebates to convert homes from oil-to-electric heat, creating new programs and support to help buildings owners transition to 100% clean buildings, adding capital investments to decarbonize City-owned buildings, such as community centers and libraries, and providing rebates for heavy-duty electric vehicles. 
  • Investments to support communities most impacted by the climate impacts we are already seeing, including community capacity through Environmental Justice Fund grants and supporting the City’s ability to help plan for and advance Seattle’s Green New Deal. 

Over the next two months, the City Council will review the Mayor’s Proposed Budget. Final adoption of the budget is expected on Monday, November 21. 

Seattle Releases 2020 Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report Showing Pandemic-Spurred Declines in Building and Transportation Sector Emissions

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Seattle’s 2020 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) inventory finds a marked decrease in greenhouse gas emissions since the prior 2018 report, the majority of which are likely temporary and primarily attributed to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Seattle GHG inventory tracks emissions over three key sectors: transportation, buildings, and waste.

Key findings include:

Transportation (24.5% decrease in emissions)

  • People drove significantly less in 2020 primarily due to COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, resulting a 20% decrease in both passenger and freight vehicle miles traveled (VMTs).
  • Public transit was especially hard hit, and traffic monitors show vehicle volume and personal vehicle travel patterns returning to baseline.
  • Vehicles are becoming more efficient, showing a 5% decrease in emissions per mile.

Buildings (5% decrease in residential and commercial emissions)

  • All core building emissions categories decreased but residential energy use increased by 3%, which accounts for the increase in time spent at home as residents who were able adhered to stay-at-home orders and continued working from home.
  • Seattle’s buildings also got more efficient, consuming 5% less energy per capita after normalizing for weather, a trend that is expected to continue, and Seattle City Light’s emissions factors changed as the utility reported a resource portfolio with less carbon-intensive electricity.
  • As with transportation emissions, building emissions are expected to rebound in future years.

Waste (12.4% decrease in emissions)

  • The major factors contributing to the reduction in waste emissions were a decrease in commercial waste due to the pandemic, and a new residential waste composition study, which shows a lower percentage of recyclable and compostable materials entering the garbage stream.
  • Waste emissions account for just 1.2% of total core emissions, but SPU’s consistent efforts to improve the composition of municipal solid waste have led to a 35.5% reduction in emissions since 2008. 

While the 2020 emissions data show declines in emissions due to the pandemic, Seattle’s 2018 inventory showed emissions increased 1.1% since the last report, and without additional action the City projects emissions will not only rebound to pre-pandemic levels but also continue this upward trend. This week, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell will travel to Buenos Aires to participate in the C40 World Mayors Summit, where mayors and climate leaders from around the world will unite to share their plans, efforts, and experiences to accelerate delivery of climate action and commitments. 

“It’s not a surprise that drastic drops in our emissions followed the drastic changes in people’s lives over the last several years. But as we recover, we must recognize and act on the need for bigger, bolder, and more equitable climate action,” said Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell. “Meaningful action on climate change requires collaboration at the highest levels – including global networks like the C40 Climate Alliance –where we can learn and share impactful climate mitigation and adaptation strategies. I look forward to these important conversations, aligning with fellow mayors at the C40 Mayor’s Summit to bring home renewed urgency and new ideas to drive emission reductions, bolster a growing clean energy economy, and build healthy and resilient communities.” 

Seattle conducts GHG inventories on a biennial basis (every two years) to report on the sources and magnitude of GHG emissions and visualize trends to inform climate policy and program development. Other jurisdictions follow a similar reporting cadence; in early October King County published their Puget Sound Regional Emissions Analysis providing updated data for multiple jurisdictions through 2019 and in some cases 2020.

“We stand here with two paths to take – we can continue business as usual and see emissions steadily tick back up to pre-pandemic levels where we were trending in the wrong direction, or we can take this opportunity to learn from the past and engage in learning and strategizing to help us change how we design policies to make them more effective and equitable for those hit hardest by the climate crisis,” said Jessyn Farrell, Director, Office of Sustainability & Environment. “Through the framework of Mayor Harrell’s One Seattle Climate Justice Agenda and Green New Deal for Seattle, we are making investments and commitments to community to meet the challenge of climate change in Seattle in a way that builds resilience against current climate impacts and paves the way for a clean energy future.”

While this inventory provides us a broad understanding of how our emissions are trending, it is not detailed enough in scope or depth to use as the primary source for making decisions that center racial equity. As called for in the Green New Deal Resolution (Res 31895) to address these gaps, OSE is developing a map-based website which will be updated on a quarterly basis to provide more frequent and granular data indicators of emissions in Seattle’s neighborhoods. The “One Seattle Climate Portal” will be released by the end of 2022. Beginning in 2023 the City will develop the next phase of the portal which will incorporate community led data efforts, as well as ways to spatially track city-led investments.

“Greenhouse gas inventories are an important tool to track our climate emissions and identify trends in climate emissions, but they are also limited by the lag in data collection and lack of specificity of emissions by neighborhood where we know from other health indicators that climate impacts and pollution is worse in certain parts of the City,” said Ani Krishnan, Climate Data & Policy Manager, Office of Sustainability & Environment. “The GHG inventory tells us how much emissions there were, but the One Seattle Climate Portal will come in to show us where the pollution is occurring. I look forward to being able to share with residents, for the first time, emissions data spatially, on a map where we can see in which neighborhoods emissions are occurring and make decisions that center racial equity.” 

The City of Seattle is accelerating several significant policies and programs to reduce emissions from buildings, including building emission performance standards and the clean heat program, which are projected to reduce building emissions by 35%. The City is also innovating with policies and programs aimed at reducing emissions from transportation, including infrastructure to increase walking, biking and transit use in the City, electrifying vehicles that move people, goods and services, and improving air quality in fence line communities. More information can be found at www.seattle.gov/environment.

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell’s Proposed 2023 Budget 

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Proposed 2023 budget furthers Seattle’s commitment to community-led environmental and climate justice action

By Jessyn Farrell, Director Seattle Office of Sustainability & Environment

Dear Friends and Partners,

On Tuesday, September 27, Mayor Bruce Harrell released his 2023-24 Proposed Budget. This budget reflects Mayor Harrell’s continued commitment to bold action on the priorities of our communities – investing to address urgent needs as we build One Seattle.

With the investments in this budget proposal, we can work together to advance our shared One Seattle vision and an agenda that will inspire the best in our city and keep us moving forward.

OSE’s 2023-24 proposed budget reflects Seattle’s commitment to responding to the climate crises through the framework of the One Seattle Climate Justice Agenda, which focuses on 1) Building an Equitable Clean Energy Economy, 2) Ensuring a Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels, and 3) Building Healthy, Climate Resilient Communities. The One Seattle Climate Justice Agenda seeks to build on what we know works and to scale up investments to achieve a healthy, sustainable city for every resident.

In total, nearly 90 percent of proposed budget additions directly benefit and support community, such as incentives for electrification, training for clean energy jobs, investments in an equitable, sustainable local food system, and grants for community-identified priorities.

The 2023 Proposed Budget significantly expands OSE’s work aligned with the Seattle Green New Deal programming funded with payroll expense tax dollars and complements the recently enacted 2022 Green New Deal Opportunity Fund, which allocates $6.5M in Green New Deal investments.

I am delighted to share a summary of OSE’s key changes in the 2023 Proposed Budget:

Building an Equitable Clean Energy Economy
The proposed 2023 budget continues key Duwamish Valley economic development investments and adds funding for clean energy scholarships and workforce development capacity to connect climate policies to the needs of an inclusive and equitable and low carbon economy. Key investment include:

  • $200,000 to continue Duwamish Valley Business Support
  • $1 million to continue Clean Energy Pre-Apprenticeship Scholarships

Ensuring a Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels
The proposed 2023 budget furthers Seattle’s commitment to community-led environmental and climate justice action. It targets climate pollution in buildings by expanding rebates to convert homes from oil-to-electric heat, creating new programs and support to help buildings owners transition to 100% clean buildings, and adding capital investments to decarbonize City-owned buildings, such as community centers and libraries.  Key investments include:

  • $800,000 to support rebates for oil home heating conversions
  • $2.8 million to provide staffing and resource support for the Building Emission Performance Standards Staffing and Implementation
  • $1 million for rebates for heavy-duty electric vehicles

Building Healthy, Climate Resilient Communities
The proposed 2023 budget deepens investments in communities most impacted by the climate impacts we are already seeing. Many of these investments will increase community capacity and advance Seattle’s Green New Deal, by focusing on an equitable transition away from fossil fuels while investing in jobs. Key investments include:

  • $150,000 for a Tree Canopy Equity and Resilience Plan
  • $300,000 in continued Funding to Green Industrial Properties in Equity Focus Areas
  • $550,000 to expand the Environmental Justice Fund, creating an ongoing fund of $750,000 moving forward.

NEXT STEPS AND COMMUNICATION ABOUT BUDGET

Over the next two months, the City Council will review the Mayor’s Proposed Budget. Public hearings are on October 11 and November 7. Final adoption of the budget is expected on Tuesday, November 22. More information about details in the budget can be found at www.seattle.gov/budget, and you can also direct any questions to MOS_COMMS@seattle.gov.

Mayor Harrell Signs $6.5 Million in 2022 Green New Deal Opportunity Fund

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Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell speaking at an event at the South Park Community Center with Green New Deal Oversight Board members and community partners to sign $6.5 million in Green New Deal 2022 budget investments.

The City of Seattle’s Green New Deal reached a critical milestone on Thursday September 22 as Mayor Bruce Harrell signed into law $6,491,539 in 2022 Green New Deal Opportunity Fund investments that will accelerate the City’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, build community resilience to climate change, and increase net zero affordable housing.  

These investments are the first set recommended by the City’s Green New Deal Oversight Board of 19 community representatives, established by Ordinance 125926 through the Jumpstart payroll expense tax legislation passed in 2020. The Oversight Board also provided recommendations for the Mayor’s proposed 2023 budget, which will include $2.6 million in rebates and incentives to help middle-and-low-income residents transition off oil to clean electric heat pumps. With these investments, Seattle is on the path to transition all oil heating furnaces to clean electric heat pumps. An expanded list of the Mayor’s Green New Deal investments is included below. Mayor Harrell’s full budget will be announced next week.    

“For the past few days Seattle has been blanketed with smoke-filled skies and choking air quality, with areas of the city like here in the Duwamish Valley, where the life expectancy is eight years shorter than the Seattle average, especially hard hit,” said Mayor Harrell. “During times of increasingly severe climate events like these, it’s critical that everyone have access to clean, filtered air and cooling. I am proud to sign today $6.5 million in the Green New Deal Opportunity Fund and look forward to advancing further action in our 2023 proposed budget. I thank the Oversight Board, City staff, and community members, who have worked together to develop this and future sets of strategic and community-driven Green New Deal investments.” 

Investments for the $6.5 Million Green New Deal Opportunity Fund include:   

  • $2.4 Million to Identify and Develop Resilience Hubs in Seattle: Seattle is facing a climate crisis, but not all bear the burden equally. Resilience Hubs are an innovative approach to help ensure communities are supported in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from climate change related emergencies such as extreme heat events and wildfire smoke. The city is working to address community needs at nexus of resilience, emergency management and response, climate change mitigation, and social equity. Mayor Harrell has also proposed $2 million in his Parks District budget proposal toward the Resilience Hub effort. 
  • $2.3 Million to support efforts to get all City-owned buildings off fossil fuels by 2035. The City of Seattle owns 650 buildings, including 27 public libraries which are increasingly on the front lines of community care during climate emergencies. In addition to supporting the decarbonization of all municipal buildings, these investments strategically invest in providing heating, cooling, and clean air at the NE and SW Library branches to support communities during times of climate crisis. 
  • $2 Million to increase the number of city-funded affordable housing projects. Investing in multi-family affordable housing electrification avoids installing new fossil fuel systems that will lock newly created affordable housing – and its residents — into decades of climate pollution.  
  • $300,000 to support climate data and Community Health Indicator project. As the City continues to make exciting investments to address climate change, Seattle is developing the infrastructure to track our impact. This investment will collect critical data needed to see the full picture of climate impact on transportation, community health, and more – allowing the city to further efforts to advance climate justice and reduce greenhouse gas impacts.  
  • $100,00 for community engagement to inform climate elements of the One Seattle Comprehensive Plan update. This investment sets aside funds to support community engagement that will inform climate components incorporated into the One Seattle Comprehensive Plan – an effort fundamental to shaping land use, transportation, and infrastructure investments over the next 20 years. 

These investments and the 2023 budget will drive urgent action through Mayor Harrell’s One Seattle Climate Justice Agenda, centered on efforts and investments to build a green economy and create good jobs, ensure a just transition off fossil fuels, and build community resilience to meet the scale of the climate crisis – leaving no one behind. 

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING:  

Seattle City Council Member Teresa Mosqueda 

“Today’s signing represents a crucial step towards fulfilling the JumpStart Seattle spending plan investments in our City’s climate resilience and in our City’s future. These investments represent a portion of the total $14.5m for 2022 and the near $20m for 2023 from JumpStart Seattle that is being directed from frontline and fenceline community representatives on the Green New Deal Oversight Board. As we continue to battle wildfire smoke and see climate impacts worldwide, we must make big, bold investments in forward-thinking, creative solutions to the extreme climate crisis that faces our communities; in particular vulnerable and historically marginalized communities. Thank you to the Green New Deal Oversight Board, staff at the Office of Sustainability and the Environment and the Mayor’s Office for your work towards investing in equitable climate resilience.” 

Maria Batayola, Co-Chair of the Green New Deal Oversight Board 

“At the Green New Deal Oversight Board, this is our first year gathering community priorities, consulting with City departments, and learning quickly to develop the 2022 budget recommendations. We are heartened and humbled to accelerate Seattle’s transition off fossil fuels and improve the resiliency of our impacted overburdened communities during this climate crisis. We are here today thanks to the hard work and dedication of environmental justice leaders from across Seattle’s neighborhoods, past and present. From community members to City staff and elected officials, Seattle’s commitment to justly address the climate crisis is evident in Seattle’s Green New Deal. Thank you.” 

Paulina López of the Duwamish River Community Coalition  

“Communities in Seattle—specially in places like the Duwamish Valley—need places to go and ways to connect to each other and services during times of climate emergencies. Resilience hubs are exciting community driven investments and we look forward to engaging with the City to pilot resilience hubs in the Duwamish Valley where community members are experiencing compounding impacts of sea-level rise, air pollution, and urban heat island effect.” 

WATCH THE EVENT RECORDING:

In its fight for food justice, Young Women Empowered displays its admiration for the Earth

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 By Carol Aragon, Environmental Justice Storytelling Youth Intern

Across the United States, race is the most significant predictor of a person living near contaminated air, water, or soil. It is for this reason that Seattle’s Environmental Justice Fund was created in 2017 to support efforts that benefit and are led by, or in partnership with, those most affected by environmental and climate inequities: Black, Indigenous, People of Color, immigrants, refugees, people with low incomes, youth, and elders. The Environmental Justice Fund supports a wide variety of community-led projects that advance environmental justice and respond to the impacts of climate change. This story series features some of the incredible work led by community groups and organizations supported by the Environmental Justice Fund.

Young Women Empowered’s (Y-WE) mission is to “cultivate the power of diverse young women* to be creative leaders and courageous changemakers through transformative programs within a collaborative community of belonging.” Y-WE offers various outdoor programs including Nature Connections and Y-WE Grow. I had the honor of learning more about Y-WE Grow by interviewing Neli Jasuja who manages this program that was founded on forming a bond with the Earth. Y-WE Grow lives and thrives in South Park’s Marra Farm harbors youth and giving gardens, while being an educational space for those learning about food-related issues.

Neli shared her story with us in between gardening tasks.

Neli leads Y-WE Grow alongside Tayah Carlisle and has focused on food justice throughout her career. I had the wonderful opportunity to hear from Neli about how the EJ Fund has supported Y-WE Grow, her hopes for youth participants, and her emphasis on sustainability through farming while remaining respectful of and connected to the land.

“I love the Environmental Justice Fund,” Neli said. “It feels grounded in respect and trust. Rather than requiring us as an organization to prove ourselves constantly, it feels truly like a relationship. OSE staff have joined Y-WE volunteer work parties and been in community which has meant a lot. And with that trust, with that respect, comes openness for creativity. We don’t have to submit a rigorous grant proposal around what the youth will produce; there’s sometimes pressure around that. Instead, it’s more about letting the magic happen, like what emerges for the youth.”

While the EJ Fund currently supports Y-WE Grow, they were also a recipient of a grant in 2018 which supported their Nature Connections programming. Nature Connections is an opportunity for young women to deepen their relationship with nature and themselves through outdoor activities that allows them to experience nature and dive into environmental justice topics. As a result of their grant, Y-WE served over 230 young women through Nature Connections and the youth had access to outdoor activities including invasive species removal with Snoqualmie tribal leaders and working at Marra Farm, and connecting with the South Park community to share community meals while learning about the environmental justice issues they face.

Currently, the youth who participate in Y-WE Grow contribute to the environmental justice movement through their dedication and participation at Marra Farm and beyond. Once finished with Y-WE Grow, Neli hopes the youth walk away having a respectful relationship with the land, and that they are happy with the work that they accomplish.

“I want them to feel belonging and connection with the land from the start and to know that anywhere they go, they can approach their environment and observe, listen, and converse in relationship. It’s also a lot of pressure to inherit climate chaos and hold the responsibility that is pushed onto them by adults to fix it. What’s special about this space is that young people can heal and contribute at the same time. Action on its own without purpose or understanding of the land’s history, people and environmental justice movements can be dangerous. Self-care without purpose or action can be an avoidance mechanism. Because we have action, purpose, and healing integrated here, the youth know that it’s possible to have all three and build sustainability in environmental justice work long-term. You can experience joy while fighting environmental racism in community.”

On the left, Neli instructs a youth participant on the “chop and drop” method of weeding. On the right, she speaks with the same participant about the mycelium found in the mulch pathways.

Y-WE has collaborated with numerous programs that are focused on environmental equity. Here, Neli describes the importance of the different organizations coming together and the sense of community present at Marra Farm.

Neli and the author pose for a photo together as the volunteer day ends.

“I think that what’s special about Marra Farm is that it’s not just one group farming here. It’s a collection of organizations, neighbors, and individuals all doing cool projects. I think that sometimes when we hear that there’s people engaging in the environmental justice movement, there can be a hero-industrial complex, as though there’s this one person doing it all. We should recognize that people are coming together and sharing resources. That’s the mosaic of it. We’ll have foods next to each other at the market; we’ll look out for each other. It’s very relational, knowing that it also has a much bigger impact across the community. I feel very lucky that there’s so many people in Seattle doing this work. The community is very strong. It’s nice to have someone you can call, and to have people you can ask to join you in the movement. The community aspect is what gives me a lot of life in this work, in addition to the farm work.”

Lastly, Neli shared some words of wisdom for those beginning their environmental justice work.“I’d say it’s urgent and never too late to begin. I started doing this work, fully dedicating my life to it at twenty-five years old. To see where I’m at now and to see where our youth are now, it’s never too late to start building with people in community around this work because it’s work that needs to be done.”

Find out more about the Environmental Justice fund on our website, and consider applying before 4 p.m. on September 16.

*Y-WE uses this term to refer to those who identify as women or were assigned female at birth, inclusive of trans and non-binary folks.

About the Author

Carol Aragon is a Storytelling Intern for OSE through the Seattle Youth Employment Program, assisting in interviewing grantees of the Environmental Justice Fund. She is an incoming undergraduate at Washington State University.

Mayor Harrell Announces $6.5 Million in 2022 Green New Deal Opportunity Fund to accelerate Seattle’s transition off fossil fuels while building community resilience to climate change

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On September 7, the City of Seattle’s Green New Deal reached a critical milestone as Mayor Bruce Harrell released a funding proposal that would invest $6,491,539 in 2022 toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions, supporting community resilience to climate change, and increasing net zero affordable housing. These investments are the first set recommended by the City’s Green New Deal Oversight Board of 19 community representatives, established by Ordinance 125926 through the Jumpstart payroll expense tax legislation passed in 2020.

Investments for the $6.5 Million Green New Deal Opportunity Fund include:   

  • $2.4 Million to Identify and Develop Resilience Hubs in Seattle: Seattle is facing a climate crisis, but not all bear the burden equally. Resilience Hubs are an innovative approach to help ensure communities are supported in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from climate change related emergencies such as extreme heat events and wildfire smoke. The City is working to address community needs at nexus of resilience, emergency management and response, climate change mitigation, and social equity. Mayor Harrell has also proposed $2 million in his Parks District budget proposal toward the Resilience Hub effort. 
  • $2.3 Million to support efforts to get all City-owned buildings off fossil fuels by 2035. The City of Seattle owns 650 buildings, including 27 public libraries which are increasingly on the front lines of community care during climate emergencies. In addition to supporting the decarbonization of all municipal buildings, these investments strategically invest in providing heating, cooling, and clean air at the NE and SW Library branches to support communities during times of climate crisis. 
  • $2 Million to increase the number of city-funded affordable housing projects. Investing in multi-family affordable housing electrification avoids installing new fossil fuel systems that will lock newly created affordable housing – and its residents – into decades of climate pollution.  
  • $300,000 to support climate data and Community Health Indicator project. As the City continues to make exciting investments to address climate change, Seattle is developing the infrastructure to track our impact. This investment will collect critical data needed to see the full picture of climate impact on transportation, community health, and more – allowing the city to further efforts to advance climate justice and reduce greenhouse gas impacts.  
  • $100,00 for community engagement to inform climate elements of the One Seattle Comprehensive Plan update. This investment sets aside funds to support community engagement that will inform climate components incorporated into the One Seattle Comprehensive Plan – an effort fundamental to shaping land use, transportation, and infrastructure investments over the next 20 years.  

The 2022 Green New Deal Opportunity Fund investments are the first to be funded by proceeds from Jumpstart funds. As part of the 2022 budgeting process, the Green New Deal Oversight Board was asked to make recommendations on $6.5 million for investments to help to advance the principles of the Green New Deal for Seattle. The Oversight Board has also provided recommendations for 2023 funds.  

What Others are Saying

“We at the Oversight Board have been working for months gathering community priorities, consulting with City departments, and building on our own expertise to develop the 2022 budget recommendations. Through these investments, we are humbled to accelerate Seattle’s transition off fossil fuels while improving the resilience of our impacted overburdened communities during this climate crisis.” 

Maria Batayola, Green New Deal Oversight Board member“

“As a councilmember, I voted to establish a Green New Deal – with a goal of ensuring Seattle continues to be at the forefront of innovative policies to reduce emissions and center climate resilience and justice. We stand at a tipping point where bold action must be taken to meet the scale of the climate crisis, and this set of investments reflects that ambitious thinking and commitment to strong and healthy communities. I want to thank City staff and community members, who have worked together to develop this set of strategic and community-driven Green New Deal investments. This is an important first step that will be followed by sustained efforts in our future budgets and policy proposals to create jobs, foster healthy communities, and support a clean environment.” 

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell

“Seeing record heat waves in Seattle, floods in Pakistan, and worldwide droughts, wildfires and food scarcity, there is nothing more pressing for our City’s future than investing in equitable climate resilience. Thank you to the Green New Deal Oversight Board, staff at the Office of Sustainability and the Environment, and the Mayor’s Office for your work in fulfilling the JumpStart Seattle spending plan investments in the Green New Deal. We need these, and more, investments in climate resilience and forward-thinking, creative solutions to the extreme crisis that faces our communities.” 

Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda

“Communities in Seattle – specially in places like the Duwamish Valley – need places to go and ways to connect to each other and services during times of climate emergencies. Resilience hubs are exciting community driven investments and we look forward to engaging with the City to pilot resilience hubs in the Duwamish Valley where community members are experiencing compounding impacts of sea-level rise, air pollution, and urban heat island effect.” 

Paulina López of the Duwamish River Community Coalition

“Most climate pollution and environmental harm happens where BIPOC and low-income individuals reside.” It’s critical that Seattle’s climate investments are designed to make our buildings safe, healthy, and resilient for our communities and that they prioritize job training and career development for those who have been most impacted by the extraction and burning of fossil fuels.”

Patience Malaba of the Housing Development Consortium.

The East African Senior Center brings together communities and generations through environmental learning 

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By Carol Aragon, Environmental Justice Storytelling Intern

Across the United States, race is the most significant predictor of a person living near contaminated air, water, or soil. It is for this reason that Seattle’s Environmental Justice Fund was created in 2017 to support efforts that benefit and are led by, or in partnership with, those most affected by environmental and climate inequities: Black, Indigenous, People of Color, immigrants, refugees, people with low incomes, youth, and elders. The Environmental Justice Fund supports a wide variety of community-led projects that advance environmental justice and respond to the impacts of climate change. This story series features some of the incredible work led by community groups and organizations supported by the Environmental Justice Fund. 

Michael Neguse is a former social worker and community activist who has co-managed the East African Senior Center (EASC) for nearly the past decade, along with program partners Senayet Negusse and Nerea Workneh. He has been an active program organizer, cook, and overall contributor to the work the Center achieves. Throughout the years, he has befriended and put food on the table for many people, especially the elderly. I recently had the chance to visit the Rainier Beach Urban Farm and Wetlands, one of the three locations that is home to EASC (which is also based at the Northgate Community Center and the Yesler Community Center). Through this visit and an interview with Michael, I got a glimpse into the activities that elders, youth, and individuals of all ages in between partake in, gained valuable insight on the program’s achievements, and learned how the EJ Fund supported their impact on the communities it serves.  

EASC’s work on the farm began ten years ago when it was an abandoned lot. Since then, they have experienced considerable growth, both literally and figuratively.  

“Individually, we wanted to bring people together and make peace. They come here and make friends, helping each other emotionally. Throughout the years, we lost people who used to come here, but they support each other and try to help other families. When someone gets sick, there are people from this program who go visit. It’s good to have that neighborly connection. Most of our people don’t speak English, but when they come here, they meet other people they can relate to and bond with, which also helps them improve their English. This program is very special to us because the community is underserved, and we think it’s important to share our cultures.” 

The program participants of EASC have adopted a morning routine that is full of life and neighborly connection. It is also a chance for them to tend to the garden’s many features, where plenty of plant species flourish. Michales shared that the seniors have access to “culturally responsible nutritious meals, culturally appropriate health and wellness education, agricultural activities, and social engagement alongside fitness activities.” 

“This is what they do when they come here in the morning: they stretch and do some exercise. Then they tend to the vegetable garden. At 12 p.m., we eat lunch and then when they go home, we give them food to bring. There is a ‘You-Pick’ garden and anyone who comes can pick what they need. We planted trees in the wetlands seven or eight years ago, and it’s now a habitat for insects and birds. We have orchards here, and bees. The garden across the way is for the seniors, where they plant things like corn and peaches. There are also greenhouses over there, where we can grow more food in the wintertime.” 

When the program first began, Rainier Beach Urban Farm and Wetlands was scarce of greenery. Today, it is lush. Tall, healthy trees stand among the various fruits and vegetables grown at the farm. Seniors are pictured here, planting more than a dozen trees. Michael explained that one of the trees is a crabapple tree, which the seniors lay a tarp under and shake to harvest. They make jam out of the fruit. 

People from numerous backgrounds visit the farms to feel a sense of tranquility, belonging, and happiness. Michael wishes for the seniors to walk away feeling as such, and the feedback from community members reflect his sentiments. Some participants realize that their mood has significantly improved. 

“I want them to feel great. They come here; they laugh. Because of a language barrier, most of them are isolated, and without this garden, there is no other place they could go. But they come here, they meet their friends, eat together, laugh together, work together, and learn about nature. We want them to have a community here. I’m a community builder. It is good to bring the program participants to a place of nature – trees, water, plants, flowers. Their mood positively changes. We’re planning to do a cultural event where everyone here can bring their loved ones and enjoy the outdoors. The other day I was speaking to someone who is physically ill – the program here has helped her mental health. She says she feels upbeat, loved; there’s people who speak her language. She feels better now. And that’s the impact we want to have on people’s lives. We want them to have a good time. It is a very kind and welcoming atmosphere.” 

As a result of the EJ Fund grant it received in 2020, EASC has expanded, from the number of participants to the assistive services available within the program. During my tour, children were watching live displays of food preparation and gathering around different program volunteers. It is important to note that the farm not only serves seniors, but also the youth who are learning about food sovereignty and what it means to have meals that are farm fresh – or as Michael put it, “from the farm to the table.” He recognizes these effects that the grant has had on the farm and those who come to enjoy their time in the wetlands. 

“The EJ Fund helped us a lot. The number of seniors is growing, and we now have a social worker from Sound Generation, as well as a social worker program coordinator. We give the seniors stipends to show appreciation for what they do and encourage the seniors to come and walk around with their kids and grandkids. This is a safe and beautiful place for community members, especially the elderly. You can hear the birds singing, and the community tells us the air here is fresh. The EJ Fund has given us a chance to help people intergenerationally. There are younger people coming and working. We have day camp for the children and they really enjoy the environment. Everything is done by the seniors – growing food and restoring the wetland – and they learn about the environment including the birds, insects, and trees that grow in the Northwestern United States. Growing food and harvesting is very inspiring for them.  

“We also learned a lot of things thanks to the grant. We have a deep knowledge now about different plants, birds, trees; we learned about pollinators and how they help the environment. There are trees that we can use to make our own necessities, like shampoo, conditioner – there were people who visited here to teach us these kinds of things. There was a guy that came here the other day and taught us about different birds here, which was very inspiring. He showed us which birds live in this wetland. It’s nice to see all the plants and I’m very proud to be a part of this program. Many years ago, there were no buildings here, nothing. We started working hard with planting and cleaning the wetlands. Now, we see the trees and it gives us hope, and inspires us. We have a trail that moves through the wetlands where we welcome everyone to bring their loved ones, and the children also love picking the blueberries that we grow here.” 

EASC’s partner at Building Bridges took the seniors on a nature walk and taught them about different plants and trees. Above, seniors draw different plants and trees, labelling their art in English, Amharic, or Tigrinya. Below, one of the seniors cares for the vegetable plants around the garden.

Find out more about the Environmental Justice Fund on our website and consider applying by September 16 at 4 p.m.!

About the Author

Carol Aragon is a Storytelling Intern for OSE through the Seattle Youth Employment Program, assisting in interviewing grantees of the Environmental Justice Fund. She is an incoming undergraduate at Washington State University.

Lake City Collective livens up the Little Brook neighborhood through environmental action and artistic flair

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By Carol Aragon, Environmental Justice Storytelling Intern

Across the United States, race is the most significant predictor of a person living near contaminated air, water, or soil. It is for this reason that Seattle’s Environmental Justice Fund was created in 2017 to support efforts that benefit and are led by, or in partnership with, those most affected by environmental and climate inequities: Black, Indigenous, People of Color, immigrants, refugees, people with low incomes, youth, and elders. The Environmental Justice Fund supports a wide variety of community-led projects that advance environmental justice and respond to the impacts of climate change. This story series features some of the incredible work led by community groups and organizations supported by the Environmental Justice Fund.

César García began his environmental justice work in 2017 as a member of the Environmental Justice Committee. Later, he co-founded the Lake City Collective with his wife, Peggy Hernández. Lake City Collective is a nonprofit organization that works to ensure improvement of living quality in Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities, particularly those who are environmentally disadvantaged. For the interview with César, photographer Devin Muñoz and I had the splendid opportunity to visit the organization’s office in North Seattle’s Little Brook Neighborhood. César took us on a walking tour of the area, explaining the various art in and around the building, while additionally describing the impact of the EJ Fund on Lake City Collective, his previous experience in the environmental justice realm, and how people can get involved in the environmental justice movement. 

Above, César is pictured through a frontward window of the building with Lake City Collective’s logo. Surrounding César are the various items being moved into the space – including an image of the street mural he mentions throughout the interview (see below). 

César led the way throughout the building, displaying a picture of the mural honoring Indigenous land and discussing how Lake City Collective created a more walkable space for community members. He noted the importance of acknowledging whose land we reside on, as well as the neighborhood’s safety. 

“Part of the Equity & Environment Agenda is to own your narrative, which is one of the things we want to do. If you go two blocks [northwest] of our center, you will see this mural on the street. With this design, we are recognizing where we are. It is important for us to show people that we are on Native land. The Chief Seattle Club helped us contact the artist that helped us create this mural. We also partnered with the Department of Transportation to place safety barriers for pedestrians at the intersection of the mural. Nothing has happened on that level before, so we are very proud that we were able to do these things. This is for us to show people where they are and that they are safe within their community – it’s very empowering for everyone that cares about it.” 

In 2020, Lake City Collective received a grant from the Environmental Justice Fund to lead a community empowerment project in the Little Brook neighborhood focused on various environmental justice and sustainability (environmental, social, and economic) issues in the area. One of the organization’s goals is to make this information easily accessible to the community, and to create an Environmental Justice Action Plan through a community-led visioning process to improve social and environmental conditions in Little Brook. Their grant has allowed the organization to beautify the neighborhood, allowing the community to unite through joyful and educational activities. But it also helped them better understand the area environmentally, and made Lake City Collective realize how there is a huge need for community-based organizations to learn how to form genuine and equitable relationships with other organizations. 

“The grant helped us move forward in many ways – the first [part of the] project is the garden we have outside. The neighborhood kids will come here and play or relax on the bench. There is a stage, where we would play music here for the people to enjoy. Before we did the street mural, the surrounding blocks that make up the neighborhood looked duller and grey. This gave us the opportunity to create something beautiful for the community. However, there is also deeper work happening. One piece of that work was for the community to identify environmental indicators, and from there choose what is most important, and then implement solutions that address them. The goal is to implement easy solutions, then ask ][community members] how it changed their lives.

“The grant also had long-term impacts. A piece of our project was to find equitable partnerships. Before we started thinking about those partnerships, other organizations would come to us with requests to do outreach for them and offering a small amount of grant money, while they were getting huge amounts of money from our work – work that gave them the visibility they needed to get even more funds. As a small community organization, you realize people are tokenizing you. Something we do is ask, ‘Who are the people we can actually work with?’ We have learned that it is about finding the partnerships that are more equal.” 

Two signs located in a front window highlight the efforts Lake City Collective is committed to.

César shared his start within the environmental justice movement and how it has impacted his work within Lake City Collective. He explains that the more he learned about injustices in his community, the more he acted to solve them. 

“When I first started, I didn’t know what environmental justice was. I was invited by staff at OSE to join the Environmental Justice Committee when I worked as a community liaison at Seattle’s Department of Neighborhoods. I began learning about it and realized I lived in a placed where I could work on environmental justice issues. Through that group, I started learning a lot about environmental justice. When Peggy and I started this organization, from the beginning, we started to work on these problems – social justice, economic development – and it was important to address environmental justice issues as well. This is one of the most polluted areas of the North End. My experience has helped us bring the conversation to these communities.” 

As the interview concluded, César shared some final words on how others can get involved in the environmental justice movement and what that involvement looks like. 

“At first, we were using a lot of lingo people couldn’t understand, and it’s not their fault. If you’re going to invite people into the environmental justice movement, you must remove the things, such as words or concepts, people really don’t need to understand, and instead work together with them on something they can relate to. You want to create groups where people feel comfortable. It’s not easy, and I think we, the grantees of the EJ Fund, encounter the same issues. How do we recruit more people? And I think it also has to do with how we get people to organize. When people move here, maybe they don’t see the impacts of living this way and that’s what makes it hard to organize. [When these issues] really affect them, then they can say that it’s not right. So, I would say it’s also about showing them these conditions are not right and we go from there.” 

Find out more about the Environmental Justice Fund on our website and consider applying by September 16 at 4 p.m.! 

About the Author

Carol Aragon is a Storytelling Intern for OSE through the Seattle Youth Employment Program, assisting in interviewing grantees of the Environmental Justice Fund. She is an incoming undergraduate at Washington State University.

If You Care About Climate Change, Weigh in on the One Seattle Comprehensive Plan

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By Edie Gilliss, Citywide Climate Initiatives Coordinator

Seattleites have a rare opportunity to help set the stage for climate action in Seattle: the One Seattle Plan, which will determine how the City accommodates housing and job growth over the next 20 years, covering policy areas ranging from zoning and infrastructure to transportation and resilience.

The One Seattle Plan is required under state law to address growth – a particularly relevant concern given that the City’s population grew by more than 20% over the 2010s. As we prepare to welcome new neighbors, it is time to consider how best we can plan to accommodate necessary housing, jobs, utilities, while making Seattle a more affordable, resilient City. The Office of Planning and Community Development is currently gathering initial public feedback online, with the expectation of finalizing and adopting the plan in fall 2024.

This planning process has been structured to take climate and environmental concerns into consideration. Last month the City Council and Mayor passed a resolution “stating the City’s intent to address climate change and improve resiliency” in the One Seattle Plan and the Office of Sustainability and Environment and the Office of Planning and Community Development will be working to ensure that the climate elements of the plan are strong.

Linkages between land use and the environment

There is a strong relationship between how land is used, and our impact on the climate. Where people live, how far they have to commute, the efficiency of our transit system, how efficiently goods and services can be moved through the city, and how efficient our buildings are all play a part in the story told by our climate emissions.  The plan is a great opportunity to make progress on our goals of emissions reduction, resilience against climate change, and environmental justice. You can do your part to make sure the City takes advantage of this opportunity by providing your input.

Racial equity is also a key driver of the plan. Some Seattle neighborhoods, which have long been targets of disinvestment, are home to many communities of color and have significantly lower life expectancy rates and higher rates of childhood asthma. Building a plan, and the future investments that are driven by it, should ensure that the neighborhood someone lives in should not be a factor in their ability to thrive in this City.

Seattle is growing in population, staying the same in terms of physical size, and seeking to reduce carbon emissions. This means that the city will have to become more densely populated while decreasing each person’s carbon footprint, in order to meet our ambitious goals. Fortunately, this is not as hard as intuition might have us think, because density is good for the climate.

That’s right: denser neighborhoods with more closely located amenities tend to have lower carbon footprints. When people must travel longer distances in gas-powered vehicles to commute to work, run errands, drop off kids at school, or engage in leisure activities, this leads to more emissions. Planning for a city where people don’t have to travel as much by car is a huge opportunity for emissions reduction, given that transportation accounts for more than half of Seattle’s greenhouse gas emissions.*

*Another part of this equation is making sure the transportation options that people have at their disposal are better for the environment. In a future post, we’ll discuss how the Seattle Transportation Plan, on which SDOT is currently soliciting public input, is crucial to meeting our climate goals.

How you can weigh in

Our colleagues at the City’s Office of Planning and Community Development have created a Community Engagement Hub where you can voice your opinion. This site contains a lot more information about the details of the plan, as well as forums where people can provide comments and can view and respond to what others have said. Some of the categories include:

OSE encourages you to check it out, think about our climate, and voice your opinion. As the old saying goes, an ounce of civic engagement is worth a ton of carbon emissions!