More than 50 submissions were received by MidCoast Council after seeking feedback on its draft Climate Change Strategy and draft Climate Change Policy.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In response to the submissions, council made some amendments to the documents, which were tabled at the MidCoast Council ordinary meeting on Wednesday, June 30 with the recommendation that the Climate Change Policy and Strategy be adopted.
Only three of the 51 submissions were against the strategy and policy, as they did not believe in the science that says climate change is human-induced.
Peter Epov suggested 94 per cent of people approved of council's policy and wanted action taken.
However Brad Christensen disputed Cr Epov's statement, saying he had "spoken to well over 50 people who are against this strategy".
"I'm totally 100 per cent behind solar energy and we should be doing that," Cr Christensen said.
"But, we make a joke of ourselves by declaring this a climate emergency.
"If we can put a strategy in place, that's great."
For people to say things are changing, they are seriously kidding themselves.
- Brad Christensen
Cr Christensen went on to say council is becoming a laughing stock.
"For people to say things are changing, they are seriously kidding themselves.
"The main thing for us at the moment is the infrastructure and roads and bridges. That's where we should be spending our energy," he said.
Deputy mayor, Claire Pontin counteracted Cr Christensen by saying council was not declaring a climate emergency.
"We did that some time ago. This is a plan for the future. This will save us money," she said.
Cr Pontin and others expressed disappointment that there was nothing in council's budget for the Climate Change strategy moving forward.
Cr Epov said he hoped the new council elected in September could address the funding needed to take actions that are in the strategy.
"We have the momentum, we have the public support, it's really important that we feed it so we can achieve positive outcomes," he said.
Council voted to adopt the Climate Change Policy and the Climate Change Strategy, with the exception of Cr Christensen who voted against.
Did you know? Great Lakes Advocate online subscribers not only have 24/7 access to local and national news, sport, what's on and entertainment - they also have access to our print editions in digital format, with all the advertisements and classifieds at their fingertips.