The Fight to Reach Carbon Neutrality in Ann Arbor
And small ways you can help contribute to the goal
—By Caitlyn Hocker
Michigan is an environment fit for the extremes of every season, known for its ice-cold winters and pure summers. But as climate change makes its mark across the state, changing weather patterns affect everything in their path. Visible by our strengthening storms, increasing average temperatures, and changing forests, the climate crisis is more pressing than ever. It is not a viable option to sit back and watch; we have to act now.
Call to action: climate emergency
In the Mayor’s Letter announcing the A²Zero Carbon Neutrality Plan, Christopher Taylor states, “The Ann Arbor City Council unanimously declared a climate emergency and directed the City to immediately begin crafting an aggressive and living strategy to achieve community-wide carbon neutrality by 2030.” The Office of Sustainability and Innovations (OSI) implemented this ambitious plan holding belief in a community full of innovative, creative, and compassionate citizens willing to work hard together.
OSI began as a platform aimed to improve sustainability and climate action locally. To serve this purpose, its overarching goals include to enhance local sustainability and communal relationships, reduce energy consumption, free up resources for affordable housing, foster community resilience, and ensure clean and renewable municipal operations. Working towards these goals has taken dedication, hard work, and collaboration. The significant and worsening impacts of climate change tell us we can’t afford to slow this progress down.
Ann Arbor’s efforts towards mitigating the climate crisis have been noticeable since my first day of stepping onto campus. Someone who is a local might say otherwise, but after coming to Ann Arbor for the first time, the strides were visible. In large part due to OSI, its manager Dr. Missy Stults describes Ann Arbor’s climate efforts as “very much part of its identity.” Stults’s role as a manager immediately intrigued me. A goal this grand requires meaningful community engagement, a welcoming and collaborative space for all those on deck, and an individual with certain characteristics in charge.
Missy Stults’s impact
Soon after meeting Stults, it was obvious how much she cared. She acknowledged the severity of the crisis, and made it clear the orders of the A²Zero Carbon Neutrality Plan. Having encouraged any and all questions I asked, Stults stated, “The best time to have taken action is yesterday and we didn’t do it. And so the next best time is today, there literally is no time to waste.” The urgency in her voice could not have helped portray her message any clearer: community engagement is going to be the biggest help in making forward strides, and collaboration is the key to help get there.
Stults’s journey and the self-awareness that accompanies it clarifies that not just anybody can handle the straining demands the work of climate change requires. When elaborating on ins and outs of the process, Stults shared, “This is what I live and breathe. This morning I have been on a call with the mayor, been on a call with city house members and my boss, the city administrator, been working on a whole bunch of materials because I am going to ask for 8 million dollars in a minute.”
Propelled by her deep care for the people and places she loves being affected by climate change, Stults eventually realized she wanted to do this work. She hopped off the platform of education and got started fast. “I did some non-profit work and really loved that, got to work with NYC on some initiatives. I just said yes a lot. I recognize that I had a lot of privilege opening windows for me, but I had to open them further and walk through them.” Stults utilized the opportunities presented to her; she eventually hopes to return to the non-profit sector.
OSI’s efforts
For OSI, public engagement looks like big community events, often personalized to specific areas. One effort focuses on hosting events for the Bryant neighborhood with the goal of making it the first carbon-neutral neighborhood in America. Another centers on reaching out to front-line populations and housing through partnering with OSI’s housing commission sites. Others look like working with organizations, such as Meals on Wheels, to provide sustainability education along with meals.
OSI also collaborates with organizations on campus. Stults says, “We work with the Planet Blue Ambassadors to get educational materials out to folks, so it’s customized to what the organizations do, what they need, what they want, and where they’re excited, because where they’re excited we’ll have success. Making them do something they don’t want to do isn’t going to work.” Getting the public engaged on various topics is nothing short of hard work, but also provides fun activities for people to take part in. Stults stresses the importance of making education as enjoyable as possible, while also providing “an ecosystem of services around them to support that behavior that they’re changing.” People need to see these new habits implemented by the people and businesses around them to feel the strong urge to change their behavior.
The collaborative network for OSI makes up over 100 organizations, student groups, and various initiatives. While that may seem like a lot, our climate crisis provides the constant need for more hands on deck. OSI invites anybody who wants to help into a positive and open space of creativity. In discussing the demand for help, Stults says that it’s okay if you see the path to reaching a goal differently. “We find ways to work with those who see differently, because we have a shared objective and it can be okay that we see different pathways to it, but you can’t lose the north star. When you lose the north star [being carbon neutral in a just and equitable way by 2030] then it’s probably time for you to step back from the community.” To excel in successful community outreach, keeping your motivational center at the forefront of your mind is necessary. And that is the key ingredient to reaching zero-carbon neutrality by 2030 in Ann Arbor.
What you should know
I made sure to get insight on ways students who care about the environment can make small contributions towards fighting climate change in Ann Arbor. Whether you want to educate yourself more or attend various sustainability events, Stults says joining the A2 bi-weekly sustainability Newsletter is the gateway to all information regarding community engagement. This listserv provides you with activities and opportunities that allow you to tangibly make an impact past campus boundaries and into the greater Ann Arbor community.
I decided to interview Stults in my own efforts to be more educated on what’s going on in Ann Arbor. While I wish I was currently more involved in the active efforts against climate change, I know that I am still part of the fight. Stults emphasizes, “Give yourself permission to care really really deeply, but understand your life path might be somewhere else. And that’s okay. We need lawyers, and we need doctors…. And how much better would it be if every single one of those people cared about climate change. It’s transformative.”
Feature photo, Nichols Arboretum, by Caitlyn Hocker