Lorain County residents discussed climate change concerns Monday and potential climate solutions at the first in a series of meetings held by the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency in an effort to get the public’s insight on climate change.
NOACA’s in-person engagement session, was led by Joel Ratner with Joel Ratner Community Partnership, a firm which works with nonprofits, philanthropic groups and governmental entities on engagement efforts. He began with a presentation detailing how the region is currently impacted by climate change and what might happen if no action is taken.
Afterward, attendees were split into groups to discuss their environmental concerns, ask questions about climate change or express the need for more information.
One attendee, a local blueberry farmer, said she’d noticed more frequent pests who thrive in warm, damp conditions brought on by the rainy summer months. Another resident, who works as an electrician, highlighted a need to reduce energy consumption to reduce both strain on the electric grid and the potential for outages.
Their feedback, both qualitative and quantitative, was documented and returned to NOACA to help inform the agency’s Climate Action Plan that will be drafted and finalized later this year.
“We'll have, by the end of the session, hundreds and maybe thousands of people have participated,” Ratner said. “But it'll all be provided to NOACA and will be very valuable as they draft the Climate Action … Plan.”
Oberlin resident Elizabeth Meadows said she was able to share her own concerns, like heavy storms leading to frequent power outages in her neighborhood. But for her, the meeting was also a learning experience.
“It was just good to hear what people had to say because ... I don't feel like an expert in this area,” she said. “So, I had a chance to learn from others, and that's so invaluable.”
Attendees Jeff and Lori Baxter said the session went well, but they felt they needed more evidence of climate change to feel comfortable with a climate action plan moving forward.
“It almost seemed to me like there is a canned outcome here in this whole presentation, you start out with the assumption that everybody is concerned about climate change or ... there needs to be a climate action plan,” Lori said. “That is starting from an assumption that we have to do some sort of action now in order to correct a problem that's not even clearly defined.”
Gallucci told Ideastream Public Media earlier this month that results of a survey conducted as part of NOACA’s Long Range Plan reflected an overall concern for climate change and need for climate action across its five-county region.
“This was a statistically significant survey … that had that population sample size that was representative,” she said. “When we did that, there was clearly support for recognizing climate change and for having our public officials, elected officials do something about it -- do more about it.”
Join us next week for the first three Community Engagement Sessions concerning Regional Climate Action Planning! We're excited to hear your ideas and concerns on the subject.https://t.co/x3I1K9OJv6 pic.twitter.com/DcJeRw3NRf
— NOACA (@NOACA_MPO) August 11, 2023
NOACA partnered with Ratner to lead the in-person sessions to get more feedback that better represented the region. The Monday meeting went well, Gallucci said, and she feels the agency received good feedback from the public on their climate concerns.
“We had very good turnout. We had a lot of folks that were interested in the topic. We had people participate in a very respectful way … We have a lot of feedback,” she said. “So, from that perspective, our goal was met in terms of getting input into the process.”
NOACA will hold their second engagement session Tuesday at 5:30 at Lakeland Community College in Kirtland and additional sessions in Cuyahoga, Geauga and Medina counties throughout the month.
