City councilman Malik: Akron has chance to recommit to environment, clean energy
In 2022, it’s clear that climate change is an existential threat to our planet. Our society’s future is increasingly linked to clean, renewable energy and other forms of environmental sustainability. More than a decade ago, Akron’s city government put together a bold environmental action plan, but since then, we’ve lacked strategic direction on this issue. Today, Akron can recommit to this work by joining Power a Clean Future Ohio, a coalition of statewide, nonpartisan organizations that is currently working with every other major Ohio city, providing free services to advance clean energy and the environment.
Across the country, we’re seeing the initial impacts of climate change – more frequent storms, droughts and wildfires. In the 330, we’ve avoided the worst of this, but last winter, two of my closest friends from Firestone lost their home and all their possessions in a catastrophic Colorado brush fire. On top of this, Putin’s bloody war in Ukraine has caused gas prices to spike and pushed us toward Saudi oil. Clean, renewable energy is essential to limiting climate change and freeing us from reliance on dictators. Clean energy will power the economy of the future, but in Akron, we’re lagging behind.
In 2009, our city government put together the “Akron Greenprint,” a comprehensive environmental blueprint. City staff set out to reduce waste and boost recycling, promote community awareness, and start tracking carbon emissions from city buildings and vehicles. Unfortunately, after a few years, much of this work fell by the wayside.
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Since then, we’ve made some progress on the environment. Most notably, we’ve spent over $1 billion on the federally mandated combined sewer overflow (CSO) project, dramatically improving our Cuyahoga River, but at an enormous, unaffordable cost that we all feel. Beyond the CSO project, my late colleague Rich Swirsky always fought to make sure environmental concerns were at the table.
But in recent years, we’ve lacked a comprehensive city action plan for environmental sustainability and clean energy. That’s where Power a Clean Future Ohio (PCFO) comes in. PCFO is a coalition of statewide, nonpartisan organizations that have joined together to provide free services to cities to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. Yes, you read that right, free services!
That means PCFO helps cities with vehicle fleet assessments so we can make a financial case for converting to electric vehicles. They help cities look at grants and funding to put in EV charging stations — a network that will power the economy of the future. PCFO gives advice on how solar panels can be installed on the roofs of city buildings and parking decks. They help cities start measuring emissions, so we can set goals on carbon reductions.
More than two dozen communities have joined the PCFO network to take advantage of this deal. That includes Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Toledo, Dayton, Youngstown, Canton, Lima, Lorain, Portsmouth, Sandusky and Yellow Springs. As you can tell from this list, Akron is the largest city in Ohio that hasn't joined PCFO yet.
PCFO can help us renew Akron's strategy around clean energy and the environment. Often, we look at these issues as a luxury we can't afford. I believe we have a moral obligation to prevent climate change, but I also believe we have an economic obligation to our city. As the CSO project showed us, we can invest now in the economy of the future or we can make more expensive investments later. The rest of Ohio is investing now — we can't be left behind.
How can you get involved? Well, at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, PCFO Executive Director (and my Ohio State classmate) Joe Flarida is giving a presentation at my Ward 8 community meeting at the Northwest Recreation Center at 1730 Shatto Ave.
You’re invited to come learn more about PCFO and take part in a discussion about how Akron can move forward on clean energy and environmental issues.
Shammas Malik is Akron's Ward 8 councilman. He can be reached at 330-285-5310 or ward8@akronohio.gov.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron should consider joining coalition to focus on clean energy
