Kicking Carbon to the Curb:
Ordinary People Doing Ordinary Things
A virtual public issues forum
If you, like many of us, feel that nagging climate anxiety, then it is time to act with the solutions already in our grasp. Topping the list? Changing how we get where we want to go. Join us, as we learn how to use and trust our continually improving public transit options, bike paths and sidewalks, all designed to help us leave our cars behind. The more we use them, the more accessible, affordable, comfortable, and secure these alternate transportation options will become. Our speakers will lead the way.
The climate team will also introduce a way to drive change within our own households with an invitation to join our Transportation Options Challenge. This is citizen science at its best—try the alternatives, share your experiences, recommend the improvements that really matter. We’re not going back to horse and cart—instead we are ordinary people taking ordinary steps to create an extraordinary energy future!
Our speakers:
Philip Gritzmacher, Jr., is a Transportation Planner working in the City of Madison’s Department of Transportation. He is currently working on a variety of transportation projects, including Transportation Demand Management, which aims to reduce Vehicle Miles Traveled in the Madison area. Prior to working with the City of Madison, he served as a City Planner in Sun Prairie and as a Transportation Planner for the Greater Madison Metropolitan Planning Organization.
Robbie Webber is an Honorary Fellow with the State Smart Transportation Initiative, a joint project of the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Smart Growth America. She has served as an alder on the Madison Common Council and on the Madison Area MPO, the federally designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for the Madison Urban Area. She has been a program manager at the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin for nine years. Outside of work she serves on the Board of Directors of Madison Bikes. Since 1998, she has taught bicycle skills and safety to individuals and community groups.
Zia Brucaya is Program Manager for RoundTrip, the transportation demand management (TDM) program of the Greater Madison Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) that promotes sustainable transportation options in Dane County. Her work focuses on developing partnerships to support TDM in the Madison region and connecting individuals and employers with smart alternatives to driving alone. Prior to joining the MPO, Zia worked as a senior planner at Urban Assets, where she led public engagement for planning projects in the Madison area, including the East-West BRT Planning Study and major roadway reconstructions. She also served as the Indiana Complete Streets Coalition Coordinator from 2013–2014.
Moderator:
Carol Barford is the Director of the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE), LWVDC member, and a member of the Climate Crisis Subcommittee.