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The Duwamish Valley Program 2022 Annual Update is Here!

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“Implementing a One Seattle Approach in the Duwamish Valley.”  

$1.75 Million for 8th Avenue South and Street End Park Development.

If 2022 reminded us of anything, it’s that centering community leadership is imperative for successful, long-term environmental justice work in the Duwamish Valley. For example, the King Tide flooding in late December 2022 demonstrated the power of community to distribute resources as first responders and to lead government to manage the devastating impacts of environmental injustice and climate change. We are grateful to community leaders and our partners at Seattle Public Utilities, the Office of Emergency Management, the Human Services Department, and the Office of Housing (among many others) for providing relief and assistance to families and businesses in South Park as they recover from the floods. 

At the same time, these flood events underscore an important shift in our work. As we continue to hold fast to community priorities, we are moving from short-term responsive planning to long-term proactive implementation. 

$9 million in funding secured for direct investment in Georgetown & South Park

The last few years have seen increases in investments in the Duwamish Valley. Many of these investments help fulfill our mid-term objectives in the Duwamish Valley Action Plan. In 2022 alone, the Duwamish Valley Program secured nearly $9 million of investments from our partners across the Duwamish Valley Action Team (DAT), which represents 18 City departments. City staff from these departments lead this work, drawing on existing community partnerships, and building new ones. Many of these investments we outline here in our Annual Update. 

50 Mini-Grants to local businesses for COVID-related expenses, with 38% using primary language other than English and 74% Women/BIPOC owned.

To learn more about all the great work that the Duwamish Valley Program and our partner departments have accomplished in 2022, check out our Annual Update report! As you will see, the Duwamish Valley Program has continued to adapt to a dynamic landscape of community priorities and ensure that we honor our mandate to advance environmental justice and equitable development in the Duwamish Valley. 

100 + youth participated in programming, capacity building, and leadership development.
Photo of Grant Gutierrez, the new Duwamish Valley Program Coordinator

As our work has grown, we have added staff to support our work. In Fall 2022, the Duwamish Valley Program welcomed Grant Gutierrez as the Duwamish Valley Program Coordinator. In this new role, Grant will help lead community engagement and ensure our accountability to community priorities while implementing certain projects that advance the Duwamish Valley Action Plan.  You’ll likely see Grant out in the community at events and at community meetings in South Park and Georgetown. Please join us in welcoming Grant to the Duwamish Valley family! 

Growing our staff capacity was essential to help us focus on an exciting new initiative: the Duwamish Valley Resilience District. The Resilience District grows from the Action Plan’s long-term strategy to develop and implement a geographic strategy to mitigate and adapt to flood risk and other climate change impacts (page 83). It is a holistic approach to climate change adaptation that includes priorities like affordable housing, alongside mitigating flood risks and sea-level rise adaptation, to bolster the ability of community to thrive in place. The Resilience District reflects the spirit of the Mayor’s One Seattle approach to help us fulfill many of the commitments in the Duwamish Valley Action Plan in strong collaboration with departments across the city, community organizations and industrial business leaders. This work will be led by the Resilience District Advisory Group, which has just been selected! There will be many more opportunities for community to shape this work. Stay tuned! 

Thank you all for your continued partnership. Be sure to check out the website for the full 2022 updates, and stay tuned for more to come from our team and beyond.  

Seattle Releases 2021 Tree Canopy Assessment Showing Slow Decline in Canopy Cover Between 2016 and 2021

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A view of Seattle’s tree canopy with the city skyline and the Olympic Mountains.

Seattle, WA – The City of Seattle today released the final 2021 Tree Canopy Assessment showing the city has lost 255 acres of tree canopy since 2016 (an absolute decrease of .5% and 1.7% relative decline), an amount roughly equal to the size of Green Lake. Seattle’s 2021 tree canopy cover is 28.1%, down from 28.6% in 2016. Seattle’s goal is to achieve 30 percent citywide canopy cover by 2037, distributed equitably, as well as to improve tree health and resilience to climate change.

“Critical for ensuring Seattle’s standing as a truly emerald and evergreen city, trees provide essential benefits to our communities from heat mitigation to air quality improvement and overall wellbeing. This decline in canopy cover means we need to do more to plant, preserve, and protect trees to meet our goals for Seattle’s canopy, climate, and communities,” said Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell. “The information in this report is informing our upcoming efforts to drive improvements — including new strategies to plant more trees and maintain our existing canopy, all while prioritizing equity in neighborhoods who face the worst impacts of climate change.”

Additional findings from the report include:

  • Canopy loss is not happening equitably. Neighborhoods impacted by racial and economic injustice started with less canopy and lost more than the citywide average. Compared to neighborhoods with greater advantages,[1] these neighborhoods had 31% less canopy in 2021, an increase in disparity from 2016 (when they had 27% less). While there were some canopy gains in environmental justice priority areas attributed to forest restoration programs, the losses outpaced the gains.
  • Tree canopy cover is critical for lowering temperatures and reducing heat island effects in our warming climate. Trees are a key component of our climate preparedness and resilience strategies as they protect us from extreme heat and improve air quality. The report finds that, on a hot day, neighborhoods[2] with 25% canopy cover were 1 degree cooler than neighborhoods with no canopy.  Industrial areas and major transportation corridors have lower canopy and warmer temperatures. These conditions were also found in some neighborhoods, such as in the Chinatown-International District and in the south end of Rainier Valley.
  • All Management Units (areas based on land use types) lost canopy, with Parks Natural Areas and Neighborhood Residential areas seeing the greatest net losses. Combined, losses in these two Management Units comprise 78% of the total canopy loss during the assessment period.
    • Parks Natural Areas make up only 5% of the city’s land but due to their concentrated canopy, they contribute 14% of the city’s canopy. Forty-three percent of the canopy loss during the assessment period was in these areas, an amount equal to 111 acres. These areas require active management to ensure long-term forest health and resilience, and losses here may be due to aging deciduous trees coming down naturally or being selectively removed to allow for growth of evergreen trees.
    • Neighborhood Residential areas make up 39% of the city’s land, and with roughly 1/3 of that area covered by canopy, they contribute nearly half of the City’s canopy (47%).  Roughly a third (34%) of the canopy loss during the assessment period was in these areas, an amount equal to 87 acres. Most trees on residential land were likely lost due to reasons other than development, although the small percent of residential land that underwent development during the study period experienced higher canopy losses.

“The data show we are further away now than we were five years ago from our goal of 30% canopy coverage,” said Jessyn Farrell, Director of Seattle’s Office of Sustainability & Environment. “To reverse this backward slide and achieve our vision of an equitably distributed urban forest in Seattle, our strategies must better align development and tree preservation and include innovative and equity-driven actions in planning, maintenance, planting, and engagement. In short, a healthy, thriving Seattle needs more housing and more trees and we can absolutely do both.”

A shaded street winds through the cover of the City’s tree canopy.

Recommendations provided in the report include:

  • Expand and deepen partnerships to plant new trees on both private and public property—focusing specifically on environmental justice priority areas—and plan for and fund their care.
  • Prioritize protecting and caring for existing trees as one of the most effective ways to ensure future tree canopy.
  • Incorporate current and expected future climate change impacts into our planting and maintenance practices.
  • Implement a strong regulatory framework that aligns our goals for tree preservation with housing production and development needs for our growing City.

“The reasons for tree canopy loss are complex and not due to one single cause, and our solutions must also be multi-faceted,” said Patti Bakker, Urban Forestry Advisor with Seattle’s Office of Sustainability & Environment. “Climate change, aging trees, making way for other uses such as infrastructure, development projects and other needs in residential yards, increasing budget and maintenance costs and more, all contribute to changes in our tree canopy. We will continue to work to improve the stability and coverage of our tree canopy so the benefits of our trees can be felt by all.”

Seattle’s tree canopy includes trees in public spaces like parks, forested natural areas and rights-of-way; private lands like neighborhoods and spaces like universities and the Arboretum. The assessment was conducted by the University of Vermont Spatial Analysis Lab and combined light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data and aerial imagery to measure the layer of leaves, branches, and stems to determine the change in our urban forest over time.

The City will continue to conduct detailed analyses with the data sets resulting from this assessment to develop a Tree Canopy Equity & Resilience Plan, which will serve as the citywide plan for how we will equitably reach our canopy cover goals, and to continue to update our urban forestry management work.  The City is working to make the data sets available to the public.

[1] Neighborhoods are based on categories in the Office of Planning and Community Development’s 2019 Race and Social Equity Index.
[2] Neighborhoods, in this case, refer to an analysis unit roughly the size of several city blocks.

City of Seattle’s Environmental Justice Fund Awards $750,000 in Grants for 13 Projects Led by and Benefiting Those Most Impacted by Climate Change

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The City of Seattle’s Office of Sustainability & Environment (OSE) is pleased to announce $750,000 will be awarded through the Environmental Justice Fund (EJ Fund) to 13 community-led projects designed to benefit those most impacted by environmental and climate inequities, including Black, Indigenous, People of Color, immigrants, refugees, people with low incomes, youth, and elders.

“From December flooding to July heatwaves, it’s communities on the frontline that are experiencing the devastating impacts of climate change. Advancing solutions in direct partnership with communities means driving equitable, forward-thinking climate action and real resiliency improvements informed by those most impacted. The City’s support for these 13 organizations is another step toward building a healthy, sustainable future for all residents, and by expanding the Environmental Justice Fund to nearly $2 million for 2023 and 2024, we can further invest in taking on environmental and climate inequities.”

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell

The Environmental Justice Fund was developed in 2017 as part of the City’s Equity & Environment agenda to provide grants to community-led projects that improve environmental conditions, respond to impacts of climate change and get us closer to achieving environmental justice. Since its launch, the EJ Fund has awarded four grant cycles totaling over $1.8 Million to 28 community-based organizations, whose projects are led by or are in partnership with communities of color impacted by environmental injustices.

“The Environmental Justice Fund is a vital tool to support community-focused projects that are focused on alleviating past and future environmental issues that arise in our communities. This funding will allow us to hire a new position, of Land Restoration Coordinator, to support Indigenous youth programming and support land restoration efforts.”

Mike Tulee, Executive Director of United Indians of All Tribes Foundation, a newly awarded Environmental Justice Fund grantee

Overall, OSE received 54 proposals totaling nearly $3.8M. Proposals focused on a range of climate and environmental justice topics including climate resilience planning, environmental outreach and education, youth leadership, and organizational capacity building.

“Communities most impacted by the climate crisis play a critical leadership role in designing creative and transformative solutions that are informed by lived experience and rooted in ancestral and cultural practice. Through the Environmental Justice Fund, we are proud to invest in growing the capacity of community groups and organizations to lead, collaborate, educate, and tell stories that can broaden and strengthen strategies for environmental justice.”

Lylianna Allala, Climate Justice Director at the City of Seattle Office of Sustainability and Environment

The proposal review process is community centered, a cornerstone of the Fund. Select members of the Environmental Justice Committee and the Green New Deal Oversight Board served on the six-member Community Review Team. Over three months, the Review Team collectively dedicated over 240+ hours to reviewing proposals, meeting with eligible grantees to gain a deeper understanding of the proposed projects, and deliberating funding recommendations.

“As a representative of a community directly impacted by racial, economic, and environmental injustices serving on the Green New Deal Oversight Board, I was thrilled to be part of the Environmental Justice Fund Review Team and was amazed by the volume and breadth of these proposals. There is a vast array of community-led environmental justice projects here in Seattle that need support and funding. I am glad that we have an opportunity to continue making investments and commitments to community to meet the challenge of the climate crisis.”

Hibo Sahal, one of the reviewers from the Green New Deal Oversight Board

Five organizations (Beacon Hill Council, Black Farmers Collective, El Centro de la Raza, Sound Generations, and Wa Na Wari) are past recipients of the EJ Fund. Funding these proposals deepens the relationship and investment in their work and within their communities.

The organizations receiving funding and their projects are:

Beacon Hill Council – $75,000
The project focuses on engaging BIPOC communities to identify culturally and linguistically competent organizations with facilities in Beacon Hill that can serve as community climate resiliency centers. Beacon Hill Council seeks to educate and engage immigrant and refugee BIPOC communities on climate impacts and to understand where they might seek climate refuge in Beacon Hill. The project will also engage culturally and linguistically competent organizations to explore being a community climate resiliency center and ensure they receive technical assistance for conversion planning and cost estimation.

Black Farmers Collective – $65,000
The grant would support the organization to build organizational structure for the long-term sustainability of their work to support Black farmers and the broader community. Funds would support the farm crew’s time and leadership development opportunities as well as adding a part-time administrative staffer to manage operations. This added staff capacity will provide Black Farmers Collective the ability to create security and stability within their staff to build the groundwork towards self-determination, food sovereignty, and Black liberation.

El Centro de la Raza – $60,000
Beacon Hill residents, many of whom are immigrants, refugees, and identify as BIPOC, experience respiratory health issues due to air pollution from roads, aircraft, and oil-heated homes. For this reason, El Centro de la Raza aims to conduct outreach and education to Beacon Hill residents, primarily BIPOC, immigrants and refugees, about the environmental and health impacts of oil-heating and to connect them to resources that can support future conversions from oil heat to electricity. This effort aligns with one of the City priorities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from residential buildings and to improve community health.

Environmental Coalition of South Seattle (ECOSS) – $55,000
ECOSS aims to engage the Latinx immigrant/refugee communities, including immigrants form Central America, South America, Mexico, and those identifying as Indigenous, to co-create outdoor experiences that meet their needs and interests. Through this process, ECOSS will develop leadership opportunities and provide storytelling opportunities for participants to amplify their voices and experiences as they feel empowered to reconnect with nature.

FEED Seven Generations – $75,000
The grant would support the organization’s Native youth-led project. The project would include developing educational enrichment courses for school-age youth and conducting a youth needs assessment focusing on the culturally significant and traditional foods to enhance health and wellness of the community, youth, and families and strengthen local native food systems.

Rainier Avenue Radio – $60,000
This project aims to create awareness about environmental justice issues through various media including long form videos, audio vignettes, and community meetings to highlight the disparate ways in which communities are impacted by environmental issues. Rainier Avenue Radio will create a platform for community members to share their experiences and build awareness about environmental justice.

Restaurant 2 Garden – $48,815
The “Restaurant 2 Garden” project is a decentralized, hyperlocal system that transforms local restaurant food waste into high quality and safe compost for elder AAPI gardeners to grow culturally appropriate foods. The project is based out of the Danny Woo Community Garden (DWCG) in the Chinatown-International District (C-ID). The project will serve the diverse residents of the CID who face a myriad of environmental risks such as food insecurity, lack of green space, poor air quality, higher rates of diabetes, heart disease, and depression. 

Somali Community Services of Seattle – $61,870
The grant would support project Diyaari to serve Seattle’s Somali community (immigrants, refugees, and family members) most of whom live in Rainier Beach. The organization will focus on sharing information about how to prevent, manage, and recover from harm caused by climate change-related disasters. Additionally, the organization will provide individual assistance for their community members focused on disaster preparation planning and implementation.

Sound Generations – $66,000
This project will support Sound Generations to expand their programming for East African elders from NE Seattle and Rainier Beach who attend the Rainier Beach Urban Farm and Wetlands. Elders will participate in farm and wetland maintenance, they will share in community meals, and participate in civic and social engagement opportunities focused on various topics including climate change impacts on health and farming activities. The programming aims to build awareness about environmental and climate justice while building community cohesion for a community that often experiences isolation.

South Seattle Emerald – $60,000
South Seattle Emerald (SSE)’s mission is to amplify the authentic voices of South Seattle-for, by, and to the community through restorative journalism that seeks to facilitate community healing and wholeness. Funding will support SSE to grow their capacity by contracting more freelance reporters who will specifically cover community-centered and community-rooted environmental justice stories.

United Indians of All Tribes Foundation – $74,500
The grant will support capacity building by funding a newly developed position at UIATF called the Bernie Whitebear Land Restoration Coordinator. This position will serve two strategic priorities of the Foundation including the expansion of critical partnership between UIATF and Na’ah Illahee Fund, a Native-led organization currently providing land restoration technical assistance to UIATF’s Traditional Medicine Program Manager, and investment in land-based programming and infrastructure to sustain access to traditional plant knowledge for urban Indigenous youth.

Wa Na Wari – $40,000
Wa Na Wari’s BLOOM was created to be a fun, hands-on, outdoor environmental justice, and food sovereignty program. Their work helps future generations of youth and young adults to learn the science and culture of healing arts principles in urban food/environmental systems and their meaningful connection with Indigenous Knowledge systems and their own cultural backgrounds including ancestral knowledge. Funding would add organizational capacity through a paid program manager role who would lead BLOOM efforts including soil remediation and a youth summer fellowship program.

Wing Luke Memorial Foundation – $33,815
The Wing Luke Museum will develop and implement a community-based process to plan and design public space activation and arts integration at the site of the historic Eng Family Homestead (recently purchased from the original owners by the Wing Luke Museum) and adjacent Canton Alley in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District (CID). The public space activation includes an outdoor yard and garden at the historic Eng Family Homestead and extension of Canton Alley south to Lane Street and connecting with the Donnie Chin International Children’s Park. This project will specifically focus on community engagement for the planning and design of the outdoor space for the community.

Next Steps and Additional Analysis of the 2021 Tree Canopy Cover Assessment 

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Trees are a critical part of Seattle’s infrastructure that provide essential benefits to our environment, health, and well-being. Trees manage stormwater, provide shade and reduce heat, improve our health, and provide habitat for our wildlife. Healthy tree canopy also contributes to the character and beauty of our city while helping counter climate pollution, promote climate justice, and create healthy and sustainable communities.  

Seattle’s goals are to achieve 30 percent citywide canopy cover by 2037; improve tree health and resilience; and increase equitable distribution of trees. These goals will support healthy communities that are more resilient to the impacts of climate change. Preliminary findings of the 2021 Canopy Cover Assessment show the city has seen a net loss of 255 acres of tree canopy, an amount roughly equal to the size of Green Lake, since 2016. Many factors contribute to this canopy loss. 

Seattle’s Urban Forestry team has been reviewing the data to better understand where and how these changes occurred and what proactive investments can help reverse the trend in the future. Key findings shared in January’s Urban Forestry Commission meeting include:  

Tree canopy cover is not equitably distributed across our City

The 2021 Canopy Cover Assessment shows there are inequities in Seattle’s tree canopy, with low-income and BIPOC communities that are already experiencing disproportionate climate, health, and economic impacts having the least amount of canopy cover at the baseline (2016) assessment, and losing more canopy since. There is a high correlation between areas of low canopy cover and areas of health inequities, lower air quality, and higher heat indexes, including parts of Beacon Hill, Georgetown and South Park.  

Neighborhoods in the two highest levels of disadvantage in the Office of Planning and Community Development’s Race and Social Equity (RSE) Composite Index had 16% lower canopy than the areas in the two lowest categories of disadvantage in 2016. By 2021, the gap between canopy in the highest disadvantage areas and lowest categories of disadvantage expanded to 20%.  

*The race and social equity composite index, produced by the Office of Planning and Community Development, includes data on race, language, origin, socioeconomic disadvantage, and health disadvantage. It is used as a tool for City planning, program, and investment priorities.

Development and healthy tree canopy coverage can coexist  

During the time of the study, 2016 – 2021, Seattle’s population grew 8.5%, adding approximately 58,000 people and more than 47,500 housing units. In neighborhood residential zones, tree canopy declined 1.2% (87 acres). Most of the 87 acres of net canopy loss in neighborhood residential zones were in parcels that did not have new development projects completed during the study period.  However, canopy was lost at a greater rate on parcels where development happened. 

Tree canopy expansion and development of new housing are both critical elements of the City’s efforts to address climate change, create affordability, and build livable, resilient, and thriving communities. These areas will need creative planning, a strong regulatory framework, and community partnerships to sustain and grow canopy.  

Our trees are experiencing added strain due to climate change

As our climate changes, Seattle is experiencing more instances of extreme heat, insects and pest outbreaks, droughts, and flooding events. Our aging, mostly second growth forest trees are especially vulnerable to these conditions and are increasingly coming down on their own or requiring removal. As part of our forest management strategies and succession planning, these trees are also sometimes removed to allow for establishment of conifer trees, which take longer to grow and contribute to the canopy.  

At the same time, climate change is making the need for trees even more important. Additional analysis of King County Heat Watch data paired with the 2021 Canopy Cover showed that at a micro-scale a 5% increase in canopy resulted in 2 degrees cooler temperature (see hexagon map below). Based on these numbers, increasing canopy in low-canopy neighborhoods is critical to our long-term heat preparedness strategy. 

Higher tree canopy leads to lower temperatures. Industrial and transportation corridors typically have lower canopy, yielding higher temperatures.

Trees in Parks and natural areas are under strain and regrowth is steady but slow  

Our forested parks and natural areas saw higher net loss than other areas of the city – over 100 acres of net canopy lost, a 5.1% decline. While canopy loss in these areas happened at a similar rate as other areas of the city, growth happened more slowly. Since the Park District was established in 2015 and greatly increased funding for the Green Seattle Partnership program, Seattle Parks and Recreation has planted a greater number of seedlings annually, including tens of thousands of seedlings, mostly native conifers, during the 2016-2021 assessment period. These small trees grow slowly, and gains from this new canopy will take more time to show up in our canopy. 

Next Steps for the Canopy Cover Assessment 

The city is slowly losing ground on its goal to achieve 30 percent citywide canopy cover by 2037, but understanding this canopy change data will help develop strategies to grow and maintain our urban forest and build a Seattle that is sustainable, equitable, and climate-resilient.  

Over the next few weeks, the City will continue to refine analyses and conduct additional stakeholder engagement. In February 2023, the city will release the complete report which will provide final, comprehensive analysis by land management unit and include recommendations to help identify strategies to stop the current backslide and advance equity focused planting and maintenance to grow a healthy, equitable, sustainable and resilient urban forest.

Seattle has reached a milestone of providing more than 1,000 rebates and no-cost upgrades to help low-to-middle income switch to an energy-efficient electric heat pump!

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City of Seattle has provided more than 1,000 rebates to help residents convert off of oil heat.

The City of Seattle has hit another milestone in its commitment to environmental and climate justice and a greener city – reaching 1,000 rebates offered to transition homes from oil-to-electric heat! Targeting climate pollution in buildings is one of the City’s priorities, and the Clean Heat program rebates incentivize and support building owners to make this transition. We sat down with OSE’s Climate and Energy Advisor Christine Bunch, who manages the Clean Heat program, to learn more about the program and why the transition from oil-to-electric heat is so important.  

What is the Clean Heat Program?

The Clean Heat Program helps the city move toward the goal of reducing climate pollution by incentivizing households heating with oil to transition to energy-efficient electric heat pumps. The program provides an instant $1,500 rebate that our participating contractors apply to the customer invoice. Households that are income-qualified can receive a no-cost heat pump conversion through the Office of Housing.  

When we launched the program in 2017, we estimated there were around 18,000 households with oil heat. Since then, we’ve seen between 1,300-1,500 households per year transition off oil, which means the total number of homes with oil is now between 10,000 and 13,000. Recently, Seattle City Council approved $2.6 million in funding in the 2023 and 2024 budget for oil conversion incentives, while repealing the oil tax ordinance.  

You can also check out our website, Seattle’s Clean Heat Program, for more info on the program. 

Why is the City trying to convert from oil heat?  

Oil heat is extremely carbon-intensive. It’s much dirtier than natural gas and electricity, and a heat pump is three times as efficient in heating than an oil furnace. Oil is stored in underground tanks that often rust, erode, and eventually leak and can contaminate the soil and groundwater. The clean up for a an oil leak can be costly and disruptive. Oil is also expensive. Global events such as the invasion in Ukraine caused the price of oil to spike and the future price of oil only looks to be trending upward. So not only does oil negatively contribute to climate impacts, but it’s also more expensive for homeowners.  
 

Why else is it important for homeowners to think about transitioning off of oil heat?  

We want homeowners to think about using the cleanest form of energy for not just themselves but for their community as well. It is important for homeowners to consider how old their oil tank is and the environmental and economic risks that come with using oil heat. Hopefully, this, along with the incentives offered by the City, will motivate those with oil to convert to a heat pump as soon as possible.  

What are some benefits of a Heat Pump?  

A newly installed heat pump. Heat pumps can help reduce heating and cooling costs.

Electric heat pumps have more benefits than just reducing carbon pollution. An energy-efficient electric heat pump is three times more efficient than an oil furnace. It can help you reduce heating and cooling costs and improve the health, safety, and comfort of your home while also helping the environment. Heat pump technology has also vastly improved over the last five to ten years. Heat pumps have the technology to detect changes in temperature and adjust accordingly, and as the technology of heat pumps has advanced, so has their reliability.   

Another benefit of a heat pump is that it provides air conditioning. As we have seen over the past summers here in Seattle, hitting temperatures of over 85 degrees is the new norm, and a heat pump provides cooling and comfort in these summer months, where the temperatures continue to rise. Heat pumps also have filtration, and some offer the option to increase the heat pump’s filtration system to protect from climate impact hazards such as the wildfire smoke and poor air quality we continue to experience during the summers.

What are the next steps for being on track to transition off all oil heating by 2028? 

Our goal is to accelerate the adoption of clean heating technology and ensure people have access to clean heat and that it’s affordable. The rebate is something that accelerates and influences that decision to convert. It is an instant rebate, where you can choose your own contractor from our list of participating installers, and whoever you decide to use will give you $1,500 off on the invoice. On January 1, 2023, there will be a $2,000 tax credit that kicks in, but we still need to see what additional rebates may become available as a result of the federal government’s Inflation Reduction Act. We expect to get more information on that in the coming months and will update our web site with more information..  

Is there a right time to think about converting?   

Anytime, or as soon as possible. We are in the middle of winter, but soon there will be a lot of demand for air conditioning as well. We suggest you start researching now, as contractors will become increasingly busy as the year progresses. The program website, nomoreoilheat.com has a list of participating contractors you can contact for more information and no-cost estimates. The instant rebate is for everyone, but for households with lower incomes, folks can contact the Office of housing for a no-cost heat pump conversion. You can download an application from the Office of Housing homewise page. Also, once a home is electric, it is eligible for additional assistance and additional weatherization improvements.  

Is there any advice you’d like to offer those still with oil? 

Be prepared, and be proactive before it’s too late. If you wait, you could end up with an even more expensive repair and/or a tank leak while also contributing to our City’s pollution. 

Seattle’s New Transportation and Climate Justice Executive Order to Reduce Climate Pollution from our Largest Source of Emissions

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On Wednesday, December 7, Mayor Bruce Harrell signed a new Executive Order directing City departments to work together to prioritize and expand actions that equitably reduce or eliminate greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) within the transportation sector.

Mayor Harrell signs the Transportation and Climate Justice Executive Order into law.

Actions are designed to invest in and build resilience among communities that are hardest hit by the climate crisis, expand workforce opportunities, and to improve the health of Seattle residents and workers – by improving air quality and making streets safer. 

Mayor Harrell’s Executive Order directs City departments to accelerate climate investments and innovation, including:

Plan for three low-pollution neighborhoods by 2028. The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), in partnership with the Office of Sustainability and Environment (OSE), Office of Planning and Community Development (OPCD), Office of Economic Development (OED), Seattle City Light (SCL) and the Mayor’s Office, will take the next step in implementing our C40 Cities commitment to low-emission zones. These actions will for the first-time weave together decarbonizing buildings and transportation while investing in community resiliency, equity, and economic opportunity.

Commit to making 20 miles of Healthy Streets permanent. In 2023, the City will update the Bicycle Master Plan Implementation Plan and update the Pedestrian Master Plan Implementation Plan to include commitments to making at least 20 miles of Healthy Streets permanent and expand Seattle’s School Streets program to ensure an all ages and abilities bicycling facility serves every public school. These actions will help to significantly grow alternative, sustainable modes of transportation, especially for neighborhood trips under a few miles.

Achieve a 100% zero-emission, fossil fuel free City fleet by 2030. Leading by example, the City will ensure we have the essential electrification infrastructure and implementation plans to transition all city-owned vehicles to be fossil fuel free. By Q4 2023, departments will develop specific implementation plans that identify fleet conversion targets, timelines, and necessary resources to achieve City goals. All departments with large vehicle fleets shall participate in a City Fleet Interdepartmental Team (IDT) to oversee this work.

Host a Youth Transportation Summit in 2023. Building upon the community advocacy for Free Transit for Youth, the City will host a Youth Transportation Summit in 2023, led by the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs (OIRA), SDOT, OSE, Department of Neighborhoods (DON) and other departments and community and transportation advocacy groups, to learn from young people how the pandemic has changed their transportation experiences and center their voices in upcoming climate-responsive transportation investments.

Why Focus on Transportation?

Each year we are grappling with an increasingly severe whiplash of climate impacts. From flooding this spring to drought in the summer, topped off dangerous smoke and wildfires this fall, we see from our lived experiences and our GHG emissions data that we need to be far more aggressive in eliminating climate pollution and building resilience among our most impacted communities.

Transportation is responsible for 61% of the City’s greenhouse gas emissions. According to the City’s most recent 2020 GHG inventory report, Seattle is not currently on track to meet carbon neutrality by 2050 as called for in the Climate Action Plan or to be climate pollution free by 2030 as called for in the Green New Deal resolution and recent Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) traffic monitoring in downtown indicates that the emissions have begun to come back in 2022 and traffic volume has steadily been increasing between 2020 and 2022. Without significant action, the city projects emissions will return to baseline and continue to trend upward.  

Seattle has long been a leader in environmental action, and now under the Transportation and Climate Justice Executive Order we are working to match the scale of the climate crisis with investments and innovation that both decrease carbon pollution from transportation and support people’s ability to safely get where they need to be.


City of Seattle and Residents Respond to Unprecedented, Climate Change-Fueled Flooding in South Park

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Photo credit Machinist Inc. Flooding in South Park.

The climate crisis – and its consequences – are not just a future challenge but clearly felt right now in Seattle as heavy rains have pushed the Duwamish River over its banks and flooded numerous homes and businesses in Seattle’s South Park neighborhood.

South Park is a frontline community for climate change impacts. While Seattle can expect about two feet of sea level rise by mid-century and five feet by the end of the century due to climate change, low lying areas like South Park will experience more frequent and intense inundation resulting from both sea level rise and heavy rainfall. The Duwamish Valley, including the residential and industrial areas in South Park, is among the most vulnerable areas in Seattle to these impacts. 

The impacts of flooding and sea level rise are devastating, and City departments are working with partners to offer immediate relief to impacted residents and workers. Seattle Public Utilities took the lead to support impacted households and has provided emergency housing for some of the families who could not return to their homes. Local partners like the Duwamish River Community Coalition have been on site and providing residents with supplies and access to resources.

Mayor Harrell and City of Seattle staff with the DRCC working to support residents who have been displaced or otherwise impacted by the flooding in South Park.
Duwamish River Community Coalition working to hand out supplies and connect residents with resources and City support.

What do we do about climate change impacts in the Duwamish Valley?

Adapting to sea level rise in Seattle is imperative and, given the low elevation and flat topography of the Duwamish Valley, we must start in South Park and Georgetown. In 2020, Seattle’s Duwamish Valley Program applied for and received funding to embark on climate change adaptation planning in a holistic way, one that addresses community priorities and promotes health equity by centering the voices and needs of Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC), and low-income individuals and promotes health equity. Funding from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will support the City with developing a Resilience District — a geographic strategy, inspired by global models, focused on adapting to flood risk and other climate change impacts as a key first step towards adapting to a changing climate, while taking a comprehensive approach that fosters community resilience.

A resilience district is an innovative proposal to prepare for, withstand, adapt to, and recover from challenges that come from environmental issues, climate change, and economic displacement pressure.

Through the Duwamish Valley resilience district initiative, Seattle and community partners are exploring ways to stabilize communities as we make critical investments to reduce climate risk and adapt to the impacts we are already seeing. Over the next few years, the City will be working with residents and businesses to develop the community organizational structures, funding mechanisms, and infrastructure investments to make sure that families and businesses can thrive in place.

Mayor Harrell’s One Seattle Climate Justice Agenda is also accelerating additional investments in building community resilience to climate change. Seattle’s Green New Deal centers on partnerships with and investments in those most impacted by the climate crisis and the Duwamish Valley Program addresses historic and ongoing environmental and health disparities in the South Park and Georgetown neighborhoods.

To learn more about Seattle’s climate justice work, visit https://www.seattle.gov/environment.

If you experience flooding, please make sure people and pets are safe. If it is a life-threatening emergency, please call 911. For urgent but not life-threatening flooding, please call SPU’s 24/7 Operations Response Center at (206) 386-1800.

Mayor Harrell Signs Executive Order Directing City Departments to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the Transportation Sector and Support Those Most Impacted by the Climate Crisis 

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READ: One Seattle Transportation and Climate Justice Executive Order Two-Pager 

Mayor Harrell signs the Transportation and Climate Justice Executive Order into law.

On Wednesday, December 7, Mayor Bruce Harrell signed a new Executive Order directing City departments to work together to prioritize and expand actions that equitably reduce or eliminate greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) within the transportation sector. Actions are designed to invest in and build resilience among communities that are hardest hit by the climate crisis, expand workforce opportunities, and to improve the health of Seattle residents and workers – by improving air quality and making streets safer.   

“We recognize the inherent link between our infrastructure, transportation systems, climate, and community wellbeing – meeting the scale of the climate crisis and fulfilling our commitment to strong and healthy communities requires addressing them together. In this Transportation and Climate Justice Executive Order, we are bridging ambitious policy ideas with our collaborative One Seattle approach to advance a climate justice agenda grounded in equity and the requisite action necessary to build a healthy, sustainable, thriving Seattle today and for future generations.” 

Mayor Bruce Harrell

“Each year we are grappling with an increasingly severe whiplash of climate impacts. From flooding this spring to drought in the summer, topped off dangerous smoke and wildfires this fall, we see from our lived experiences and our GHG emissions data that we need to be far more aggressive in eliminating climate pollution and building resilience among our most impacted communities. That’s why we are excited that through the Transportation and Climate Justice Executive Order, we are bringing innovative, bold, local solutions like neighborhood low pollution zones and expanding zero carbon transportation options to achieve environmental equity and resilience.” 

Jessyn Farrell, Director, Office of Sustainability & Environment
OSE Director Jessyn Farrell speaking at the 12.7 event

Transportation is responsible for 61% of the City’s greenhouse gas emissions. According to the most recent 2020 GHG inventory report, the City is not currently on track to meet carbon neutrality by 2050 as called for in the Climate Action Plan or to be climate pollution free by 2030 as called for in the Green New Deal resolution. Mayor Harrell’s Executive Order directs City departments to accelerate climate investments and innovation, including: 

  • Plan for three low-pollution neighborhoods by 2028. These actions will for the first-time weave together decarbonizing buildings and transportation while investing in community resiliency, equity, and economic opportunity. 
  • Commit to making 20 miles of Healthy Streets permanent. The City will update the Bicycle Master Plan Implementation Plan and update the Pedestrian Master Plan Implementation Plan to include commitments to Healthy Streets and expand Seattle’s School Streets program. 
  • Achieve a 100% zero-emission, fossil fuel free City fleet by 2030. Leading by example, the City will ensure we have the essential electrification infrastructure and implementation plans to transition all city-owned vehicles to be fossil fuel free.   
  • Host a Youth Transportation Summit in 2023. Building on the community advocacy for Free Transit for Youth, the City will bring together young people to learn how the pandemic has changed their transportation experiences and center their voices in climate-responsive actions. 

Despite a decrease in emissions attributed to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) traffic monitoring in downtown indicates that the emissions have begun to come back in 2022 and traffic volume has steadily been increasing between 2020 and 2022. Without significant action, the city projects emissions will return to baseline and continue to trend upward.   

“Transportation pollution is over 60% of Seattle’s total carbon emissions. Mayor Bruce Harrell’s Executive Order bolsters SDOT’s commitment to be bold and enable healthier, more affordable and more equitable transportation options that support business vitality. We have a real opportunity to democratize our public spaces further, making them accessible destinations where community thrives.”  

SDOT Director Greg Spotts

A significant amount of emission reductions will come from electrifying vehicles that everything that moves people, goods, and services, relying on Seattle City Light’s majority renewable and non-emitting, affordable, and reliable electricity to power.  

“City Light has started down the path to electrification by prioritizing partnerships with the communities we serve—primarily those experiencing the most health and environmental harms – to enable a just transition. As more people embrace the use of electric cars, trucks, ferries, buses, and trains, Seattle City Light is working with public and private sector partners to meet the demand for charging options for these vehicles. This order brings together departments from across the City in a One Seattle approach that puts us on a coordinated path towards meeting our collective greenhouse gas emissions targets and delivering long-term benefits for the communities we serve.”   

Emeka Anyanwu, Energy Innovation & Resources Officer for Seattle City Light

The City of Seattle is also 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%. More information can be found at www.seattle.gov/environment.  

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING:

“Seattle has long been a leader in environmental action, but we need match the scale of the climate crisis with investments and innovation that both decrease carbon pollution and support people’s ability to safely get where they need to be despite the drastic changes we’ve felt during the COVID-19 pandemic. We are thrilled to see the City centering important voices, like youth, in these conversations, and to be exploring low emission neighborhoods which would for the first time bring together building and transportation decarbonization investments with economic opportunity, health, and resilience for community members.” 

Alex Hudson, Transportation Choices Coalition

“Switching to a 100% zero-emissions fleet is not only a climate imperative, it is an opportunity to reduce toxic air pollution and free ourselves from reliance on volatile, expensive gas and diesel prices. To achieve this, the City must immediately stop buying fossil fuel vehicles of all types, ranging from cars to big trucks, and implement a citywide plan to ensure this transition begins now, with individual departments addressing their specific challenges. Transitioning fleets of all sizes to zero-emissions is a major goal for Climate Solutions here in the Pacific Northwest. We hope to see more cities taking and acting on this pledge, and we are eager to partner with the City of Seattle in realizing this effort.” 

Leah Missik, Climate Solutions.

“Transforming our streets into places that are safe, accessible, and welcoming to people to walk, bike, roll, and play helps us achieve not only our climate goals, but our equity, health, and livability goals as a city. Making Stay Healthy Streets permanent and creating low emissions zones are a critical part of living up to our commitments as a city. If the city implements these policies boldly, we would inspire cities across the nation.” 

Clara Cantor, Community Organizer with Seattle Neighborhood Greenways.

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.