Climate and environment

Hi, I'm Teresa Townsley. And from the flood disaster of 2021, what we did learn is that preparing our community for climate emergencies and developing resilience before there is a huge problem is critical. I support a practical climate action with measurable results. The township already adopted a climate action strategy in 2021. So before writing another plan, I'd want a public accounting of what's actually been completed, what's behind schedule and what's working. My priorities are very local and practical. Flood resilient stormwater, protecting streams, tree canopy, and of course, including our farmland. I will not be satisfied unless we have targets that we can measure and progress that residents can actually see.

Yes, I do. I would definitely support a climate action plan. The issue that this touches on is really one of water. That is the risk. And with the amount of paving that we're doing, our runoffs, our infrastructure is not able to support that sort of runoff. And so we have to be attentive. We have to be investing in that infrastructure because the risk that we have regarding flooding, both in farmland, and in our urban environment is critical. So absolutely, I do support it. Thank you.

Yes, I'm fully supportive of having a climate action plan. We actually do have one as has been mentioned, has 140 items in it. And I think it's important that we become transparent about what we're doing in our plan report regularly about what's happening with the plan and where we stand with that plan. We did, in the last term, there were eight wells that were decommissioned, and those wells would have been very helpful as a backup water system, and so we neglected the climate situation by decommissioning those wells that we have in our community. Lastly, the other thing that I helped to chair was a committee on the Community Forest Management Strategy, which was a plan to increase the tree canopy in the urban areas of our community.