And Frost said he doesn’t want the city to voice token support for anti-climate change efforts, and then do nothing. That pattern, he says, is all too familiar.

Eric Ennen, with the Minneapolis-based Center for Energy and Environment, said most cities that sign the agreement do a study to determine their carbon footprint and then form a committee.

Partially in response to Frost’s questions, City Manager Pat Hentges recently updated the council on the progress of the city’s own sustainability plan.

It includes an audit, retrofits to buildings and vehicle efficiency upgrades. There are dozens of other steps, though they are almost all small-scale changes to the way the city does business — a solar panel here, a directive to use electric vehicles there.

There are no high-profile changes on the order of a wind turbine.

Hentges said the sustainability plan’s policy recommendations will result in real change once opportunities come along. The vehicle fleet can’t be replaced in a day; nor does it make economic sense to make drastic changes to existing buildings.

He, too, agreed that simply passing the climate agreement isn’t enough.

“You need to pass it with some substance behind it,” he said.

“The real trick in this comes in the implementation of this,” Ennen agreed.

But despite the lack of a more visible initiative, Ennen says more can be done by getting many people to take smaller steps.

“A lot of people want to see something big and flashy as an indication of change,” he said.

Gustie gusts
Gustavus Adolphus College has been looking for wind turbines for about 21 months.

Suppliers are devoting almost all of their turbines to big wind farms, said James Dontje, director of the college’s Johnson Center for Environmental Innovation.

Due to high setup costs, it’s more difficult for a vendor to consider installing just one or two turbines, he said.

A pair of turbines that generate about two megawatts each would supply the campus with between two-thirds and three-fourths of its energy needs.