The Town board took the first step and passed a resolution to be a Climate Smart Community. The Town took the Pledge and the call went out for volunteers. That call was answered by a group of dedicated people ready to pave the road to enable Pleasant Valley to reduce their carbon emissions and adapt to climate change.

More about the pledge and what the Task Force is committed to achieve can be found in the About the Task Force page of this website.

Realizing we can’t do it alone we have developed partnerhips with others on the same road. One important relationship is with NYSERDA, and ICLEI who will eventually assist us with a GHG Inventory and Climate Action Plan but COVID has basically put a roadblock on that path.

In the meantime we have reached out to other Climate Smart Communities and organizations who are helping us navigate our actions.

Locally the Library and Recreation Department have become strong partners in helping with our Education and Engagement Plan. In July we presented a composting and single use plastics demonstration to the Camp Sunny Days campers. We also had a booth at PV weekend with a survey, demonstrations, a sample composter and various hand outs and displays.

We have partnered with the local hardware store, Orlando Hardware on Main Street in the convenient purchase of a Miracle Gro double chamber composter. Information is available at the hardware store and Town Hall.

We are develolping new relationships that will enable us to keep moving forward.

Our Town Government past and present have paved a solid path for us. Our Comprehensive Plan and Zoning, Open Space and Farmland Protection Plan and the Code of Pleasant Valley, all incorporate smart growth principles into land use policies and regulations. There is also a natural resource inventory and conservation plans. With some searching and tweaking it is clear that Pleasant Valley has the groundwork done and is ready to adapt.

Last year the town provided relief from the heat by allowing the Town Hall to be a cooling center. However, the town hall hours of operation may not be sufficient. We learned the Library who have longer hours than Town Hall is a cooling center. We are working on getting them proper signage and we will coordinate the promotion and awareness of the center.

We worked with the Highway Department Supervisor to complete fleet inventory not just looking at what we have but how we use it. Although we are not in a position to move to electric vehicles we will continually evaluate the efficiancy of our current fleet and keep well informed and up to date on the progress and cost of electric vehicles.

Recently a new fuel depot was installed and is more efficient, uses LED lighting and can give the supervisor more information to help him make future decisions considering the effects of climate change.

Hopefully in the near future we can work with the supervisor to create a new space for the highway department that will reduce our current GHG emissions through better heating and storage of the fleet, LED lighting and maybe even community composting.

We can’t change the world but we can reduce our carbon footprint and adapt to climate change as a community. Therefore we created a Pleasant Valley Climate Smart Task Force Education and Engagement Plan in August 2021.

Our action plan includes the following:

Gather, distribute and discuss with the community Informational Materials

Create Hands on Activities such as composting, group walks and a Repair Cafe

There are many wonderful movies and we are planning on having Movie Nights

We need to disseminate information, tools and techniques while building particpant networks of support and practice through Workshops

We as a Taskforce will also keep learning through Continuing Education

We always want to know what the community is thinking and will use questionnaires/Surveys to keep engaged

We will continue to partner with community- based organizations to help us to continue our work

We want you to find us and will continue to update this website and maintain a presence on social media

One of the most efficient ways to adapt to Climate Change is through policy changes.

In order to begin our Community Engagement and Education Plan we needed the Town Board to support us and allow us to move forward. This was accomplished through a resolution, policy change.

For us, as a Town, to ensure that we are moving towards reducing our waste and recycling when we can; we had to start at the beginning, Town owned properties. A resolution was passed on Oct 20th ensuring that town employees and visitors will have the ability to recycle clean plastic, metal and glass easily by the placement of recyclying vessels with signage conveniently located in town buildings. This mitigation will bring about a reduction in GHG emissions. All from policy change.

Another policy change put forth to the Town Board and passed on October 20th was a resolution that will show the commitment the Town has for providing shade to the community through the placement of shade structures at all Town properties. Shade structures are defined as; trees, gazebos, covered structures, fabric shades and roof overhangs.

We also advised the Town that a shade structure inventory should be taken by the Climate Smart Task Force. Again we are able to adapt by mitigation through policy change.

At the final hour we were able to pass a resolution and join many other New York Communities for A Complete Streets Policy which will provide streets for all to enjoy.

The Climate Smart Task Force continues to review policies and feels that more policy change is on the horizon.

Sadly as of February 25th we were informed we have some revisions to do to our submission so the road goes on.

We still have some road to cover but no matter how bumpy the road is, we will stay the course and keep you updated because we remember the why.

We reached Bronze Status in 2022 and are offically a Certified Climate Smart Community but the road continues because we owe it to the why.

The why is YOU.