Environmental groups, students urge Henrico supervisors to adopt climate action plan

A large group of representatives from several Henrico environmental groups petitioned the Henrico Board of Supervisors at its Oct. 10 meeting to create a countywide climate action plan and adopt it as part of the county’s 2045 comprehensive plan, which officials are in the process of finalizing.

A petition they presented notes that then-Governor Tim Kaine encouraged Virginia localities to create climate action plans in 2008 and that numerous other localities have adopted plans, including Richmond, Alexandria, Prince William County, and Albemarle County. It then asks the county to “create and fund an Office of Sustainability and empower it to implement the climate plan policies with the urgency necessary to address the climate challenge.”

Beth Kreydatus of Mothers Out Front, who introduced the petition, said that she and others felt that “climate change poses a grave threat to our community and our future” and that “sound local policies are essential” to reduce greenhouse emissions and protect county residents safe from any effects of climate change. She also asked that Henrico “invite wide community participation in the process” so that the process would be “transparent, fair, and science-driven.”

She added that this proposal would mean “Henrico residents could respond to climate change in ways that ensure equity and builds a prosperous and healthy future for the community as a whole.”

Anne-Marie Leake of the Henrico Conservation Action Network explained that HCAN was formed in 2022, is a non-partisan, all-volunteer organization, and that the first committee it formed was about climate issues, “indicating the sense of urgency with which we prioritized this expansive issue.”

She pointed to the number of climate events and the cost of climate-related damage across the country as further increasing urgency, along with research by Yale’s climate program that 67% of adults in Henrico believe local government should be doing more to address climate change.

Leake, who also serves as the chair of the Henricopolis Soil and Water Conservation District board of directors, indicated this petition had been developed after hearing from county staff members and briefing the board on climate issues with the help of GreenTeenz RVA.

“This remarkable student advocacy group represents the generation with the most at stake if we fail to plan now,” she added.

Several members of GreenTeenz RVA, who attend local high schools, also spoke in support of the petition. They saw it as an opportunity to take real action on the issue, with one telling supervisors, “As young people who have grown up drowning in climate conversations, we live in anxiety over the environmental aimlessness of our future.”

Students cited the Maui fires, climate-related degradation of the Chesapeake Bay, and environmental racism as “local officials coming together in inaction.” They argued that a climate action plan would be an opportunity to come together to lower carbon emissions, protect citizens and “provide accountability in how climate policies are being enacted and carried out.”

Henrico resident Carol Greenberg-Ribley added her support, saying that “without a plan, it’s difficult to identify which measures will have the greatest benefit.”

The board heard the petition and comments without response, which is typical of comments made during the public comment portion of its public meetings. As of reporting, the petition had 668 signatures.