To gain a better understanding of how the Council can assist its community to mitigate the impacts of the climate emergency, we asked them to share their lived experiences of a warming climate.

Those who responded to the questionnaire highlighted five overarching themes:

• Climate change is directly impacting our local environment, causing fear and uncertainty
• There is concern around:
  • the amount of urban development and destruction of green spaces
  • extreme weather events
  • poor air quality and pollution, and
  • a lack of understanding of and education around the issue.

While acknowledging there are many who do not fully appreciate the challenge the climate emergency poses for our City, what we heard confirms a number of residents both acknowledge the issue and the need for Council and the community to work together to create tangible change.

The recently endorsed Climate Emergency Action Plan is one of the primary tools to support this. It focuses on actions Council can take around emissions reduction and advocacy, while working with the community to transition to zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

Council also recently launched the Sustainability Learnings Portal to help increase knowledge and understanding in our community. It is also working on a broader longterm community education plan to help our residents better understand the impacts of a warming climate and ways we can come together for a cleaner and healthier City.