Evansville is creating its Climate Action Plan to guide the community in addressing climate change. (Photo: provided)
EVANSVILLE — Following the results of citywide greenhouse gas inventory last fall, Evansville officials had planned to begin seeking public input on a plan to address climate change.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit and local governments were confronted with a health emergency that sidelined many other initiatives.
Now the effort to develop a formal Climate Action Plan for the city are back on track, and the city is expediting the process.
At issue are ways city government and the broader community can implement actions that will lessen the city's contributions to climate change.
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A website, climateevansville.com, has been created, and a social media campaign has begun to raise awareness. The website includes a public survey designed to measure general awareness and concern about the topic and gauge response to a host of specific actions that might be included in the plan.
These include things such as improving public transportation and access to it, requiring green building certification for new construction, increasing electric vehicle charging stations and converting city vehicles to electric, reconfiguring more city streets to encourage bicycling, expanding recycling availability and other options.
"This was needed. In the community, this was something that a lot of people really wanted," said Noah Stubbs, spokesman for Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke's office.
Timothy Weir, retired executive director of Aurora, a nonprofit agency to assist homeless, has been tapped by the city to assist the Evansville Climate Action Plan process. Weir also is administrator of the Commission on Homelessness for Evansville and Vanderburgh County.
Carolyn Townsend, a dual master's degree student at the Indiana University O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, also is providing support for developing the plan.
Other ways the city is reaching out for input is through a series of virtual town hall meetings. Persons interested in participating may sign up at the Climate Action Plan website.
The meetings will be:
6 p.m. June 23
8:30 a.m. June 26
5:30 p.m. June 30
6 p.m. July 8
6 p.m. July 9
6 p.m. July 14
10 a.m. July 15
The city is hoping to have a draft of the plan ready to share in September.
The plan is an outgrowth of the IU Resilience Cohort which Evansville and other Indiana cities, including Carmel, Elkhart, Fishers, Fort Wayne, Gary, Goshen, Michigan City, Richmond, West Lafayette and Zionsville participated in greenhouse gas inventories.
Indianapolis and South Bend are already implementing Climate Action Plans, Townsend said, and Bloomington is in the final stages of developing a plan.
Such plans are important for Indiana cities and towns to protect their communities from the impact of heavier rainfalls, more days above 90 degrees, frequent flash floods and freeze-thaw events that cause potholes, among the problems attributed to a changing climate, according to City of Evansville announcement of the plan.
"Our Climate Action Plan will create immediate, lasting benefits to our community, including strengthened economic development, improved air quality and reduced waste,” Winnecke said in the statement.
Weir and Townsend said the plan will address the retail, commercial and industrial sectors as well as local government, and a concerted effort will be made to create an equitable plan that reaches out to the diverse communities making up the city.
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