March 7, 2024 • 22 mins
Welcome back! We've got a little bit of a different episode in store for you today - and it's brought to you in partnership with the Jacksonville Climate Coalition. Last month, the Coalition hosted a virtual meeting to learn about the steps that Jacksonville and other local governments are taking to apply for the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant or the CPRG. We ended up covering quite a few topics that we thought you might be interested in, so in today's episode, we're presenting excerpts of this conversation.
As you'll hear the team at the city is working really quickly - so quickly in fact that some of the dates you'll hear referenced have already passed between when we recorded and now. But the city is still soliciting feedback - and in the episode we cover how you can provide comments directly to the team.
Our guest was Judy Holm, Fuse Executive Fellow with the City of Jacksonville who is working with the sustainability department led by Ashanta Green. James Richardson with the city's environmental protection board also joined in the discussion.
We were very lucky to have both of them on the call. And we hope that you enjoyed the conversation!
RESOURCES:
DRAFT Priority Climate Action Plan
https://cleanairnortheastflorida.com/get-involved
CONTACT:
cprg@coj.net
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Lori Ann Santamaria (00:01):
Welcome to Sustainable North Florida.
I'm your host, Lori AnnSantamaria.
Judy Holm (00:07):
That is the beginning of a huge sea change for the
city of Jacksonville.
Many cities in Florida still donot have any voices for climate
change, for historic reasons.
Lori Ann Santamaria (00:22):
Welcome back.
We've got a little bit of adifferent episode in store for
you today, and it's brought toyou in partnership with the
Jacksonville Climate Coalition.
Last month, the Coalitionhosted a virtual meeting to
learn about the steps thatJacksonville and other local
governments are taking to applyfor the Climate Pollution
Reduction Grant, or the CPRG.
We ended up covering quite afew topics that we thought you
(00:43):
might be interested in, so intoday's episode we're presenting
excerpts of this conversation.
As you'll hear, the team at thecity is working really quickly.
So quickly, in fact, that someof the dates you'll hear
referenced have already passedbetween when we recorded and now
.
But the city is stillsoliciting feedback and in the
episode we cover how you canprovide comments directly to the
team.
Our guest was Judy Holm, FuseExecutive Fellow with the city
(01:06):
of Jacksonville, who is workingwith the sustainability
department led by Ashantae Green.
James Richardson, with thecity's Environmental Protection
Board, also joined in thediscussion.
We were very lucky to have bothof them on the call and we hope
that you enjoy the conversation.
Thank you to everybody forjoining us this evening.
This is the first event of theyear for the Jacksonville
Climate Coalition.
(01:27):
I'm your host, Lori AnnSantamaria, and I'm also the
chair of the Climate Coalition.
Our guest today is Judy Holm.
Judy is the Fuse ExecutiveFellow for the city of
Jacksonville and I'll let herdescribe exactly what that means
.
I met Judy for the first timeover the phone a few weeks ago
and I came away from thatconversation honestly very
impressed with the depth of herknowledge in the field of
(01:47):
climate change.
But I'm also really excitedthat the city was able to find
someone with so much experienceand such a passion to fill this
role, and I hope that you guyswill agree - I think that you
will after this conversation.
Judy, I'm not quite sure that Ican do your background justice.
So, with that, if you couldjust tell the group a little bit
about yourself, your backgroundand how you got to Jacksonville
, please.
Judy Holm (02:08):
Thank you, Lori Ann, and it's lovely to e- meat all
of you.
I'm super excited to have mycolleague, James Richardson,
online as well.
So basically I was recruited bythis national nonprofit called
Fuse and was really excited toget the call because Fuse
typically pairs peopleconsidered sort of corporate
(02:30):
execs, which I guess I qualifyas 30 years plus, you know big
banks and big beauty companiesand a lot of consulting in
different arenas, including thearts.
So kind of right brain, leftbrain, but basically what Fuse
does is bring in corporatebackground people to pair with
cities to focus on a certainproject, an individual specific
(02:54):
project, and I'm in the cohortof the fall 2023.
We're all across the country.
So my background again I'm aneconomist, I have an MBA, I
worked in international businessfor many years.
When I began to realize howdramatic the situation of
climate change is, I said I haveone more client for the rest of
(03:15):
my life and her name is MotherEarth.
And so I went online to MITSloan Center for Sustainability
to get my credentials in climatechange and basically, with a
corporate background, I've beenconsulting with businesses in
terms of how to improve theircarbon footprint and also how to
be authentic about what they'redoing to get to net zero and,
(03:36):
as Lori Ann mentioned, yes, I'mhugely passionate about trying
to do what I can to help make adifference, in any way.
So when I had this opportunityto come to Jacksonville, I said
yes, yes, 100%.
So here I am, I've spent threemonths.
The assignment originally wasto work on a climate action plan
(03:57):
and a new opportunity surfacedwhich is called the Climate
Pollution Reduction Grant.
We're doing our best to try andget the most money (I also
happen to be very competitive)trying to get the most money
possible for Jacksonville andthe five surrounding counties,
and that's what it's all about.
Lori Ann Santamaria (04:14):
So what is the City of Jacksonville doing?
What are we doing with respectto sustainability and addressing
climate change?
Judy Holm (04:19):
Well, I first want to recognize my esteemed
colleagues James Richardson andAshantae Green.
Ashantae and I, unbeknownst toeach of us, started on the same
day, which was November 1st.
I was originally brought in towork with Ann Cogilanese as the
Chief Resiliency Officer, asFuse Executive Fellow and then,
(04:40):
knowing that Ashante was hiredkind of simultaneously as when I
was brought in with her newrole.
I don't know if you all knowthis, but the first ever, it's a
big deal, first eversustainability manager for the
city of Jacksonville.
It's a big step, it's a reallybig step and kudos to Mayor
Deegan and to the entireadministration for doing this,
(05:03):
for enacting the sustainabilityoffice.
Resiliency is important butthat's kind of like a you have
to like fix the messes sort of,or prepare for messes and fix
the messes.
So that's what resiliency is.
I it's one of the questionswe're goign to talk about, but
that is the beginning of a hugesea change for the City of
Jacksonville.
Many cities in Florida still donot have any, any spokesv oice,
(05:29):
spokes people or voices forclimate change, for historic
reasons, you know, because ofstate government and state
beliefs.
So I think it's amazing andalready the work of Ashantae and
James Richardson, who somehowhas been pulled in magically to
(05:49):
add gravitas with his depth ofknowledge of the community and
all that he does in theenvironmental quality division
for the city.
It's a huge change, huge changefor the city and and budgets
will be created, grants.
This is we're going.
We're going after a grant.
There will be other grants,there will be other ways of
looking at how to communicate toall stakeholders for
(06:11):
involvement from top-down to ,hopefully, policies.
Lori Ann Santamaria (06:16):
With the climate action plan, which
you've mentioned briefly.
I know we're working towardsthat, but what are the steps
that you need to take in orderto develop this climate action
plan?
Judy Holm (06:24):
Right.
So for climate action plan, theidea is to have an actual plan
that says here are all thethings with prioritization, all
the steps, all the components,all the departments, that inside
the city and also with bothhouseholds, residents, companies
(06:46):
, everyone.
So climate action plan willresult in that - we hope it's
going to be a year which is kindof common across the United
States.
So it depends on how quickly,we're able to garner resources,
both human resources andfinancial, to get to a climate
action plan.
Lori Ann Santamaria (07:03):
What's the information that you need in
order to develop that plan, like, what's the starting point that
you say okay, this is where ourmissions are coming from.
These are the changes that Ineed to make.
Judy Holm (07:12):
Great question, Lori Ann.
Typically it would be a route,an audit, essentially, of every
aspect of every internaloperation through the city's
lens.
Well, actually, what has what'sbeen kind of a mixed blessing
is this climate pollutionreduction grant.
We are fast- tracking thesequestions.
The grant is through the EPAand it has very specific
(07:35):
criteria, very specificquantifications that are
required.
So we're all jumping throughhoops, like I've barely ever
done in my entire life, you know, to try to make this happen, to
try to get the money.
So greenhouse gas emissions isbasically how much energy are we
using?
How many emissions are wepolluting into our environment?
(07:55):
Right, and it's scientific,it's measurable, but it is very
entailed and detailed.
It's a bottoms up operation.
So those are literal carbonmetric tons of GHG emissions.
So the city of Jacksonville anda lot of Florida hasn't had the
support or the leadership tosay we're going to do this.
(08:18):
And now we have it.
So, basically, thanks to anincredible consultancy firm that
was brought in through thisgrant process their company's
name is Hanson and they havejust finished first ever
inventory calculations, bottomsup for the city of Jacksonville,
duval County and the foursurrounding Northeast Florida
(08:40):
counties.
It's a really big step forward.
Lori Ann Santamaria (08:42):
Yeah, that's a really big deal.
I didn't realize that that wasdone already.
Is that publicly available?
Yes it will be on Friday.
That's amazing.
Thank you, yes.
Judy Holm (08:51):
Yes, very excited.
Lori Ann Santamaria (08:52):
Yeah.
So one of my questions was whatis the status of the
Jacksonville's greenhouse gasinventory?
I guess you just covered it.
It's ready to go, okay.
Okay, so we've talked a littlebit about the climate action
plan.
I know that's very much a workin progress, but what is the
latest of Jacksonville's work onthe climate action plan?
Judy Holm (09:09):
The climate action plan as such is a little bit
backburner.
The immediacy of the climatepollution reduction grant.
It's all of all of the ideasthat are being generated through
this very short timelineProcess, which we did an open
call.
Basically, I called it opencall for submissions of ideas,
(09:32):
of measures to what do you want,what do you stakeholders all
over the five counties want?
We did, I think, a really goodjob outreaching, but we didn't
capture everyone.
We also maybe didn't captureenough top-down ideas because
just of the timing, like themachine.
This all since right beforeChristmas, by the way, that this
(09:53):
has been happening.
It's really a short timeline.
The EPA this is through the EPA.
They realize it's shorttimeline, but they also are
committed to reviewing the grantprocess, making decisions this
summer and distributing themonies in October, which for me
I think it's a great thing,because who knows what's going
to happen with this year'selections.
The point being Climate ActionPlan, it's as such is a little
(10:18):
bit backburnered, but theClimate Pollution Reduction
Grant is the, I would say, afirst huge step forward.
Into here are things that arepriorities for Jacksonville and
the surrounding, a metropolitanstatistical area, aka the MSA.
Lori Ann Santamaria (10:37):
One question that I've heard asked a
few times with respect to theClimate Pollution Reduction
Grant is are these federal fundsgoing to be available for
Jacksonville, knowing that someof the funds from the IRA were
state by state and dependent onwhich state accepted them and
did not?
Judy Holm (10:51):
Great question, loryanne.
So it's $4.6 billion that areavailable.
Every state was invited toparticipate, every MSA was
invited to participate Floridaand three other states, as
states declined participation.
So the MSAs of Floridaindependently are competing, and
(11:16):
also 120 or 130 other MSAsaround the country and 46 states
of the United States.
It's a competition, people, itis a true competition.
Lori Ann Santamaria (11:27):
So Judy, there are a couple of questions
in the chat related to what arethe specific types of programs
that we're exploring inJacksonville.
Judy Holm (11:35):
Great question.
So for this grant, it'severything that relates to
climate change.
This grant, specifically, isabout the number of GHG emission
reductions and that was mypoint number one of what they're
looking for.
Number two is the LIDAC lensextremely important, relevant
and necessary in my opinion.
(11:56):
Can you explain that please?
Yes, so LIDAC is low-incomedisadvantaged communities, as is
prevalent across the globe.
The people who have done theleast to create the mess are
bearing the worst burden.
So we are going to do our bestto prioritize.
We're going to get betterscores the more we do to
(12:16):
prioritize and show the measuresthat are bringing the most
change to LIDAC communities.
It's very much part of the DNAof this grant.
Another thing that's extremelyimportant is ROI, thank you.
So ROI meaning return oninvestment.
(12:37):
So there are a lot ofincredibly important measures in
transportation, for example,creating roads, creating mass
transit systems.
Those are expensivepropositions.
The GH and electrifying fleets,electrifying vehicles.
They're all necessaryinitiatives to get to net zero,
(12:57):
but the return on investment andhow quickly, like the 2025 to
2030 lens is very important forthis particular grant.
Lori Ann Santamaria (13:07):
So the ROI that you're speaking of is not
traditional ROI from a dollar'sperspective, but it's the return
that you're going to get.
How much greenhouse gasemissions are you going to abate
, given any dollar that youinvest Right exactly?
Is there any way for people toget involved?
Is there still time for that,given the deadlines that you're
working with?
Judy Holm (13:26):
Another great question, lauren by March 1st we
, and everyone else around thecountry, have to submit by March
1st, a document called the PCAPPreliminary Climate Action Plan
for this grant, and it will beas many measures as we want to
include.
And why that's really importantis because all of everything
(13:49):
that's in the PCAP can beeligible for what goes in the
longer term version, which iscalled the PCAP, the
Comprehensive Climate ActionPlan, which is basically a three
to four year horizon.
We do not have time to have allthe numbers by March 1st, but,
yes, involvement in whatpriorities, what measures are
(14:11):
important to you, what you thinkare going to move the meter
Absolutely, and that's what'sstarting on.
Lori Ann Santamaria (14:17):
Friday.
So on Friday, the greenhousegas inventory, as well as our
preliminary PCAP, or preliminaryclimate action plan, will be
available.
Judy Holm (14:28):
Draft yes, and that's when every single person on
this call.
Every single person you know,every company you know, say oh,
like this, don't like this.
We need to know the why.
The more you can say the whysomething's good, better or
worse, it's just more logicalfor people to understand the
rationale.
Just, I don't like this or I dolike this.
(14:51):
So it's not a popularity contest, this is a numbers competition.
The end game is what's calledthe implementation grant and
that happens.
The due date for that is April1st.
April 1st, everything we'vearticulated with the dollar ask.
So we might have 40 measures inthe PCAP when we go to the
(15:14):
implementation grant.
We might strategically want tobe in the middle tier money wise
, because realistically, can wecompete against the state of
California and some of theMassachusetts?
You know, some of the other bigstates that have been doing
this for years and years?
I mean, yeah, jacksonvillecould absolutely use $500
million.
Of course we could.
But how realistic?
(15:35):
Because once you're consideredin that tier, it's like a
competition right, like beingyour weight class right.
You have to be in your weightclass.
We got to define what ourweight class is, if you will.
But so we have to be strategicalso about the tier dollars-wise
that we're going for.
Does that make sense?
This is one of the ways thatwe're letting you know and we'll
(15:56):
continue to do more officialoutreach.
But there's a website that hasgone live called Clean Air North
East Florida and the name wasvery intentional because a
couple things One, we're thelead in our MSA for the five
counties for this grant, so asmuch as I'm like "Team
Jacksonville, it doesn't haveJacksonville name in it per se.
(16:18):
And also for the sensitivity toa lot of the population who
don't know what climate changeis and they also don't.
You know, some counties arestill kind of like, not really
that far along.
So Clean Air we can all relateto Clean Air right and it is a
climate pollution which is veryconnected to air right.
So the name was veryintentional and it will link to
(16:43):
the city of Jacksonville's mainwebsite soon.
But on the website it's meant tobe very simple right now.
But there the first thing is,you know, sign up.
Second thing is take a surveyif you want.
It's like a very minimalisticsurvey, but also ask any
question and when- James and Iand Ashantae are the ones who
get the email, so when we saywe're involved, we are involved!
(17:06):
So please do, please do askquestions, please do bring
opinions and insights, cause weabsolutely, that's what we want.
That's the website is meant tobe one of the vehicles, that is,
you know, it's a 24/7 voice.
A quick, shameless plug herefor the Jacksonville Climate
Coalition.
Lori Ann Santamaria (17:24):
You are listening to a recording of a
live event that was hosted bythe Coalition.
Learn more on our website atwww.
jaxclimate.
org.
There you can sign up for ournewsletter or, even better,
check out our Slack channel.
There you can connect withothers in the community who want
to make an impact on climatechange.
You can also find us onFacebook and Instagram.
(17:45):
Welcome back to the remainderof the recording, where James
Richardson, with the City'sEnvironmental Protection Board,
provides some more specificsabout the CPRG and how to get
involved.
James Richardson (17:59):
I don't have anything to add much.
I just want to applaud Judy forthe work that she has been
doing and I think she's done agood job in articulating it.
Judy referenced the website.
One of the things I shared withLori Ann is something I say to
Judy once or twice a week.
We are building a bicycle whilewe're riding it, so we are
(18:21):
trying to assemble as muchinformation for these various
deadlines that we're workingwith, but also trying to find a
way to push the information out.
So a couple of quick thingsJudy's mentioned.
It's not just a climate actionplan for Jacksonville.
The EPA award was to theJacksonville MSA, so it is more
(18:47):
of a regional Climate ActionPlan and we've added in the City
of Palm Coast.
So it's Jacksonville, Duval,Clay, Nassau, St.
Johns and Baker Counties, alongwith the City of Palm Coast
we've referenced.
This preliminary Climate ActionPlan has a lot of information.
(19:08):
It'll be available Friday.
We have a listening sessionthat you can register to attend
on Friday where we'll be sharingthe P-CAP, as we call it, which
will include the measures sortof lay the case, if you will for
(19:30):
how the region will tacklereducing greenhouse gases in our
area, and those measures willthen be, more work done on them,
but they'll be incorporated inan implementation grant that we
will send off to the EPA onApril 1st.
So what we're looking for nowis for the community to Give us
(19:57):
input on the.
You know what climate actionmeans to you.
What does greenhouse gases andReducing them mean to you?
What's important to you?
Is it important to you that weincrease the number of electric
vehicles in the region?
Is it important to you that weonly build buildings that are
(20:19):
LEED or other greencertification levels?
Those kinds of things are whatwe want to hear.
We're planning both in-personsessions in February, and then
we'll also be doing anotherseries in March, so hopefully
(20:41):
you can go to that website andsign up for those updates.
Judy Holm (20:45):
I have a good question, yeah, so the
implementation grant will besubmitted on April 1st.
I was wondering if there waslike a kind of knowledge of when
news will be heard back on whatgrants will be funded.
Yes, it's the summer, theydon't give an actual date, but
it is the summer, this summer,and the monies will be
(21:05):
distributed in October.
Definitive, I know, it'samazing.
James Richardson (21:08):
Thank you.
Lori Ann Santamaria (21:09):
Well, thank you guys so much.
Thank you everybody for yourtime.
Thank you, Judy and James forfor joining us on this call and
educating us on everything thatthat you guys are doing.
It's really exciting to see somuch, so much activity.
I know you're building the bikeas you're trying to ride it and
looking forward to seeing thatgreenhouse gas inventory when it
comes out.
And thank you all for takingthe time out to attend and
listen to the session as well.
(21:29):
I appreciate that.
Have a good evening everybody.
Judy Holm (21:32):
And thank you.
Lori Ann Thank you fororganizing.
Thank you so much.
Lori Ann Santamaria (21:35):
Yes, Lori Ann, thanks, thank you.
Take care, guys.
Hopefully you found this to bea good introduction to what the
city of Jacksonville and theother local governments in our
region are doing to go after thefunds available through the
EPA's Climate PollutionReduction Grant.
Check out the show notes for alink to the draft climate action
plan.
As you heard, the team isactively seeking feedback from
(21:57):
the community, and you canprovide yours through the short
survey on the Clean AirNortheast Florida website or by
emailing cprg@ coj.
net.
All of that will be in the shownotes as well.
We appreciate Judy and James forsharing their time and insight
today.
And now (22:12):
our one good thing.
Talking about climate change inNortheast Florida can sometimes
be hard, really hard.
It might seem like othersaround you don't care, at least
I know I've felt that way.
But a recent poll showed that66% of Duval County residents
are concerned about climatechange.
In fact, 62% of residentsbelieve that our local officials
(22:33):
should be doing more to addressglobal warming.
So you're in the majority.
Knowing that you're not aloneis powerful, so have those
conversations with yourneighbors.
They'll likely be morereceptive than you anticipated.
The more we normalize theconversation, the easier it will
be to push our local lawmakersto rise to action and follow
(22:53):
through on the recommendationsof the climate action plan that
we discussed today.
Welcome to Sustainable North Florida.
I'm your host, Lori AnnSantamaria.
Judy Holm (00:07):
That is the beginning of a huge sea change for the
city of Jacksonville.
Many cities in Florida still donot have any voices for climate
change, for historic reasons.
Lori Ann Santamaria (00:22):
Welcome back.
We've got a little bit of adifferent episode in store for
you today, and it's brought toyou in partnership with the
Jacksonville Climate Coalition.
Last month, the Coalitionhosted a virtual meeting to
learn about the steps thatJacksonville and other local
governments are taking to applyfor the Climate Pollution
Reduction Grant, or the CPRG.
We ended up covering quite afew topics that we thought you
(00:43):
might be interested in, so intoday's episode we're presenting
excerpts of this conversation.
As you'll hear, the team at thecity is working really quickly.
So quickly, in fact, that someof the dates you'll hear
referenced have already passedbetween when we recorded and now
.
But the city is stillsoliciting feedback and in the
episode we cover how you canprovide comments directly to the
team.
Our guest was Judy Holm, FuseExecutive Fellow with the city
(01:06):
of Jacksonville, who is workingwith the sustainability
department led by Ashantae Green.
James Richardson, with thecity's Environmental Protection
Board, also joined in thediscussion.
We were very lucky to have bothof them on the call and we hope
that you enjoy the conversation.
Thank you to everybody forjoining us this evening.
This is the first event of theyear for the Jacksonville
Climate Coalition.
(01:27):
I'm your host, Lori AnnSantamaria, and I'm also the
chair of the Climate Coalition.
Our guest today is Judy Holm.
Judy is the Fuse ExecutiveFellow for the city of
Jacksonville and I'll let herdescribe exactly what that means
.
I met Judy for the first timeover the phone a few weeks ago
and I came away from thatconversation honestly very
impressed with the depth of herknowledge in the field of
(01:47):
climate change.
But I'm also really excitedthat the city was able to find
someone with so much experienceand such a passion to fill this
role, and I hope that you guyswill agree - I think that you
will after this conversation.
Judy, I'm not quite sure that Ican do your background justice.
So, with that, if you couldjust tell the group a little bit
about yourself, your backgroundand how you got to Jacksonville
, please.
Judy Holm (02:08):
Thank you, Lori Ann, and it's lovely to e- meat all
of you.
I'm super excited to have mycolleague, James Richardson,
online as well.
So basically I was recruited bythis national nonprofit called
Fuse and was really excited toget the call because Fuse
typically pairs peopleconsidered sort of corporate
(02:30):
execs, which I guess I qualifyas 30 years plus, you know big
banks and big beauty companiesand a lot of consulting in
different arenas, including thearts.
So kind of right brain, leftbrain, but basically what Fuse
does is bring in corporatebackground people to pair with
cities to focus on a certainproject, an individual specific
(02:54):
project, and I'm in the cohortof the fall 2023.
We're all across the country.
So my background again I'm aneconomist, I have an MBA, I
worked in international businessfor many years.
When I began to realize howdramatic the situation of
climate change is, I said I haveone more client for the rest of
(03:15):
my life and her name is MotherEarth.
And so I went online to MITSloan Center for Sustainability
to get my credentials in climatechange and basically, with a
corporate background, I've beenconsulting with businesses in
terms of how to improve theircarbon footprint and also how to
be authentic about what they'redoing to get to net zero and,
(03:36):
as Lori Ann mentioned, yes, I'mhugely passionate about trying
to do what I can to help make adifference, in any way.
So when I had this opportunityto come to Jacksonville, I said
yes, yes, 100%.
So here I am, I've spent threemonths.
The assignment originally wasto work on a climate action plan
(03:57):
and a new opportunity surfacedwhich is called the Climate
Pollution Reduction Grant.
We're doing our best to try andget the most money (I also
happen to be very competitive)trying to get the most money
possible for Jacksonville andthe five surrounding counties,
and that's what it's all about.
Lori Ann Santamaria (04:14):
So what is the City of Jacksonville doing?
What are we doing with respectto sustainability and addressing
climate change?
Judy Holm (04:19):
Well, I first want to recognize my esteemed
colleagues James Richardson andAshantae Green.
Ashantae and I, unbeknownst toeach of us, started on the same
day, which was November 1st.
I was originally brought in towork with Ann Cogilanese as the
Chief Resiliency Officer, asFuse Executive Fellow and then,
(04:40):
knowing that Ashante was hiredkind of simultaneously as when I
was brought in with her newrole.
I don't know if you all knowthis, but the first ever, it's a
big deal, first eversustainability manager for the
city of Jacksonville.
It's a big step, it's a reallybig step and kudos to Mayor
Deegan and to the entireadministration for doing this,
(05:03):
for enacting the sustainabilityoffice.
Resiliency is important butthat's kind of like a you have
to like fix the messes sort of,or prepare for messes and fix
the messes.
So that's what resiliency is.
I it's one of the questionswe're goign to talk about, but
that is the beginning of a hugesea change for the City of
Jacksonville.
Many cities in Florida still donot have any, any spokesv oice,
(05:29):
spokes people or voices forclimate change, for historic
reasons, you know, because ofstate government and state
beliefs.
So I think it's amazing andalready the work of Ashantae and
James Richardson, who somehowhas been pulled in magically to
(05:49):
add gravitas with his depth ofknowledge of the community and
all that he does in theenvironmental quality division
for the city.
It's a huge change, huge changefor the city and and budgets
will be created, grants.
This is we're going.
We're going after a grant.
There will be other grants,there will be other ways of
looking at how to communicate toall stakeholders for
(06:11):
involvement from top-down to ,hopefully, policies.
Lori Ann Santamaria (06:16):
With the climate action plan, which
you've mentioned briefly.
I know we're working towardsthat, but what are the steps
that you need to take in orderto develop this climate action
plan?
Judy Holm (06:24):
Right.
So for climate action plan, theidea is to have an actual plan
that says here are all thethings with prioritization, all
the steps, all the components,all the departments, that inside
the city and also with bothhouseholds, residents, companies
(06:46):
, everyone.
So climate action plan willresult in that - we hope it's
going to be a year which is kindof common across the United
States.
So it depends on how quickly,we're able to garner resources,
both human resources andfinancial, to get to a climate
action plan.
Lori Ann Santamaria (07:03):
What's the information that you need in
order to develop that plan, like, what's the starting point that
you say okay, this is where ourmissions are coming from.
These are the changes that Ineed to make.
Judy Holm (07:12):
Great question, Lori Ann.
Typically it would be a route,an audit, essentially, of every
aspect of every internaloperation through the city's
lens.
Well, actually, what has what'sbeen kind of a mixed blessing
is this climate pollutionreduction grant.
We are fast- tracking thesequestions.
The grant is through the EPAand it has very specific
(07:35):
criteria, very specificquantifications that are
required.
So we're all jumping throughhoops, like I've barely ever
done in my entire life, you know, to try to make this happen, to
try to get the money.
So greenhouse gas emissions isbasically how much energy are we
using?
How many emissions are wepolluting into our environment?
(07:55):
Right, and it's scientific,it's measurable, but it is very
entailed and detailed.
It's a bottoms up operation.
So those are literal carbonmetric tons of GHG emissions.
So the city of Jacksonville anda lot of Florida hasn't had the
support or the leadership tosay we're going to do this.
(08:18):
And now we have it.
So, basically, thanks to anincredible consultancy firm that
was brought in through thisgrant process their company's
name is Hanson and they havejust finished first ever
inventory calculations, bottomsup for the city of Jacksonville,
duval County and the foursurrounding Northeast Florida
(08:40):
counties.
It's a really big step forward.
Lori Ann Santamaria (08:42):
Yeah, that's a really big deal.
I didn't realize that that wasdone already.
Is that publicly available?
Yes it will be on Friday.
That's amazing.
Thank you, yes.
Judy Holm (08:51):
Yes, very excited.
Lori Ann Santamaria (08:52):
Yeah.
So one of my questions was whatis the status of the
Jacksonville's greenhouse gasinventory?
I guess you just covered it.
It's ready to go, okay.
Okay, so we've talked a littlebit about the climate action
plan.
I know that's very much a workin progress, but what is the
latest of Jacksonville's work onthe climate action plan?
Judy Holm (09:09):
The climate action plan as such is a little bit
backburner.
The immediacy of the climatepollution reduction grant.
It's all of all of the ideasthat are being generated through
this very short timelineProcess, which we did an open
call.
Basically, I called it opencall for submissions of ideas,
(09:32):
of measures to what do you want,what do you stakeholders all
over the five counties want?
We did, I think, a really goodjob outreaching, but we didn't
capture everyone.
We also maybe didn't captureenough top-down ideas because
just of the timing, like themachine.
This all since right beforeChristmas, by the way, that this
(09:53):
has been happening.
It's really a short timeline.
The EPA this is through the EPA.
They realize it's shorttimeline, but they also are
committed to reviewing the grantprocess, making decisions this
summer and distributing themonies in October, which for me
I think it's a great thing,because who knows what's going
to happen with this year'selections.
The point being Climate ActionPlan, it's as such is a little
(10:18):
bit backburnered, but theClimate Pollution Reduction
Grant is the, I would say, afirst huge step forward.
Into here are things that arepriorities for Jacksonville and
the surrounding, a metropolitanstatistical area, aka the MSA.
Lori Ann Santamaria (10:37):
One question that I've heard asked a
few times with respect to theClimate Pollution Reduction
Grant is are these federal fundsgoing to be available for
Jacksonville, knowing that someof the funds from the IRA were
state by state and dependent onwhich state accepted them and
did not?
Judy Holm (10:51):
Great question, loryanne.
So it's $4.6 billion that areavailable.
Every state was invited toparticipate, every MSA was
invited to participate Floridaand three other states, as
states declined participation.
So the MSAs of Floridaindependently are competing, and
(11:16):
also 120 or 130 other MSAsaround the country and 46 states
of the United States.
It's a competition, people, itis a true competition.
Lori Ann Santamaria (11:27):
So Judy, there are a couple of questions
in the chat related to what arethe specific types of programs
that we're exploring inJacksonville.
Judy Holm (11:35):
Great question.
So for this grant, it'severything that relates to
climate change.
This grant, specifically, isabout the number of GHG emission
reductions and that was mypoint number one of what they're
looking for.
Number two is the LIDAC lensextremely important, relevant
and necessary in my opinion.
(11:56):
Can you explain that please?
Yes, so LIDAC is low-incomedisadvantaged communities, as is
prevalent across the globe.
The people who have done theleast to create the mess are
bearing the worst burden.
So we are going to do our bestto prioritize.
We're going to get betterscores the more we do to
(12:16):
prioritize and show the measuresthat are bringing the most
change to LIDAC communities.
It's very much part of the DNAof this grant.
Another thing that's extremelyimportant is ROI, thank you.
So ROI meaning return oninvestment.
(12:37):
So there are a lot ofincredibly important measures in
transportation, for example,creating roads, creating mass
transit systems.
Those are expensivepropositions.
The GH and electrifying fleets,electrifying vehicles.
They're all necessaryinitiatives to get to net zero,
(12:57):
but the return on investment andhow quickly, like the 2025 to
2030 lens is very important forthis particular grant.
Lori Ann Santamaria (13:07):
So the ROI that you're speaking of is not
traditional ROI from a dollar'sperspective, but it's the return
that you're going to get.
How much greenhouse gasemissions are you going to abate
, given any dollar that youinvest Right exactly?
Is there any way for people toget involved?
Is there still time for that,given the deadlines that you're
working with?
Judy Holm (13:26):
Another great question, lauren by March 1st we
, and everyone else around thecountry, have to submit by March
1st, a document called the PCAPPreliminary Climate Action Plan
for this grant, and it will beas many measures as we want to
include.
And why that's really importantis because all of everything
(13:49):
that's in the PCAP can beeligible for what goes in the
longer term version, which iscalled the PCAP, the
Comprehensive Climate ActionPlan, which is basically a three
to four year horizon.
We do not have time to have allthe numbers by March 1st, but,
yes, involvement in whatpriorities, what measures are
(14:11):
important to you, what you thinkare going to move the meter
Absolutely, and that's what'sstarting on.
Lori Ann Santamaria (14:17):
Friday.
So on Friday, the greenhousegas inventory, as well as our
preliminary PCAP, or preliminaryclimate action plan, will be
available.
Judy Holm (14:28):
Draft yes, and that's when every single person on
this call.
Every single person you know,every company you know, say oh,
like this, don't like this.
We need to know the why.
The more you can say the whysomething's good, better or
worse, it's just more logicalfor people to understand the
rationale.
Just, I don't like this or I dolike this.
(14:51):
So it's not a popularity contest, this is a numbers competition.
The end game is what's calledthe implementation grant and
that happens.
The due date for that is April1st.
April 1st, everything we'vearticulated with the dollar ask.
So we might have 40 measures inthe PCAP when we go to the
(15:14):
implementation grant.
We might strategically want tobe in the middle tier money wise
, because realistically, can wecompete against the state of
California and some of theMassachusetts?
You know, some of the other bigstates that have been doing
this for years and years?
I mean, yeah, jacksonvillecould absolutely use $500
million.
Of course we could.
But how realistic?
(15:35):
Because once you're consideredin that tier, it's like a
competition right, like beingyour weight class right.
You have to be in your weightclass.
We got to define what ourweight class is, if you will.
But so we have to be strategicalso about the tier dollars-wise
that we're going for.
Does that make sense?
This is one of the ways thatwe're letting you know and we'll
(15:56):
continue to do more officialoutreach.
But there's a website that hasgone live called Clean Air North
East Florida and the name wasvery intentional because a
couple things One, we're thelead in our MSA for the five
counties for this grant, so asmuch as I'm like "Team
Jacksonville, it doesn't haveJacksonville name in it per se.
(16:18):
And also for the sensitivity toa lot of the population who
don't know what climate changeis and they also don't.
You know, some counties arestill kind of like, not really
that far along.
So Clean Air we can all relateto Clean Air right and it is a
climate pollution which is veryconnected to air right.
So the name was veryintentional and it will link to
(16:43):
the city of Jacksonville's mainwebsite soon.
But on the website it's meant tobe very simple right now.
But there the first thing is,you know, sign up.
Second thing is take a surveyif you want.
It's like a very minimalisticsurvey, but also ask any
question and when- James and Iand Ashantae are the ones who
get the email, so when we saywe're involved, we are involved!
(17:06):
So please do, please do askquestions, please do bring
opinions and insights, cause weabsolutely, that's what we want.
That's the website is meant tobe one of the vehicles, that is,
you know, it's a 24/7 voice.
A quick, shameless plug herefor the Jacksonville Climate
Coalition.
Lori Ann Santamaria (17:24):
You are listening to a recording of a
live event that was hosted bythe Coalition.
Learn more on our website atwww.
jaxclimate.
org.
There you can sign up for ournewsletter or, even better,
check out our Slack channel.
There you can connect withothers in the community who want
to make an impact on climatechange.
You can also find us onFacebook and Instagram.
(17:45):
Welcome back to the remainderof the recording, where James
Richardson, with the City'sEnvironmental Protection Board,
provides some more specificsabout the CPRG and how to get
involved.
James Richardson (17:59):
I don't have anything to add much.
I just want to applaud Judy forthe work that she has been
doing and I think she's done agood job in articulating it.
Judy referenced the website.
One of the things I shared withLori Ann is something I say to
Judy once or twice a week.
We are building a bicycle whilewe're riding it, so we are
(18:21):
trying to assemble as muchinformation for these various
deadlines that we're workingwith, but also trying to find a
way to push the information out.
So a couple of quick thingsJudy's mentioned.
It's not just a climate actionplan for Jacksonville.
The EPA award was to theJacksonville MSA, so it is more
(18:47):
of a regional Climate ActionPlan and we've added in the City
of Palm Coast.
So it's Jacksonville, Duval,Clay, Nassau, St.
Johns and Baker Counties, alongwith the City of Palm Coast
we've referenced.
This preliminary Climate ActionPlan has a lot of information.
(19:08):
It'll be available Friday.
We have a listening sessionthat you can register to attend
on Friday where we'll be sharingthe P-CAP, as we call it, which
will include the measures sortof lay the case, if you will for
(19:30):
how the region will tacklereducing greenhouse gases in our
area, and those measures willthen be, more work done on them,
but they'll be incorporated inan implementation grant that we
will send off to the EPA onApril 1st.
So what we're looking for nowis for the community to Give us
(19:57):
input on the.
You know what climate actionmeans to you.
What does greenhouse gases andReducing them mean to you?
What's important to you?
Is it important to you that weincrease the number of electric
vehicles in the region?
Is it important to you that weonly build buildings that are
(20:19):
LEED or other greencertification levels?
Those kinds of things are whatwe want to hear.
We're planning both in-personsessions in February, and then
we'll also be doing anotherseries in March, so hopefully
(20:41):
you can go to that website andsign up for those updates.
Judy Holm (20:45):
I have a good question, yeah, so the
implementation grant will besubmitted on April 1st.
I was wondering if there waslike a kind of knowledge of when
news will be heard back on whatgrants will be funded.
Yes, it's the summer, theydon't give an actual date, but
it is the summer, this summer,and the monies will be
(21:05):
distributed in October.
Definitive, I know, it'samazing.
James Richardson (21:08):
Thank you.
Lori Ann Santamaria (21:09):
Well, thank you guys so much.
Thank you everybody for yourtime.
Thank you, Judy and James forfor joining us on this call and
educating us on everything thatthat you guys are doing.
It's really exciting to see somuch, so much activity.
I know you're building the bikeas you're trying to ride it and
looking forward to seeing thatgreenhouse gas inventory when it
comes out.
And thank you all for takingthe time out to attend and
listen to the session as well.
(21:29):
I appreciate that.
Have a good evening everybody.
Judy Holm (21:32):
And thank you.
Lori Ann Thank you fororganizing.
Thank you so much.
Lori Ann Santamaria (21:35):
Yes, Lori Ann, thanks, thank you.
Take care, guys.
Hopefully you found this to bea good introduction to what the
city of Jacksonville and theother local governments in our
region are doing to go after thefunds available through the
EPA's Climate PollutionReduction Grant.
Check out the show notes for alink to the draft climate action
plan.
As you heard, the team isactively seeking feedback from
(21:57):
the community, and you canprovide yours through the short
survey on the Clean AirNortheast Florida website or by
emailing cprg@ coj.
net.
All of that will be in the shownotes as well.
We appreciate Judy and James forsharing their time and insight
today.
And now (22:12):
our one good thing.
Talking about climate change inNortheast Florida can sometimes
be hard, really hard.
It might seem like othersaround you don't care, at least
I know I've felt that way.
But a recent poll showed that66% of Duval County residents
are concerned about climatechange.
In fact, 62% of residentsbelieve that our local officials
(22:33):
should be doing more to addressglobal warming.
So you're in the majority.
Knowing that you're not aloneis powerful, so have those
conversations with yourneighbors.
They'll likely be morereceptive than you anticipated.
The more we normalize theconversation, the easier it will
be to push our local lawmakersto rise to action and follow
(22:53):
through on the recommendationsof the climate action plan that
we discussed today.
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