State, communities lead on climate change

Late last fall Downtown Newsmagazine checked with local municipalities and neighboring communities to see what officials were doing in terms of sustainability and local efforts to combat climate change. We learned at that time not all local municipalities had formally taken up what is known as the Michigan Green Communities Challenge, a more structured approach to preparing for expected climate issues impacting us now and in the future, which is a critical role that local governments must embrace and even more so with the new administration that has taken hold after the last presidential election.

The Michigan Green Communities Challenge was established in 2009 as a means of benchmarking sustainability efforts and providing a statewide networking and technical assistance program. In 2023, 63 communities across the state, including the cities of Birmingham and Royal Oak, as well as other neighboring municipalities, took up the challenge to fulfill the bulk of 127 sustainability benchmarks that include climate adaptation; energy efficiency in government, commercial and residential buildings; recycling and hazardous waste handling; and encouraging a balance between economic growth and preserving open green space, as a few examples.

To recognize achievement participating communities are awarded bronze, silver and gold or platinum seals. Birmingham was one of 36 communities achieving gold status for 2023, along with Royal Oak, Berkley, Ferndale, West Bloomfield and the county of Oakland. Twenty communities achieved silver seals, including the city of Troy.

In the case of Birmingham, the city in the summer of 2024 unveiled the initial draft of its Green Healthy Climate sustainability plan with benchmarks to hit by 2035, and down the road by 2050 to achieve carbon neutrality. A lion’s share of credit goes to Birmingham Planning Director Nicholas Dupuis who also gives special credit to city commissioner Katie Schafer and city government leadership, along with backing from the public which offered its priorities for such a plan.

Dupuis tells us that the city set goals and the public clearly wanted water and stormwater as the number one issue, even among the set who may not have global warming as a major concern. From there a goal was developed to increase the city’s capacity to infiltrate or capture an added 500,000 gallons of stormwater per rainfall.

The city’s plan covers a variety of climate issues, some of which may require ordinance changes to help prepare Birmingham for future climate challenges. In the process of working to reach sustainability goals, the city may realize some financial savings which can be redirected at covering expenses that will likely come with reaching 2035 and 2050 goals.

Frankly, the city and neighboring Royal Oak are considered among the leaders when it comes to being proactive – developing plans now to manage what the future, most people agree, may bring.

And that’s a good thing when we see what is taking place at the national level which is best described as an abandonment of almost all efforts to be part of the climate challenge solution in the next several years. Solving the climate crisis will now have to be led by the states and their local municipalities.

One of the first things President Trump did this term was to sign an order to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, the second time he has pulled out of the international accord first negotiated in 2015. Then his EPA administrator announced about three dozen deregulatory moves that he says involved rules that have “burdened industry.” Among them are rules impacting air, water and climate quality, such as power plant emissions, especially coal plants, for which regulations will be relaxed as they apply to toxic metal emissions; elimination of greenhouse gas reporting rules; reconsideration of wastewater rules that apply to mercury and arsenic; and relaxing of national emission standards for manufacturing, for starters. Then there is the planned closure of the lab in Hawaii that posts daily stats on atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, along with the closure of all Environmental Justice Centers and a push to get rid of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

All of this makes it even more critical that states and local communities carry forward on the effort to address climate issues. Kudos to the community of Birmingham and neighboring municipalities who are helping to lead the way on this important endeavor.