Dear Friends and Colleagues,
We hope that this email finds you safe
and well. The Alliance is still going
strong, albeit with our staff, board,
advisory committee and members spread
out across the nation. We are
contacting you to let you know about an
important campaign that the Alliance is
launching and to invite you to
participate.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina,
we
have a historic opportunity to improve
our
city and the lives of its residents by
rebuilding with a focus on
sustainability – energy efficiency,
renewable energy, green building, and
smart growth principles while making a
loud and clear call to restore our
protective coastal wetlands and to stop
global warming,
which many scientists believe is
creating stronger storms. We want to
make sure that this opportunity isn’t
wasted and that locals’ voices are heard
in the planning process. Please read
more below.
We plan to hold a series of
community workshops and hope
that you can attend. The first is
planned for
Oct. 8th
in Baton Rouge at the Parish
Hall at 1st United Methodist
Church at 930 North Blvd from 9am-12pm.
For a map of this location, Click on the
following link -
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?address=930%20North%20Blvd&city=Baton%20Rouge&state=LA&zipcode=70802%2d5728&country=US&title=930%20North%20Blvd%20Baton%20Rouge%2c%20LA%2070802%2d5728%2c%20US&cid=lfmaplink2
Please respond (mwalker@all4energy.org)
asap to let us know if you are
interested in participating in the
workshops and being kept informed.
(Also, feel free to let us know if you
wish to be removed from this listserve.)
We have experienced a tragedy, but
together can build a better New Orleans
and a better Louisiana!
Best wishes,
Alliance Board and Staff
Sustainable Redevelopment of the New
Orleans Region after Hurricane Katrina
Alliance For Affordable Energy
New
Orleans, Louisiana
www.all4energy.org
Linda Stone, Executive Director,
lstone@all4energy.org, 210-885-6879
Micah Walker, Program Director,
mwalker@all4energy.org, 504-258-1247
The Alliance for Affordable Energy, a
nonprofit, grassroots membership
organization, has been creating fair,
affordable and environmentally
responsible energy solutions for New
Orleans and the nation for 20 years.
Rebuilding New Orleans—A Model for the
Gulf Coast
Guiding Principles for a Green,
Just and Safe City
The post-Katrina rebuilding of the New
Orleans region is an
historic opportunity to restore what is
unique and wonderful about the Crescent
City, while improving on persistent
problem areas. Many elements of a
“sustainable” city can already be found
in New Orleans. The city’s tree-lined
neighborhoods, two-story homes with
porches, and shops within walking
distance are exactly what much of the
country is trying to return to. While
honoring that model, we can enhance
damaged homes with energy efficient
features. We can build “green” homes
that mirror the classic raised doubles
with high ceilings and transoms that
work so well for hot humid climates. We
want to see a New Orleans that retains
its rich and diverse heritage, but that
serves its people better. Renovating and
rebuilding the estimated 200,000 homes
damaged or destroyed by the hurricane is
expected to
cost upwards of $100 billion.
Spending this money wisely will ensure
that the buildings are affordable and
durable, the neighborhoods comfortable
and safe, jobs plentiful and accessible,
and the region’s culture retained. It
will also provide a national model of
sustainability and a catalyst for
energy-efficient and renewable
technologies and community-based
economic development.
To ensure that the New Orleans region
becomes the shining example President
Bush has promised, the Alliance for
Affordable Energy calls for rebuilding
to be guided by the following six
principles.
1.
Accountability to and participation by
the New Orleans community:
Unprecedented governmental resources are
expected to be invested in rebuilding
the New Orleans region.
v
Strong and independent oversight is
essential to ensure that the money is
spent fairly and effectively.
v
Local workers and local businesses must
be partners in the rebuilding, at fair
wages.
v
In addition, workers involved in the
cleanup, rebuilding and restart of
industry must be protected.
v
Louisianans must be given a strong voice
in the rebuilding process.
2.
Mixed-Use, Accessible Neighborhoods:
Modern-day American land use is
characterized by low-density,
single-purpose uses connected by
underutilized mass transit, if any.
“Smart Growth” upends this pattern by
emphasizing a range of housing types;
walkable, architecturally distinctive
neighborhoods; community participation
in decision making; mixed land uses;
"predictable, fair, and cost-effective"
development decisions; a plurality of
transportation modes; compact building
styles; and revitalization of existing
communities.
v
New Orleans is already a community of
neighborhoods and we will work to
enhance beneficial qualities and improve
troublesome areas.
v
We can harness the skills and knowledge
of local green builders, architects,
energy raters, planners and others to
rebuild sustainably.
3.
Sustainable renovation and rebuilding:
Per capita energy consumption is six
times higher in America than in the rest
of the world. In New Orleans energy
inefficiency has traditionally been
manifested in poorly maintained and
unweatherized homes. Energy efficient
construction creates jobs and results in
monthly savings that go back into the
local economy. Green building also
incorporates water efficiency, indoor
air quality, environmentally friendly
materials and beneficial siting. Green
buildings generally have longer lives
and are built specifically for their
geography and climate, making them more
appropriate for a region that undergoes
extreme weather events.
v
New Orleans’ redevelopment can be a
model for our country by maximizing
energy efficiency and incorporating
“green” building principles.
v
Clearly, construction must be avoided in
certain low-lying and particularly
vulnerable areas.
4.
Distributed power generation and
alternative fuels:
Generating power in diverse locations
from a variety of sources including
renewable resources and powering
vehicles with alternative fuels reduce
dependence on fossil fuels and foreign
oil, increase reliability, and diminish
global warming.
v
Solar panels are already being installed
in New Orleans in the aftermath of
Katrina, and we can heighten our
campaign for solar energy along with
high-efficiency combustion turbines,
wind power, fuel cells, and cogeneration
systems.
5.
Coastal restoration and safeguarding
from storms:
Each year Louisiana loses thirty-five
square miles of coastal wetlands which
constitutes 80 percent of America's
total annual wetlands loss. Since 1932
Louisiana has lost 1,900 square miles of
wetlands (an area nearly the size of
Rhode Island), and an additional 700
square miles is projected to be lost by
2050. Because wetlands act as a storm
buffer, redevelopment of New Orleans and
surrounding parishes must provide for
re-establishing delta marshes and
barrier island systems.
v
We must push for full funding of
"Coast 2050,"
an integrated set of restoration
projects with an estimated price of $14
billion over 30 years.
v
At the same time, more effective pumps,
levees and other barriers must be
installed to protect the region from
future inundations.
6.
Understanding and working to reverse
global warming:
Long before Katrina, the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change identified New Orleans as the
North American city most endangered by
global warming. Both sea level rise and
higher ocean temperatures are caused by
the warming of our atmosphere. Over the
last several years, the Alliance has
become steadily more focused and vocal
about the city’s vulnerability and our
responsibility to lead the nation in
reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Awareness is growing that New Orleans is
sinking and losing its barrier islands
and protective wetlands, thereby
becoming increasingly at risk from the
higher intensity storms caused by warmer
waters in the Gulf of Mexico. The
Alliance has been advising the region’s
leaders and general public about the
catastrophic local effects of global
warming and the need for actions to
reverse the trend.
v
We must step up our efforts to educate
our elected officials, the public, and
the rest of the nation about
catastrophic global warming and to push
local leaders to implement measures to
decrease greenhouse gases.
With Your Help, We Can Do It!
What The
Alliance Offers to the Rebuilding
Effort:
The Alliance is distinctly qualified to
co-ordinate the many diverse sectors of
the New Orleans community in moving the
sustainable rebuilding effort forward.
New Orleans is a complex network of
talented and opinionated individuals who
are fiercely loyal to their City and its
heritage. The Alliance works with
community leaders on a daily basis.
Countless newspaper articles and the
collective memory of New Orleanians
attest to the advances the Alliance has
made on the community’s behalf, the
latest being the passage by the City
Council of the New Orleans Energy
Efficiency Program (NOEEP), a
comprehensive program to bring energy
improvements to the entire community.
v
The Alliance office was unharmed by
Katrina and staff members are already
working around the country while
preparing to return to New Orleans.
v
The Alliance staff, board and advisory
committee come from every sector of the
New Orleans community, and will use this
diversity and connectivity to bring the
city together as hurricane recovery
continues.
v
The Alliance possesses tremendous
in-house expertise and resources, and
understands which energy-efficient and
sustainable technologies are suited to
the humid Gulf Coast climate.
v
The Alliance will call upon a national
network representing the full spectrum
of sustainable development issues
including energy efficiency, green
building, smart growth, global warming
and transportation.
v
The Alliance has 20 years experience
conducting outreach campaigns, and can
bring this knowledge to bear in our most
important campaign ever: the healthy and
rapid rebuilding of the Crescent City.
The Alliance owes its high level of
achievement to many dedicated,
ethnically and economically-diverse
volunteers, interns, board members and
advisory committee members who augment
the work of the five person staff. Our
annual budget is raised through
individual contributions (10%),
consulting services (20%), grants (60%)
and corporate contributions (10%). The
Alliance is adept at stretching its
funding through leveraged grants and is
seeking funding to support these
efforts. To donate securely online,
please visit our website
www.all4energy.org and click the
“Donate Now” button.
Thank you for your help!
Micah Walker Parkin
Program Director
Alliance
for Affordable Energy
1001 S. Broad Street
New Orleans,
LA 70125
(504)
525-0778 or
(504) 258-1247 (mobile)
(504)
525-0779 (fax)
www.all4energy.org
mwalker@all4energy.org