As climate change and the environment have seen more and more community interest and activism, the town responded in early February by hiring Kassie Burns as NOTL’s climate change co-ordinator.
Burns, who graduated from Brock University last year with a master’s in sustainability, has now been on the job for more than 100 days.
Her job thus far, she said, is one where she “couldn’t be happier.”
“I work with a variety of people,” she said. “Different departments internally here but also externally.”
She listed Niagara Region, Niagara Climate Change Action Network and “all the different municipalities in Niagara” as among those she works with outside of the municipality.
Burns said that her responsibilities with the town so far have included reviewing bylaws and policies that deal with climate change.
In the long term, she said there is a litany of things the town is looking to do to make an impact on the climate.
“The climate change adaptation plan, in particular, has a long list of action items,” she said. “Like developing a stormwater management plant, advancing our urban forestry plan, or supporting our waterfront plan.”
The NOTL climate change adaptation plan is an outline created by the municipality in 2022, which outlines six areas for them to focus on: Climate change policy, urban forests, flood risks, building construction, risk assessment and public awareness and education.
Beyond the town’s environmental efforts, there is also a somewhat different perspective on them by locals who have long focused on the town’s environmental efforts, including the climate change adaptation plan.
Take Lidija Biro, the founder of Seniors for Climate in Niagara and someone who lives in NOTL.
Her organization works on local environmental protection and advocacy that also connects to broader efforts beyond NOTL.
On top of activities like tree planting and other local environmental efforts, Biro said that there were also more immediate local environmental concerns they advocate for.
“Another concern for us is the high traffic volumes,” she said. “There is high traffic gridlock and there are parking issues. We are still advocating a traffic cop and an (electric vehicle) shuttle to alleviate some of that traffic.”
Biro’s organization have also been operating at a policy level: Pushing the municipality, and others, to act.
“There were some town halls last year, she said. “We called our local municipal government out on the fact that they had plans for climate adaptation, and they were supposed to be getting a climate co-ordinator and that got put off and put off.”
“That was when the lord mayor said that one had been hired a couple days before.”
Biro said hiring Burns was a good thing, but overall, there has been “minimal, minimal action” by the municipality.
She also said that she and her organization were disappointed in past council actions on climate change.
She said, for example, that she was “disappointed” that Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa and NOTL councillors had refused to sign a letter aimed at federal government leaders called “Elbows Up For Climate Action,” because it included a statement about pipelines.
“(Zalepa) said, ‘I do agree with many points contained in the letter,’” said Biro. “‘But I cannot support the following statement: ‘new pipelines require massive public havoc, trample on indigenous sovereignty, and mean more climate disasters hitting our cities and towns in years to come’ … ‘That’s an inaccurate statement and a generalization and does not reflect facts in all instances.'”
The lord mayor said he didn’t remember anything about this letter.
Biro said there are more than 50 environmental groups in the Niagara region currently pushing for action on the environment and climate change.
Niagara Region also pledged to get its corporate emissions down to net zero by 2050.
But after a long time of advocacy by these organizations, is the town more on the right path on environmental issues?
“It is very much narrowly more,” said Biro.
