91ÊÓƵ

Portland, and Oregon generally, are in the forefront of national efforts to address climate change, and the upcoming legislative session’s anticipated carbon reduction bill is critical to taking the next major steps. Planners are strongly supportive of putting in place both the market mechanisms that will make carbon emissions increasingly expensive, and funding the measures that will help mitigate emissions’ effects.

It has long been clear that the combination of land use and transportation planning is a key element in addressing the largest single source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which is vehicular traffic. Our legacy of sprawling suburban areas produces a very high number of vehicle trips and the accompanying GHG.

Carbon bill supporters hope that one of its outcomes will be money to do in the state’s major urban areas. By analyzing the various impacts of different urban forms and policies, measures that will help bend the curve of GHG emissions downward can be implemented. Without doing so, the long-term prospects for meeting the state’s carbon reduction goals (see page 8 of the ) are grim, as are the consequences for all of Oregon’s residents.

The good news is we already know many of the elements that will make a huge difference: greatly increasing walkability, transit service and safe bike routes. That requires much denser land use patterns, and Portland and other cities have already started down that road. But we need to accelerate the pace, and begin to redevelop large areas of the suburbs in order to make a significant dent in GHGs. And though surveys find that most people realize we need to reduce our carbon footprint, will they support the steps to help make it happen?