Clean energy panel discussion Sept. 22 in Wooster
The public is invited to Wooster’s First Presbyterian Church’s Bruch Hall on Sept. 22 for a panel discussion on clean energy, led by Power a Clean Future Ohio.
The community is invited to bring their clean energy questions and come to a panel discussion presented by Power a Clean Future Ohio on Thursday, Sept. 22 at 7 p.m. at Bruch Hall in the First Presbyterian Church, 621 College Ave., Wooster.
This event will discuss the resources and support PCFO offers to local communities to help them move toward clean energy. They will discuss the potential cost savings, opportunities for economic growth and job creation, and environmental improvements that accompany the transition to clean energy.
PCFO has experience working with communities throughout Ohio, said Juli Douglas-Gillespie, a local member of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby. She said PCFO will share examples of projects other cities are involved with to address their community-specific needs for clean energy.
“There has been no large-scale community involvement with environmental planning in Wooster since the Wooster Sustainability Roadmap three-year plan several years ago,” Douglas-Gillespie said.
The panel members will include Joe Flarida, executive director of PCFO; Cassandra Clevenger, deputy director of PCFO; and Sarah Spence, executive director of the Ohio Conservative Energy Forum.
Douglas-Gillespie heard Spence speak at a conference last spring and decided to see if she would speak in Wooster. “Lo and behold, when I asked her if Power a Clean Future Ohio could come, she said yes,” Douglas-Gillespie said. “Preparing for the impact of an altered climate is like the old saying, ‘An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.’ Actions need to be taken now in order to prevent prohibitive costs to the taxpayers in the near future.”
The panelists also will offer suggested solutions for obtaining funding to pay for changes and upgrades for projects like improving the power grid and being prepared for continued and increasing severe weather events including issues such as road repair, storm-water management and drinking-water protection.
Co-sponsors for the event include an extensive group of area nonprofits and community organizations: Wooster Interfaith Justice Committee, Wooster Area Interfaith Partnership, Wooster-Orrville NAACP, Wooster Chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby, Wayne County Sustainable Energy Network, League of Women Voters of Wayne County and Green Energy Ohio.
Members of Wooster and Orrville and Wayne County government have been invited, and anyone in the community interested in clean energy is encouraged to attend. Questions may be submitted to the panel at the start of the evening.
Additional parking is available across from the church in the St. Mary’s parking lot.
Find Power a Clean Future Ohio online at www.poweracleanfuture.org/.