One of Delaware County Council’s first actions after last year’s election was to unanimously establish the Delaware County Sustainability Commission.
When it met for the first time last month, the new Commission included Carol Martsolf, Chair of Lansdowne’s Environmental Advisory Council (EAC).
Martsolf states, “The Commission is much larger than our EAC – 17 members. But at the first meeting, everyone was passionate about environmental sustainability. They seem serious about making progress, and I think we’ll be taking action.”
The Commission will participate in a strategic planning session this month to determine priorities. The possible topic areas include best environmental and energy practices in facilities and operations, fuels, and transportation, responsible purchasing (housing and energy sources), air quality, stormwater management, natural and cultural resource protection, wildlife preservation, and climate change.
Lansdowne’s EAC conducted a similar strategy session last year and decided that combating climate change by transitioning to clean energy should be our priority.
“There are exciting initiatives taking place in local communities like Lansdowne and Swarthmore. At the County level, our Commission can support local efforts and make best practices available to other DelCo municipalities”, states Martsolf. Carol Martsolf is proud of what Lansdowne has accomplished with its farmers market, Landing and, now, clean energy planning effort, and wants the County to support this kind of local action. A Licensed Professional Civil Engineer who has worked all her life in transportation, Ms. Martsolf is also excited about Lansdowne’s emphasis on multi-modal transportation.