With extreme weather events becoming more frequent and severe not just in the Lehigh Valley but throughout the world, the urgency of the emerging climate crisis has recently been a hot topic as of late among government officials, business leaders and environmental activists alike.

The Aug. 11 Local Climate Action Plans webinar, presented via Zoom as part of the Lehigh Valley Energy and Environment Committee’s 2021 event series by the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, aimed to address ways in which our communities can help cope with, and hopefully mitigate, the effects of worsening climate and weather conditions.

The hour-long presentation, hosted by GLVCC Vice President of Government Affairs Brittney Waylen, featured opening thoughts from U.S. Senator Bob Casey. He was followed by presentations from three panelists: Lehigh Valley Planning Commission Executive Director Becky Bradley, Pa. Department of Environmental Protection Energy Program Specialist Heidi Kunka and Nurture Nature Center Science Director Dr. Kate Semmens. A brief question-and-answer session with the panelists concluded the webinar.

In his address, Casey spoke of the urgency of climate change and a shared responsibility to respond appropriately to it. “Climate change is real, it’s a threat to human life, and we’ve got to do something about it,” he said. Everybody must take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, he continued, adding “the health of our children and our communities depends upon our commitment to invest in meaningful climate action now.”

He pointed specifically to a clause in the commonwealth’s constitution which essentially states that all Pa. residents have a right to clean air and water. Our natural resources are the common property of everybody, including future generations, and “I am bound to that constitutional provision,” he said.

However, with such a crisis comes a “tremendous opportunity to create meaningful careers,” Casey added, optimistically indicating that Pa.’s labor force is “more than capable of leading our clean energy transition.” These “conservation jobs,” he said, would support “sustainable agriculture, waterways, public lands, health and resiliency of both rural and urban communities.”

Casey closed his portion of the webinar with words of encouragement, saying “we have a lot of work to do as both a commonwealth and nation… (but) we can do this, we’re Americans, we don’t back down from a challenge.”

Bradley then opened the next portion of the webinar describing how, since smaller municipalities such as boroughs and townships don’t have the same capacities and resources as the valley’s larger cities do to develop their own Climate Action Plans, the LVPC has promoted a regional effort to build a “resilient and ‘climate-active’ community.”

Kunka added that while some larger cities such as Bethlehem have chosen to employ private consulting firms to assist with their plans, the Pa. DEP’s Local Climate Action Program uses federal Department of Energy funding to pay a third party, Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI), to train college students and local government teams to help develop CAPs and greenhouse gas inventories for smaller municipalities.

So far, Kunka said, 53 municipalities in the commonwealth have participated through the first three years of the program.

Semmens described working with officials in Easton on the development of their plan. Involving the public was crucial, she said, although COVID-19 brought new challenges by forcing all meetings to go virtual. Despite the challenges, the city invited feedback from all stakeholders, answered questions and concerns, and distributed a public survey which she said received “hundreds” of responses.

Meanwhile, Bethlehem had a platform which allowed for more visual and spatial feedback, she said, which allowed interested parties to actually make suggestions based on a map of the city. A resident could click a location and add a suggestion such as “this area needs more shade from trees,” and the platform engaged a diverse group of stakeholders consisting of businesses, nonprofits, schools, climate advisory councils, hospitals, utilities and more, Semmens said.

As she further described the implementation of CAPs on a municipal level, she suggested councils adopt their respective plans with a specific target in mind. For instance, the intent is to reduce emissions by 80% by 2050 in Easton, while Bethlehem aims for the loftier goal of reaching ‘net zero’ by 2040, with smaller annual or biannual objectives to measure progress, Semmens noted.

All three panelists lauded the common, multi-layered benefits to taking action regarding climate change. “Those old conversations of ‘we don’t know how to do this…’ are gone,” Bradley said. Semmens added, “these changes have so many co-benefits. It just makes sense, and now is the time to do them.” She specifically referred to the alarming Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report which was released earlier in the week, which called climate change “widespread, rapid and intensifying” and warned of imminent, catastrophic consequences across the world.

As the panel took questions submitted by some virtual attendees, Kunka encouraged businesses, school districts and other organizations to look into Pa. DEP grants which she said are available for alternatively-fueled vehicles and other infrastructure improvements. The DEP also offers free energy assessments for small to mid-sized manufacturers, energy code training for code officials at local levels and the Driving PA Forward program provides rebates for electrical charging equipment, she said.

The LVPC, Bradley said, is working on compiling a greenhouse gas inventory for the entire region, which she said “will give us a better perspective on how to tweak policies and develop new goals.” Additionally, “every subdivision and land development plan that comes through the LVPC, we’re reviewing against green (sustainability and resilience) goals,” she added.

Semmens said that for smaller municipalities, although developing a CAP might seem like a daunting task, it is achievable. “You don’t need to have tens of thousands of dollars for outside consultants,” she said. “The point is coming together as a community and saying ‘these are our priorities.’”

With extreme weather events becoming more frequent and severe not just in the Lehigh Valley but throughout the world, the urgency of the emerging climate crisis has recently been a hot topic as of late among government officials, business leaders and environmental activists alike.

The Aug. 11 Local Climate Action Plans webinar, presented via Zoom as part of the Lehigh Valley Energy and Environment Committee’s 2021 Event Series by the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, aimed to address ways in which our communities can help cope with, and hopefully mitigate, the effects of worsening climate and weather conditions.

The hour-long presentation, hosted by GLVCC Vice President of Government Affairs Brittney Waylen, featured opening thoughts from U.S. Senator Bob Casey. He was followed by presentations from three panelists: Lehigh Valley Planning Commission Executive Director Becky Bradley, Pa. Department of Environmental Protection Energy Program Specialist Heidi Kunka and Nurture Nature Center Science Director Dr. Kate Semmens. A brief question-and-answer session with the panelists concluded the webinar.

In his address, Casey spoke of the urgency of climate change and a shared responsibility to respond appropriately to it. “Climate change is real, it’s a threat to human life, and we’ve got to do something about it,” he said. Everybody must take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, he continued, adding “the health of our children and our communities depends upon our commitment to invest in meaningful climate action now.”

He pointed specifically to a clause in the commonwealth’s constitution which essentially states that all Pa. residents have a right to clean air and water. Our natural resources are the common property of everybody, including future generations, and “I am bound to that constitutional provision,” he said.

However, with such a crisis comes a “tremendous opportunity to create meaningful careers,” Casey added, optimistically indicating that Pa.’s labor force is “more than capable of leading our clean energy transition.” These “conservation jobs,” he said, would support “sustainable agriculture, waterways, public lands, health and resiliency of both rural and urban communities.”

Casey closed his portion of the webinar with words of encouragement, saying “we have a lot of work to do as both a commonwealth and nation… (but) we can do this, we’re Americans, we don’t back down from a challenge.”

Bradley then opened the next portion of the webinar describing how, since smaller municipalities such as boroughs and townships don’t have the same capacities and resources as the valley’s larger cities do to develop their own Climate Action Plans, the LVPC has promoted a regional effort to build a “resilient and ‘climate-active’ community.”

Kunka added that while some larger cities such as Bethlehem have chosen to employ private consulting firms to assist with their plans, the Pa. DEP’s Local Climate Action Program uses federal Department of Energy funding to pay a third party, Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI), to train college students and local government teams to help develop CAPs and greenhouse gas inventories for smaller municipalities.

So far, Kunka said, 53 municipalities in the commonwealth have participated through the first three years of the program.

Semmens described working with officials in Easton on the development of their plan. Involving the public was crucial, she said, although COVID-19 brought new challenges by forcing all meetings to go virtual. Despite the challenges, the city invited feedback from all stakeholders, answered questions and concerns, and distributed a public survey which she said received hundreds of responses.

Meanwhile, Bethlehem had a platform which allowed for more visual and spatial feedback, she said, which allowed interested parties to actually make suggestions based on a map of the city. A resident could click a location and add a suggestion such as “this area needs more shade from trees,” Semmens said.

As she further described the implementation of CAPs on a municipal level, she suggested councils adopt their respective plans with a specific target in mind. For instance, the intent is to reduce emissions by 80 percent by 2050 in Easton, while Bethlehem aims for the loftier goal of reaching ‘net zero’ by 2040, with smaller annual or biannual objectives to measure progress, Semmens noted.

All three panelists lauded the common, multi-layered benefits to taking action regarding climate change. “Those old conversations of ‘we don’t know how to do this…’ are gone,” Bradley said. Semmens added, “these changes have so many co-benefits. It just makes sense, and now is the time to do them.” She specifically referred to the alarming Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report which was released earlier in the week, which called climate change “widespread, rapid and intensifying” and warned of imminent, catastrophic consequences across the world.

Kunka encouraged businesses, school districts and other organizations to look into Pa. DEP grants available for alternatively-fueled vehicles and other infrastructure improvements. The DEP also offers free energy assessments for small to mid-sized manufacturers, energy code training for code officials at local levels and the Driving PA Forward program provides rebates for electrical charging equipment, she said.

The LVPC, Bradley said, is working on compiling a greenhouse gas inventory for the entire region, which she said “will give us a better perspective on how to tweak policies and develop new goals.” Additionally, “every subdivision and land development plan that comes through the LVPC, we’re reviewing against green (sustainability and resilience) goals,” she added.

Semmens said that for smaller municipalities, although developing a CAP might seem like a daunting task, it is achievable. “You don’t need to have tens of thousands of dollars for outside consultants,” she said. “The point is coming together as a community and saying ‘these are our priorities.’”