Working toward Change: Local Governments Matter
This blog is written by LWVDC’s Climate Team.
If climate change remains a political football punted between parties exploiting opposing views to sway voters, rather than a global-size survival issue, steps to slow it will be forever mired in the too-little-too-late basket of laments.
So what do we as individuals do? According to Kathryn Hayhoe, a climate scientist and woman of faith, professor and business woman, one of the most important things we can do is keep talking. Raise awareness. This is because climate change is a humanitarian issue. In this video, you can listen to Hayhoe discuss why we need to talk about climate change to fight it.
This is exactly what the League of Women Voters of Dane County (LWVDC) is doing. This Wednesday, November 6, LWVDC convenes the second of its Public Issues Forums—Climate Crisis Series, entitled Why Local Governments Matter. The general public is encouraged to attend. You can get more information here.
Photo by Jim Gade on Unsplash.com
Flood on Odana Road, Madison, 2018
Find out how our local governments are taking proactive measures to buffer us—the over half million individuals who live within Dane County’s assortment of cities, villages, unincorporated communities and Ho-Chunk Nation Trust lands—from the inevitable, in a timely and cost-effective manner.
And what about our state? The economic winds are shifting in favor of renewables at long last as wind and solar costs have come down, making good business sense for the energy sector. This recent Wisconsin State Journal article describes how conservatives are getting on board with renewable energy. And Governor Tony Evers has created a Task Force on Climate Change by executive order to help plot the best path forward.
But let’s not forget, the scope of climate change is global. So what are other cities and regions doing? One organization, CDP, an international non-profit organization and formerly the UK-based Carbon Disclosure Project, offers a wealth of information. It compiles voluntarily disclosed environmental data and works with investors, companies, cities, states and regions to reduce environmental impacts. The CDP website is well worth a look to learn how many governments and businesses are working to manage climate change.
Splash photo by Gustavo Quepo on unsplash.com.
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This blog is written by LWVDC’s Climate Team. If you receive blog posts by email, our system automatically inserts “by Brook Soltvedt.” Brook is the webmaster, not the author of the blog.