The Keene Sentinel covered the inspirational Municipal Services, Facilities, and Infrastructure Committee meeting on Nov. 28. The meeting was well attended by business owners, residents, students of Keene as well as people from surrounding towns closely watching for Keene’s example around this initiative.
The article captures the brave, eloquent, passionate, knowledgeable, and heartfelt, statements by the 20 people who people who spoke — in particular comments by Keene High School Senior Class President Conor T. Hill:
The city wants to hear from you!
The Keene City Council is looking to parents, business owners, teachers, students, faith leaders, and others for insight by Monday, Dec. 3.
Submit a statement to the Keene City Council
Here is an excerpt of the article:
Councilors take step toward plan to wean Keene off fossil fuels
Environmentalists young and old crowded into city hall Wednesday night, imploring Keene city councilors to take aggressive action on climate change.
But in the grand scheme of City Council business, only a minor step forward was taken.
The ambitious goal put forth by the Keene Energy and Climate Committee is to remove all fossil fuels from the city’s municipal and residential electricity use by 2030, and to have all thermal energy and energy used for transportation come from renewable sources by 2050.
The council’s municipal services, facilities and infrastructure committee voted 4-1 Wednesday to send a citizen-submitted resolution that included those goals to city staff, who will draft language for a more formal document. The revised resolution will come back to the committee, with the chance of eventually going to the full City Council for a vote.
During the meeting, community members stressed that the stakes are too high to treat the proposed resolution like business as usual, with the sound of crinkling and folding letters in support of aggressive action filling the room.
Clean Energy Keene 