ISLAND COUNTY / MELANIE BACON: Sound Off: County takes climate crisis seriously, but real change happens at federal level
Island County Commissioner Melanie Bacon (D-Langley) wrote an opinion piece for the Whidbey News-Times. Read the whole story.
Summary by Perplexity AI
Island County Commissioner Melanie Bacon marks Black Climate Week by criticizing the current federal administration for dismantling environmental protections, expanding fossil fuel extraction, weakening marine protections, and undermining climate science infrastructure. She argues that while climate, equity, and health are intertwined and the county is embedding climate resiliency, equity, and health goals into its Comprehensive Plan, only the federal government has the authority to meaningfully alter the trajectory of climate change. County-level actions can build resilience and protect vulnerable residents, but cannot “fix” climate change itself, she writes, emphasizing the limits of local power.
They Said It
History shows that climate change disproportionately harms marginalized and disenfranchised communities. So Black Climate Week is a particularly crucial initiative this year, when the most racist administration in over 100 years is doing everything it can to bring back the glory days of smog, pollution and extinction of species.
The Board of Island County Commissioners has heard from some members of the community that they would like us to declare a climate emergency. Let me be clear: I agree that we are living in a climate emergency…. But the Board does not have the authority or ability to alter climate change itself.
