Darrington leading way in climate-saving technology
By Julia-Grace Sanders / For The Herald
It’s “now or never” to limit global warming enough to maintain a livable planet, according to a recent United Nations report. Avoiding “unprecedented heatwaves, terrifying storms, widespread water shortages and the extinction of a million species of plants and animals” requires capping global warming at no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said.
Achieving this limit necessitates unprecedented development of carbon-reducing technologies. On this point, scientists and economists worldwide agree. But the pathways for funding and scaling these rapid technological developments are less clear. For one potential solution, we can look to the small timber town of Darrington.
Dwarfed by the white-capped peaks of the North Cascades, Darrington provides a model for fostering public investment in private climate tech while supporting rural economies. The town sprouted in the 1890s on the back of the timber industry. But changes in public forest management and an increase in habitat protection acreage have slowed production to a trickle. The once-thriving town now has a poverty rate of 20 percent, twice the state’s median.
Mayor Dan Rankin started looking for a way to revive Darrington’s economy after the Oso landslide further devastated the town in 2014. That’s when he read about a technology called cross-laminated timber (CLT). The material substantially reduces the carbon footprint of new buildings by replacing the building materials of structural concrete and steel, which release large amounts of carbon dioxide during production. CLT, instead, sequesters carbon during a tree’s photosynthesis. That carbon remains locked up in the floors and walls of buildings made with CLT so long as the structures stand. Even after demolition, CLT emits 50 percent to 80% less than traditional building materials.
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