02-18-19 Joint Health and Public Safety and Utilities

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CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK closed roads and blew over electricity lines with all the trees blown down, as well. The next year, Taiwan was hit by two (2) super typhoons and one (1) normal typhoon in the span of two (2) weeks. Super typhoons used to be something one (1)wouldn't see much more than a few times in a lifetime.Yet now,we are expecting them every single year.These are costly, and lives are always lost.Taiwan is relatively good at dealing with it but other places in the region suffer more casualties during these typhoons. Some in the thousands. Earlier I spoke about disease spread. My senior year of high school, I watched one (1) of my best friend's be threatened by dengue fever. She caught one(1) of the worst strains and was at risk of organ failure. She was in the hospital for two (2)weeks and her skin was red for a month after because so many of her blood vessels had popped while she had the fever. Dengue fever used to only threaten the south of our island, occasionally, but now it is spread to be a rising threat to even where I live in the north. I am honestly very scared to see what the future holds for my island. Sea level rise is projected to affect the costal populations. Our coral reefs are projected to potentially die in the next thirty(30) years. As a scuba diver since the age of twelve(12), I've been devasted to see the amount of bleaching that has already occurred. Additionally, Taiwan is the most mountainous island in the world with two thirds (2/3) of the island consisting of mountains. This means the changes in temperature have already drastically impacted the country and will continue to affect the agriculture industry that operates within microclimates on the mountains. I wanted to share the plight of my home to remind everyone that although this is local action, this is not just about South Bend. The more places that join the movement to mitigate climate change,the better our chances of reducing impacts projected for the future and the better our chances of saving the livelihoods of millions of people around the world. I am saying we need this in South Bend and we need this for the world. Thank you. Tai Verbrugge, 18370 Dunn Road Apt 2104, stated, You've definitely heard me speak enough tonight. So, I will not offer my own comment. I did, however, want to note the submission of twenty-four (24) letters written by elementary school, middle school, high school students, some college students and some other local citizens of South Bend(available in the City Clerk's Office). I apologize, I am going to speak more. As Jackie mentioned, we help run an after-school climate club at the Robinson Center. Some of the students there were not able to make it tonight, so, they wanted us to relay what they care about and why they think climate change is important. So, Dwight, who actually spoke today, cares about nature and the north pole. He doesn't want the arctic to be destroyed. He wants both the north pole and the polar bears to stay. Malachi and Riley care about animals and they don't want to see them go extinct because of climate change. McKinley's favorite flowers are roses. Shawnna's is the chrysanthemum. Crystal likes flowers, too, and they don't want them to die with changing temperatures and seasons. Casey cares about flooding because it makes people have to move from where they want to live. Sincere feels bad for polar bears and especially for sharks because they are his favorite animal and their ocean environment is suffering the most. Yanni's favorite animals are dolphins and she wants to protect them from warmer oceans, and this is word for word what she said, and from ocean acidification. Joanne's house flooded twice and she is scared it will happen more because climate change will make it rain harder. Tania likes chocolate and she is worried there won't be as much of it in the future because the places where cacao can be grown are already being affected by climate change. Patrick likes outdoor activities like biking and if it gets too hot or too cold, he is worried he can't go outside as much. He's also worried about pollution making it harder for him to breathe. Thank you. Josh Crudup, 17727 Tanager Lane, stated, I would like to give my speech. So, a wise man once said with great power comes great responsibility. We, as humans,have had the great responsibility EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227 W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f 574.235.9173 TTD574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 23