Columbia’s departing sustainability manager reflects on climate work and LSEN board
by MOST Policy Initiative and Missouri LSEN Staff
Barbara Buffaloe’s typically busy schedule is in an even higher gear these days as she prepares to leave her post as the city of Columbia’s first sustainability manager at the end of May.
She’s transitioning from being the caretaker for Columbia’s environment to being more involved in caring for her parents in Springfield, Ill. Buffaloe will remain in Columbia and will continue to stay connected with the community that she loves, but she has promised her husband “I won’t say ‘yes’ to anything for a few months.”
Buffaloe notified friends of her departure in a recent email, saying she had a “heavy heart.”
“I feel that I am not able to give the job the amount of attention it deserves while I also care for my parents, my family, and myself,” she wrote, noting that her talented team and a new sustainability manager gives her “optimism that the important work we do will continue to happen.”
Praising her team.
“I’m sorting through a lot of things,” Buffaloe said this week, understating the volume of the work she’s done since taking on the sustainability manager position 11 years ago. Buffaloe’s leadership recently led to creating Columbia’s Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP), a 106-page strategy guiding the city’s initiative to battle climate change.
Buffaloe, a member of the Local Science Engagement Network advisory board — a spot she’ll continue to fill, for now — is always eager to talk about the CAAP and the first progress report presented to the Columbia City Council. First, though, she wants to make it clear that a small army of dedicated civic volunteers, city leaders, and other staff in her office have also been on the front lines of creating and promoting the CAAP.
“I’m not the only one working in this space,” she says. “I have a whole team.” Buffaloe says her departure “opens the possibility for a new direction or a fresh set of eyes — opportunities for others who are leading in this space.”
The players inside and supporting the Office of Sustainability are responsible for “seeing Columbia really make a name for itself on a national scale” when it comes to environmental practices for urban and city sustainability, Buffaloe explains.
Taking on greenhouse gas emissions.
Columbia’s Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, adopted in June 2019, was based on 2015 greenhouse gas emissions from local activities such as electricity production, transportation, home energy use, and methane emissions from landfilling and treatment of wastewater. The plan lays out goals for the city, residents, and businesses to eliminate carbon emissions by 2060.
The CAAP focuses on the areas of housing; buildings and development; transportation; waste; health, safety, and well-being; and natural resources. Examples of goals include increasing the use of low- to zero-emissions vehicles and creating a bikeable and walkable community; encouraging recycling and reducing landfill waste; and planning for a potential increase in the demand for mental health care. Targeted actions include those that are “most cost-effective and equitable.”
Members of the Mayor’s Task Force on Climate Action and Adaptation spent some 1,000 hours in 17 months of meetings crafting the plan. The report presented in February showed that since 2015, Columbia has experienced a nearly 6 percent decline in community greenhouse gas emissions.
That statistic might seem “kind of dry,” Buffaloe concedes, but consider what it means. “It’s the equivalent of over 155 million pounds of coal not being burned” to produce electricity.
The CAAP also helps show that science and research can successfully merge with policy and legislation and can escape what the public often perceives as endless talks and meetings with little or no action.
“It feels so good to know we have a plan that we put a lot of work into,” she says. “There’s great leadership for this from the mayor’s office and great support in the community.”
Buffaloe has noted that the CAAP drafters recognized that environmental policy and climate action are often seen as elitist, something that belongs in the legislative chambers and the academic milieu. As a result, the plan emphasizes connecting with residents on a personal level. That approach is especially fitting because the stakes aren’t just high for the environment, Buffaloe says. For one, consider that climate change can disproportionately affect communities that are already at risk of harm, such as people of color, the elderly, children, and low-income families.
“We are really wanting to show that connection between racial and environmental justice,” Buffaloe adds.
LSEN, MOST are bridging gaps.
She applauds the creation of the Local Science Engagement Network and the connections LSEN and the Missouri Science & Technology (MOST) Policy Initiative are making between policymakers and scientists.
“There’s so much potential here” with LSEN, Buffaloe says. “I think it’s really smart and it’s a good example of how people who are making policies can get to know those who are doing the research. I do hope I will be able to stay with it to see its growth.”
She will also continue her role on the Urban Sustainability Directors Network board of directors. She also has been active in the U.S. Green Building Council’s Missouri Heartland Chapter and several local organizations.
“I’m really proud of the work we did in Columbia,” Buffaloe says. “It isn’t easy.” She says some probably thought she didn’t do enough; others might have thought she did too much. “Of course, I always think I could do more and do better.”
For now, she’s putting other sustainability work on pause.
“I don’t know what’s next for me career-wise,” she explains. “I’m excited to have the time to take a breath and see to my family’s needs and see the work continue, even though I’ll just be a cheerleader on the sidelines.”
