Climate Action Proposal for City #3

Gilbert, Arizona

Greysen Tomlinson, Brett Jenkins, Sofia Gammons & Anya Wiltse

Introduction:

Our city has a fairly large population, with 261,149 people in 2021. Given the total size

for the city, it has a relatively high population density. This makes the city packed pretty close

together, and is growing at a staggering rate, which is good for productivity and economic

growth, but not for environmental improvement. There are requirements for growing

populations, and the city is getting close to capacity, while being way over sustainable

measures. More people means more resources required to support. With the main issue for our

city being water, and the city facing droughts, it does not look great for sustainable growth. But

that is why we are drafting a city wide economic and environmental plan, to provide for a

growing population that is sustainable in nature, as well as beneficial for the citizens and the

economy. But there is hope for our city. If certain goals that we lay out are met by 2030, our city

will become a model city, not only in its climate change policies and implementations, but also in

its structural integrity, supporting a more inclusive and diverse city life, supportive of all voices

and productive in every form of sustainable service.

Our city is slowly becoming more diverse in its population statistics, especially compared

to the national average, but the majority of the population is still largely White. White people

make up 57% of the total population of our city. This has decreased from the data in the 2011

census which shows that they made up 61% of the population. This decline could be due to

multiple factors like rising housing prices or dissatisfaction with current environmental standards.

Population growth in the region has also been driven by increased immigration in the past
decade. The White population has a large portion of the homeownership, with 80% of White

people owning their homes. This congregates into areas without rental properties, relegating

them to mostly middle income housing which will be important later on in this proposal. This also

is enforced by their median property value, which is $398,000. They are beat on a couple

different aspects of the population, but the most surprising factor is the median household

income, which for White people is $80,110. This has gone up since 2011 by about $10,000,

which is explainable due to the inflation rate in the decade that has passed. This is trumped by

the Asian population who have a staggering median household income of $101,403, which grew

from $81,000 in 2011.

The Asian population makes up 12% of the total cities population. But due to their

median household income and to their median property value, which is $418,000, they make a

significant contribution to the economy of the city. The high property value will also group the

Asian population in the areas of middle to high class living standards, similar to that of the White

population. Also like th White population, this will provide a better standard of living, allowing for

them to pay for better access to water and to have easy access to food and other services. The

Asian population also has the lowest unemployment rate of any population in the city, with an

unemployment rate of 2.25%. They also have the second highest homeownership rates, with a

75% ownership rate. For this area, it is beneficial to the city and to the culture of the city that

there are minority groups thriving in a largely White population.

The African American population makes up 5.3% of the total population, but holds the

highest poverty and unemployment rates of any ethnic group residing within our city. On top of

the high rates of unemployment and the high rates of poverty, the African American population

has some of the lowest property values, and the second lowest median household income out

of the population. This puts a lot of pressure on us as project designers to help provide a plan

that will help with the economic disparities that African Amercians are facing in our city.

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 The Hispanic population is the second largest ethnic population in 2021, making up 18%

of the total population. Like the other minority groups, their percentage of the population has

increased since 2011, which allows for more of an impact on the city due to the increase in

population and as such, an increase in voice, or their ability to raise concerns over inequality

issues. But because of the low homeownership rates and the high poverty and unemployment

rates, the Hispanic population does not have access to the high standard of living options that

the White and Asian populations can. This trend is seen across the southwest, especially with

minority groups, with large populations of Hispanic and Native American groups. While we do

not have as much data on Native American tribes, their vulnerability when it comes to climate

change is just as important, and the data we do have is grim. For example, in Maricopa county,

50% of the American Indian population are in poverty (Wilder, et al.).

In the Journal of Justice and Sustainability, Wilder et al. (2016) wrote about the

connection between poverty and environmental injustice. They discuss that the majority of

people who are being affected by climate change are those who are economically

disadvantaged, and those who fall into the minority category involving ethnicity. While this is

general common sense, the impacts of this association is devastating to these communities,

which is why our plan focuses on the needs of minority groups, hoping to shrink the “climate

gap” (Wilder et al., 2016). The changes needed to facilitate this shrinkage includes reduced risk

of pollution due to housing locations, housing affordability, proper precautions taken against

heat exhaustion, and access to safe, clean water, which is one of the main focuses of our plan.

The main environmental feature of our city is that it resides in a desert. An area prone to

drought as well as flash floods, settled between mountains. The city is a breeding ground for a

lot of environmental issues, which will also be covered later. The city has a lot of issues to fight

when it comes to changing climates, on top of the growing population, which can cause issues

in implementation of policies later down the road. Because the city is in a desert, there is a

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major difference in average temps for the year compared to that of the national average. The

national average range is 39oF– 70oF throughout the year, and our city has a range of 39oF–

106oF. It is clear that this area receives more sun during the year and has very little cool periods

as the months change. This can impact a lot of different factors in the city, like agriculture,

productivity, and even water availability. Looking at the current water situation within our city is

concerning to say the least. Because there is no dedicated reservoir due to failed attempts at

storing water, our city relies on groundwater for support in its everyday usage. The groundwater

does not leave much room for expansion within the city due to the total carrying capacity of the

groundwater. Arizona has conditions throughout the state that are similar to those of our city,

and they are facing an issue with groundwater and supporting everybody with even the base

amount of water needed. “Their current Active Management Areas (AMA) plan states that there

is not enough groundwater to support even the rights that have been grandfathered from the

previous plan.” (James, 2021) So it's very clear that our city is in for a whole plethora of issues,

which is the reason we are proposing some action plans, to help offset these issues and

hopefully prevent any more damage to the environment.

Like we stated before, implementing this project in a timely manner is of the utmost

importance when it comes to curbing the effects of climate change and reducing economic and

cultural inequality as a whole. Relying on the Doughnut model, are able to draft a plan to help

reduce the environmental overshoots that have as of late been mostly ignored, and bring up the

social aspects of our city to support a sustainable future economically, environmentally, and

socially.

SWOT Analysis:

Strengths Weaknesses
● University / partnership? ● Arid climate (9 in rain/year)
● Political will (people are changing their ● Poor infrastructure

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 lawns to be more climate friendly on ● Extreme heat
their own) ● Flash flood prone
● Existing solar infrastructure ● Non-walkable
● Racial inequity

Opportunities
● Solar energy expansion (bonus: peak
power produced during peak heat)
● Electric power incentives encouraging
people to use their power off peak
hours (night-cooling houses)
Threats
● Groundwater contamination
○ Water chemical
○ Low-high nuclear waste
● Heat-based illnesses increasing as
heat waves worsen (economic threat)
● Running out of groundwater

While this analysis doesn’t cover every single aspect of our city, it does provide a good

starting point for our climate action plan, highlighting areas that need severe help, like the

possibility of water contamination, as well as places where we can build upon current positive

infrastructure, like the current solar farms to the east of the city. Because of the climate of the

city, a lot of the weaknesses have to do with the excessive heat that our city receives throughout

the year. These include the limited water supply, the number of heat exhaustion cases, and the

overall lack of sustainable agriculture. These are also indicators of climate change, but because

of the city's climate, these effects are heightened and more widely seen between the different

social and financial classes. Which brings us to our actual climate plan. We want to address and

implement solutions to the negative aspects of our SWOT analysis, while also expanding our

strengths as well as taking our opportunities into consideration and possible implementation.

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Climate plan:

Because a climate policy plan needs to encompass so many aspects of society,

dissecting each section to the base concepts is necessary to explaining the purpose of the

overall goal. That overall goal is to increase the standard of living in a sustainable and

economically beneficial way. While this seems very broad, it is the focus of many climate

change plans, working specifically in supporting the minority voice and tackling issues of

environmental injustice and economic inequality, while also making changes to the current

methods of production and consumption, and altering them to continue in more environmentally

conscious ways. And while our city is not high on the list of producers in the United States, there

is a high rate of consumption due to the population and the resources needed to survive in the

arid desert environment. Providing a safe living space for current residents and for future

residents is our duty as citizens and policy influencers, and as such we should do everything in

our power to see that those standards are met. Which brings us back to our ultimate goal, that

we should better the standard of living. With all of the topics we cover in our plan, it makes our

plan a mitigation based plan, focusing on stopping any further damage to the environment,

rather than adapting to changes as they come along. While some aspects of the plan are

adaptation to the current environmental crisis, they are focused on slowing any further change

in the situation that would prove to be ultimately harmful. The reason we separated our plan into

goals was so that we can discuss the different aspects of our plan in ways that could be drawn

together, encompassing them as one ultimate goal, the final indicator of our success. This

allows for a deeper dive in the specifics of each aspect, which will be rooted in the Doughnut

model, which was the framework for our plan. We want to utilize the model, analyzing how

different social and environmental aspects can still be affected by strong influential policy.

Through our analysis, we have settled on six sub-goals that fall under the umbrella of our final

goal.

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Final goal:

Increase standard of living both environmentally and economically

For our city, we want to meet overall goals, which will help smooth out any changes to

the current climate plan in the future due to having stepping stones in place. Our goals will

provide a cleaner environment for the citizens of our city, but they will also set a standard for

both cities in similar positions as ours, and in general, the climate change plans drafted for the

country. The hope for all climate action plans in the long term is that they have a sort of domino

effect, outside of their immediate range of influence, encouraging other policy makers to follow

suit and take part in the fight against climate change. While this puts pressure on us to provide a

comprehensive plan, the concepts expressed within our goals can be applied in other areas with

different environmental and economical issues than the ones we are facing right now. Our main

goal for our city is to establish the infrastructure to supply a sustainable water source that is

capable of supporting the current population, as well as any reasonable population growth

within the city.

Why?

Wanting a better environment is not a bad thing, and as such, policy advocating for a

better environment and a better standard of living shouldn’t be labeled as useless “wokism.” The

citizens of our city have seen some of the indicators of climate change first hand, due to rising

average temperatures and shrinking water supplies, it is clear that some change is needed in

the current plans to remedy these ever worsening issues.

So how do we achieve this? Like we discussed earlier, this goal is multifaceted and

covers a lot of topics, which requires us to split it up and tackle issues individually. We can

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achieve our final goal by meeting our goals set forth below within our time frame, which is to

have all of our goals met by 2030.

Goal 1:

Increase water sustainability

Why?

Water is a required resource to survive, and as such, it should be easily available to

everybody within the city. With a population that has grown significantly since the 2000’s, the

water usage has increased to match it. But to provide the necessary amount of water, there

needs to be expansions made to the current infrastructure.

This city is facing an issue with housing, mainly in the expansion of cul de sac like

structures, further straining the already weak water infrastructure. These homes are sold at high

prices, which forces people with lower incomes to live further from the water sources, placing

them in areas of disrepair and weakened infrastructure, and those are the areas that we need to

focus on when looking at water availability.

The goal is to provide water to those who don’t have ready access to it. This may require

extensive restructuring, but to supply the necessary amount of water for survival, it will be

overall beneficial to the city to support every citizen. Having a thriving population will bring

economic benefit to the city, on top of supporting those who are economically disadvantaged.

Baseline:

● Groundwater at the rate of its current usage is not sustainable

● Economic disparity in water usage and availability

● Current arguments about water ownership involving riparian rights

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Target 1:

Assess the situation

● Locate areas with decreased water availability, as well as areas of increased water

availability

○ Working specifically with those in low-income housing areas and populations with

high percentage of minorities

● Identify the infrastructure needed to provide sustainable water

○ Work with local construction agencies to get an estimate on pricing for extra

infrastructure, including upgrades to current infrastructure

● Interacting with the community

○ There is already a trend away from green lawns, which is a good indicator of the

attitude towards more water conservation strategies

Target 2:

Ground work

● Draft infrastructure policy to serve disadvantaged communities

○ Obtain funding with the WIIN grant which has specifications for disadvantaged

communities (US EPA, 2019), like those of the minority populations within our city

○ Working with the federal government to be in compliance with the Clean Water

Act of 1972

● Public outreach

○ This is going to include the previous interactions with the community, but is going

to build on more opinions of expanding the current water based infrastructure to

support more residents

○ Will be a good indicator of the educational program as well

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Implementation:

● Start construction of extended water lines to areas with limited water supply

○ This will have to pass through the traditional voter process, but with the

educational outreach program that we want to implement, the votes for the

construction should increase allow for the support to arrive to those who need it

● Reduce unnecessary areas of water usage

○ Green lawns

■ While this is currently on the rise, subsidizing the alternative lawns will

help speed up this transition

○ Niche agriculture

● Reevaluate riparian laws in cases of extreme drought

○ Start the removal process of unnecessary water features that use too much water

for the purposes of aesthetics

■ There is evidence of artificial lakes within certain communities, so to help

facilitate the shift, there will need to be education in the water

conservation efforts, which will hopefully remove the individualist opinions

and the not-in my-back-yard supporters

Goal 2:

Decrease carbon pollution

Why?

One of the largest effectors of climate change is global carbon pollution. And every

person and company takes part in the total global pollution. The city takes part in a small

amount of industry, with the manufacturing of various products, and while light manufacturing is

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not one of the main proponents of climate change, it still is adding to the total global carbon

emissions. The carbon pollution from the industrial district is still going to have a negative effect

on climate change as a whole,

Another addition to the carbon output of the city is the lack of public transport or

walkability, causing most citizens to own a car, which individually adds to the carbon output in

greater numbers than any form of public transport. The city does have a local bus network, but

that is not enough to provide for the population as well as the travel distance between the

different sections of our city.

Baseline:

● Light industrial work

● Large contribution from single owner vehicles

● Multiple power stations

● Small solar farms

Target 1:

Assess the current situation

● Draft new layouts to provide for more walkability within the city

○ This will include working with local business to provide support for transportation

to new locations that would be beneficial to the accessibility of the city

● Solar farms

○ Work with the current solar power provider to evaluate the possibility of

expanding the solar fields to accommodate more customers

● Asses the current carbon output from traditional power supply stations

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 ○ Start the education process on the importance of remaining carbon neutral, even

in a place dedicated to producing carbon emissions in the name of affordable

energy

● Public outreach

○ Working within the community to gage the reaction to encouraged solar housing

projects, limiting the amount of power used from unclean energy

Target 2:

Ground work

● Provide resources for carbon neutral alternatives in the industrial sectors

○ Expansions to cleaner energy sources will provide a smoother transition to green

energy

● Finalize construction projects

○ Expansion to solar farms

○ Construction of wind farms

○ Expanding the reach that both of these alternatives have within the city limits

● Working with the Urban Drawdown Initiative (UBI)

○ Drafting carbon regulation policy using frameworks provided through the UBI

● Begin construction on the new city layout

○ After designing the most accessible city, construction will have to start to provide

the best possible support structure for those who currently do not own vehicles,

but as well, supporting a healthier lifestyle and the expansion of the bus system

Implementation:

● Carbon regulations

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 ○ This will come in the form of a carbon tax, which limits the amount of carbon

emissions a company is allowed to produce

● Sustainable public transport

○ Reducing the number of single occupancy vehicles will greatly reduce the carbon

emissions (US DOT, 2010)

○ Expanding the current bus service to cover more areas of the city

■ This will involve expanding into lower income areas to provide reliable

transport to and from work for those who are out of the current limited

route

● Subsidize specific green spaces

○ Provide alternative, low water plants to provide carbon withdrawal

○ The 47.2 million trees in these areas store 9.0 metric tons of carbon, and

annually remove about 297,000 metric tons of carbon and 8,760 metric tons of air

pollution according to the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management.

● Incentivise reduction in carbon emissions from industrial areas

○ Provide education on carbon reducing technologies and methods to reduce total

carbon output

○ Provide tax cuts for companies that reach the goal for reducing carbon emissions

● Solar power

○ Subsidizing individual, home based solar power

○ Increasing the output of current solar farms

● Wind power

○ Construction of a wind farm in undeveloped land with the hopes of providing

sustainable energy across the city

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Goal 3:

Educational outreach

Why?

This climate plan does nothing without the support of the community it is designed for. Public

outreach will help inform the community about the threats that they face due to climate change

in addition to the opportunities they have for positive change. This is a partisan issue that

divides people at a national level, so we need to appeal to a local sensibility and create a sense

of community and cooperation.

Additionally, we need to make sure that the adaptation plan is serving the people. We

are wary of a “top-down” approach to climate policy which limits people’s engagement, interest,

and approval. This plan must be custom-built from the ground up, starting with the needs of the

most vulnerable, to ensure an equitable AND effective outcome.

Many people don’t see this as a local issue and therefore don’t see their role in both

perpetuating and mitigating climate change. By reaching out to the community and identifying

their needs and priorities, we can better design our approach to meet those needs. Climate

change will affect everyone, but it is our responsibility to educate people about how it affects

them personally.

Baseline:

Gilbert works they have a few things explaining what's going on and how to recycle and save

water they even had an art contest that was themed on climate issues

Target 1: start an educational program

Target 2: raise awareness of the climate issues in the area

Implementation:

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 ● The Climate Mobilization

○ This is a site that tracks where climate legislation is happening and things like

that.

○ They could have this on qr codes so people can see the climate issues near

them or donate

● Model after Tree Utah, a comprehensive community education outreach program which

offers in-class lessons about heat islands and environmental sustainability for K-12

students in addition to adult education programs.

● Meetings or presentations at town hall to help people understand what's going on so

they then know what needs to be worked on

○ Like the one held with the Biden administration

● Informational commercials are another good way

○ The Climate Pledge

○ Apples Climate commercial

● Teaching the kids in school about the issues is another good way

○ They already have an art contest that is in the highschool

○ Having students learn more about the things that are happening in their

community

● Climate billboards that have to do with the issues of the community

○ Australia has several great examples of this

○ So does britain a local artist there took over a billboard for a bank because they

were doing practises that aren't environmentally sound

Goal 4:

Improve public transportation

Why?

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The city currently has poor public transit and the automobile-based infrastructure is worsening

pollution and disproportionately affecting already disadvantaged populations.

As the city is growing, traffic congestion is increasing during peak hours which is

lengthening commute times. From a broad climate perspective, this is obviously bad because it

leads to more overall pollution, but it has other less obvious negative effects. For example, a

2015 Harvard study showed that one of the biggest factors preventing social mobility in poorer

NYC neighborhoods is the length commute times in those neighborhoods. Commute times will

increase for everybody as traffic worsens, but those who rely on buses. Additionally, as heat

waves increase in frequency and severity, the already unwalkable city will become hostile to

citizens without automobiles.

Target 1: Upgrade existing infrastructure

● Increase bus frequency to drive ridership

Target 2: Expand transit system

● Driving private vehicles is responsible for 55% of household carbon footprint according

to the APTA American Public Transportation Association.

Implementation:

Increase Bus Frequency

Investing in new public transit systems, like a subway, is extremely costly and disruptive,

especially if the community isn’t in the habit of using transit. A more prudent solution is to

expand the existing systems by purchasing and operating more buses. This will be costly up

front, but it has the potential to increase overall ridership per unit of cost (Walker). Bus

frequency is a powerful driver of ridership, especially in the long run—people are more likely to

use a bus if it is ready when they want it, and reliable (Walker). Both of which will be true with

more buses in the loop. This would also have the auxiliary benefit of reducing time spent waiting

for passengers out in the heat.

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 Green Buses

Expanding the bus lines means more buses will be necessary. We look hopefully at the

Green Bus Tax Credit Act of 2021, a bill proposed by Rep. Jimmy Panetta which would

incentivize manufacturers of electric buses with a 10% tax credit on the sale price up to

$1,000,000. Although hope is not enough to build a policy on. We think investing in buses is still

prudent and will yield economic, environmental, and equity benefits.

Goal 5:

Heat adaptation

Why

Heat-related deaths and illnesses are already a harsh reality in this region. The hot weather has

always been a serious risk, and it has always disproportionately affected socioeconomically

disadvantaged communities (Stratford). However, one of the most tangible consequences of

climate change in this region is the degree to which they are worsening. In the coming years,

Arizona expected to account for nearly half of the nation’s heat-related deaths (McLeod).

The extreme heat also poses other challenges. Even healthy citizens are affected by the

heat. It’s harder to work in the heat, especially in industries characterized by outdoor labor such

as construction, an industry that makes up 11% of Gilbert’s economy. These challenges will

affect the economy, costing the US up to $200 billion yearly (McLeod). These costs will be

especially concentrated in regions that are most affected by rising temperatures.

Data from the Maricopa County 2020 Heat Death Report:

● There was a 62.3% increase in heat-associated deaths between 2019 and 2020

● African Americans, American Indians, and those ages 75+ have the highest rates of

heat-associated death

● Fifty-three percent of heat-associated deaths occurred among the homeless population,

nearly double the proportion in 2019

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Target 1: Accurate heat-related illness reporting

● Heat related deaths are increasing, but many are going unreported.

○ Maricopa County has already adjusted but there is still progress to be made

● Current models that only evaluate risk based on temperature, which fails to account for

vulnerability

Target 2: Increase greenspace

● Urban forests account for only 5.3% of the land in Arizona, but those areas contain 85%

of the state’s population, according to the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire

Management

Implementation:

Agrivoltaics

Closely monitor the results of this experimental project at the University of Arizona to

install solar panels alongside rooftop garden plots to create “agrivoltaics”. The plants work to

absorb heat around the solar panels, keeping them at the ideal temperature, while the solar

panels strategically shade the plants and help them grow. If the energy savings turn out to be

worth the investment, this is a promising strategy for both increasing greenspace and renewable

energy.

Tree Planting Grants

We can again model Tree Utah. They use a grant-matching technique to leverage their

funds and capitalize on existing political will. Their tree funding grants use a 1:1 matching

strategy. In order to access a grant a group must at least provide enough funding to match the

grant value. They must also have a plan that accounts for at least 3 years to make sure it is

successful. This approach makes community tree-planting projects more affordable while

maximizing the reach of the limited funding and preventing waste. Tree Utah caps their grants at

$1500 per project, averaging about $1000.

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