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of most important issue in Indiana. In fact,

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I think it's in the top two are top three, uh, in, in, in,

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in one of the polls,

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I think that the polling shows that the encouragement that these

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can be issues that, um,

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if these issues are rising to a higher level of concern on the part of Hoosiers,

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the fact that the environment is considered the top four issue of importance in

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Indiana.

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The other thing that I think gives me hope that we will have this phenomenon of

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the environmental voter or the climate of over in Indiana,

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goes back to a point that Janet res,

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which is the imprints of climate change are going to be more and more parents in

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Indiana, you know, back in 2012, 22 County in, uh,

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we're under a drought emergency.

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That's the first time to my knowledge that had ever happened in 2018,

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we had historic floods.

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So as these manifestations of extreme weather happen, uh, in Indiana,

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which the models from Purdue, uh, climate change research center are showing,

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uh, we will certainly see more people who will be putting environment front and

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center.

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<v 1>I think that's true. I think we will continue to have, um,</v>

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voters who are just motivated by one issue only whether it's

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what judges are appointed to the federal courts or, um, uh,

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personal freedom issues or, or whatever. Um, we,

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we just will always have those kinds of voters in the United States.

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And that now that's part of what characterizes the culture and tradition of the

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United States, right, is, is independence. Um, and,

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and people's freedom to make, make their own choices. I, but I,

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I do think that environment is moving up. And I think that it is, um,

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it's not a, a separate issue so much. Um,

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I know that when people talk about these issues,

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they tend to put them in categories, right. But,

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but climate change is about the economy. So if you care about the economy,

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you should care that we do some things to make sure that climate change does not

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adversely impact us, um, more than it needs to. And so people are,

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I think people are understanding that more and more and more.

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<v 4>And that brings us to our scrub hub question.</v>

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And his grub hub is our initiative where we take reader questions and then

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answer them.

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We have had several readers reach out to us with questions about the

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Indianapolis government and its role in climate change.

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What role do you think that local governments play in sustainability

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initiatives?

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<v 1>Well, I think, um, uh, local governments, um, uh,</v>

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have a strong role to play, but they can't do this on their own. Right? So,

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um, Indianapolis worked through an extensive process and adopted its uh,

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thrive plan,

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which has just a whole bunch of different concrete actions.

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Some of them actually involve concrete, um,

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but many don't to improve efficiency in the,

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or around the city, uh, to reduce emissions around the city,

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to pay attention to equity in making those decisions. Um,

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and there are lots of things that cities can do because they control lots of

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things. They, they build roads, they run public transit,

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they heat and cool buildings. Um,

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they can make choices about whether they're going to use electric vehicles,

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whether they're going to do energy efficiency projects and how they are going to

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encourage neighborhood groups and community partners and local businesses

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and, um, and, and faith groups and all to, to, to, to act similarly.

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So there's a very strong role, um,

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for local governments to play there and they need to have the ability to move

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forward and do those projects, but, but they cannot do it alone.

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So there has to be state level policies. There has to be federal policy that,

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that helps do the things that have to be done at a, at a higher level, uh,

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to then make it possible for local governments to be successful.

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<v 3>Yeah, I completely agree with, uh, Janet's perspective there.</v>

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And I would just supplement that by kind of spotlighting Indianapolis for a

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little bit longer, uh,

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which is it's amazing how many tools Indianapolis has in place to

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try to tackle climate issues locally, uh,

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with respect to air, um, you know,

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we anticipate as temperature rises that ozone will become ozone

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pollution will become an increasing problem in Indianapolis.

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And there there's the nose zone program that Indianapolis has that ought to be

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deployed to particularly low, lower income communities,

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communities of color that have borne the brunt of pollution over the years in

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Vermont injustice issues. Uh,

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and so that's one thing the city can do a second with respect to water.

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I know a good friend,

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Joe Hoffman from white river Alliance has talked a lot about stormwater issues

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and there, it could be about tightening, uh, the zoning, um,

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or I should say improving incentives for green water infrastructure,

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green infrastructure in Indianapolis through the zoning code,

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and then with respect to land, um,

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being much more proactive in making sure that open spaces R and D

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protected in Indianapolis Marion County, uh,

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which will help to preserve long-term carbon sinks for our city. You know,

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it's so critical to also note as someone who spends a lot of time thinking about

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and working in a legislature that, um,

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we also appreciate the fact that,

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and this also ties into a point Janet raised that state government can

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either empower locals to do good, sustainable things as it did in 2014,

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when we pass transit legislation,

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or it can weaken the authority of local government has happened with respect to

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banning the ability to,

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to ban plastic bags from the part of cities or as it happened

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to stormwater control over a few different sessions.

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So it's really important that, uh, viewers, uh, are, uh,

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vigilant in observing, uh,

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how the state government interacts with cities. Cities can have amazing plans.

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Those plans could be undermined or empowered by the state government.

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<v 4>Jesse and Janet. We really appreciate you two,</v>

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taking the time to speak with us today about the role of government in tackling

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environmental issues. Thank you both so much.

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<v 3>Thank you for the invitation. It's.</v>

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<v 4>A pleasure and a really important conversation. Thank you for hosting us.</v>