The City of Humboldt is planning for climate change, and is asking residents to share their opinions through an online survey.
The Eco-West survey, available on the City of Humboldt website, is a component of a partnership between the city and Eco-West Canada, a national non-profit organization that aims to support municipalities seeking opportunities to go green. The organizations have paired up to deliver the Partners for Climate Protection program developed by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM).
The program will help Humboldt, along with Tisdale, Carrot River, Gravelbourg, Eston and Zenon Park develop a Climate Change Local Action Plan. This document will guide the planning and development of local resources and clarify actions to mitigate climate damage. The survey will help each community identify priorities for the plan.
“It takes about 20 minutes, and at the end it will create a report to city council to identify ways to reduce damage from flooding, as well as methods to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said Penny Lee, communications manager for the City of Humboldt.
“It’s an initiative that was brought on by the FCM,” she said. “It asks questions like do you feel the city could be doing more green initiatives in terms of waste water, sewage, water quality and even about transportation within the city.”
The results of the survey will help with long term adaptation strategies to reduce the risk of climate change. Lee said once the strategy is in place, the city can begin planning five to 10 years ahead to reduce emissions.
Lee said the city is trying to encourage resident participation in the survey.
“We want more participation, and we’re going to keep [the survey] up for a couple more weeks,” she said, adding Eco-West Canada and FCM are responsible for compiling the information once it has been collected, and there is no word on a timeline for when the final report will be released.
The survey can be found at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HumboldtCommunity.
