April 2, 2010
 How do everyday activities such as traveling to and from work affect the greenhouse gas emissions in your hometown? How is your municipality working to lessen greenhouse gasses and what can you do to help?
An ongoing multi-municipal greenhouse gas emissions study conducted by the Center for Sustainable Communities (CSC) at Temple University Ambler, Temple’s Department of Community and Regional Planning, and Swarthmore College, seeks to provide municipalities with a clear plan to reach greenhouse gas reduction goals — a key factor in climate change.
“Over the past few years, we have been able to complete greenhouse gas inventories in Upper Dublin Township and Montgomery Township and provide the municipalities with recommendations to help them and their residents save money while being more energy efficient. We’re currently the only university in the Philadelphia Region that is doing individual community inventories of this type,” said Community and Regional Planning Professor Dr. Jeffrey Featherstone. “Currently, we’re nearing completion on a multi-municipal greenhouse gas inventory and strategy analysis for four municipalities in Delaware County. We are creating an inventory of greenhouse gas sources and developing reduction goals.”
The Center’s research is supported by a $79,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), an EarthFest 2010 exhibitor, part of almost $300,000 in funding made available to conduct greenhouse gas emissions inventories in municipalities throughout the state.
According to Dr. Featherstone, State Representative Greg Vitali was instrumental in establishing the funding for the greenhouse gas emissions inventories. The Center’s current multi-municipal study is taking place in Delaware County in Swarthmore, Rose Valley and Rutledge Boroughs, and Nether Providence Township. Preliminary findings have been presented to the four municipalities over the past month.
“What I hope comes out of these studies is a set of comprehensive ideas to implement the reduction of greenhouse gases,” said Representative Vitali. “I think providing a roadmap for the municipalities to follow of what they can start to do right now is the best approach.”
With the results of the “Swarthmore Area Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Action Plan,” the Center and the Department of Community and Regional Planning will “work with the four communities to create Climate Change Action Plans,” said Community and Regional Planning Assistant Professor Dr. Bradley Flamm, who is coordinating the research.
“These communities want to consciously address the issue of climate change and greenhouse gas emission reduction. Climate change takes a coordinated response at the local, state, and national level,” he said. “Our goal is to provide the municipalities with detailed information on what they can do at their level — municipal leaders do have things they can do locally. The way to affect change is through collaborative efforts like this at the regional and local level.”
 According to Community and Regional Planning graduate student and research assistant Georgia Kirkpatrick, a great deal of data collection has been taking place in all four municipalities “to determine all the different sectors, the different communities that use energy — fuel oil, gasoline, electricity” — which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.
“I think what is beneficial for us as students is that, while we are in school, this research translates very easily to the real world,” she said. “We are acting as consultants on a topic — climate change — that is very relevant to our field.”
As researchers, “our goal is to provide the communities with baseline emissions inventories and develop reduction plans that everyone can buy into; plans that can be updated periodically,” said fellow Community and Regional Planning graduate student and research assistant Chloe Maher.
“This is an opportunity to work on an ongoing research project in our chosen profession; there is a lot of interest in this project,” she said. “We are meeting with municipal officials, residents, and other stakeholders and learning firsthand the way things work, the way things happen within municipalities. There is no better learning experience than actually getting out and doing the work.”
The Center for Sustainable Communities at Temple University Ambler was established in July 2000 to develop and promote new approaches to protect and preserve quality of life through sustainable development. A working resource for government agencies, community organizations, and developers, the Center provides objective information and services to improve decision-making relative to land use and water resources planning and development. The Center conducts interdisciplinary research and offers educational and community outreach programs.
For more information on the Center for Sustainable Communities, visit www.ambler.temple.edu/csc.
The Department of Community and Regional Planning in the College of Liberal Art’s School of Environmental Design was established in 2002. The mission of the Community and Regional Planning program is to strengthen the effectiveness of planning practice in creating healthy, sustainable communities. The Community and Regional Planning program (B.S. and M.S.) provides students with a broad-based understanding and awareness of these multi-dimensional land-use and planning issues. Students develop an understanding of the physical and economic aspects of planning, sensitivity to the social and environmental impact of planning decisions, and a knowledge of governmental structures as they apply to planning.
For more information on the Community and Regional Planning program, visit www.ambler.temple.edu/crp.
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