Tiburon’s new climate-action coordinator seeks to bolster community engagement

Tiburon’s new climate-action coordinator wants to foster community involvement to help the town achieve its goals, noting that “sustainability cannot exist without that social aspect.”

Grace Ledwith, 22, started in the part-time role in August. She will work for both Tiburon and Mill Valley under a job-sharing agreement to spearhead initiatives that fulfill each municipality’s goals regarding climate action, sustainability and community engagement.

Ledwith said she’s approaching her role with a community-first mindset, noting that collaboration is needed between Tiburon, the community and outside organizations to help implement programs and policies to address climate change. Tiburon’s Climate Action Plan includes a goal of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions to 50% below 1990 levels by 2030, a more aggressive milestone than the state’s 40% target. And for the first time, the town added a sustainability element to its general plan, a 20-year blueprint for town growth.

“I want to make it so that everyone feels like they have a say in the Climate Action Plan that they have,” Ledwith says. “They can look back and (be) like, ‘Oh, I helped with that project, that’s great.’ And so that way, we can all move forward together.”

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