KLA Perspectives

In our latest podcast, Kim talks with Portland, Maine's Sustainability Coordinator and South Portland's Sustainability Director about breaking the mold with their joint climate action plan, One Climate Future. 

In the spirit of “we’re in this together,” countless neighboring cities and counties have worked side by side on climate and sustainability initiatives. True collaboration -- like developing a single climate action plan -- is rare, but Portland and South Portland, Maine, are breaking the mold of what is possible.  In fact, as we were writing this post we learned that two Florida cities -- Oakland Park and Wilton Manors -- released “what is thought to be the US’ first joint climate action plan [called Two Cities, One Sustainable Future] by neighboring municipalities” (according to Smart Cities World). 

KLA is lucky to have been involved with the Portland and South Portland One Climate Future initiative from the early stages, including helping to develop the name and branding. 

I recently talked to Portland’s Sustainability Coordinator, Troy Moon and South Portland’s Sustainability Director, Julie Rosenbach about the roots of this unique partnership and where these two cities are headed together. 

Today’s the day. Earth Overshoot Day. July 29, the earliest it has ever been. It marks the date when “humanity’s demand ecological resources (fish and forests, for example) and services in a given year exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that year.” 

From now until December 31, we’re living beyond our means. 

The KLA Team is joining the #MoveTheDate movement by posting our selfie photos and videos about why we need to move the date and the steps we’re taking to get there. 

Watch below! 

You can do the same (tips here) -- it’s easy just add #MoveTheDate!

What happens when KLA’s Director of Sustainability Planning walks her sustainability talk...right into a tiny house. 

By: Angela Cleveland, AICP

Tiny House. Big Hearts. 

I’ve always been committed to living within a small footprint. We buy local. I drive a small, fuel efficient car. We unplug devices in our home when not in use. We always live in repurposed buildings. I investigate the packaging options before purchasing something. 

So when my husband said he wanted to purchase 48 acres of land in New Hampshire to build a house, I immediately thought: “How can we make as little of an impact on this property as possible?”

What came next -- a tiny house -- actually happened by accident. 

Big news! KLA’s technical expertise and tools development bench just got deeper as we welcome Michael Steinhoff to our roster as Director of Tools & Technical Services!

Mike comes to KLA from ICLEI-USA where I hired him 10 years ago (WOW!) and where many of you have likely worked with him as their Program Manager for Tools & Innovation. He joins myself and 4 other KLA team members who all worked together previously at ICLEI. 

Mike is a known quantity for our local government clients, but his work on GHG emissions inventories is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what he brings to the table. Mike knows local governments inside and out, which will help KLA be more targeted and efficient in our services.

Mike will be involved in a number of initiatives, including: building out the functionality of our Community Dashboard; identifying data visualization opportunities; supporting our GHG emissions inventories; and identifying and developing new tools and services to support local climate and sustainability action. 

We had a packed house for our June 20 webinar “Equitable Engagement: A Deep Dive Into Approaches that Work.” Many attendees and folks who were not able to join us have requested a link to the presentation (which you can find here) and to the webinar recording (which you can watch here).

We are hard at work planning future webinars and resources related to Equitable Engagement, but we also want to know what other topics you’re interested in.

On the webinar, we talk through 4 key steps and offer best practices and tools for each. In this blog post, we've pulled out 21 nuggets to get the juices flowing!

School has just ended here in Boston, giving me time to reflect on all that my daughter, Charlotte, learned and accomplished in 3rd grade.

As a planner and sustainability professional working with local governments, I had a “proud mommy” moment visiting her class to check out Box City. A collaborative class project, Box City can tell cities a lot about what their future citizens want. 

It also got me thinking about the importance of two things we talk about with KLA clients often: youth engagement and regenerative thinking. 

The Kids are Alright

As these photos suggest, our kids are big thinkers. Here are some of the ways their ideas struck me forward-thinking: 

Register now for this deep dive into approaches that work.

Local government staff recognize the value of hearing from all members of their community -- or at least their responsibility to pursue it. Yet many of us struggle to effectively reach and/or keep the attention of anyone other than the usual suspects. Whether it's during a planning process, at the implementation stage, or getting feedback on projects and ideas, it can be a challenge to get the quantity and quality engagement that is representative of your community -- and that sets you up for long-term success.

If a disaster -- a hurricane, flood, wildfire or other major disruption -- struck your community tomorrow, how would it fare? The answer to that question doesn’t just depend on the type and severity of the disruption. It has a lot to do with what your community looks like today.

Post-disaster recovery often hinges on community cohesion. What does that look like? Organizations partnering together. Strong leadership outside the local government. Neighbors knowing each other. Spaces where people get together. Meaningful efforts to address ongoing stresses in the community such as racial inequities, affordable housing, jobs and living wages.

That community cohesion can take many forms, but what’s notable these days is the push to give it a home in resilience hubs.

Let's dive in to some resilience hub basics and how some communities -- including our clients Cambridge and New Bedford, MA -- are getting started.