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40 CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
<br /> and power to be the ones who are at the top of the food chain. The ones who have the intellect to
<br /> change for good or for the worse. Or, for the good and for the bad. We, as humans, have been
<br /> selfish and have only thought about ourselves. We have neglected the Earth and our home that we
<br /> so much take for granted. We wake up every morning and we eat from this Earth. We only survive
<br /> with the nutrients that come from the Earth. Recently, we have been doing things such as
<br /> deforestation of the Amazon Rain Forest,which are the lungs of our Earth. With that,we are seeing
<br /> species go extinct that we've never even discovered in the rain forest. With our lack of care, we
<br /> have made these plastics that somehow end up in the ocean and you have things such as the big
<br /> pile of plastic in the ocean the size of Texas that is killing species of the ocean. You have birds
<br /> eating plastic. You have fish and turtles thinking this plastic is food. You might be sitting there
<br /> asking how can we relate this back to South Bend? We, as the people of South Bend, every single
<br /> one (1) of us has the responsibility to make sure we keep our Earth and we uphold our Earth. We
<br /> are the stewards of this creation and I ask you, Council Members, please, pass this ordinance and
<br /> that we might start this momentum in the United States. We might recover the harm that we've
<br /> done so that we can do better on the Earth. Thank you.
<br /> Co-Committee Chair Broden stated, First (1st) and foremost let me just thank you all. What you
<br /> have done tonight for our community and for our Council is provide compelling science and
<br /> compelling testimony. Speaking for myself, you are my boss. I am a public servant. You hired me.
<br /> So, with this Chair, and in this role, and in this time in my life, I value, so deeply, what you have
<br /> said tonight, the individuals in this room and the individuals who have contributed to all that has
<br /> come before us tonight. With great power,great ability,and that is a responsibility I will take going
<br /> forward.
<br /> She went on, So, next steps. Tonight, there was an ordinance request. You've invited us to listen.
<br /> Your voices will not go unheard. Your plea will not go unanswered, as far as I can help it. Next
<br /> steps will be to have a second(2nd)follow-up meeting to this,hitting some real basics and specifics.
<br /> We have a full agenda, another two (2) hours or hour and a half, dedicated to a follow-up to
<br /> tonight's meeting scheduled for Wednesday,February 27th, same place,same time,from 5:30 p.m.
<br /> to 7:30 p.m. We hope to continue the conversation, continue gathering information but also
<br /> continue getting public input. Within this timeframe of this meeting and the following meeting,
<br /> we will do our best to fill out the public record as much as possible in terms of the formal minutes,
<br /> the documentation that was provided, the PowerPoints, most especially the letters that other
<br /> students throughout the community provided. That way, as I said, early on, we all start from kind
<br /> of the same starting point. So, those are our plans.
<br /> Ms. Dorau stated, Generally speaking, tonight was about making sure that we all had the basis of
<br /> information needed to understand the problem and start thinking about solutions and also to hear
<br /> from the public and hear why climate change was important to you. That was the goal of tonight.
<br /> Next week will be focused on local solutions. We are inviting a couple of speakers to talk about
<br /> ways in which we have already started addressing climate change challenges. I will be talking
<br /> about what the City has been doing. We will also be talking with MACOG about some of the
<br /> transportation and renewable energy work they do. Then, we will have a little bit of a dialogue
<br /> about what we would be interested in Council doing and where they think they want to go, and
<br /> then have additional public comments. That is really a special time for anyone who is working on
<br /> a climate-related or a sustainability-related project and talk about the local solution they are
<br /> bringing to the community. They really do want Council to feel there is already a lot of momentum
<br /> EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT
<br /> 455 County-City Building 227W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f 574.235.9173 I I U574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov
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