At their work session on 2/12/18, the Board of Clallam County Commissioners discussed a resolution proposed by Commissioner Mark Ozias for Clallam County to take further steps to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
Clallam County residents are urged to communicate with their Commissioners about this resolution. Public comment of a general nature is taken at the end of Tuesday weekly Commissioner meetings, which usually end in the late morning; or you can write to them at commissioners@co.clallam.wa.us.
Michael Clemens, who facilitates OCA’s Climate Action Planning committee, made this comment in support of the resolution at the regular Commissioners meeting on 2/13/18. If you’d like to join Michael’s committee, contact us.
Background: OCA presented these recommendations to the Clallam Commissioners on 5/1/17:
Clallam County should renew its commitment to climate action in several ways:
- Take steps to adapt to the unavoidable impacts of climate change, as the Board of Commissioners committed to in Resolution 27 of 2016.
- Take steps to minimize emissions of greenhouse gases, as described in the Board of Commissioners’ adopted Climate Action Plan of 2009, and broaden the approach to address the carbon footprint of the county as a whole, not simply County government.
- Include means for priority-setting, evaluation and adaptive management.
- Encourage cooperation among multiple players in the county, including cities, Port, PUD, College, tribes, as well as Jefferson County, perhaps using the North Olympic Development Council as a vehicle.
- Move forward via a combined effort of County government, other entities, and committed citizens.
- Look for innovative and integrated approaches to addressing climate change, by addressing community resiliency, public safety, energy, transportation, future infrastructure needs, economic development and other challenges together.
Olympic Climate Action 