As the catastrophic effects of climate change continue to worsen every year, the City of Charlottesville has vowed to reduce its carbon emissions to 45 percent below 2011 levels by 2030, and reach carbon neutrality by 2050. Last week, the city hosted a listening session to gather input from the community on its plan to address climate change.
Susan Elliott, Charlottesville’s climate protection program manager, told attendees that the city “has a commitment to addressing equity as part of their climate action plan” and knows there are “some voices that have not necessarily been a part of these conversations before.”
“We are hosting these listening sessions to specifically try to bring those voices and those perspectives to the forefront so that we can bring all that input and have that as part of what we end up putting forward,” she added.
To ensure these new voices were given a platform, first-time participants were told to put an “n” next to their name as well as what group they were associated with. While many were associated with climate change nonprofits, such as Taproot Earth and the Sierra Club, some concerned residents with no particular affiliation also participated.
When polled on what climate issues were most important, there were a wide range of answers, from climate justice and natural disasters to public transportation and minimizing greenhouse gas emissions.
Elliott emphasized that the city’s climate plan, instituted in 2006, focuses not just on reducing greenhouse gas emissions but also on “climate adoption,” which recognizes “that climate change is happening, is going to continue happening, and the effects we feel are going to be getting worse.”
When asked for their ideas on how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Charlottesville, attendees suggested a range of potential solutions, from switching to more sustainable energy sources to making composting more accessible. Transportation, however, was an area that was brought up consistently, with one person suggesting the University of Virginia set up the proper infrastructure to bus in all its employees.
Kirk Dower, conservation chair of the Sierra Club, echoed these concerns. “We really need to reduce transportation needs around here and figure out a way to help people use buses and commute instead of driving,” he said.
Jeanette Abi-Nader, executive director of Cultivate Charlottesville, emphasized the importance of setting up public transportation in ways that can build food equity. “We should ensure that these routes are going directly to grocery stores, especially in low-wealth neighborhoods that might not have access to that,” she said.
Unfortunately, Charlottesville is just one city, and greenhouse gas reduction can only be solved through worldwide efforts, as many people pointed out.
“It’s nice to talk about reducing greenhouse gases around here but that’s not going to do anything on a global scale,” noted one participant, who stressed that Charlottesville should strive to set an example for other cities.
When asked what the main challenges would be to reduce greenhouse gases, funding, education, and convincing people to make major lifestyle changes topped the list.
“We really need to think about the way that the climate crisis is going to affect global migration patterns,” said Kendall Dix, national policy director of Taproot Earth. “There are creative ways that the city could look towards being really proactive in terms of developing public and affordable housing.”
The city will be having another virtual listening session on August 10 at 7pm, as well as a virtual town hall community workshop on August 17 at 6pm. To stay up to date on Charlottesville’s climate action events, visit charlottesville.gov/notifyme and sign up for alerts.