Climate Campaign launched | PRESERVE FLOYD

Preserve Floyd returned to the Floyd Town Council on July 6, 2017, with a formal request for Mayor Griffin to join the National Climate Action Agenda, the “Mayor’s Movement,” a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support measures to combat global warming. Preserve Floyd presented a 7-page community choice resolution which detailed a comprehensive agenda for local action. In support, a petition with 100 signatures was presented to the council.

Nationwide, aproximately 338 mayors have agreed to participate in this crucial action.

Today’s request by Preserve Floyd is just the first step in a series of more comprehensive ordinances that will continue to support a smooth transition to renewable energy as well as providing protection for Floyd’s unique and fragile water system.

J.L. Fogo, co-chair of Preserve Floyd, pointed out: “Given that we are located on the continental divide, any contamination can travel great distances underground as well as flow down the mountains into waterways that feed coastal waters and as far as the Mississippi. Our headwaters feed three major watersheds, travel through 28 counties and over 10,000 miles.

Clean water and clean air are essential to the health of all living beings as well as entire ecosystems upon which we all depend on for life.”

Fogo is also the coordinator of a working group focused on innovative renewable energy. He insists: “We must think globally and act locally! Preserve Floyd is committed to protecting and preserving our water resources and working towards a clean energy future.”

Next, Preserve Floyd will draft a “community choice agreement,” focused on the transition to 80% renewable energy by 2030 and 100% by 2050. The group plans to present this to the Floyd County Board of Supervisors on July 25, inviting community collaboration on this plan for the future. They also continue to support their neighbors in the region who are fighting the proposed MVP to resist the progression of dangerous fossil fuel infrastructure. These kinds of projects contribute to the climate crisis that threatens our health, safety and environment.

To engage in community discussion about the climate crisis is the first step in creating a sustainable future for our children and grandchildren,” said Erica Largen, a member of Preserve Floyd who lives on the border of Floyd and Carroll County. “Thanks to the wisdom, support and motivation of Preserve Floyd, I organized the collection of 160 signatures from Carroll County residents and recently presented them to the Hillsville town council urging the mayor to sign the Mayors’ National Climate Action Agenda.”

Mara Robbins, a founding member of Preserve Floyd and a community organizer with the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League (BREDL), said that the climate campaign will unfold in a series of events this summer. She is confident that her community will step up to the plate. “Three years ago, when Preserve Floyd first formed to fight the MVP, I was astonished and gratified by the way in which diverse people within the community of Floyd worked together to effectively organize our resistance to that threat to our rights, lives, water, air and land. Our decision in 2014 to become a chapter of BREDL has empowered us to collaborate with grassroots groups across the region and throughout seven states. Now we face a far greater challenge. Whether we are planning for our transition to renewables, an endeavor already underway by many committed residents, or constructing a plan to address the inevitable droughts, extreme weather and other emergencies we will face in the future, I cannot imagine a better group of people to undertake this task with commitment and integrity.”

Preserve Floyd is the grassroots watchdog group that successfully kicked the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) out of Floyd County in 2014.

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Preserve Floyd:

 Identifies and monitors risks to the natural environment of Floyd County and the surrounding region

 Educates and mobilizes residents to make empowered choices

 Collaborates with local governments and community groups

 Acts to protect and preserve Floyd’s unique and fragile ecosystem and water resources

 Commits to grassroots mobilization and environmental justice

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What we stand For is what we stand On