‘We have to act now:’ Kalamazoo City Commission declares climate emergency month - MLive.com
‘We have to act now:’ Kalamazoo City Commission declares climate emergency month - mlive.com
KALAMAZOO, MI -- The city of Kalamazoo has approved a proclamation to designate March as climate emergency month, with strong language urging action.
Climate change is an existential threat to the quality of life on this planet, the city’s resolution states.
The city unanimously approved the measure to kick off the Monday, March 6, commission meeting.
Weather events that we can not imagine now are coming, Western Michigan University professor Allen Webb said while explaining what he expects to happen related to climate change.
“What’s coming is is so terrifying that we have to act now,” Webb said, and serious work needs to be done to rethink how to heat buildings and other things.
“We have precious little time left to act,” the city declaration states. “According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world must emit 50% less greenhouse gasses by the year 2030 and cease all emissions by the year 2050. These once might have seemed like years way in the future, but they no longer are.”
The declaration cites the Yale project on Climate Communication, which says 72% of Americans believe global warming is happening and two-thirds are worried about it.
“Increased heat waves, massive flooding, catastrophic droughts, intense storms, rising seas, erratic weather patterns, changing precipitation, changing range of pests and pathogens, are just examples of the direct impacts of climate change the world is now dealing with,” the city resolution states.
Western Michigan University’s Climate Change Working Group previously declared the month of March 2023 as climate emergency month, and asked the city to support the effort.
Throughout March, the group is hosting events to coincide with the program, titled, “Climate Emergency Month: Creating a Just and Sustainable Future.”
Webb said he and others want to raise awareness about the risks and consequences of climate change.
Missy Stults, the city of Ann Arbor’s sustainability and innovations director, will speak at an event on March 18 at the Kalamazoo Public Library, Webb said. The presentation will cover Ann Arbor’s climate and equity work, organizers said.
U.S. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib will be a keynote speaker with a talk entitled “Creating a Just Climate Policy,” set for 4 p.m. March 21 at WMU’s Knauss Hall, Room 3502.
Other presentations include: “Is Ignoring Climate Change Akin to Mass Murder?” and “Twin Apocalyptic Threats: The Nexus Between the Climate Crisis and Nuclear Weapons.”
Presentations will be given on topics ranging from electric vehicles, vegan cooking, climate change enforcement and the ethics and politics of global climate justice.
View a full calendar of events here.
Webb is an English professor an organizer of the awareness program. He spoke with commissioners Monday night before they approved the proclamation.
The city commission approved a “climate emergency” resolution in October 2019, and Kalamazoo County followed in December of that year with a similar measure.
The city’s work to craft a city sustainability plan and making plans to hire a sustainability coordinator were some of the first steps for acting to minimize the very worst possible outcomes, according to the city resolution.
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