(The latest in a series of posts relating to the environment, Bethlehem’s Climate Action Plan, Bethlehem’s Environmental Advisory Council)
Dawn Nixon, “Lehigh Valley leaders discuss efforts to go green.” WFMZ, March 12, 2019.
On March 12 our Mayor Donchez joined with representatives from Allentown and Whitehall at the Lehigh Valley Mayors’ Sustainability forum to discuss Valley efforts to 
“go green.”
The Mayor talked of converting to LED lights; working with UGI and PPL to reduce the amount of gas used by local businesses; such key components as green buildings, energy efficiency and conservation, water and wastewater systems and climate friendly transportation; and plans for a consultant to assist the city in developing a climate action plan.
“Mayor Donchez closed the forum’s discussion by commenting on how any efforts made by individual cities benefit the entire Lehigh Valley. ‘The more we work together on key issues, the better the Lehigh Valley will be as a whole,’ he said.”
Here for us are the key slides from the Mayor’s presentation showing work done and on the radar:
It’s Friday, March 22, do you know where your local Climate Action Plan is?
I would question the migration to artificial Christmas trees from live trees given that live Christmas trees are a renewable crop that are rather easily composted, and artificial trees are not. I believe this to be a false narrative that it is beneficial to the environment, rather that it is more a cost efficiency issue with their installation.
Also, I would agree that a new round of public education on recycling programs is very necessary, given that it’s been at least ten years since the City of Bethlehem undertook a comprehensive approach to advertising and education in order to get buy-in from residents and businesses.
I reside in one of the larger rental communities in the City. The solid waste container for my neighborhood is often stuffed with all kinds of recyclable materials such as cardboard, glass, plastic and metallic items. Although the complex is required as a commercial entity (not as a housing entity) to provide containers for the collection of these items, I’ve peered into those large roll-offs and have seen ordinary household waste co-mingled with what can and should be recycled. This contamination defeats the purpose and probably sends much of that material to landfills.
Finally, revising City ordinances to require solar energy panels on roofs of new development of a certain footprint would be a big step toward renewable energy independence given the proliferation of huge warehouses in our area. It would also allow for on property parking for tractor trailers and provide electric power to be used to service a rig, instead of it running constantly and spewing exhaust into the atmosphere.
Energy Efficiency & Conservation —
• Most sources say transportation is equal or greater than electrical generation as a source of GHG emissions, partly because PA generation is moving from coal to natural gas, and the electrical generation calculations do not include emissions from drilling & fracking.
• Last item is not clear, because it is repeated in ‘Future Projects’. Is he talking about different buildings? Further upgrades to the same facilities?