Friday, June 2, 2017
Mayor Domenic J. Sarno is joining mayors across the country in upholding the Paris Climate Accord and denouncing President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the agreement. Mayor Sarno said “I have requested to sign on with other mayors nationally. Also, the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission is my partner on our Climate Action and Resilience Plan. We’re already doing this work and my administration will continue along the path of resilience work and environmental stewardship. It not only makes scientific/health sense, but also budget/financial sense too. By the way, next Friday our great city will release our federally funded ‘Just, Healthy, and Strong: Climate Action & Resilience plan’ for a public comment period before it is finalized and submitted to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, by whom it has been funded along with $17 million dollars worth of resilience and climate action initiatives throughout the city. The goals of our ‘Just, Healthy, and Strong: Climate Action & Resilience plan’ are to reduce our city's Greenhouse Gas emissions by 80% in 2050 and to make our city even stronger to survive and thrive in the face of increasingly severe and unpredictable weather events caused by human over-use of fossil fuels. In partnership with the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission and their team, Arise for Social Justice and Partners for a Healthier Community, our Just Healthy & Strong plan, builds on a foundation of Climate Justice, recognizing that low-income individuals and people of color bear disproportionate impact on their health and lives from environmental pollution and climate change. Our plan, and the investments and interventions planned and underway, will increase the resilience of our low income and otherwise vulnerable residents, expanding environmental, economic, and social benefits to our urban core and riverfront neighborhoods. Providing back-up power, transitioning to clean, safe renewable energy, restoring and enhancing our urban tree canopy and making affordable housing healthier and energy efficient are just a few of the actions underway.”
