Climate Action and Adaptation Plan

Removed by moderator.

I appreciate all the work that has been done to address the issue of climate change and what we can do to mitigate it. I appreciate the list of activities identified for citizens to do their part. I work on our climate justice team at church and we are aware of many of those items. But also aware that it takes a lot more education and conversation for change to occur. Take recycling for example. It is very complicated and many things get tossed in the wrong place because of the complications - there are chasing arrows but no numbers on plastic - that's not recyclable. Black plastic regardless of the number is not recyclable. We find we have to have people standing at the recycling and compost bins to answer questions directly or things end up in he wrong place.
I have been attending meeting s on the shutdown of the HERC and don't believe Minnetonka's plan will help keep our waste out of the incinerator It is wrong for our suburban garage to be endangering the health of inner city Minneapolis communities. We need to take much more proactive steps to increase our recycling and organics and decrease what gets thrown away. It will take personal education to understand what are organics and why they can be composted and why that's a good thing. I was appalled at the percentage of Minnetonka residents who didn't seem to care about the issue at all.
Minnetonka could issue a ban on single use plastic. If we want to cut down on vehicle emissions we could adopt one waste recycler and stop all the other garbage trucks from going back and forth on our streets. We could pick a company with the best ratings for delivering clean organics and recyclables to those centers. We need to have some measurements on how much garbage there is now so we can really see if there is a decline. the same is true for organics.

TO: Minnetonka City Council
Minnetonka Sustainability Commission
FROM: Minnetonka Climate Initiative
DATE: February 4, 2024
RE: Comments on Draft Climate Action and Adaptation Plan

Thanks for the opportunity to review the draft plan. MCI offers our comments to inform the City Council Study Session (February 5) and Sustainability Commission (March 19) before the plan is adopted by the City Council on April 22.

We commend your selection of LHB because the firm has set the bar for environmental responsibility and has been an early adopter of sustainable design. We also commend the city’s efforts to gather input from 850 residents, visitors, and business owners. It is no surprise that most respondents support climate action.

We support the city’s goals to “reduce community-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 63% per person by 2030 from 2018 levels” and “achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.” Both goals are SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.
However, our government pledge cannot be a mere public relations exercise. To change human behavior, it takes more than personalized action plan templates in Minnetonka Memo.

MCI recommends that LHB create an implementation plan as follows:
• Focus on a few big objectives (e.g., protect natural resources, reduce carbon emissions, improve quality of life).
• Break down objectives into impactful strategies aligned with existing conditions and vulnerabilities.
• Ensure vulnerable populations can benefit from these investments.
• Establish a timeline with deadlines and milestones.
• Anticipate needed resources.
• Assign people responsible, including an experienced project manager.
• Create metrics to evaluate progress and show stewardship of public dollars.

Now is the time for bold action. As our wildly warm winter rages on, climate change is at the top of our minds. Also, the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act is the most comprehensive climate legislation the U.S. has ever seen. The law invests hundreds of billions of dollars in clean energy, electric vehicles, environmental justice, and more. Minnetonka should tap these resources.

Realizing vision requires a culture of collaboration. MCI stands ready to assist.

I believe this was a waste of tax payer money. I don't agree with a "Climate Action and Adaptation Plan".
Climate is always changing.
Save our natural resources and make the community walking friendly without penalizing people who need cars to commute to work or have mobility problems.

It seems like it's a done deal without citizen comments. Are you getting Federal Funding if you follow a particular agenda?
I don't believe in climate action and adaptation. I do believe in protecting our natural assents and preventing any pollution.

I want to see all the tax payer money spent on this returned immediately back to the tax payers, this was a complete waste of peoples time and money.
the first official temperature station was taken at Fort Snelling in 1819, the warmest temperature recorded was in 1917 at 115 degrees, the coldest was minus 60 in February 1996. Does anyone think in 1917 anyone mentioned global warming? Of course not.
So stop this stupidity and doing what you are supposed to do and run the city as efficiently as you can, and drop this talk now.
No one is going to make me change my gas, furnace, water heater and dryer for electric appliances.
Please stop this waste of time and money now, we have lived in Minnetonka for 50 years and winter is cold and summers are hot, just like God created it to be!

I would like to see all the tax payers dollars spent on this stuff returned immediately back to the taxpayers, it is a total fraud and made up. We purchased our house in Minnetonka on December 21,1974, it was cold and snow was on the ground. In the spring it warmed up and grass turned green. It has done the same thing for the last 50 years, sure the temperatures have varied each season but they are always the same.
The first official temperature was taken at Fort Snelling in 1819, with the warmest on record in 1917 of 115 degrees, the coldest in February 1996 of minus 60 degrees. I was not around in 1917 but I bet no one mentioned global warming... I think it is time for the state and City of Minnetonka stop spending time and money on this foolishness. No one is going to make me replace my very efficient gas water heater, dryer and furnace with electric appliances.
Please stop this waste of time and money now!!!!

I didn't see anything about Target and WalMart's use of plastic bags instead of paper. That and plastic water bottles are what I mainly pick up off our neighborhood roads. Also, the continued building of high rise apartment buildings in Minnetonka increases auto traffic emissions, cement parking lots hold the heat and have no tree plantings around them. Look to the obvious.

Thank you for creating this climate action and adaptation plan. I think it is really important to lay out strategies and goals regarding the development and planning of the city to minimize conversion of the last open space areas to hard scape. This plan should also emphasize the importance of investing in restoration to maintain high functioning ecosystems. Functioning habitats and biodiverse areas in parks and city owned open space (12% of the total land mass in Minnetonka) are integral to the foundation of a climate ready plan. These spaces (woodland, prairie, forest, and wetland) provide ecosystem services such as heat reduction, act as sponges for water management, and improve air quality. This plan is missing guidance regarding light pollution. Although the city has installed LED technology on many of the street lamps, there has been an increase in overall lighting throughout the city (both in number of lighting fixtures installed and intensity of lighting). The color temperature is much brighter than previous 1600-2700K lighting schemes. Lighting at night has a negative effect on human health and wildlife, causing a reduction in biodiversity and healthy ecosystems. Many cities, including Duluth, are adopting lighting policy plans with lower kelvin lighting. This plan should recommend a reduction in lighting pollution.

I'd like to see how may tons of CO2 this plan is projected to "save" each year. For reference the Nordstream pipeline that Ukraine blew up released over 500,000 tons of methane into the atmosphere and not a single peep from the climate cult. That's how you know this whole charade is a scam.

I think the draft plan looks ambitious and is inspiring. I want to comment on the need to support our insects that are crucial to supporting our plants and trees. We tend to forget that the insects are necessary for the plants. I have noticed "Green Lawn" spraying Telstar on my neighbors' property. I plnated over 1000 plants in 2001 and I have insecticide sprayed next door. I no longer have lightening bugs or the tree frogs I had before. My 2 neighbors had Green Lawn spray even when there was no bugs during the drought on at least 3 separate occasions. They sprayed lawns and bushes in a carpet like fashion. This is legal! So the city is encouraging pollinator plantings and then allowing residents to kill off insects of all kinds and amphibians too, while the insecticide which is a neurotoxin goes into our soils and water. Will Minnetonka ban the use of these types of insecticides by commercial companies within our city limits? New state law does allow this type of ban. Telstar is highly effective global insecticide that does not break down in water. My neighbors cannot be educated---I have tried. They actually have their children's play equipment sprayed and then have their children play on it within hours. Minnetonka needs to pass an ordinance to protect what little we have left.

I'd like to see the City change the Purgatory Park master plan so we're not cutting down trees that aren't a nuisance.

Climate change is merely the current scam. In the 70’s it was global cooling, in the 80’s it was the ozone, in the 90’s it was global warming and now it’s simply climate change so you can blame all weather events on it. China currently has 3,100 operating coal plans and adds more each year. The tax scam you’re trying to implement isn’t even equivalent to a drop of water in the ocean.

What we need to do is become more sustainable, which will require major changes, but ones that will ultimately improve our lives in the process. We need to have safe streets for people to walk and bike on, and reduce our dependency on cars as the sole means of transportation. Our transit options are horrible, too: Metro Transit seems to be the only option around here, and we're lucky if a bus comes every half an hour. Plymouth has their own transit system in the form of Metrolink - why not Minnetonka as well? Opening up transportation options would not only reduce Minnetonka's carbon footprint, but the entire city would be accessible for people who have difficulty with or cannot drive, like the elderly or people with disabilities.

Ultimately we should move toward being as sustainable as possible. Aside from ending car dependency, we should also be mindful of our land use to combat sprawl: everything being so far apart to best service cars is also extremely costly. Valuable land used up by parking lots burns money, and same goes for single use buildings - the Olive Garden, recently built in Westridge Market, for example, had to be rebuilt from the ground up, rather than simply moving in. This also goes for "big box stores" like Target or Walmart. To combat this, we should push towards being denser, primarily through having more areas with mixed-use zoning. Our buildings should be flexible and capable of holding any matter of tenant, be it a business or easily refurbished into homes. In the long term, I hope our city can eventually become like ones you see in Europe - easily accessible for everyone, and much, much more charming.

Please focus on public safety and our road system over climate change. Climate change is an open pathway to spend unlimited tax payer funds with no benefit to the taxes payers directly. Many of the so called "climate friendly alternatives" don't actual reduce the carbon footprint when analyzed from natural resources needed, production, efficiencies of actual product and end of life recycling (if it can be recycled). I am more worried about the increased car jackings and the brazen home robberies occurring all times of the day and night. It seem's the criminals have more rights then the tax paying citizens of Minnetonka do.

Heatwaves? This summer our electricity bill has been lower than previous years. And I don't believe winters are shorter. I sense fear-mongering with all this "climate change" propaganda.

More than 10k recreational motor boats on lake Minnetonka. What about that ? What initiatives does the city take to reduce this number ?
Lets assume 10,000 boats average 10gal/hour per boat with 1hour daily usage in a 90-day period you are looking at 80k metric tons of CO2 (https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator#results)
This would be equivalent to the energy consumption of 10k homes.
Or very simplified
gas for 1 boat/year = annual energy 1 home

Focusing on wildlife and native plant preservation is the best we can and should do. Other investments are imo wasteful if recreational burning of fuel is not addressed.

But this is of course debatable. As everything is when it comes to climate shift and meaningful measures a community can take to set the path for the future.

I appreciate that there is awareness for environmental issues in our community - but let's be smarter than others and not blindly praise propaganda projects and protect our beautiful environment with all the lakes and wetlands.

Last winter didn’t seem shorter. How is that determined?