Community members, young and old, milled through booths exhibiting environmental solutions Saturday in anticipation of Alachua County’s climate summit.
Following the completion of the county vulnerability assessment in July, the event offered a first look into the county’s climate action plan. The plan, which has been in development since 2020, is split into three themes: resilience, mitigation and quality of life.
Over 150 activists, students and locals offered input Nov. 16 on the draft presented by Stephen Hofstetter, director of the Alachua County Environmental Protection Department.
The plan is broken into chapters for energy, transportation, natural resources, water, waste, flooding, mental health, food security and green jobs. It will focus on equity and a series of target goals, Hofstetter said.
“It’s kind of a two-fold approach,” he said. “How are we addressing our part to reduce our impacts, and then what are we going to do as a community to be resilient and sustainable with these changes we are going to experience?”
In three large-scale assessments, the county will evaluate the strength of critical infrastructure, update its greenhouse gas inventory and log current tree cover. Obtaining more conservation land, about 43,000 acres by 2030, is crucial to flood control, reducing heat and protecting wildlife, Hofstetter said.
The county also aims to have all county facilities running on solar energy by 2030, with an interim goal of half by next year.
Attendee feedback was recorded digitally and projected onto the front wall as responses flooded in. When prompted about pressing concerns, the word “heat” appeared in bold letters, later framed by “storms,” “energy costs,” “water quality,” “climate migrants” and “wildlife,” among others.
The crowd expressed satisfaction with the plan’s equity and community focus but called for clearer implementation strategies. Several responses expressed concern about funding, post-election political challenges, local participation and an overly ambitious timeline.
“We’re all experiencing the impacts of climate and … we need to hear from everyone,” Hofstetter said. “Any feedback, any ideas, any concerns people have, we’re going to take that into account and try to integrate that into the plan.”
Each chapter will be reviewed early next year, with the entire plan estimated to be completed toward the end of 2025, Hofstetter said. He emphasized the importance of helping those “most likely in need” during its enactment, an effort that will be aided by Gainesville as the city continues to develop its own climate action policy.
Speakers from the Sierra Club, Community Organizations Active in Disasters, Sunrise Movement, Third Act, UF Thompson Earth Systems Institute and local municipalities led breakout presentations about community initiatives. A second set of breakouts covered several segments of the climate action plan.
Ryan Lam, a 21-year-old UF agricultural and biological engineering senior, said he attended the summit in hopes of discussing water remediation — the focus of his most recent projects — and sustainable transportation.
“Mobility is important to me as a student,” he said. “I bike around a lot to help with reducing emissions.”
Though Sandra Vardaman also expressed excitement about the plan’s subject matter, the 61-year-old Alachua County resident said she would form a better opinion after reading the tangible chapter drafts.
“The devil’s in the details,” she said.
Contact Rylan DiGiacomo-Rapp at rdigiacomo-rapp@alligator.org. Follow her on X @rylan_digirapp.
Rylan DiGiacomo-Rapp is a third year journalism and environmental science major and the Fall 2024 Enterprise Environmental Reporter. Outside of the newsroom, you can usually find her haunting local music venues.
