Festival UnBound
Ten days of original theatre, dance, music, art and conversation designed to celebrate and imagine our future together!
October 4-13
(The latest in a series of posts relating to the environment, Bethlehem’s Climate Action Plan, and Bethlehem’s Environmental Advisory Council)
Peter Crownfield is officially retired but spends most of his time working with students in his role as internship coordinator for the Alliance for Sustainable Communities–Lehigh Valley.
“It’s Sunday, September 22, do you know where your local Climate Action Plan is?”
I wish I did, Gadfly!
The city issued an RFP for climate a action planning that was due over 2 months ago. (I was told that 4 proposals were received, but the City has refused to make the proposals public.) And they have not yet awarded a contract.
We need the city to adopt a resolution declaring a climate emergency and to direct all departments and employees to mobilize an all-out effort to reduce GHG emissions and to involve the entire community; the resolution also should call on businesses and educational institutions to do the same. ‘Business as usual’ is not acceptable.
BASD adopted a Climate and Sustainability Commitment over 5 years ago, but have not reported any significant progress on fulfilling the commitment. (The facilities department had already done an outstanding job of reducing energy use, even before the Climate and Sustainability Commitment was adopted.)
In the meantime, teachers in every subject area and every grade level can find ideas for teaching climate change by looking at the Teacher Guide section at teach-climate.net. Zinn Education Project also has some excellent resources for teachers.
Parents & students should demand that schools give appropriate attention to the climate emergency!
Peter
And now it’s Monday, September 23,
do you know where your local Climate Action Plan is?
There is no climate emergency. And the sky is not falling!