My name is CJ Mintalar. I served as Youth Commissioner on the OSATS Commission when I was a senior at ACHS last year, and I just completed my freshman year at UCD.
I still am very much concerned about the climate emergency, and remain active in the youth climate justice movement. I want to address the proposed work plan for this coming year. But first, let me give some context.
Climate change is accelerating, and that means every jurisdiction, every organization and every person, has a responsibility in this decade. No more business as usual. Back in 2022, we passed a climate emergency resolution and made a pledge to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2030. That date isn’t just some random number—it’s a scientific threshold for preventing the worst to come.
In that resolution, we also committed to “implement both immediate and sustained actions to support this achievement”. Since we passed that resolution four years ago, there is still a lack of immediate and sustained, emergency-scale implementation of our Interim Climate Action Plan action items. When I served on OSATS, climate actions on the work plan were listed as "ON HOLD."
As a reminder, people trust OSATS and any further delay causes more discouragement. It is our responsibility to protect the future for younger generations, and as someone who is part of this generation—and as an older brother—I’m asking that OSATS show climate leadership, get busy, and show results.
Please support a work plan that takes the climate emergency seriously, and urges the whole community to participate. Set the example for evaluating all planning and development through the climate lens. Ask yourselves: Does a project add to GHG emissions, further degrading the climate? Or does it rapidly reduce our GHG emissions? If OSATS can’t do it, then who will?
My name is CJ Mintalar. I served as Youth Commissioner on the OSATS Commission when I was a senior at ACHS last year, and I just completed my freshman year at UCD.
I still am very much concerned about the climate emergency, and remain active in the youth climate justice movement. I want to address the proposed work plan for this coming year. But first, let me give some context.
Climate change is accelerating, and that means every jurisdiction, every organization and every person, has a responsibility in this decade. No more business as usual. Back in 2022, we passed a climate emergency resolution and made a pledge to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2030. That date isn’t just some random number—it’s a scientific threshold for preventing the worst to come.
In that resolution, we also committed to “implement both immediate and sustained actions to support this achievement”. Since we passed that resolution four years ago, there is still a lack of immediate and sustained, emergency-scale implementation of our Interim Climate Action Plan action items. When I served on OSATS, climate actions on the work plan were listed as "ON HOLD."
As a reminder, people trust OSATS and any further delay causes more discouragement. It is our responsibility to protect the future for younger generations, and as someone who is part of this generation—and as an older brother—I’m asking that OSATS show climate leadership, get busy, and show results.
Please support a work plan that takes the climate emergency seriously, and urges the whole community to participate. Set the example for evaluating all planning and development through the climate lens. Ask yourselves: Does a project add to GHG emissions, further degrading the climate? Or does it rapidly reduce our GHG emissions? If OSATS can’t do it, then who will?
Thank you.