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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClimate Council Meeting Summary Notes.11.21.24Climate Council Meeting Summary Notes - November 21, 2024 Attending: Climate Council Members Role Organization Amy Fowler Commissioner BOCC Kristie Mather Board Member CFE Robb English Town Commissioner Hillsborough Board of Commissioners Wendy Kuhn PRB Member Hillsborough Parks and Recreation Board Representative Randee Haven-O’Donnell Council Member Carrboro Town Council Greg Randolph CAT Team Member Carrboro Climate Action Team Melissa McCullough Town Council Chapel Hill Town Council Tom Henkel Chair Chapel Hill Environmental Stewardship Advisory Board Riza Jenkins School Board Vice Chair CHCCS Board Member Sarah Smylie Board Member Orange County School Board Patrick Florence Director of Construction Orange County Schools Melanie Elliott UNC Sustainability UNC Sustainability Lead Jonathan Smith Orange County Cooperative Extension Director NC Cooperative Extension Staff Role Organization John Richardson Community and Sustainability Resilience Manager Town of Chapel Hill Brennan Bouma Sustainability Program Analyst Town of Chapel Hill Elizabeth Houghton Sustainability Outreach Coordinator Town of Chapel Hill Laura Janway Sustainability Coordinator Town of Carrboro Amy Eckberg Sustainability Programs Manager Orange County Mel Gilles Sustainability Projects Analyst Orange County The group broke up into small groups to discuss what our successes, obstacles and opportunity areas were when it came to tackling climate change. Below is a summary table of some of the discussion points: Successes: Obstacles: Opportunities: • School bond • School solar Projects • Orange County multi- modal Transportation • Transportation $ going out West • Getting charging infrastructure • Career Technology in K- 12 schools helping to build workforce • Collaborative Regional Grant work Plan and prioritizing bike/ped • Leave the Leaves • IRA incentives • EV Busses • Neighborhood composting in Carrboro • More sustainability in Parks in Hillsborough • Vehicle electrification • Orange County schools getting solar to charge busses and energize auditorium • Repair Café • Climate friendly energy at UNC • 35 Master gardeners in Orange County • Orange County getting 5 Electric Busses • Orange County Ag Summit Promoting Sustainable Ag • Green Neighborhoods Program • Neighborhood composting program • Town of Carrboro getting their first EVs • Town of Carrboro completing fleet study • Connecting cisterns to irrigate gardens in OC • Potential future environmental protections and IRA funding being rolled back • Climate Naysayers • Not enough technicians, asset managers and young people in the clean tech field • Potential for regulation loss in the future • Federal chaos • Helene • Increase in applicants for Community Climate Action Grants in Orange County • EV charging network expanding • Solar for All • Electric landscaping • Solar batteries decreasing in price • Chapel Hill Sustainable building assessment • UNC using old solar panels that were not functioning for swap for solar PV system for hot water • Eno River acquisition of old Speedway • Hyper-local community relationship building John Richardson led a discussion about working collaboratively on a Year of the _____ campaign (similarly modeled after NC State Parks Year of Campaign only with a climate focus. The idea being that we would have a different climate related topic each year). He discussed how a lot of our GHG emissions are coming from buildings and how a beneficial electrification campaign could work to reduce our GHG emissions from this sector. We anticipate state energy funds to be rolled out soon to help support electrification of things like gas furnaces and stoves, installation of EV chargers, etc. The group liked the idea and batted around a few names for such a campaign including “Year of the Plug”, “Year of the Charge”, “Electrify Your Life”, and “Year of Going Electric”. We could further promote electrification of landscaping equipment (perhaps a swap out program similar to what Durham County did), promote e-bikes and EV, induction ovens, etc. We could even do an electrification demo day at Blackwood Farm that shows off electric landscaping equipment, EVs, etc. It was mentioned that the upcoming Orange County Ag Summit is interested in showcasing electric tractors and other electric farm equipment too. Future ideas for other years, included Year of: community resilience, LEDs, Tree, compost, and solar. Next the group brainstormed ways that we are engaging with Youth in climate action and discussed opportunity areas to improve their participation in our climate projects and efforts. What’s Happening Now Obstacles to Engaging Youth Opportunity Areas Summer Camp Transportation Young people are interested in hearing about more opportunities – we can engage Environmental clubs Hosting Eco Studio Interns from UNC Funding Engaging youth on advisory boards – Carrboro has a seat on their board which has proven to be an effective conduit for exchanging information Steam program at Glenwood Paid internships Our Climate Action Plans have opportunities for students to engage with projects Composting at CHCCS Overall frustration from students that they are having to deal with this problem Piggybacking on other student interests/programming: gardening, scouting, planetarium, etc. 4-H community garden in Hillsborough Needing adults to help facilitate engagement Engaging families OC High Schools have environmental clubs Communicating out what is happening Engaging teachers/advisors/mentors Libraries do programs for kids each week Student Climate Summit Sunrise Movement – UNC/Durham Orange Soil and Water Earth Week Orange County Creek Week Program at EPA for AP Students Urban Sustainability Solutions working with students on workforce development through OC grant program Lastly, we discussed upcoming outreach and education opportunities that we might be able to collaborate on together. The list included: • Leave the Leaves • National Drive Electric Week • Carrboro Pollinator Week • No Mow May • Arbor Day • Bike Month in May • Bike Walk NC – October • Moth Night – August • Earth Month • Repair Café • Resilience Hub • Creek Week • Tree Giveaways • Heat Plan/Awareness/Action A suggestion was made to combine tree giveaways with other events if they occur during the appropriate planting season, and it was mentioned that events prioritizing electrification would be good to collaborate on to help promote the Year of Electrification campaign. Next meeting will be May 15, 2025, at 5pm at the Chapel Hill Library.