History shows whale blubber and buggy whips were once fine industries, but progress moved us away. And through progress today we know the days are well over of a false choice between environmental protection and economic growth.

And similarly it’s time we progressively and nimbly move away from fossil fuels. It’s not a question of if, but how best and quickly, to do it. It’s not just our moon shot, it’s our effort to address an existential threat. The old obsolete ways do not compete with more efficient, ecopostive and regenerative economic practices.

We want to encourage our City and community owned CPSEnergy, to be world leaders in the Third and Fourth Industrial Revolutions. And preeminent in each of their own industry’s disruptive technologies. Rather than abdicating our leadership to other cities and nations.

In the spirit of practical bipartisanship, since when did the simple concept of leaving the planet a better place for our kids become a partisan issue? We all benefit from energy independence, green jobs, preservation of habitat and watersheds, livable cities, clean air and water, and healthy children.

Especially when we look at it as an apolitical issue of good economics, health and progress. Today we can actually rebuild our infrastructure to help the populace and strengthen society to be an advanced civilization and species on the planet.

The business leaders in our development community and oil and gas industries need to step-up there game, rise to the occasion, embrace the many new opportunities of creating climate wealth, and become leading experts in their respective profession’s modern methods.

Smart growth through sustainable development is the new frontier, as we can see climate change is here and PCBs along plastic pollution have been found in the deepest ocean trenches of our planet.

And even if we don’t think climate change is real, we could do worse than to create a better, more livable world, for nothing. Just ask our kids.

Those who have local operational control of our emissions need to take seriously their responsibility of limiting GHGs.

Especially when methane accounts for 25% of human made GHG emissions and is 30 times more potent as a heat-trapping gas.

The scientific community has found a 20 year time-frame is more useful for policymakers, and common sense tells us we’re more likely to effect change in a 20-year period of our lifetime, than a 100 year period.

Subsequently, a 20-year impact action needs to be most prominent in our Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP) goals so policymakers can not miss it when setting immediate priorities.

Many people are concerned only about the costs while somehow being unaware of the savings that come with higher efficiencies of resource use and all of the economic benefits that are intertwined with progress and sustainability.

And as city leaders we need to work to better educate and inform our city’s residents and business community about the CAAP and the wealth and prosperity it brings for now and the future.