With the announced retirement of Supervisor Mahan, two candidates for her position have emerged. The Spotlight has already covered this news and I’m sure that the continuing coverage will be very thorough as Democrat Kelly Mateja will be running against Republican Peter Crummey in November.
There will be a number of local concerns that will define the positions of these two candidates. Public appearances and fund-raising efforts will bring their campaigns into focus. The public will weigh what it hears and make a choice in November.
As the campaign issues surface over the coming months, for me, there is one extremely important issue, climate. For many years I have made my choice on a ballot based primarily on a candidate’s position on climate issues.
While we are all being swamped with the warnings of disrupted climate, many people are truly being pummeled by extreme climate events. The news keeps us abreast of disrupted climate events such as insidious wildfires, horrific hurricanes, droughts, floods and heat waves. Fortunately, for us, we do not live in a particularly vulnerable region for such destructive events.
But we must all work together to mitigate our destabilized climate. Our state has passed historic climate legislation that will dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help correct environmental injustices. All regions of our state need to work to meet the climate goals of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. A prominent town like Colonie should be leading the way!
I look forward to hearing what our two candidates for town supervisor have to say about climate mitigation. Will they favor the town becoming a Climate Smart Community as guided by New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation? Will they choose more renewable energy and electric vehicles for town use? Will they propose planting more trees? I will be listening and making my choice based on sound environmental action. We all need to let sound environmental action be our guide.
Sally Courtright
Climate Reality Project
Loudonville