Residents urge Ithaca City to add zero-waste measures to Climate Action Plan; commission agrees to explore language

Residents and local advocates told the Ithaca City Sustainability Commission on Nov. 5 that the city—s draft Climate Action Plan should explicitly include zero-waste and solid-waste reduction measures. Speakers said such steps are low-cost, locally implementable and would yield visible community engagement even if waste accounts for a small share of city greenhouse-gas emissions.

Tom Christina, a resident and co-chair of the Finger Lakes chapter of the Climate Reality Project, praised the plan—s broader framing but urged that it include adaptation and resilience measures. "Plans going forward must include adaptation, emergency preparation, and increased infrastructure resilience to deal with future events," Christina said.

The most sustained public comments came from members of 0 Waste Ithaca and Cornell students. "This draft climate action plan includes nothing of solid waste and or 0 waste…