The City of Bozeman says after eight years, it’s time to update its climate plan.
A climate plan is a guide for the city to help reduce emissions. The city is currently working on assembling a team of 25 volunteers to update the climate plan.
“We’re interested in stakeholders in the community. People who are large employers or operate buildings that have an environmental footprint,” said Natalie Meyer, sustainability coordinator for the City of Bozeman.
Rapid growth is one of the main reasons Bozeman needs to update the plan.
“We started tracking emissions from 2008, and since that time Bozeman’s population has grown 27% but our emissions have held relatively steady based on 2016 data,” said Meyer.
And that’s because many in the city have made a commitment to doing their part.
Amy Kirkland owns Altitude Art Gallery in downtown Bozeman and has been participating in city-sponsored initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for years.
“Well, we definitely want to save energy with our lighting; that is our biggest energy user that we have here in the gallery,” said Kirkland.
“So we switched to LED lighting several years ago when the city offered an incentive to do so.”
Altitude received a grant from the city to help switch all the lighting to LED in the gallery which cut its emissions by 70%.
While many in the community have shown a commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, there’s still work to be done.
“This is a community of people that really care about the environment, they care about each other, they care about our future,” said Kirkland. “And there’s no question people in Bozeman love the environment.”
The city will hold a public forum about the climate plan on Wednesday, October 23, from 4:30 to 6 p.m., at the Story Mill Community Center.
