Lorain/Elyria, OH
Oberlin to join climate group
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OBERLIN - This college town has been invited to become the 18th city in the world to join the Clinton Climate Initiative, which has a goal of reducing the impact of urban areas on global warming.
City Council President David Sonner said he is excited about the prospect of Oberlin joining the effort. The city is examining a memorandum of understanding.
There are no membership dues, and Sonner said Oberlin should be able to benefit from the association with the climate group, which is part of the William J. Clinton Foundation.
“There will be companies, institutes, philanthropies eager to participate and help Oberlin become a model for a post-carbon economy and society,” Sonner said.
Other cities involved in the effort include San Francisco; Destiny, Fla.; London; Toronto; Melbourne; Sydney, Australia; Panama City, Panama; Seoul, South Korea; and Stockholm, Sweden.
Oberlin made headlines in its effort to become carbon-neutral when it was one of a handful of communities to opt out of a utility’s plan to build a new coal-fired electrical plant on the Ohio River. The coal-fired plant has since been dropped in favor of a plant fueled by natural gas.
Sonner said Oberlin now is looking at options such as purchasing electricity created through biomass or landfill gas to serve customers of the municipal electrical utility.
“It’s not going to come in one big chunk,” Sonner said.
Oberlin College, which is building a number of green buildings, also is expected to be a major player in the Clinton Climate Initiative. It has been pursuing alternatives to its coal-fired electrical plant and is working on plans to create a Green Arts District including a conference center and hotel to replace the Oberlin Inn.
A spokesperson for the Clinton Climate Initiative was unavailable for comment Thursday on the invitation for Oberlin to join the effort. The initiative’s Web site states it is committed to creating solutions to problems causing climate change.
Cities occupy 2 percent of the world’s land mass, yet contribute more than two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the institute.
Working with governments and businesses around the world, the initiative focuses on three strategic program areas: increasing energy efficiency in cities, using technologies that will deliver clean energy on a significant scale by 2020, and working to stop deforestation.
Projects include building retrofits, outdoor lighting and waste management. The initiative’s program helps municipal governments improve energy efficiency and measure the reductions of emissions, according to the Web site.
The initiative’s Clean Energy program develops projects using technologies that will deliver clean energy on a significant scale by 2020 and have long-term commercial potential, according to its Web site.
Contact Cindy Leise at 329-7245 or cleise@chroniclet.com.
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Billionaire, Morice Strong originally from Canada who held the UN seat for years is the biggest backer of green house gas and carbon tax, he has been pushing this initiative for decades. He now live in a Gated community with gaurds in China trying to buy and sell carbon credits. This is the biggest farse to ever be pulled on the human race, and we actually have elected officials in this county that really believe that it exist and that man is to blame.
I have a question that maybe one of these Oberlin College students maybe able to answer?
If the Senior Citizens that are alive today and living longer than their parents all worked in these factories that were emitting pollution into the air, that was dangerous to man,and the USEPA said was killing man. How come these same people that are alive and living healthy long lives are not dead if these pollutant were so dangerous to our lives, and the enviorment. How come we have 23 million seniors alive and healthy? and they all work in these factories, I would say use common sense and realize that the USEPA is pulling the wool over your eyes.
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Yet even after it was shown that the data was faked, people are still falling for this crap..
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As soon as I read San Francisco I knew Oberlin couldn’t be far behind. LOL.
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They don’t have TV’s in Oberlin? How do these folks not realize there is no such thing as global warming. It was a scam. You would think a college town would be a head of the curve on knowledge, oh well.
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What you guys don’t understand is that it doesn’t matter what studies say or don’t say. Something needs to be done and Oberlin is going to do something. Every person who cares about this in Oberlin feels better now and thats all that matters. Thats the big picture its not about the results or benefits it’s about how they feel about themselves and that they can say they are better than other people, because they care, and you guys don’t.
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I liked when the paper did an article awhile back on Oberlin college switching to biodiesel. They saved they were saving so many tons of CO2 from the air. Well they were correct they were saving that much CO2 that would have been produced by diesel. But they didn’t add in the amount of CO2 produced by the biodiesel. With its lower energy density the net CO2 reduction was nearly a wash. A full tune up of the engine probably would have given the same reduction in CO2 and would have been cheaper. But I guess Oberlin isn’t what it once was in science and math.
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Hey, ask Oberlin College when they are going to shut down their coal-feed heating plant and all its CO2 generation!!
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