On climate justice: A priority for the county
Responding to climate change and increasing community resilience has been a county priority since July 2022. The county is committed to pursuing equitable, measurable, and impactful outcomes through climate mitigation and adaptation efforts in partnership with residents and community partners.
The Last Year
Ramsey County is working to identify communities most affected by climate change, and support community-driven efforts to adapt to climate change. To do this, county staff is researching successful efforts in other communities, and reaching out to learn what support our community needs.
Community participation in planning efforts
There will be more opportunities for community members to share their input and help develop the county’s climate change action plan. Stay tuned to the county’s social media, and website to learn more about these opportunities
Our work with the community over the last year has included:
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Creating a plan to work with the community in planning the county's response to climate change with the University of Minnesota’s Resilient Communities Project students. The students will complete their work in May, at which point we will share the plan.
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Held six community conversations in October and November to hear about community members’ experience, concerns and suggestions related to the impacts of climate change. More than 100 people attended these sessions.
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Shared a survey to gather information from residents who did not attend the community conversations. The survey asks about the role residents want the county to play in addressing the health impacts of climate change.
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Written On climate justice articles for this newsletter every month!
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Building partnerships with organizations, community groups, other local government agencies and state of Minnesota departments so that we can support and learn from each other’s work in this area.
Next Steps
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With support from the Resilient Communities Project, the Saint Paul – Ramsey County Public Health leadership team is identifying what is needed to expand and improve services that help residents adapt to the health impacts of climate change.
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We're in the process of updating our Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment.
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We are using community feedback and the MN Climate Action Framework action steps to create a climate action plan for Ramsey County.
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This article is featured in Green Ramsey, an environmental health newsletter from Ramsey County.
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