Eliminating our current diversity of energy sources will be a dangerous path for Flagstaff. Wind and solar are not reliable, especially in winter. Solar panels only work in daylight and winter days are short. Skies are often overcast, and panels can be covered with snow for extended periods. Winds are variable and wind turbines are vulnerable in freezing temperatures. All these shortcomings occur at the worst possible time. In winter Flagstaff’s electricity demand and risk of outages will peak just when the dangers of freezing temperatures are severe. No backup exists in an all-electric Flagstaff.
And why is the City Council putting our lives in jeopardy? In addition to declaring a climate emergency, the Council also committed the city to meeting the intentions of The Paris Agreement on Climate Change. But, in truth, there is no international “agreement”. These accords should be called the “Paris Disagreement”. Three of the four top CO2 polluters are China, India and Russia. None of these countries is reducing CO2 emissions and China is dramatically increasing pollution from both coal and natural gas. The current U.S. effort to reduce CO2 emissions is being overwhelmed by the other countries’ increases. Every dollar we spend on CNP is wasted on making infinitesimal changes to the atmosphere. Until China, India and Russia change course, our impact on the trajectory of global warming will remain insignificant. Flagstaff First is working to stop this misdirection of the CNP. Our goal is to change the current dangerous path away from carbon neutrality and towards combating the direct threats we face - wildfires, flooding and drought. We advocate improved prevention, detection and suppression of wildfires, greater dedication of manpower and resources towards building the infrastructure that will prevent flood damage and addressing drought by increasing the city’s water catchment and storage capacity. The money we spend on wildfires, flooding, and drought benefits Flagstaff residents directly by effectively mitigating the impact of climate change rather than fruitlessly trying to stop it.Come join us. Be a change agent for progress and solving Flagstaff’s critical challenges.