HomeMy WebLinkAboutBill No. 22-60 Resolution Climate Recovery & Our Commitment to Develop a Climate Action Plan --- <<,s rffice
BILL NO. 22-60 DEC 0 6 2022
RESOLUTION NO.4995-22 DAWN M.JONES
CITY CLERK, SOUTH BEND, IN
AN UPDATED AND SUPERCEDING RESOLUTION OF THE SOUTH BEND COMMON
COUNCIL CONCERNING CLIMATE RECOVERY AND OUR COMMITMENT TO
DEVELOP A CLIMATE ACTION PLAN AIMED AT GREENHOUSE GAS
REDUCTIONS FOR THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND AND TO SUPPORT OTHER
CLIMATE RELATED INITIATIVES.
WHEREAS, scientific consensus concludes that it is extremely likely that the dominant
cause of ongoing climate change is the emission of heat-trapping gases by human actions,
primarily from the combustion of fossil fuels; and the more carbon dioxide in our
atmosphere, the warmer our planet gets. Per the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), carbon has not been this highly concentrated in the atmosphere in
the past 800,000 years; in fact, according to NOAA, the five-year period, 2014-2018, are the
warmest years ever recorded 1; and
WHEREAS, in 1988, NASA's Dr. James Hanson testified before Congress on the impending
perils of climate change, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was
established by the United Nations and the World Meteorological Association, and has since
released five climate assessments with each affirming: the planet is getting warmer and
humans are causing it through our carbon emissions, and unless we reduce emissions, there
are serious environmental consequences in our future. Both the 1997 Kyoto Protocol2 and the
2015 Parisi Agreement challenged nations to reduce greenhouse emissions and thereby, limit
climate change, and the 2019 IPCC report just released in January advocates for policies
aimed at temperature targets under one point five (1.5) degrees Celsius, and further
acknowledged that the impact of even a one point five (1.5) degrees Celsius rise will pose
drastic impact on the Earth's ecosystems and inhabitants4; and
WHEREAS,climate change already poses risks at the global, state, and local level, impacts
evidenced around the world are changes in precipitation (intensification of both drought and
storm effects), ocean acidification, coral reef degradation, loss of species, threats to marine
life and biodiversity, rising sea levels threatening food supplies and livelihoods, and forced
emigration of coastal populations. In addition, extreme weather events, temperatures, and
air pollutants can acutely impact human health. The elderly, young, homeless, and people
with chronic diseases, or respiratory illnesses (such as asthma) are particularly sensitive to
1 httos://www.nationalgeograohic.com/environ ment/2019/02/2018-fourth-warmest-year-ever-noaa-nasa
reports/
2 UNFCCC {1997) Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change adopted at COPS
3 httos:// unfccc.int/resource/biaoicture/#content-the-oaris-agreement
4 https://www.ipcc.ch/