A call to action – pathway to a sustainable future

By AMANDA K. MARTIN
McKeesport Community Newsroom

Harsh winters, hot summers and record rainfall. Extreme weather changes are noticeable at the local and national level. Flooding and storm events have increased over time and strategies are needed to combat the effects of climate change.

Allegheny County Department of Sustainability hosted a public meeting Oct. 29 at the Glassport Municipal Building to discuss and receive feedback from Mon Valley residents on its Climate Action Plan.

“Giving up now won’t do anything, it’s real … it’s happening and we need to do something about it,” said Senior Sustainability Specialist Abby Lawler-Morycz. “Local effort is so important — that’s the key.”

Following in the footsteps of other state, county and municipal governments, the Allegheny County Department of Sustainability has developed its first Climate Action Plan to address the growing concerns of climate change. A team of expert consultants is drafting a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

This year-long process will outline clear goals and mitigation strategies, but public engagement has been an essential step for guiding priorities. The purpose is to support a healthier community and environment for all people.

Community members who were unable to attend the in-person meetings can still contribute their ideas and feedback by completing an online survey. Developing a list of strategies to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions are part of the next steps, and future public meetings will be scheduled. Tentatively, the CAP is planned to be finalized by summer 2026.

Efforts kicked off earlier this year, and the department scheduled in-person community feedback events in October to share preliminary results in Wilkinsburg, McKees Rocks and Glassport. During the meetings, Director of the Department of Sustainability Brittany Prischak highlighted how greenhouse gas emissions in Allegheny County decreased by 13% from 2019 to 2024. This amount of emissions could charge an iPhone 1.6 trillion times, Prischak said.

The data also showed that Allegheny County’s emissions are higher per person than Philadelphia’s and other cities in the United States such as Cleveland, Ohio, which shows how critical it is to move forward with this CAP. After the presentation, attendees were encouraged to interact with the engagement stations to ask questions and provide feedback.

Gaining residential feedback on this plan has been a central goal to refine CAP’s Vision and Values, and organizers removed potential barriers by providing on-site childcare and translators to improve attendance.

There were poster boards all around the room, and personnel were ready to engage attendees, including two consultants working on CAP.

Climate and Sustainability Project Manager Meghan Roy, one of the consultants, mentioned that they were keenly interested in hearing from the most impacted and vulnerable populations because they take community feedback and critiques very seriously.

Many appreciated the inclusion of under-represented communities in the conversation, but some attendees were worried about the health concerns of holding the last scheduled public meeting in Glassport, often raised as a highly polluted area in Mon Valley.

Data on several key contributors to greenhouse gas emissions (industry, buildings, waste, transportation) were presented, but one attendee said she also wondered about how the human-centric plan would address wildlife and the ecosystem.

Chief Pomaj-chakman-yajalaji, an advocacy consultant for Upstream Pittsburgh, who attended the meeting, could not risk missing this event.

“I love this plan – consultants listened to the community,” she said.

However, she believes there’s still room for improvement. She was the first person to notice that CAP has not yet addressed the upcoming issue of data centers, a hurdle with long-term consequences.

She recognized that data centers are desirable to make businesses more efficient, but they present environmental hazards and health issues and she had to let the planners know about this issue.

“It’s coming,” she said. “There’s a benefit to the people, but what’s the tradeoff?”

Although there is an air of uncertainty, Lawler-Morycz who has worked nearly 10 years in this department, is optimistic about the future because she is surrounded by people with hope.

“There are more people than you think dedicated to this cause,” Lawler-Morycz said.

Amanda K. Martin is a postdoctoral associate at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va. Her research focuses on quantifying spatial patterns of amphibian and reptile biodiversity, movement and habitat use. She is passionate about inspiring interest in wildlife and conservation and public education. Martin resides in Glassport and is a member of Tube City Writers, a program of the McKeesport Community Newsroom.