This is the last of a two-part report generated after The Newtown Bee was invited to attend the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters’ 22nd Environmental Summit.

The Connecticut League of Conservation Voters (CTLCV) Education Fund hosted its 22nd Environmental Summit virtually on January 25 and 27, prior to the Legislative Session on February 9.

On the second day, CTLCV Executive Director Lori Brown shared that this session would focus on speakers discussing efforts to address the waste management crisis, restrict dangerous pesticides, reduce transportation emissions, protect forests and farmland, and the need for action now. Kicking off the event was Commissioner Katie Dykes, of the CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), and Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont.

Dykes prefaced the conversation by praising Lamont, saying, “He’s been such an incredible advocate and supporter for our environmental mission here at DEEP and across the state. I just have to say how grateful I am for his commitment and his environmental values that have enabled us to accomplish so much in these last three years.”

She shared how last year they began the phase one report for the Governor’s Council on Climate Change with 61 recommendations.

“I am really pleased on the progress we were able to make in the last 12 months on advancing many of them,” Dykes said.

She highlighted important legislation, including work done thanks to Public Act 21-115 for climate change adaptation as well as the signing of Executive Order 21-3 that advanced more than 30 recommendations from the Governor’s Council to address the climate crisis.

Under that executive order, the state is creating an Equity and Environmental Justice Advisory Council. It is currently seeking applications and nominations for council members.

“Looking ahead to this year, we have an extraordinary opportunity before us,” Dykes said. “Last November, President [Joe] Biden signed into law the $1.2 trillion in federal infrastructure funding. Here in Connecticut, that’s going to mean more than a billion dollars could be coming to advance electric vehicles (EV) and EV infrastructure, electric grid resilience modernization, energy efficiency, broadband deployment … wastewater infrastructure, clean water and drinking water initiatives, flood mitigation, coastal resilience, habitat management. We are going to be working hard to direct these funds to support municipalities and local governments who seek to utilize them.”

Lamont piggybacked on Dykes’ input, saying that in addition to federal funding there is also state and private funding that will help make “an enormous environmental difference in this state over the next five years.”

From his point of view, he estimates that the majority of work being done is for prevention.

He said there has been a lot of progress with the electric grid, which used to be a “great source of pollution.”

Lamont explained, “Twenty-percent came from oil and coal just 20 years ago and now it’s less than 1%. I’d say well over half of our grid is carbon-free right now primarily thanks to nuclear power at Millstone [Power Station].

“As Katie mentioned, we’re going to have another 20% added on there related to wind power over the next three to four years. Biggest investment in renewable wind obviously the state has ever made and one of the biggest in the country.”

As for the topic of transportation, Lamont says it makes up about 40% of pollution in the state and that there is a variety of ways they are working to reduce it.

“More broadly, I want our transportation system to be all electric. It’s not going to happen tomorrow, but it’s going to happen. It’s going to happen in the next 15 years or so. We’re going to make big strides. I want Connecticut to be a leader there,” Lamont said.

He believes the investments being made now will make a big difference in the future.

Waste Management

Product Stewardship Institute CEO/Founder Scott Cassel talked about legislation that would require the producers of products to create environmentally responsible solutions to reduce waste. His company is a national nonprofit that focuses entirely on waste management, specifically materials from products and packaging.

“For Connecticut that means about three million tons of waste every single year. That means about one ton per person per year,” he said.

Cassel’s lecture focused on two legislative priorities for Connecticut: packaging and pressurized gas cylinders.

He cited there are a variety of problems that municipalities face from these items, and the solution he proposes are policies for Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).

According to his presentation, EPR is “a law that extends a producer’s financial and managerial responsibility for its products and packaging beyond the manufacturing stage — both upstream to product design and downstream to postconsumer reuse, recycling, or safe disposal.”

Existing EPR laws in Connecticut pertain to electronics, mattresses, Mercury thermostats, and paint.

Cassel noted how other states have already passed the same bill that Connecticut is proposing.

Pesticides

Tara Cook-Littman, Esq., owner of Visionary Campaign Group LLC, discussed the need for Connecticut to enact pesticide restrictions this year during the legislative session.

“Our goal this year is to protect people, pets, and pollinators, because these neurotoxic chemicals are really damaging to human health, they are an ecological disaster, and they harm animals as well as out pollinators, which we should be protecting,” she said.

Advocacy groups are requesting action for passing a ban on the highly toxic pesticide Chlorpyrifos on golf courses, updating Pollinator Protection Act to ban neo-nicotinoid pesticides in certified pesticide applicators, and digitizing documents regarding those pesticide chemicals.

Transportation

Speaking at the Transportation Panel were Shannon Laun, staff attorney at Conservation Law Foundation; Barry Kresch, member of EV Club of Connecticut; and Thomas Lefebvre, coordinator at the Transport Hartford Academy at the Center for Latino Progress.

Laun started off by saying, “Most of us have sat in heavy traffic on I-95, state highways, and the interstates throughout Hartford and we’ve probably all had the experience of breathing in fumes from buses and big trucks as we’re walking or biking along busy roads. Many of our kids, including my older daughter, ride diesel school buses to school every day. And many of us, especially lower income residents in our larger cities, rely on diesel buses to get to work.

“Connecticut’s asthma rates are higher than the national average, and both Hartford and New Haven are among the top 20 asthma capitals in the United States.”

She explained that it is critical for Connecticut to act now towards a clean transportation future by having strong motor vehicle standards to reduce transportation emissions.

Next, Kresch shared, “Vehicle emissions go beyond greenhouse gases to things like particulate matter in [the] ozone, which is a component of smog. The American Lung Association gives every county in the state an ‘F’ for ozone levels and it’s a contributor to elevated levels of cardiopulmonary disease and asthma. Widespread adoption of electric vehicles is only one part, but an essential part, of the policy playbook to improve air quality.”

Concluding the panel was Lefebvre who talked about who people can reduce their overall “vehicle miles traveled” (VMT) in Connecticut.

Youth On Climate

Dr Roger J. Kuhns, of SustainAudit, LLC and Citizens Climate Lobby, presented a 10-minute video from his documentary about Connecticut youth speaking up about climate action, their concerns for what the future looks like, and the need to declare a climate emergency now.

The Youth On Climate panel had Sena Wazer, Kimmy Reindl, Matthew Plourd, and Max Coretto of Sunrise CT, which is part of the national Sunrise Movement, a youth-led organization focused on stopping climate change and creating millions of jobs in the process.

Wazer asked the first question for the panel, “Why do you feel that climate education is a priority for young people and how is it an environmental justice issue?”

Coretto responded that it is important to educate youth in depth about climate change, because it is going to impact future generations the most.

He shared that he had to educate himself about the topic, but said, “I want to make sure students now are really able to learn about the climate crisis and also climate solutions throughout all of school rather than on their own.”

Reindl agreed with Coretto and added that, “Folks that the climate crisis is impacting the most generally have the least amount of influence with regards to doing something about the climate crisis and generally have the least representation when it comes to passing climate legislation and that’s what makes this an environmental justice issue.”

Plourd noted, “Climate change is not just a scientific issue, it’s not just an inequality issue, or a poverty issue … it’s a mental health crisis issue, too. A lot of that has to do with young people not receiving this education early on and understanding that there are solutions to this obscenely large, absurdly large problem in front of us and that we can be part of those solutions.”

Wazer said that young people may not be able to vote, but they are still able to call legislatures, submit testimonies, go to public hearings, and organize themselves within communities to support candidates they believe in.

Land Conservation

The final portion of the CTLCV Environmental Summit was the Land Conservation Panel with speakers Eric Hammerling, executive director of the Connecticut Forest & Park Association; Chelsea Gazillo, of the American Farmland Trust and the Working Lands Alliance; and Peter Hearn, of Connecticut’s Council on Environmental Quality.

Hammerling focused on the need to take action to make sure Connecticut has resilient forests and trees for the future.

He said, “When I talk about forest resilience, I mean the capacity of a forest or trees to withstand and recover from a wide variety of disturbances over time. One of the greatest threats to forest resilience is climate change, because it exacerbates several existing threats for forests, like invasives, problems with forest regeneration, limited diversity, greater frequency of storms, and several other threats.”

According to Hammerling’s presentation, resilient forests and trees help improve air and water quality, climate adaptation and mitigation, mental and physical health, more livable communities, jobs/economic benefits, aesthetic beauty, reduce heat stress/shade, wood products, wildlife habitat, lower cooling and heating bills, reduce stormwater/flooding, and more foot traffic for businesses.

Therefore, Connecticut needs to focus on avoiding forest conversion/loss; conserving healthy, intact forests; mitigating for significant planned or permitted forest losses; providing incentives for stewardship, forest retention, and forest resiliency; and protecting/restoring urban forests, building more parks, and planting more trees.

Gazillo spoke next and explained, “Overall, intense weather events observed and predicted under future climate change present a multitude of challenges to the state’s food security and our economy.”

She brought up the importance of preserving and enhancing agricultural soils, as well as supporting farmers.

Hearn added to the discussion by saying that through state acquisition, “The goal is to preserve 130,000 acres of Connecticut’s farms … so far the state has preserved about 46,000 acres.”

However, there is a constant threat of invasive species throughout Connecticut’s land and state efforts need to be made to curb the growth and prevent new invasives from taking over.

Closing the panel was a video by Kieren Rudge, operations manager for People’s Action for Clean Energy, about solar canopies.

He explained that solar canopies can be constructed over existing land uses, such as parking lots and landfills, to help preserve farmland and forests. Other benefits include local, distributed energy generation; pairing with electric vehicle charging stations and battery storage; protection from the elements; reducing urban heat; and it has the potential to address environmental justice.

To watch the summit videos and access resources from the discussions, visit conservationeducation.org/summit.html.

Reporter Alissa Silber can be reached at alissa@thebee.com.