I'm Rick Knobe. These days you can't help but pick up the news, paying attention to the radio, television or the newspapers and not read some stories about what's happening with our planet, our climate, our weather. And as we're recording this today, Montpelier, Vermont is flooded, over flooded. Down in Phoenix, Arizona, temperatures of 116 degrees today. Wildfires still burning in Canada and out in California, the ground is shifting underneath homes in that state.
And we've had our share of drought, although we did get a little bit of rain here recently, which is helpful. Today, we're going to spend a little time talking about our planet and what's happening with it and what we maybe can and should be doing about it. Joining us, we have Arlene Brandt Jensen, and she is with SODAK350.
Linda Stensland is a former South Dakota legislator, and she was one of the pioneers on environmental issues in the state of South Dakota, both with groundwater and recycling. And Pete Travers, Dr. Henry Travers is with us. He has been involved in numerous medical issues and stuff over the years, and we're going to spend a little time talking about us and the planet. Arlene, let's start with talking with you.
The group that you are with was part of a coalition, part of a group that put together a sustainability plan, which was submitted to the mayor recently. He took that plan and his staff changed it drastically and cut back on numerous things in it. And I want to talk a little bit about two or three things that you folks submitted and what the mayor's plan or mayor's framework is probably. That's the language he's using. What are some of the differences?
Pick out two or three things that will give us a sense of what the differences are. Okay. Well, the sustainability steering committee that the city had put together, and we were represented on that committee by our chair, Michael Heisler, they worked very hard and came up with 71 action items. Those were well thought out, crafted, and they worked hard on those.
One kind of huge difference from the draft of 71 to the 38 action items that the mayor's framework was, the word climate is totally missing. It's like if we don't say it, maybe it's going to go away. It's going to get better, right? But no, climate change is happening and we can't put our heads in the sand and think it's not there. Do you have any idea why they took the word climate out of a sustainability plan?
Political pressure, pressure from others, I can't say that for sure, but it does seem a little strange when the original plan from March 2022 was called sustainability and climate action plan. And now we can't even have the word in the action items. Okay, let's go to a couple of things that you want to point out here. One thing is the sustainability advisory board was removed.
We believe that the creation of a citizen led sustainability advisory board, just like there's a public waste advisory board, that should be a given in a city this size. The city has committees covering just about everything. There's a park board, a library board, a health board, a transportation board. There's a capital improvements committee, etc., etc., etc. So there's lots of opportunities for citizen participation and you're saying it's not in this deal.
No, the new framework has that removed, it's gone. So that's a huge one, we think, that we need citizen input in amongst the other sustainability employees of which there are very few in this city. We believe that should not have been removed. Okay, a couple more. The steering committee worked long and hard to discuss the IECC energy codes. They proposed to bring the codes to 2018. Right now, Sioux Falls is following the 2009 codes. Those codes are updated every three years.
We're already several generations behind. Next year is going to be 2024 and we're still looking at proposing to get to the 2018 standards. Those codes are, that was gone in the framework. The framework just says, utilize existing energy codes. Well, obviously you're utilizing an energy code. We're talking about we need to update the energy codes. To make it state of the art. To make it current with our peer cities in the area. Okay, okay, okay. Those are two good ones. Those are two good ones.
I'm going to draw Linda Stensland into this conversation. Linda, when you served in the legislature, you were kind of a committee of one that's probably starting off dealing with environmental issues and groundwater in particular and then also recycling. How do you see this issue in Sioux Falls and sustainability unfolding in comparison to some of the experiences that you had when you were in the legislature?
It's interesting, Rick, because at the time, the same kinds of things are happening where economic development somehow could happen without sustaining resources and you just that it's not possible in order to develop. You have to sustain resources. But there was that sense at the beginning that they have to be sacrificed in order for development. We now know, most of us, that that isn't the case.
And the word sustainability is really defined as the ability to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. So in order for us to be able to develop in the long term, we have to consider climate. Okay. So when you were in the legislature, let's just deal specifically with the groundwater issue because most people are now a little have a little bit of knowledge on that. How did you get from where we were to where we are now?
Was that a real simple process that you just raised your hand and said, I've got an idea and everybody embraced it? No, it was a long term process. First of all, it took a lot of research and on my part. And then what I did was to draft a bill and take it to the legislature. And initially, it failed. So the next year, I went back and I did it again.
But this time, because there was a lot of public interest in water quality, I did 44 meetings across the state and talked about the importance of water quality in doing all kinds of development and supporting the lives of all of our citizens and took the bill to the legislature that year. And all of those people called their legislators and we passed the bill. So but it was a process. Okay. How did the how did the recycling issue? Was that kind of the same process?
The recycling issue was actually harder, I think, because we had to deal with more groups. We actually did public forums and and visited with groups and organizations and also businesses. And once people understood the value of recycling, saving landfill space, protecting groundwater, all those kinds of things, then people started to understand what was happening. And when we took it to the legislature, it passed. Okay. Nice to have a couple of success stories like that.
Yeah, those are a couple of big ones. And they were long fought, but they were very, very rewarding. You see parallels here? Yes, I do. I see people afraid of sustainability. You know, it's like, we're not we're not considering the benefits. And we're also ignoring Sioux Falls is not an island. What happens in the rest of the world that's going to happen to us. So if climate crisis is real, like you said in Vermont and California, you know, sooner or later, it's going to be our turn.
So it's to our benefit to get this planning process in place so that we are able to move into the future, knowing that we are aware and and saving, you know, cutting down on greenhouse gases and moving toward the future. The thing that I and we talk about this sustainability plan, well, I'll get it out sustainability plan. But but really, it's it's an action document. And we planning is great. But we got to take action.
And my sense of what Arlene's was talking about the 71 items that you folks had put together were was a plan. But basically, they were action items. Correct. It's an implement. Yeah, a certain thing and educate and, you know, create. Whereas the framework says, pursue the feasibility of implementing this thing. So the language is watered down. So there's nothing really holding their feet to the fire. Action items are very different than doing something whenever practical. One is a commitment.
The other one. Is an excuse, I think. OK, OK, good. Thank you for that. Appreciate it. I'm going to bring Dr. Henry Travers, Pete Travers to meet into the conversation. And what as a physician, I know you're, quote, retired now and you were a pathologist. What brings you to the table with interest in this particular subject matter? Well, from a medical point of view, of course, the climate change has an effect on the health of all of us. One can do only what one can do.
So that the sustainability plan, as originally proposed, was based on the notion that there is a human contribution to global warming and climate change. So that that human contribution can be addressed and the 71 action items that were originally proposed went ahead to address that specifically. The governor or the mayor's modification of that essentially resulted in a gutting of the plan, the original plan, and no action items whatsoever.
What that amounts to is the mayor essentially selling out the citizens of Sioux Falls and our progeny for a reason that he hasn't clearly stated. We face an immediate danger and we have, through the sustainability plan, have proposed specific acts to mitigate that danger. He's rejected all of them. And I think effectively has thrown the citizens of Sioux Falls under the bus. So okay, don't hold back.
Tell us how you feel, Pete. So the other avenue that's available besides talking to the mayor is dealing with the city council because in this form of government, the city council is responsible for setting policy and clearly, at least in my mind, and I hope you three will agree that adopting a sustainability action plan is a policy decision.
Okay. So how do it appears, at least as of this recording date, that the council has been unwilling to take this on and have it discussed in public, public input, public hearings and that kind of thing? How do we get... You have ideas on how to make that happen. Well, we specifically asked that question to the, like at the, what do you call that thing? The councilors on those third Saturdays of every month, we asked, you know, when is this going to be brought to the council?
Do you have any idea? And they said, well, it's going to be an information meeting. So that happened June 27th. It was specifically designed as information only and very clearly stated that there was no action that was being asked of the council members and that kind of sent a message to those of us that were in the audience there.
That's going to be a task to get the council to kind of wake up and say, you know, even though our streets aren't flooding right now and it's not 120 degrees in Sioux Falls right now, there will be more durations, there will be more 90 mile an hour winds, there'll be more tornadoes, droughts, you know, agriculture right outside our borders is going to be impacted and we need to step up and do our part.
Okay. So Arlene is part of a with SODAC 350, but you've put together a, you've got a coalition of about what? About 11 different groups. 11 different groups that are working on this. My understanding is that surveys show, recent surveys show that nationally and in Sioux Falls, a vast majority of people want some action, some leadership shown to deal with climate change. Am I interpreting that correctly?
Right. If I remember right, it was a 2021 survey done by the mayor's office through the sustainability efforts before the first iteration of the plan came out and respondents to that survey, it was something like 91% felt it was very important or important or very important that their city leaders deal with sustainability issues. And up to now, the only thing that we have heard from the council is one councilman simply saying that the original plan was unworkable.
No specifics, just a flat out statement that it's unworkable. Who knows what that means? That's code for talk to my hand or something like that. So Linda, when you went and you were kind of the lone voice there for a while and clearly SODAC 350 and these other groups are not a lone voice. There's a lot of voices obviously involved to get the policy makers, the people who have the vote to act on it. How did that work for you?
Well, historically, the people of South Dakota have been very astute in recognizing the importance of their resources and clean water, clean air. And when those issues come up, they were very responsive. We did, I don't know if you remember the low level nuclear waste site that they tried to locate in the Black Hills. Oh yeah, way out south, that's why Provo. That was something that when I was an officer in the League of Women Voters, we did flyers and we did meetings and we did petition drives.
People, as I said, the citizens in South Dakota are aware of what they have. They're aware of these beautiful blue skies and clean air and they want to keep it that way. And so that keyed into all of the things that I did because when they found out what we were doing legislatively, they contacted their legislators. And that's how those bills got passed. Public sentiment makes everything happen. Without it, nothing happens.
So you know, and the people, as far as everything I've done on natural resource issues, the public has always understood the importance of that balance and they were always there. Okay, okay. Take heart Arlene, it can happen. Okay. I said so. It will happen. Yes, righteousness will prevail. That's right. Pete, from your vantage point, what would you like to see happen next? I mean, we're having this conversation now.
I'm sure there's other people in Sioux Falls that are having conversations about the issue, maybe not in the depth that we're having, but what do you want to see happen next? I would like to see a public discussion, preferably at the city council and without the limits of time, where you can ask questions about the direction that the city has taken thus far and actually get straight answers from them. Real reasons rather than the mayor's, I changed my mind. Why did you change your mind?
What was influencing you? Why do you think this plan is unworkable, city councilman? What specifically is there? Is it a budget issue? Is it the fact that there are people in the background who are publicly saying one thing but privately saying another? Are there people that are influencing you that we don't know about as a public, as we the people? And we need to know that because after all, it is we the people who are going to be the most severely impacted if you do nothing.
The harms that can come from this are significant if you do nothing. So following the news stories out of Texas primarily, but other states, this heat dome thing and the number of deaths, number one, of course has gone up dramatically, but the number of hospitalizations has gone up like quadrupled and stuff all because of heat. And I'm assuming that when we have long stretches of heat things here that that happens in our hospitals. It just doesn't make the new. It will.
The problem with heat primarily is that people, many people have no way to get relief from it. And even those that do strain an electrical grid as happened in Texas a couple of years ago where in fact even if you had air conditioning, you couldn't access it simply because you had no electricity to run it. So you put a significant segment of the population at risk, mostly elderly folks, but also children and something we don't think of often, but animals, our pets are at significant risk in heat.
And as you've seen in the newspaper and on TV, we've had the hottest year since we began recording temperatures on the planet ever in the last week. We've had the hottest day ever recorded. Well that's a trend. Yes, and a very disturbing one. The purpose of this discussion is to just make you a little bit more aware of what's going on around you.
We all realize that everybody has their lives to lead and talking about climate change and stuff is not necessarily top of mind awareness for you, but this is real, it's happening, and it's going to continue happening. The question becomes how do we as individuals and how do we as a society and how does our government respond to that? And there are plenty of people that are working diligently to have the government, particularly city government, be much more proactive in their actions.
And as this topic continues to unfold, we'll keep you posted and you'll be hearing more from us and others about sustainability. This is The Power of We brought to you by Change Agents of South Dakota. I'm Rick Knobe. See you soon.