Lucy Gellman Photo
DeCola, Harp, Alder Darryl Brackeen, Schweitzer, Zinn and Alder Adam Marchand.
New Haven is taking two new steps in the fight against climate change, one locally and one globally.
Thursday morning at City Hall, climate advocates and activists gathered to watch New Haven Mayor Toni Harp sign a commitment to the Compact of Mayors, a group of 626 international city leaders (and growing) around the globe addressing and attempting to address climate change. The Compact was founded after the 2014 United Nations Climate Summit.
The commitment served as the launch of a New Haven Climate & Sustainability Framework (NHCSF), which will lay out a plan for New Haven to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent below 2001 levels by 2050. Three community meetings are planned for February and March, at which members of the NHCSF and New Haven Climate Movement plan to hear from community members.
“Make no mistake, climate change and sustainability are global issues,” said Mayor Toni Harp. “All our global residents are at risk, and there is no plan B.”
Harp, with Zinn and Schweitzer in the background.
She added that she, Moris Cove Alder Sal DeCola, City Engineer Giovanni Zinn and others have been working for 12 months toward a Climate Action Plan that is “visionary, inclusive, and implementable.”
Zinn said that the moment is now: Climate change, and specifically heavier patterns of rainfall, have already been affecting how the city approaches engineering and infrastructure projects.
To get there, the New Haven Climate & Sustainability Framework aims to target six areas within New Haven: buildings, electric power, food, land and infrastructure, materials management, and transportation.
Schweitzer.
Steps include improving and incentivizing taking public transportation, bringing more solar and electric power to the city, committing to “green” or sustainable building, supporting community gardens and land trusts, and reducing non-biodegradable waste.
Environmental activist Chris Schweitzer argued these adjustments will lead to greater pedestrian safety, cleaner air, and job creation in New Haven.
“We all need to recognize there is a massive urgency to act on climate change,” he said. “We can be a leader in Connecticut and move things ahead.”
The announcement and signing came just two days after President Donald J. Trump announced his intention to freeze Environmental Protection Agency funds and jobs, reauthorize the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines, and ban federal employees working on the environment from talking to the press.