Dane County, local governments leading conversation, work on climate change

At a time when state and federal governments refuse to acknowledge the realities of climate change, it’s imperative at the local level we do all we can to mitigate the impacts of our changing world.

Denial from the president, governor and others unfortunately won’t counter the very real effects our agricultural and tourism economies will experience as winters become milder, summers hotter and flooding rains find their way onto weather radars more frequently. We’re coming off another spring that saw excessive rain. April was one of the top ten rainiest ever, increasing run-off into our lakes before the busy season of outdoor recreation begins.

In the absence of leadership on the state or federal level, I recently created a new office to address climate change here at home. The Dane County Office on Energy and Climate Change, along with the Council on Climate Change, bring together the best and brightest from across our community representing businesses, utilities and local governments to make sure we’re collaborating to address the challenge. There are things we can do. 

County government has accomplished a significant milestone in our quest for clean energy sustainability: Dane County is now producing green energy equivalent the amount of electricity needed to run county operations. Because of the priority we’ve placed at generating solar power and converting naturally occurring gas at our landfill into electricity, we are effectively off-setting the energy we use.

One of the primary goals of our new Dane County Council on Climate Change is to identify similar opportunities for other public and private employers to also reduce their energy consumption and subsequent carbon footprint. It’s important we pursue further innovation and encourage additional community partners to step forward and embrace this as a priority.

Change always starts with grassroots efforts. That’s why I’m hopeful local governments across our region and country will replicate our work. The absence of leadership from the state and federal governments offers us all an opportunity to lead boldly on an issue that’s imperative to our continued quality of life and economic vitality.