Select Board to consider Danvers climate resiliency plan Tuesday - The Salem News
Select Board to consider Danvers climate resiliency plan Tuesday | News | salemnews.com
DANVERS — The Select Board will consider a new climate action and sustainability plan during Tuesday night’s Select Board meeting.
The Climate Action, Sustainability, Preservation and Resiliency (CASPR) Plan aims to reduce the effect of climate change on Danvers through sustainability efforts. Mainly, by reducing the use of fossil fuels.
It will be presented before the Select Board during its 6 p.m. meeting Tuesday evening in Town Hall’s Toomey Room.
“Climate hazards pose significant threats to our health, safety and quality of life,” Town Manager Steve Bartha said in a statement included in a draft of the plan. “As a result, we are working to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change while also preparing our community for the impacts of a changing climate, both now and in the future.
The plan was created through community assessments, data analysis and community engagement activities through Resilient Danvers, the town’s campaign between local officials, partners and residents to combat climate change.
Through the plan’s six target areas of focus — energy, buildings, natural resources, public health and safety, transportation and land use, and solid waste — Danvers will be able to protect itself from the worst of a rapidly changing climate, the plan said.
According to the draft, climate change has already caused more extreme heat days, warmer winters, fewer but more intense rainy days and more extreme weather and flooding in New England.
The North Shore coastline could also see the sea level rise by up to 3 feet by 2050 if global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are not successful, the plan said.
“We have developed a shared vision for a sustainable future,” Bartha wrote in the plan. “We know what it will take to achieve success, and through this planning process, we have begun to amass the resources and technical expertise to get there.”
For more information about Resilient Danvers and to view an online version of the plan’s draft, go to https://resilient.danversma.gov/our-plan.
Contact Caroline Enos at CEnos@northofboston.com and follow her on Twitter @CarolineEnos.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate legislation
The federal government and states are in the process of implementing two laws — the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act — an investment of more than a trillion dollars to address climate change.