The topic of addressing climate change echoed across the world this past weekend. Many countries and cities saw residents participate in a global climate strike. The United Nations held a climate action summit in New York, drawing the most attention when 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg addressed the gathered diplomats.

On Tuesday in Orange County, it was the Climate Control Council’s turn to address the topic.

The group met for the first time this week, beginning its search together for ways the county can set examples for residents and other Americans to fight and prepare for climate change on a local level.

Members of the 20-person council include representatives from the Orange County, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Hillsborough governments, as well as leaders of local NAACP chapters, local school systems and residents. The hope is to swell to 30 members before long, with representatives from UNC and Durham Tech being offered spots on the council.

Joshua Van Mater is the student representative for Orange County schools and a senior at Orange High School. As the youngest member of the council, he said he hopes to bring perspective of community members who are either first-time voters or unable to vote. Van Mater also said his goal is to contribute ideas on climate action that are attractive to students and have direct goals. He referenced the recent campaign against single-use plastic straws as a successful way to engage younger community members.

“That’s one small change; it’s a drop in the bucket in terms of your total plastic emissions,” said Van Mater. “But it’s something that kids can grab on to and say, ‘Here’s a simple thing I can do; Here’s a simple impact it has.’ That’s great because it allows the message to get out there and more people to ride the wave of that campaign.”

Finding a balance between new action and analysis of each organization’s current methods to be environmentally friendly was a main topic of the council’s initial meeting. The members also discussed the importance of distinguishing mitigation and adaptation tactics, and which type to focus on most. Mitigation action reduces contribution to climate change, while adaptation action attempts to minimize the impact of climate change.

The consensus of the group was to largely focus on mitigation efforts up front while also using analysis to find shortcomings in any current local climate action. Orange County commissioner and chair of the Climate Control Council Mark Marcoplos spoke to this.

“One of the key points made was [recent models indicate] we only have eight to 12 years to really have an impact on [decreasing] our greenhouse gas output and our carbon footprint,” Marcoplos said. “That argues for mitigation.”

Van Mater agreed with this tactic, saying the group should be searching for ways to lead the community toward being more conscious of their contributions to the environment and addressing climate change in everyday actions.

“There needs to be a voluntary movement toward [fighting] climate change,” Van Mater said. “It needs to happen in the schools; it needs to happen in the home; it needs to happen in the community. But it’s hard for that to happen when people aren’t educated on the issues and what they can do about it.”

The Orange County Climate Control Council’s next meeting will be held in October.

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