Sullivan County has been officially designated by the state as a Climate Smart Community and a Clean Energy Community. These two designations demonstrate that the elected legislators in the county, as well as their predecessors, have a commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and, insofar as possible, reducing the county’s carbon dioxide footprint and moving away from relying on fossil fuels.

The county’s goal of addressing the threat posed by the possible negative impacts of dates back at least to 2007, when the legislature adopted a “Green Vision Statement” and then created the Office of Sustainable Energy. The commitment to address environmental concerns has led to numerous county projects such as the installation of solar, to improving the energy efficiency of county-owned buildings, to the gradual introduction of hybrid-electric vehicles into the county fleet.

The county’s leadership in this area has lead other municipalities to sign onto the Climate Smart Communities Program (CSC), with the towns of Bethel, Cochecton, Delaware, Highland, Lumberland and Tusten now members.

To become a CSC and take advantage of grant funding available to communities in the program, the elected officials of a municipality must adopt a CSC Pledge, which must include a list of 10 elements: “Pledge to be a Climate Smart Community; set goals, inventory emissions, plan for climate action; decrease community energy use; increase community use of renewable energy; realize benefits of recycling and other climate-smart solid waste management practices; reduce greenhouse gas emissions through use of climate-smart land-use tools; enhance community resilience and prepare for the effects of climate change; support development of a green innovation economy; inform and inspire the public; commit to an evolving process of climate action.”

While President Donald Trump has called climate change a hoax and removed the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement, local officials have long recognized the threat from global warming. The Climate Action Plan adopted in 2014 says, “Mounting scientific evidence supports the view that climate change is an urgent threat to the environmental and economic health of our planet, our country and our community, and that human activity is the major cause of these rapid changes. Among the documented effects are acidification of the earth’s oceans, melting glaciers, rising sea levels, and more frequent and severe weather events such as hurricanes, typhoons and droughts.”

The document explains how the issue will be handled. “In addressing the projected impacts of climate change Sullivan County will engage in both mitigation and adaptation: reduction of the use of fossil fuels and other activities that produce GHGs [greenhouse gasses] and contribute to the county’s carbon footprint (mitigation); and planning infrastructure and systems that will help the county and its residents withstand changes that cannot be mitigated (adaptation). Through the pledge and subsequent actions, the Sullivan County Legislature has made a strong commitment to achieve resiliency in government operations and in the community.”

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), which administers CSC, says that climate change has already had an impact, with the statewide annual average temperature rising about 2.4°F since 1970, and winter temperatures with rising 4.4°F.

The DEC says “New York is getting more precipitation in the winter and less precipitation in the summer. Between 1958 and 2010, the amount of precipitation falling in very heavy events (downpours) increased more than 70% across the northeastern United States.”

Climate change has also resulted in spring coming a week earlier than it did in the mid-20th century, and first bloom date is four days earlier, while winter snow cover has decreased. The oceans along New York State shores have risen more than a foot since 1900. It’s clear that as these trends continue into the future, humans will need to adapt.

Some 206 municipalities in New York State have taken the Climate Smart Pledge, but only 14 at this point have become certified. With this certification, the county legislature joins an elite group of elected officials who are taking meaningful action to try insure that future generations will not inherit an environment unfit for human life.