Resilient Washtenaw

Washtenaw County is excited to involve all nine county districts in shaping our Resilient Washtenaw plan. We are working closely with residents to create a collaborative vision for carbon neutrality by 2035. Resilient Washtenaw will be a living document that guides community goals and county operations for years to come.

How can I get involved?

Over the next few months, there will be many opportunities to participate. Here’s how you can get involved:

Watch a short 20 minute video on the changing climate in Washtenaw County
Attend a public meeting
Invite the project team to present to your group or organization
Get the word out by sharing this project with your neighbors, family, and friends
Subscribe for email updates by clicking "Subscribe" in the upper right corner of this page
Add your ideas to the Map Tab
Celebrate climate action projects already in place (e.g., preserved land, bike paths, renewable energy)
Share areas where you experience climate impacts (e.g., flooding, lack of tree canopy)
Share your vision for climate action in the county
Explore our Partners page to:
Find your City/Township Sustainability/Climate group to get more involved at the local level
Find a local community group engaged in climate action

Climate Emergency Declaration R19-165 - September 18, 2019

Washtenaw County acknowledges that a climate emergency threatens our city, region, state, nation, civilization, humanity and the natural world.

Washtenaw County commits to a countywide just transition and climate emergency mobilization effort to reverse global warming, which, with appropriate financial and regulatory assistance from and State and Federal authorities, ends countywide greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible and no later than 2035, immediately initiates an effort to safely draw down carbon from the atmosphere, and accelerates adaptation and resilience strategies in preparation for intensifying climate impacts.

Washtenaw County commits to educating our residents about the climate emergency and working to catalyze a just transition and climate emergency mobilization effort at the local, state, national, and global levels to provide maximum protection for our residents as well as all the people and species of the world.

Washtenaw County underscores the need for full community participation, inclusion, and support, and recognizes that the residents of Washtenaw County and community organizations, faith, youth, labor, business, academic institutions, homeowners’ associations and environmental, economic, racial, gender, family and disability justice and indigenous, immigrant and women’s rights organizations and other such allies who will be integral to and in the leadership of the mobilization effort.

Washtenaw County commits to keeping the concerns of vulnerable communities central to all just transition and climate emergency mobilization effort planning processes and to inviting and encouraging such communities to actively participate in order to advocate directly for their needs.

Washtenaw County joins a national-wide call for a regional just transition and climate emergency mobilization collaborative effort focused on transforming our region and rapidly catalyzing a mobilization at all levels of government to restore a safe climate.

Washtenaw County calls on the State of Michigan, the United States of America, and all governments and peoples worldwide to acknowledge and declare a Climate Emergency; and to initiate a just transition and climate emergency mobilization effort to reverse global warming by restoring near pre-industrial global average temperatures and greenhouse gas concentrations, that immediately halts the development of all new fossil fuel infrastructure, rapidly phases out all fossil fuels and the technologies which rely upon them, ends greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible, initiates an effort to safely draw down carbon from the atmosphere, transitions to regenerative agriculture, ends the sixth mass extinction, and creates and guarantees high-quality, good-paying jobs with comprehensive benefits for those who will be impacted by this transition.