The path to fortifying America against natural disasters and extreme weather is rooted in the country’s cities, must be actively encouraged and supported by mayors and community leaders, and consists of three main focus areas, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson announced at a luncheon in Washington, D.C., for the Resilient Communities for America Campaign (RC4A). The RC4A was launched in June with the passage of 10 measures to support resiliency, sustainability, brownfield and in-fill development, and economic recovery.
What City Leaders Can Learn from Basketball
Is running a city and preparing it to respond to climate change similar to leading a basketball team? Yes, says Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson and former National Basketball Association All-Star. He offered up the following three key points of intersection at the USGBC’s National leadership Speaker Series in Washington, D.C.:
- It’s an ever-changing game. “In basketball, it’s exciting because the game starts slow and then it speeds up,” he said, noting that at one point you could be down 20 points and come back to win. The point: Things change quickly. Similarly, “in resilient communities, the city landscape is ever-changing,” he said. “You don’t know what to expect one season after another.”
- If you’re not paying attention, you can get clobbered. Basketball players must pay attention to detail and not only know what the opposing team is doing, but also anticipate their next move. “In a city, you can’t be a complacent leader,” he said. “If you don’t pay attention, you’ll be the least prepared when a significant catastrophe or challenge comes your way.”
- You always have to drive it to the hole. In basketball, this refers to driving the ball to the basket and in that regard, “my strength was being aggressive,” Johnson recalled. “You have to be determined, and know what your resources are and where your teammates are, and then you have to execute. In a community, you have to be prepared, and you have to pay attention to what else is going on. You have to be aggressive and in this respect, that means, always be prepared.”
“The talk of resiliency is real. It’s not just theory,” Johnson said at the luncheon, which was held as part of the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) National Leadership Speaker Series. He noted that in the last two years, the country has had more than 14 separate $1-billion disasters, and the disasters over that time frame have cost the U.S. $200 billion in damages, a sum that does not include any potential loss of life calculations. Four out of five Americans live in federally declared disaster areas and the number of people affected by climate-related disasters is expected to jump by 20 percent, he added. “[Resiliency issues are] affecting our cities day in and day out. They’re not going to go away.”
In leading the RC4A campaign, which is supported by the USGBC, ICLEI-USA, the National League of Cities, and the World Wildlife Fund, Johnson identified three elements that cities must address:
- Preparedness, prevention, and planning.
“Cities across the country need to do a better job of evaluating local vulnerabilities,” Johnson said, calling for smarter communities, buildings, and infrastructure. “Resiliency means doing everything we can in advance. By doing something, we help strengthen our cities. As a result, we will recover faster from major events and the loss of life and property will be minimized.” There is also a tremendous economic benefit, Johnson added, noting that “for everyone $1 that is spent on disaster preparedness, we save $4. - Go green.
“We must go green,” Johnson said, citing specific Sacramento initiatives including retrofitting existing buildings to be more efficient, lowering air-conditioning loads during the hottest parts of the day, installing solar panels to create more secure forms of energy, and expanding transit services to make communities more walkable. The city is also expanding its local food production and the collection of food waste for conversion to fuel. - Invest in infrastructure.
Citing a study by the American Society of Civil Engineers that graded the collective infrastructure of the United States at a D+, Johnson focused most of all on the need to invest in infrastructure. The U.S., he said, is facing an infrastructure investment gap of $1.1 trillion by 2020, and the country is only investing only 2.4 percent of its GDP into this arena, compared to Europe’s investment of 5 percent GDP in its infrastructure and China’s 9 percent. As an example of proactive, city-based solutions, he highlighted Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Chicago Infrastructure Trust, which is a nonprofit agency that aims to finance deferred projects. “We must repair, modernize, and build infrastructure for the 21st century to avoid transportation delays, blackouts, and water main breaks,” Johnson said.
Johnson concluded with a call to action. “Now is the time to take powerful proactive steps to save our communities, to adapt to the extreme weather, and to solve our energy challenges,” he said. “Let’s transform adversity into an economic opportunity.”
Since the RC4A launch in June, more than 80 mayors and community leaders have signed on to the campaign. For more information, visit resilientamerica.org.