Ithaca High School junior Ace Dufresne leads Sunrise Ithaca, a local chapter of the Sunrise Movement dedicated to alleviating the climate crisis. He believes Ithaca is central to the fight against climate change.
“I think that a lot of people across the country are looking to Ithaca as an example and as a model for climate action,” said Dufresne. “I think it’s incredibly important that we stick to the goals that we came up with and say that we are going to be creative about it.”
What’s happening
In March, Ithaca’s Common Council considered a proposal by the Ithaca-based Sustainability and Climate Justice Commission to reaffirm the Ithaca Green New Deal. The council accepted the proposal, and it will be addressed and voted on in the near future.
In 2019, the City of Ithaca made waves when the Ithaca Green New Deal was drafted, which led to widespread national attention for the goal of becoming completely carbon neutral by 2030.
There is concern among local officials and advocates regarding the Trump Administration and its general opposition to climate initiatives.
“Part of the discussion that we’ve been having as a commission is what does our climate work look like in the city in the context of the current federal administration,” said SCJ Commission member Siobhan Hull.
“It’s important to reaffirm that our city’s work is important in this shifting federal context,” Hull said.
Federal cuts won’t interfere with upcoming IGND projects, as the city has no outstanding invoices or bonds that would be in danger of future executive orders, officials say.
There are no Common Council members serving today who were on the council in 2019 when the Green New Deal was passed. To date, the Common Council hasn’t succeeded in the goal of reducing emissions from the city vehicle fleet by 50% by 2025.
However, Director of Sustainability Rebecca Evans advises against modifying the original resolution.
“It’s atypical in this field of work to change a goal even if you think that you’re not going to make it,” said Evans.
“The best practice is to … acknowledge that you’re going to put forth resources to get there as fast as you can,” Evans added.
Moving forward
Dufresne feels more momentum is needed to reach the milestones of the city’s Green New Deal proposal.
He would like to encourage members of the local climate movement to help the city with its goals for the Green New Deal, along with “doing what we can to resist the federal government and continuing to protect research funding,” said Dufresne.
On April 19, the Cornell Cooperative Extension will be partnering with the City of Ithaca to host another Earth Day Festival, where both Sunrise Ithaca and the SCJ Committee will be hosting events, such as the SCJ setting up a community information table and Sunrise Ithaca and others organizing a rally on the Commons.
Other organizations participating include Extinction Rebellion, Cornell on Fire and various school climate-action clubs.
Sunrise Ithaca is comprised entirely of members under the age of 35 and is youth focused, Dufresne said. He is interested in creating a concrete message and goal that will speak to future members.
Ithaca College students helped draft the Ithaca Green New Deal as members of Sunrise Ithaca, Dufresne said. He’s hoping they will continue to help influence positive change.
“IC students have written climate legislation before, and they can do it again,” he said.
