How to compare carbon footprints: Climate Change Forum on Saturday

Do you know how your carbon footprint compares to that of other Americans? Whether you use more or less water, gas and electricity than the average person? On Saturday, the Pasadena chapter of the League of Women Voters (LWV-PA) will co-sponsor a Climate Change Forum where attendees can bring their recent bills and learn to grade their carbon footprint. (For details see the LWV-PA website.)

The forum, which will be held at the Neighborhood Church on Orange Grove, will feature speakers such as the power resource and planning manager for Pasadena Water & Power, Leesa Nayudu, and the director of the California Renewable Energy Initiative for the Nature Conservancy, Laura Crane. Nayudu will discuss how the City plans to generate more power from renewable energy sources. Crane will talk about renewable power sources in the western deserts and their environmental impacts.

Julie Parker, who, as co-chair of the LWV-PA's Natural Resources Committee, helped organize the event, said last week that visitors should also expect "a strong pitch for a carbon fee" that would lower CO2 emissions, grow jobs and stimulate the development of alternative energy solutions. A presentation on the topic by one of the representatives of the local chapter of the Citizens' Climate Lobby, Robert Haw, is also on the agenda.

The Climate Change Forum is being co-sponsored by a number of organizations working toward environmental sustainability, including the recently formed Arroyo Interfaith Environmental Coalition, Transition Pasadena and the Arroyo Seco Foundation. Parker said that she hopes for the event to contribute to a ground swell that will eventually equal the push of lobbyists from the oil companies in strength.

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What: Climate Change Forum
When: Saturday, March 21, 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Where: Neighborhood Church, 301 N Orange Grove Blvd, Pasadena