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Public Citizen in Your State: Dallas Takes Decisive Action on Climate Change

Public Citizen News / March-April 2019

By Rhoda Feng

This article appeared in the March/April 2019 edition of Public Citizen News. Download the full edition here.

In January, Dallas stepped up for its citizens’ right to clean air by launching its own climate plan to help clean the air and cool the planet. The launch was the culmination of an effort by Public Citizen’s Texas office and allies, begun in 2018, to push for the creation of a community-wide climate action plan.

To gain traction for the initiative, Public Citizen’s Texas office circulated a petition and launched a postcard writing campaign in April 2018 during the EarthX Expo in Dallas, calling on the city to begin the climate planning process.

The Dallas climate plan will include: completing a greenhouse gas inventory, involving the Dallas community in climate planning and pushing for wider adoption of solar. Public Citizen’s Texas office provided the city a list of stakeholders to participate in the climate planning process, and in January, the Dallas City Council approved the selection of AECOM, an international, Fortune 500 consulting firm, to help concretize a climate and environmental plan for Dallas and the surrounding community.

Also, Dallas in January passed a resolution directing the city manager to join C40, a network of megacities committed to addressing climate change.