By Diane Christin Zenchenko-Esser, Executive Committee Secretary, Lake Erie Group; Writer/Producer of the documentary, The Green Connection-Climate Change, NOAA Watershed Educator, and the owner of Floraroze Forest Watershed Wetland Center in Girard PA.
Eds: The following has been edited for length and clarity.
Attending and speaking up during public comment periods at county and municipal meetings is one way to urge our local elected officials to implement climate change mitigating measures such as green infrastructure and clean energy. I recently wrote to my local city council in Raleigh, North Carolina, about our local carbon footprint and my hopes, as a climate educator and concerned citizen, that they would do more to require green energy technology in new construction in our area, as well as examine our local transportation infrastructure and take steps to make it less fossil-fuel reliant and more compatible with our needs, rather than merely serving to facilitate more and more car and truck traffic.
If adjusted to include local concerns, the talking points in my remarks below to the Raleigh City Council could be used as a jumping off point for readers who wish to address their own municipalities, and urge our local governments to take measures to do their part to prevent the dire effects of climate change within our communities.
Good Morning Raleigh City Council, Mayor Mary Ann Baldwin.
You and your citizens awakened to air quality warnings today. Many of you have families and are concerned about the serious gravity of air quality warnings, and today your WRAL news and national news connected that dot to climate change.
It has been my role as a children’s environmental non-profit founder, and climate change educator to educate on the seriousness of climate change and our role in making change. This education spans from townships and cities to individuals. I will return to speak at the next council meeting, but I begin here with this open letter.
I have addressed the City Council on the seriousness of the growing carbon footprint in Raleigh and pointed out the amount of green infrastructure being gouged out by developers for massive residential and commercial buildings. It appears they are resisting replacing what they have gouged out. Is this correct?
When I see the Lassiter/North Hills Building, attached to where J C Penney stood, and the magnitude of that 14-story project, I wonder…where are the cars going to go? It is basically a two-lane road with no way to expand. I am not the only one wondering.
Raleigh is the 5th fastest growing city in the U.S.; there is no green public transportation, which leaves people wondering about the additional single car usage that all this development will engender. The neighborhoods have had to endure at least two years (if I am correct) of noise pollution. I have seen no solar arrays or solar roof panels on the new luxury homes. Is solar and green energy mandated for luxury home builders building plans? If all this construction does not have solar or other renewable energy sources, your future is fossil fuel from Duke Energy.
It is critical for all cities to reduce the CO2 emissions warming our planet. Science has proven that CO2 emissions are stressing our global system, from warming our oceans to creating massive forest fires. I wonder if these air quality warnings are bringing home to you the seriousness of climate change and of a fossil fuel future. Unfortunately, dirty fossil fuel companies fund political campaigns (no secret), but the result is the demise of a livable planet, our only home. Our children deserve action for their future.
A quantum leap is needed in green tree-lined streets and parking lots, green transportation and energy. And, City Council, and Mayor, YOU can do that through immediate “obeyed” ordinances - zoning that your communities fight for. I was recently approached at Dix Park for your Dare to be Green Award. In turn, I dare the city and all governing leaders to “dare to be green”. Toxic smoke and haze is now hovering over and in your city as I type this.
I know the critical urgency of all of this, and it is my job to assure our children that someone is fighting for their clean air and water future.
The mounting amount of street and parking lot cement without cooling tree coverage is shocking. The new Wegmans and the shopping center in that entire commercial area has a glaring lack of green trees and foliage that would lower the heat index. Cement on a 100-degree day (common in our area) will ramp up to 130 and 140. The heat index makes that section of Raleigh uninhabitable unless you go from air conditioned car to building. That heat on car tires has an effect.
Historically, we did not expect the average citizen to understand the danger of an altered climate, but now, we have air quality warnings, and local news communicates the health directive to wear an N95 mask. Suddenly, climate change becomes more of a reality to those that might have been unaware.
But as a collective governing body, you now are educated and know you need to increase our green infrastructure in roadways and parking lots, and demand builders replace the natural vegetation they are gouging out, as well as require that builders put solar in these new mega-mansions that now sit amongst the remaining “old Raleigh” little brick homes being bought out one by one.
For your review, I have included links to several information sources that will corroborate my points above.
- Climate change, including increased heat, extended drought, and a thirsty atmosphere, has been a key driver in increasing the risk and extent of wildfires in the western United States during the last two decades.
- This is the ground breaking article on how climate change and our rising temperatures were hidden from the public. But this article will show you how a government hid information, even from you. But our climate is now a glaring tragedy because of what was hidden.
- Smoke and harmful particles will cover all North Carolina for the rest of the week, creating potentially unhealthy conditions for everyone — especially those with asthma, the Department of Environmental Quality said Tuesday afternoon. More than 400 Canadian wildfires continue to scorch land near Quebec, sending clouds of smoke downwind to the United States, including the Carolinas. The smoke, paired with rising temperatures, allowed ozone levels to rise Tuesday and will create unhealthy conditions for people outside for the rest of the week. State officials on Tuesday afternoon upgraded air quality alerts for Wednesday to Code Red for more than 35 counties in Piedmont and central North Carolina and issued Code Orange alerts for the westernmost and eastern part of the state.
- Forest Fires regularly devastate millions of acres of forest and sometimes threaten entire communities with sudden, catastrophic violence. Destructive fires have an enduring impact on the community that lingers long after people return home to resume their lives. Findlater speaks from experience when he says “life is never quite the same again after you’ve been evacuated.”
Thank you for your time, consideration and service to our families. Your job is large and it carries heavy responsibilities, and I value your dedication.
Diane Christin Zenchenko-Esser
This blog was included as part of the July 2023 Sylvanian newsletter. Please click here to check out more articles from this edition!