By Laurie Casey

All around the U.S., communities are taking the lead on fighting climate change and building community resilience. Climate change is here, and it’s just a matter of time before some version of a Hurricane Ian or the Big Ranch Fire impacts any given community: intense storms, flash flooding, prolonged drought, extreme heat and other weather emergencies are intensifying each year.

This summer the Oak Park Village Board approved Climate Ready Oak Park, a comprehensive, long-range plan that provides a vision, goals and actions to make Oak Park more sustainable and resilient.

The plan was created through a months-long process involving input from hundreds of community residents and stakeholders. “Climate Ready Oak Park charts a course to fight climate change and protect our environment, using equitable processes,” said Marcella Bondie Keenan, Village Sustainability Coordinator. “Climate and sustainability are not an add-on to essential services. They actually improve Village services, helping us prepare for unpredictable climate impacts.”

The Climate Ready Oak Park plan outlines five main goals:

1. Decrease community-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 60 percent by 2030, relative to 2019 emission levels.

2. Achieve community-wide net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

3. Establish 30 percent of Oak Park's land as green infrastructure or enhanced park management for native plants, wildlife and people.

4. Direct 40 percent of public climate and sustainability dollars to the most vulnerable and impacted community members.

5. Partner with frontline organizations and the most impacted community members to create climate and sustainability policies and programs.

One Earth Collective is leading a local initiative of Oak Park-based community groups to do outreach and education to residents, called Climate Ready Community Outreach to Oak Park (Climate Ready COOP). The goal is to weave a resilient Oak Park that is connected, caring and strong in the face of climate change. If you belong to a local Oak Park community group and would like to be a liaison between your group and COOP, contact Laurie Casey at [email protected]

Implementation of Climate Ready Oak Park will require collaboration among local Village operations and policy, other governmental agencies, businesses, residents, and community organizations. Learn more at https://www.sustainoakpark.com/oak-parks-climate-action