Why we are appealing to the city of Niagara Falls to declare a climate emergency
Open Letter to Mayor Diodati and city Councillors re. Climate Emergency
February 20, 2020
Dear Mayor Diodati,
Cc: City Councillors
First, we would like to introduce ourselves— we are For Our Kids Niagara (FOKN,) a Niagara-based group of parents concerned about climate change and dedicated to being part of the solution to our current climate crisis.
We are writing you this open letter to request an update on what the City of Niagara Falls is doing to fight climate change.
In an article published in the St. Catharines Standard on November 5, 2019, you said, in regards to climate change, that, “We recognize that there's a problem going on and it's not going to be solved by waiting for a federal level of government or some other entity to fix it, it's everybody doing their part.”
You also spoke about proactively mitigating against the destruction caused by climate change by means of improved building codes; a program to identify water and wastewater leaks; replacing old municipal streetlights with LED fixtures; a tree-replacement program; and the addition of more bike lanes and trails.
We would be interested to learn more about these different initiatives you mentioned.
And while these are all worthwhile programs, we feel that they do not reflect the scale or urgency of our world climate crisis. It's simply not enough. We are out of time.
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a report in October 2018 that details the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C. It states that “limiting global warming to 1.5°C would require rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society...” (https://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/climate-change/) and that to avoid catastrophe, global net human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide needs to decrease drastically.
We need our elected officials to concentrate on initiatives that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
We would like to know what you and the city of Niagara Falls have done to in response to this global emergency.
As a municipality, we can’t afford to wait any longer to enact legislation and implement policies that work to reduce the municipality’s carbon footprint. We need, as you said, to do our part.
Going forward, we respectfully call on you to declare a climate emergency in Niagara Falls, as our neighbours in St. Catharines have done.
We would also like to see regular updates that include details regarding both emissions and what actions are being taken to reduce them and replace our reliance on fossil fuels while transitioning, fairly and equitably, to a renewable, green economy.
For Our Kids Niagara is writing to you in the spirit of collaboration and support. If resistance is met at provincial and other levels of government, we as citizens need to know so we can contact the appropriate representatives and erase whatever barriers exist to help Niagara Falls achieve its climate mitigation goals.
We would be very happy to discuss this matter with you further and to offer our support and assistance in achieving the goal of reducing our municipality’s carbon emissions.
Thank you for your commitment to the future of our city and our kids.
Sincerely,
For Our Kids Niagara
Www.forourkidsniagara.ca
Dear Mayor Diodati,
Cc: City Councillors
First, we would like to introduce ourselves— we are For Our Kids Niagara (FOKN,) a Niagara-based group of parents concerned about climate change and dedicated to being part of the solution to our current climate crisis.
We are writing you this open letter to request an update on what the City of Niagara Falls is doing to fight climate change.
In an article published in the St. Catharines Standard on November 5, 2019, you said, in regards to climate change, that, “We recognize that there's a problem going on and it's not going to be solved by waiting for a federal level of government or some other entity to fix it, it's everybody doing their part.”
You also spoke about proactively mitigating against the destruction caused by climate change by means of improved building codes; a program to identify water and wastewater leaks; replacing old municipal streetlights with LED fixtures; a tree-replacement program; and the addition of more bike lanes and trails.
We would be interested to learn more about these different initiatives you mentioned.
And while these are all worthwhile programs, we feel that they do not reflect the scale or urgency of our world climate crisis. It's simply not enough. We are out of time.
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a report in October 2018 that details the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C. It states that “limiting global warming to 1.5°C would require rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society...” (https://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/climate-change/) and that to avoid catastrophe, global net human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide needs to decrease drastically.
We need our elected officials to concentrate on initiatives that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
We would like to know what you and the city of Niagara Falls have done to in response to this global emergency.
As a municipality, we can’t afford to wait any longer to enact legislation and implement policies that work to reduce the municipality’s carbon footprint. We need, as you said, to do our part.
Going forward, we respectfully call on you to declare a climate emergency in Niagara Falls, as our neighbours in St. Catharines have done.
We would also like to see regular updates that include details regarding both emissions and what actions are being taken to reduce them and replace our reliance on fossil fuels while transitioning, fairly and equitably, to a renewable, green economy.
For Our Kids Niagara is writing to you in the spirit of collaboration and support. If resistance is met at provincial and other levels of government, we as citizens need to know so we can contact the appropriate representatives and erase whatever barriers exist to help Niagara Falls achieve its climate mitigation goals.
We would be very happy to discuss this matter with you further and to offer our support and assistance in achieving the goal of reducing our municipality’s carbon emissions.
Thank you for your commitment to the future of our city and our kids.
Sincerely,
For Our Kids Niagara
Www.forourkidsniagara.ca
