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Letter from the Environment and Sustainability Commission To Our Neighbors, The St. Louis Park Climate Action Plan is a critical element in our vision for a sustainable city. It is a tremendous milestone for St. Louis Park and reflects the environmental leadership of our citizens, staff, and elected officials, as well as our commitment to the youth of our community and planet. This plan is in full alignment with, and builds upon, the many years of environmental and conservation leadership of the City of St. Louis Park. Through the Environmental and Sustainability Commission's four-year existence, we have worked to further build consensus that climate change is a core challenge that we as a city must collectively address. This plan represents many contributions from commission members and the broader community. Global climate change is one of the most challenging problems we will face in the twenty-first century. The urgency with which we must act decisively on this issue is unprecedented, and cities like ours will be the leaders that can enact meaningful change. The fate of millions of people worldwide as well as an estimated half of the plant and animal species on Earth could be determined by the speed at which governments of all sizes come together to halt and reverse the current global temperature trend. We, as a city, embrace this plan as an important step forward, understanding all the hard work that it will take to fulfill this plan over the next two decades. The Climate Action Plan acknowledges our city's contribution to global climate change, the urgency of action, and the steps we intend to take to lead the transition to a carbon -free economy. Equally important is realizing that the pollution we emit and can control locally is only part of our overall contribution to climate change, with food and goods produced outside of the city also playing a very significant, but much harder to measure role. Finally, while climate change is the most significant risk to global sustainability, there are untold other risk factors to the environment in addition to climate change that we must be mindful of and continue our work toward fully addressing. We, as the St. Louis Park Environment and Sustainability Commission, fully endorse the Climate Action Plan as a critical first step toward achieving long-term sustainability for our city. We believe that this will become one element of many in a holistic sustainability vision and action plan for the city. We also feel that it is important to understand that while the Climate Action Plan represents the best strategies and forecasts that can currently be projected, it must also be a living document, updated as new trends, technologies, and ways of measuring evolve in this ever -advancing field. We must also keep in mind that it is up to us not to rest on our laurels, but to continually stay current on the actions other leading cities around the world are taking to advance sustainability, mitigate climate change, and improve the human condition. We applaud the efforts of City Staff and City Council to take on this challenge and believe it is our collective responsibility to act with urgency on executing the plans and strategies contained within this St. Louis Park Climate Action Plan. Sincerely, The St. Louis Park Environment and Sustainability Commission, 2017