E-CAT Application to Conservation Initiatives Committee

Hi E-CATs,

Below is a copy of the application recently submitted to the Sierra Club's national Conservation Initiatives Committee for funding. A little background: the Club's Conservation Initiatives are general environmental issues ("Safe and Healthy Communities," "America's Wild Legacy," and "Smart Energy Solutions") which were given priority by Sierra Club members from all over the country at the Sierra Summit last summer. The Initiatives were then approved by the national Conservation Governance Committee, and are now considered top priority for Sierra Club work. To emphasize their importance, the national Sierra Club dedicated a certain amount of its funding to be channeled into work across the country that fits into the Initiatives. The Conservation Initiatives Committee (CIC) is reviewing and approving or denying applications for that money. We sent in an application for the work we're doing in DC.

You can review the application to see how we are representing our work, and to get a sense of our goals, vision, and plans for the foreseeable future.

Enjoy!

(Questions 1-3 asked for contact info, deleted here for individual privacy).

4) Please identify what Club entity (chapter, group, issue committee etc.) or what group of members your proposal comes from, or who you propose to do the project work.

The “Energy and Climate Action Team” (E-CAT), part of the Washington DC Chapter.

5) Are any other Club leaders or entities working with you on this? If so, please list them along with their titles and contact information.

a) Bob Morris: Community Activist;
b) Joanna Winchester: DC Sierra Club Chapter, Chapter Assistant
c) Jim Dougherty: Sierra Club Board of Directors
d) We are also working in tandem with a new regional energy program organized by Glen Besa to include initiatives in most of the other chapters and groups in our region.

6) Conservation Initiative Committee you are applying to (check one):

__ America's Wild Legacy __ Safe and Healthy Communities _X_ Smart Energy Solutions __ Uncertain which one it might fit in

While we believe this project contains components that fit into both Smart Energy Solutions and Safe and Healthy Communities, we see a great opportunity to use this project to raise awareness about energy usage in the spaces where we live and work.

According to the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), “buildings in the United States consume more than 30 percent of our total energy and 60 percent of our electricity annually.”
Particularly in urban settings, buildings that are “green” can play a large role in reducing dependence on fossil fuels (including oil, natural gas, or coal) in a variety of ways:

• They use less energy in heating and cooling, lighting, etc.;
• Their location and design work with a good public transit system to encourage people to live and work in a walking urban environment;
• They utilize local and environmentally safe materials in their construction and maintenance and reduce the necessity to deplete resources elsewhere and to rely on oil and gas in the transport of non-local resources.

7) Please check the type of funding you are requesting. You must complete a separate application for each type of funding you are requesting, so you should check only one below.

_X_ Educational 501(c)(3) __ Legislative 501(c)(4) __ Electoral (PAC/527) __ Not sure

8) What is the proposed ultimate goal and/or public policy outcome that you hope to achieve with your project? There may be a long term goal (i.e. wilderness designation for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or cleaning up/replacing dirty coal-fired power plants in the Midwest),and short term goals (i.e. blocking legislation authorizing Arctic leasing in the next Congress, or retiring the Belching Power Plant in Kentucky).

Long Term Goals:

a) Develop energy-efficient “green” buildings in Washington DC that have a minimal environmental impact, help to build a downtown urban community, and improve quality of life for people who work, study, and live in DC.
b) Reduce the city’s energy usage and emissions of both greenhouse gases and conventional pollutants (in cooperation with ongoing public transportation campaigns) to a level that meets Kyoto Protocol proposed levels.
c) Make DC’s green building standards and projects a model for other cities.

Short Term Goals:

In the short-term, we are focused on the development of the Old Convention Center site. Our goal is the incorporation of green and energy-efficient design into any project that will occupy the site. A successful design will:

a) Conserve energy (both in the construction and operation of the structure).
b) Allow for easy access to and use of alternative transportation (transit, bikes, etc.).
c) Create a pedestrian friendly urban environment that will encourage people to walk around.
d) Reduce the heat island effect.
e) Rely on local materials and labor (to reduce the need for long-distance transportation and to decrease depletion of natural resources in wild places that are often used in building projects – e.g. timber from national forests, rock and stone from quarries).
f) Include low-income housing if housing is proposed (because of DC’s housing crunch and gentrification, many low-income households are pushed into the suburbs while their jobs remain in the city, which increases the number of cars on the road). Including low-income housing in every new housing development not only builds community, it also decreases dependence on cars and fuel.
g) Prevent stormwater runoff and conserve water.

We chose to focus on the Old Convention Center site for several reasons: as a large, iconic project it will be in the public eye in DC; because of the scale of the project, building in an environmentally friendly manner has the potential to impact the lives of DC residents and to serve as a model for future projects in DC and other cities; there will be many opportunities to get the public involved in the project, which will help the chapter to educate and empower DC residents.

Question 9 asks about total resources requested - deleted here for privacy.

10) Briefly describe the project you are proposing. As you lay out the project, please provide as much information as necessary to show how you meet the criteria above. For example, if you plan to build an alliance with a non-environmental constituency, please indicate which constituency you plan to enlist. Include tactics and targets if you know them.

We are organizing to promote green and energy efficient building in the District of Columbia. Our immediate project, focusing on our short-term goals, will be the development of new retail and housing developments which will be occupying the land of the Old Convention Center in Downtown Washington (a previous structure, which was demolished when a new convention center was built in another part of the city). Through this project, we will be laying groundwork to achieve our long-term goals.

Our campaign will involve public education and involvement in the new development at the Old Convention Center site as well as working with developers, designers, and ultimately City Council to ensure that any proposals and most importantly, the final approved project are energy efficient and green.

Tactics include:

• Presence at any public hearings on the new project
• Tours of green buildings in the area (some crafted for decision-makers/developers, and some for public audiences with a component like letter-writing included)
• Letter-writing campaigns to decision-makers and developers; letters to the editor and op-eds
• Roundtables with members of the community, environmental groups, developers, and city officials for educational sessions on green building and energy efficiency.
• Film festivals (working in coalition with other environmental groups to show films like Kilowatt Hours) with presentations on the project and opportunities for letter-writing
• Media events at the Old Convention Center site to demonstrate support for or opposition to proposals as they arise.
• Educational events in coordination with local schools, colleges/universities, citizen and neighborhood groups (ANCs – Advisory Neighborhood Commissions; PTAs; business groups) in vicinity of the project, churches.

Primary Targets include:

• Developers who may be creating proposals (to be determined through a series of meetings with local developers)
• Members of city council who will ultimately be approving or denying the project (through only c3 educational tactics).

Secondary Targets include:

• Architects who may be working with developers to create proposals
• Advisory Neighborhood Commissions in the vicinity of the project (these are elected volunteer commissions that advise the City Council).
• Mayor Anthony Williams (and his successor) – while not a decision maker in this instance, he can certainly exert a great deal of influence in the process
• Realtor groups and city housing departments as well as business affiliations – anyone who can speak on behalf of the potential occupants of the site.

Public Audiences include:

• Residents of the Ward and ANC of the site.
• Schools and universities near the site
• Professional and business associations – people who currently work in the vicinity of the site

Potential Alliances:

• Architects, engineers, designers, and developers; American Institute of Architects, US Green Building Council and other industry organizations and associations
• Washington Regional Network for Livable Communities; Coalition for Smarter Growth; Chesapeake Bay Foundation; Friends of the Earth; Natural Resources Defense Council; DC Environmental Network; etc.
• Local chambers of commerce and other business associations
• University/college groups (e.g. undergraduate environmental or community clubs and MBA green student associations); high schools; PTAs
• Unions of workers that might be employed by tenants of the building (e.g. the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees); workers’ rights groups (creating a more positive atmosphere for workers is a big bonus of green building – people actually want to come work in these buildings, and they are healthier for the employees)
• Local church groups and interfaith groups interested in global warming.
• Fair/healthy housing associations and advocates.

Meeting CGC CIC Criteria:

a) Emphasize related highly-ranked issue focus areas from the direction setting process from the conservation approaches.
This project emphasizes components of both the Smart Energy Solutions and the Building Healthy Communities initiatives. We are focusing on promoting green developments that greatly reduce our city’s emissions and energy dependence while building an urban environment that brings people together, keeps people healthy, and improves overall quality of life.

b) Actively engaging multiple sectors of the Club:
The project will be working on the chapter level (which in this case is an entirely urban chapter without groups), but will also be related to regional Metro DC work (one of our definitions of green development is that it is conducive to alternative transit and walking – we will work with our transportation committee and local BEC campaign on this). We will also be coordinating with our regional energy campaign – organized through Glen Besa – largely in terms of sharing information.

c) Be achievable
By focusing on one iconic development as a short-term goal, we will be able to channel all of our energy and resources into achieving this project, enabling us to ensure a win. This is also a great time to be focusing on green building – with energy prices rising, and increasing industry support for energy efficient building techniques, the last step is educating the public and the developers, which is a perfect fit for our grassroots work.

d) Promote environmental justice
Part of our work on this project will be making sure that the development includes low-income housing. Against the backdrop of DC’s housing crunch, we would be pushing not only for affordable housing, but for affordable housing that is healthy.

e) Contribute to the Club’s political power
Since our project will be conducted in the nation’s capital, it puts it in the spotlight and enables it to enhance the Club’s political power – a positive local example of decreasing energy use and emissions while building community is something that national as well as other local efforts can draw on.
Additionally, because of the nature of the project, we will be working with City Council and encouraging attendance at public hearings. This will build our relationship with local decision makers while encouraging our public audiences to become more involved in civic activities – the people we involve in activities like attending planning board, zoning board, or other public hearings will be a major potential source of energy in electoral cycles, and will demonstrate our presence in the community to elected officials.

f) Build the capacities identified as priorities in the direction setting process (seek new allies and build coalitions, create media visibility, bring people together, advocate for solutions, influence voters’ electoral decisions, influence state policy makers, influence local decision makers about specific places)

New Allies: We will seek to get involved with the local business community, churches, developers, real estate brokers, schools, universities/colleges, and fair housing associations/advocates; working with business associations and developers is certainly a non-traditional ally, and incorporating churches, schools, universities/colleges, and fair housing associations/advocates will allow us to become more connected to community constituencies that we may not have been in close contact with before.

Create Media Visibility: We will mount an educational and advocacy grassroots campaign that utilizes media at events we organize as well as at public meetings on the project (working with our current media contacts and developing relationships with new ones) to engage the community at large and convince those who are accountable for the project’s success that this is an important issue that impacts quality of life in the city. This project is something that will be in the public eye regardless of the Club’s involvement in it – and we can harness that publicity to shift the discussion toward creating smart energy solutions in Washington DC through developments like this one.

Bring People Together: This issue is important to several sectors of the city – those who will work and live in and around the new development; those who will be responsible for designing, building, and managing the new development; and decision makers who are responsible for maintaining and improving the quality of life in the city. Because of the nature of the project, it will be an opportunity to bring together the environmental community with neighborhood associations around the proposed project, industry and business, as well as those working to ensure fair and healthy housing in the District. The proposed development is something that is innately relevant to the neighborhood community in its vicinity, and is by extension relevant to the city as a whole – by working on this project, the chapter will be able to strengthen its own ties with the neighborhood community and help move dialogue toward our vision for our community.

Influence voters’ electoral decisions: While this is not an electoral campaign, and we will not be working with c4 funding or conducting any c4 activities, our work will include educational work with elected officials; by including the public in the project, their opinion of their elected officials will be impacted by the decisions that those officials make in approving or denying a final proposal (though we will not be running a campaign with a targeted political “ask”). By including the public, and making them feel that they have a stake in this process, their votes may also be indirectly influenced. Add to this the fact that 2006 is an electoral year in DC, and that Mayoral and Council candidates may take positions on this issue, then there is some potential for the project to have an impact beyond its c3 educational work.

Influence state policy makers: It is our goal to help both the public and policy makers see the connection between smart energy solutions for model development projects in the District (beginning with the Old Convention Center site) and the implementation of a comprehensive plan for the city to help cut emissions and reduce energy use.
Influence local decision makers about specific places: In an urban chapter, the word “places” takes on a different meaning – rather than talking about protecting wild places specifically, we talk about urban development that will protect our health and quality of life, while decreasing our need for resources from wild places. This project is working to promote exactly that kind of positive urban development.

g) Attract funding
This project has the potential to attract corporate funding as a showcase for green construction and design firms, as well as the possibility of luring contributions from city, state, and Federal energy agencies (e.g., community grants) and from other environmental funders.
Further, building success stories like our initial short-term project for the site of the Old Convention Center increases the Club’s attractiveness to potential funders. Success in our short-term goals will provide a story that can be used in DC to attract external funding for the program into the long-term, as well as in other cities looking to begin programs like ours and on a national level.

h) Build public sentiment for conservation issues
One of the largest parts of this project is public education and involvement. It will provide the public with a Smart Energy Solution that alleviates climate change through local development while building neighborhoods and improving residents’ and workers’ quality of life. This will be one project where we address climate change in a positive manner, and stress community development and quality of life as being connected to smart energy solutions. When the public hears our positive message, and sees the project work because of their involvement, they will be that much more open to other conservation issues.

i) Create synergy among conservation initiatives
As has been evident throughout this application, there is a lot of common ground in this project between the Smart Energy Solutions initiative and the Building Healthy Communities initiative. In essence, this project is both a “smart energy solution” and a step toward “building healthy communities.” While we did decide to apply to the Smart Energy Solutions committee, we believe the difficulty of separating the two initiatives from each other in our project is one of the project’s greatest strengths.

11) What is the duration of your proposed project? Note that projects will vary from short-term tactical actions with others planned for longer than two years. No project will be guaranteed funding for longer than 2 years; this default sunsetting forces a review of current salience and performance. New projects may be initiated at any time during the year.

We would like to request funding through the end of 2006, at which point we will review the progress it has made in terms of short and long term goals and readjust our plan and funding requests as needed, and pursue external funding sources.