I am currently a senior at Valencia High School and an intern at the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning and the Environment.
I’m writing to express my concern about the rising impacts climate change has on our city. I presented this information to the city Planning Commission at their meeting on July 16, and I wanted the community to hear my concerns.
This summer alone, with record high temperatures and an incredibly dangerous wildfire season, it’s clear that climate change is currently affecting our beloved city.
Thus, I request that the city update its Climate Action Plan that was produced in 2012. The measures listed in said plan were promised to be updated regularly, yet there hasn’t been a single report produced.
To put this into perspective, the Climate Action Plan emphasizes baseline data from 2005, meaning this data was produced two years before I was even born.
As a concerned citizen, I would like to see the data we were promised at an updated scale, especially considering the city’s efforts for improvements in terms of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.
As members of the public, we deserve to have communication from the city about climate change and consequent repercussions, especially when it directly affects our health and livelihood.
Not to mention, the city has greatly expanded since the plan was first approved in 2012, with new development projects in almost every section of the city.
With tons of new families moving into Santa Clarita, the city must keep its citizens updated about its impacts on climate change.
All in all, as a member of the younger generation, I respectfully ask the city to update its Climate Action Plan, because my peers and I will have to deal with the harmful consequences if the city does not keep up with the looming pressures of climate change.
Jean Choi
Valencia
