Huron County Climate Change And Energy Specialist Presents Corporate Climate Change Adaptation Plan Update To County Council
by Bob Montgomery
Huron County Climate Change and Energy Specialist Derry Wallis says next year their focus will be on updating the current Corporate Climate Change Adaptation Plan.
They'll start by outlining some of the successes they've had so far and then consider their next steps that may align with new corporate priorities or new community needs or desires. Wallis says they've initiated or achieved 84 percent of the actions in the plan, which amounts to fifty-three specific actions out of sixty-three. A lot them relate to the county's infrastructure and assets, so this past year they were able to conduct a climate risk assessment on their large bridges and culverts to understand how they may be impacted by climate change. Their twelve EV chargers throughout the county are helping to reduce community greenhouse gas emissions. They've naturalized some county property with wild flowers and they're continuing to do retrofits to some of their county-owned facilities and social housing properties to make them more energy efficient.
Wallis says they've still got a lot to do to reduce greenhouse gas emissions down to the point where climate change doesn't have the impact that it has now. She also adds, there are some things they will simply have to adapt to and pointing to warmer temperatures that we see now, except maybe not this winter so far. Even a few degrees can make a big difference in human health as well as plant and vegetation growth. There are some things we'll simply have to adapt to, but there are also changes we can make to reduce the impact of climate change.
An update to the Corporate Climate Change Adaptation Plan presents an opportunity to create formal dialogue, provide education, and promote understanding about the impacts, risks, and opportunities that climate change presents in Huron County. This will include reviewing innovative actions from other municipalities, workshops with staff, local municipalities, partner organizations, and community outreach.
