Environmental Talk: Municipal Costs of Climate Change

As climate change increases the severe weather Ohio will face, our municipalities will be the first to face significant costs to adapt. However, the exact financial burden local governments could face in the coming years is still murky.

The Ohio Environmental Council (OEC), in collaboration with Scioto Analysis and Power A Clean Future Ohio, compiled a report in July 2022 that seeks to fill that knowledge gap. The report, titled The Bill is Coming Due: Calculating the Final Cost of Climate Change to Ohio's Local Governments, provides conservative estimates on how much municipal governments can expect to spend in the coming years on climate projects such as flood mitigation, storm recovery, road repair, and others.

Join Dion Mensah, Karin Nordstrom, and Molly Jo Stanley of the OEC as they discuss key features of this report and how it can help both local officials prepare budgets and help residents keep their officials accountable.

Dion Mensah is the OEC’s Energy Justice Fellow, championing issues on environmental, climate, and energy justice advocacy. They graduated with honors from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio with a BA in Political Science, BA in Social Justice Studies, and a minor in Spanish in 2020. During their time in school they worked three years as an intern for Miami’s Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion and conducted researched on topics related to climate refugeeism and Latin American politics. 

Karin Nordstrom (she, her, hers) is excited to join OEC and passionate about working towards a safer and more equitable Ohio. Prior to joining OEC, Karin worked as a staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society of Columbus where she focused on administrative law. Her practice included public benefits, education law, and military discharge upgrades. Karin earned her law degree from the Ohio State University, Moritz College of Law.

Molly Jo Stanley is the Southeast Ohio Regional Director of OEC and serves to support, empower, and work toward local restoration of ecological and social justice, and unite and expand these efforts across the region and beyond. Molly Jo is a lifetime student of ecology, ethnobotany, and environmental education; as a writer, a farmer, a wilderness trip leader, and a musician, she has always found meaning in rekindling connection, understanding, and reverence for our miraculous existence.