Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Hadley’s Climate Change Committee held a public input forum in the Hadley Senior Center to review the new Climate Emergency Declaration draft.
By Catelyn Fitzgerald ’23
Science & Environment Editor
On Sept. 22, 2022, town residents gathered in the Hadley Senior Center to review the newest draft of the town’s proposed Climate Emergency Declaration. The meeting — a “climate change public input forum,” per the Hadley, Massachusetts, town website — included presentations from local experts on the potential impacts of climate change on the town and gave opportunities for residents to voice concerns and make comments on the emergency declaration before it is acted upon by the Hadley Select Board.
The Climate Emergency Declaration was created by Hadley’s Climate Change Committee, a group with seven members founded about three years ago, Committee Chair Jack Czajkowski said in an interview with Mount Holyoke News. According to the Daily Hampshire Gazette, the declaration forum was presented to the Hadley Select Board in summer 2022. Rather than accepting the initial draft, Czajkowski said the Select Board recommended the Climate Change Committee “get more voices involved” in the declaration.
As a result, the Committee went back to the drawing board and prepared a new draft of the declaration to be presented to the public for feedback, he said. Czajkowski described the new draft as more “Hadley centered,” and while he explained that much of the declaration remained the same between the two drafts, it was adjusted to contain less legal jargon. “We have listened [to Hadley residents] from first draft to second draft, and now we’re listening again from second draft to third draft.”
Czajkowski is an eighth grade science teacher, and, during his time off in the summer months, helps his brother run their family farm. Because of this background, he has both expertise in and first-hand experience with the consequences of climate change.
He recalled this summer being particularly harsh on the farm. “We didn’t really have much rain to speak of. … It was really rough,” Czajkowski said. The dry summer created a difficult working environment in the fields. “It totally demonstrated that the problem is here and now. Folks I was working on the farm with were wearing dust masks — not because of [COVID-19], but because of the issues with the rain,” he said.”
The current draft of the Climate Emergency Declaration takes up both sides of a letter-sized sheet of paper and is made up of eight sections. A key message of the document is an acknowledgement that climate change “is a matter of grave, urgent public concern” for the town of Hadley. The declaration details existing climate legislation such as the Paris Agreement, an international agreement to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
The declaration also highlights Massachusetts legislation adopted in March 2021 under Governor Charlie Baker that “brings the state’s climate change policy ambitions in line with the Paris Agreement.” The Massachusetts legislation includes a commitment to produce zero emissions by 2050 and create 100,000 new jobs in the state through clean energy development, according to the declaration. The Climate Emergency Declaration includes a commitment to align town policy with the state’s net-zero emissions goal. In addition to calling for measures to prevent climate change from worsening, the declaration also calls for the town to engage in climate “adaptation and resilience planning,” such as preparing for increased flooding.
Czajkowski recalled feeling confident bringing the draft forward after the Climate Change Committee’s success in passing a plastic bag ban for the town in the spring of 2022. “We’re comfortable taking this Climate Emergency Declaration to the whole town and saying ‘stand with us,’” he said.
At the public input forum, printed copies of the Climate Emergency Declaration draft sat on each table for attendees to review. The forum began with presentations that outlined the risks climate change poses to the town. University of Massachusetts Amherst Professor of Sociology Julie Brigham-Grette presented first on “the causes of climate change and what we can do about them,” Czajkowski said, adding that she “did a wonderful job.”
Retired local firefighter Josh Stanley presented on the potential for increased flooding due to climate change in the region around the Connecticut River, including Hadley, and advocated for updates to the local infrastructure to adapt to the flood risk.
Stanley was accompanied by Andrew Smith, the coordinator for the Greater Connecticut River Valley region Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program, which is working on securing grant funding to support these upgrades. “You might say ‘what do all those people have to do with a climate resolution,’” Czajkowski remarked before explaining that the presenters “were really painting the broader picture of ‘this is urgent and we need to act now.’”
Following the presentations, the Climate Emergency Declaration was read aloud by members of the Climate Change Committee and then the meeting was opened up for questions and comments. “We were curious about what people’s objections would be,” Czajkowski said of his thoughts going into the forum. He noted that a number of the people in attendance were farmers, from whom the Committee expected some pushback against the declaration. “A lot of the concerns are, ‘Are you saying I can’t use my tractor,’ and other things like that,” he said. “We don’t want people having those fears,” he continued.
These concerns regarding electrification as a way to reach carbon neutrality were shared by several of the attendees. One attendee asked if the declaration would cut off their access to fossil fuels and expressed concern over the cost of electric vehicles. Czajkowski said that the Climate Change Committee already has plans in place to address these concerns, such as securing grants to help fund environmental protection policies.
“There might have been a little frostiness, but we are really trying to work hard,” he said. He added that he does not wish for the town to be seen as divided into “factions” after the forum, going on to explain that climate change solutions look different to everyone, from electrifying transportation to making buildings more eco-friendly. He also explained that any action plan resulting from the emergency declaration will allow residents to act on climate change in a way that works best for them. “I hope it doesn’t come across as us against them,” he said, referring to the Committee and the town residents.
Czajkowski noted that the forum lacked the presence of younger Hadley residents and expressed his hope to see more youth involved in the town’s sustainability efforts. “This is your life and our town,” he stated, addressing local youth.
According to Czaijkowski, the next steps for the Committee are to redraft the Climate Emergency Declaration and prepare it for a presentation at the next town meeting in November, where it will be held to a vote.
He explained that if approved in the town meeting, the declaration will be treated as a mandate requiring the Hadley Select Board to take action on climate change, and will additionally be passed to the governor.