From the Advocacy Committee
September 5, 2023
Global warming and climate change are no longer issues for debate. Average global temperatures are rising, harmful heat days are increasing, and we are seeing increasingly severe storms, flooding, drought, and wildfires that are producing terrible damage to communities, wildlife and persons, both in our country and across the world. It is time for all of us to be serious about what we all can do, individually and as a community.
The good news is that much of what we can and needs to be do environmentally is done locally. Camp Hill recently developed a Climate Action Plan that addresses steps our community can take to join in the effort to slow global warming and protect our environment.
The plan is forward thinking and aspirational, but strictly voluntary. It offers an opportunity for Camp Hill to model environmental stewardship and to be a leader in demonstrating what a committed community can do. There are helpful toolkits and links to both the Cumberland County and Pennsylvania Climate Action Plans.
It is easy to feel overwhelmed, but each of us only needs to take a few steps to make a difference. The following are ways you can help:
1. Reduce our reliance on fossil fuels by
• Using heat pumps for A/C and home heating
• Increasing the efficiency of residential and commercial properties via improved insulation
• Installing Solar panels in homes and businesses
• Driving Hybrid or electric cars
• Increasing use of bikes and supporting efforts to increase safe walking areas and bike lanes
• Recycling and reducing our reliance on plastic bags and packaging
• Walking and bicycling more
2. Protect against further degradation of our environment by
• Planting more trees
• Reducing our use of plastics
• Increasing recycling efforts
• Developing and respecting the use of greenspaces and riparian borders particularly on our local streams
3. Buy local.
In addition to our personal activities, Camp Hill residents can also engage publicly on environmental issues.
Register and vote for local, state, and national candidates who care about environmental issues. Check your voter registration and encourage your friends, family, and neighbors to do the same.
Educate our local, state, and national representatives about the environment. Send an email or letter and call their offices. You can also join and donate to local, state, and national organizations that lobby for sane environmental policies.
Confront the lies involving climate denialism, as well as environmental nihilism (“It’s hopeless/there’s nothing we can do”) when you encounter it among friends, associates, workmates and family.
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