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Climate change: Rochester’s environmental record is mixed
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Over the past several months, top scientists from around the world have issued stark warnings about climate change. It’s here, it’s happening on a global scale, and countries are not prepared, they say.

Climate change is the defining environmental issue of the modern age. But governments across the world have dragged their feet on cutting the greenhouse gas emissions that are driving this disaster. People can, however, act locally.

Mike Lowery is a climate policy analyst in the State Office of Climate Change. Credit: PHOTO PROVIDED

Local action on climate change is the theme of the Rochester Sierra Club chapter’s annual Earth Day environmental forum, which will be held at 7 p.m. on April 17, at First Unitarian Church, 220 South Winton Road. The featured speaker is Mark Lowery, a climate policy analyst with the State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Office of Climate Change.

The office leads the state’s Climate Smart Communities program, a voluntary initiative for New York communities. Communities that participate in the program typically develop plans laying out how they can reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and how they can best prepare for hazards from ongoing or anticipated climate shifts.

Because it’s a voluntary program, Climate Smart works best when community members push their elected officials to join, Lowery says.

“What we see in many communities is that people just want to do the right thing,” he says. “They’re worried about the world we’re going to leave to our children.”

Local governments can play a substantial role in reducing the state’s greenhouse gas emissions through land-use policies, building codes, planning, and municipal energy use, Lowery says.

Participating communities receive significant technical assistance from the state in developing their plans.

“We leave it up to the communities to decide what is best for them,” Lowery says. “Where can they get good return on their investment, how can they best address their vulnerabilities, and what do they have the capacity to do?”

A protestor from the 2012 anti-fracking rally in Washington, D.C. Credit: FILE PHOTO

But communities that plan for climate change and take action to cut emissions often recognize some side benefits.

In practical terms, the planning efforts often save communities money, Lowery says. One of the first things many do is conduct an energy audit of municipal buildings, he says. That often leads them to pursue improvements that will reduce energy consumption, such as installing new windows or more efficient heating and cooling systems.

The planning can also better position local governments to pursue state or federal funding to install renewable energy systems, such as solar panels or heat pumps, he says.

Frank Regan, a Sierra Club member who is helping organize this year’s forum, says he hopes Lowery’s presentation sparks productive conversation about climate change.

And he hopes the people in the audience then go out and try to convince residents and officials in their home communities to develop climate change plans, he says.

RELATED STORIES:
Climate change: Rochester’s environmental record is mixed
Earth Day Events

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This article appears in Apr 16-22, 2014.

Covers county government and whatever else comes my way. Greyhound dad; vegetarian; attempted photographer with a love for film and fixer; sometimes cyclist.

2 replies on “Climate change fight: it’s up to you”

  1. The letter here is encouraging. If every community made conservation and efficiency Job 1, we would be reigning in a potentially unstoppable disaster.

    We cannot wait for China and India. They too are struggling to pivot to safer modes of energy.

    On the national level, we need to vote smart. For example, there are bills that would reduce emissions AND our taxes, as they have done in BC Canada, via a small price on carbon. Big Oil/Coal is held responsible for pollution, and citizens get a rebate to counter increases in gas prices.

  2. ” there are bills that would reduce emissions AND our taxes, as they have done in BC Canada, via a small price on carbon. Big Oil/Coal is held responsible for pollution, and citizens get a rebate to counter increases in gas prices.”
    How is this supposed to work? We stick “Big Oil” with a tax and they raise their gas prices to pay for it. Then the ‘citizens’ magically get a rebate?
    I’m highly suspicious of so-called carbon taxes. Where does all that money go?

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