What will climate change mean for Revelstoke, and how can we as a community start now to plan and prepare for those changes? An evening workshop hosted by the City of Revelstoke and the Columbia Basin Trust (CBT) will explore that topic.
City of Revelstoke environmental sustainability coordinator Penny Page-Brittin explains that on the local level there are basically two main thrusts to the climate change. The first is doing what we can to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The second is predicting, understanding and preparing for changes that will come as a result of climate change. This session will focus on the latter.
Page-Brittin explains the CBT consultants that will lead the session have been involved in community-level planning in several other Basin communities. They’ll be applying lessons learned there to Revelstoke, and the public is invited to learn more and comment at the session this Thursday.
The City of Revelstoke is scheduled to complete an integrated community sustainablity plan next year. Page-Brittin says the city will work with the CBT consultants to integrate their knowledge into the plan.
The goal, she says, is to gain a better understanding of what’s to come. “What’s going to happen differently,” Page-Brittin said, “and how are we going to respond to make a more resilient community?”
One key objective is to plan and think long term so our actions can focus on adaptation instead of mitigation.
So, what are some of the key changes the community might experience? There’ll be lots of information at the meeting, but Page-Brittin gives the examples of increased forest fire risk, flooding issues and water concerns due to changing snowpacks.
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The Planning for Climate Change workshop takes place this Thursday, Nov. 3, 7–8:30 p.m. at the Revelstoke Seniors’ Centre. Free.