The Westchester County Board of Legislators passed a resolution this week declaring that environmental conditions it had once referred to as climate change have advanced into a climate emergency.
As a result, County administration will revise the Westchester Climate Action Plan to further its action steps to mitigate the crisis on a local scale.
“Climate change is impacting our health, our economy, our future. This resolution formally acknowledges the gravity of the situation,” said Legislator Ruth Walter, chair of the board’s Environment & Health Committee. “With its passage we’re pledging to put the full force of County government behind actions to address the crisis and efforts to call attention to it at every other level of government.”
Through the resolution, the Board of Legislators has directed the county’s director of energy conservation and sustainability, Peter McCartt, and the county’s Climate Crisis Task Force to work with all 41 municipalities in Westchester to examine local implications of the climate crisis and identify steps to mitigate its impact.
It also urged other state and local governments to adopt and publicize their own respective declarations of climate emergency.
The resolution cited extreme temperatures and weather events like storms and wildfires, sea level increases, ocean acidification, species extinction, impacts on food and water security and the likelihood of the crisis worsening as its reasoning for the resolution and its urgency.
It was drafted by the board’s committees on environment and health; intergovernmental services; and planning, economic development and energy.
“Many of us have been working for years to call attention to the seriousness of the climate crisis we face here and around the world,” said Legislator Catherine Parker, chair of the board’s Planning, Economic Development & Energy Committee. “I’m gratified that the Board of Legislators is taking this step to put on record how seriously we take this. I’m thankful for the leadership that County Executive Latimer and our Director of Energy and Sustainability, Peter McCartt, have shown as we’ve pushed forward with plans to replace the County’s fossil fuel vehicle fleet, support the transition to electric vehicles, promote food scrap recycling, and make our County facilities more energy efficient. The passage of this resolution isn’t the end but the beginning of an even stronger effort to make Westchester a leader in sustainability.”
The resolution also cited several steps the county has taken to reduce emissions and environmental impacts, like implementing electric buses, creating a compost facility, requiring all new car purchases to be electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles, creating electric vehicles charging stations and installing water bottle refilling systems in parks.
