Last week, about 90 community members gathered at the Nurture Nature Center for a Valley-Wide Forum called “The Future of the Lehigh Valley: What Will Climate Change Mean for Us?”

The group was diverse, representing different languages, training, backgrounds and generations – from college students to retirees – and their views on climate change ranged significantly.

Some forum voices were eager to take action now to reduce carbon emissions and educate the public, while others were more skeptical about the role of climate change on our environment, and its priority as a social issue.

So, what is a forum? At our center, a forum program includes a short lecture followed by a community dialogue, in which the large group breaks into small groups of five or six people, each with a trained facilitator who leads an open, respectful discussion among participants.

Results of the forum questions are then shared with the community, including area decision-makers.

For this forum, NNC posed two questions to frame a discussion about the potential implications of climate change in the Lehigh Valley, and whether – and how - community members think local governments should respond.

For those of you that were unable to attend, we want to share one of the questions that we discussed in small groups. The number in parentheses shows how attendees responded on an individual level:

Is it the responsibility of the local community to address climate change?

• A. No, this not a local issue, but a global one (2 community members)
• B. Yes, each person or community should do what they can (35 community members)
• C. No, I don’t believe climate change is a pressing issue (1 community member)
• D. No, regulations need to be made on the state and federal level (11 community members)
• E. Other (8 community members wrote in a response)

How would you answer this question? Are you surprised by the responses? Please let us know in the comments section.