FARGO — A Fargo environmentalist is calling out the city’s inaction on climate change.
Mark Taggart stood before the city’s Sustainability and Resiliency Committee on Tuesday, Feb. 13, and asked them to do more. The committee is responsible for recommending actions and policy changes to city leaders that create a more sustainable, environmentally friendly community.
“More leadership — more communication — would be appreciated,” Taggart said. “Please, lead more appropriately and effectively.”
It’s been three years since the committee started meeting and, despite the city
already experiencing the impacts of the “climate emergency,”
city leaders have taken very little action over the years, Taggart said.
Alyssa Goelzer/The Forum
Commissioner John Strand, chair and founding member of the committee, said he understands Taggart’s frustration with the lack of progress.
“We could always do more,” Strand told The Forum. “How we do it, how we fund it, how we staff it — the capacities to do it and the time — are all realities, but we need to do more.”
Community environmentalists are waiting in the wings to help the city, Taggart said. He asked the committee to invite residents and environmental groups to the table to help create meaningful change.
Fargo residents are already seeing impacts from climate change, Taggart said.
Last summer, the warming climate exacerbated wildfires in Canada, which covered much of the Midwest in smoke for months. Frequent air quality alerts advised vulnerable Fargoans to stay inside and turn off their air conditioning to avoid inhaling the smoky air.
Youth-led
were instrumental to the committee’s creation. Fargo students
turned up in droves at City Hall
calling for local action.
It’s been “challenging” to hear members of the committee praise these young people over the years for their passion while simultaneously failing to enact the change they are seeking in their city, Taggart said.
The committee began meeting in March 2021. In the years since, the committee has seen very few tangible results. Despite initial enthusiasm,
the committee experienced significant delays in getting to work.
It has been extremely “demoralizing” to watch the committee’s inaction, Taggart said, expressing that he thinks the committee is failing to act with the urgency necessary to enact change.
“When evidence presents poor health, you go to urgent care or an emergency room,” Taggart said.
Taggart gave numerous examples of ways he thought the city could make small changes that would have a major impact on the climate and Fargo’s future. His ideas included everything from a city-led program to prevent usable items from being sent to the landfill to a call for the city to incorporate more electric and hybrid buses into its fleet.
While Taggart was the lone attendee who spoke at last week’s meeting, Strand said Taggart’s comments are reflective of a lot of people’s concerns in the community.
“They are telling us they want more,” Strand said. “We need to listen.”
Strand told The Forum that Taggart’s comments resonated on a “grassroots level” and gave him a lot to think about.
“It’s good to have citizens remind us of that and set their values in front of us and to have an expectation of us,” Strand said.
The sustainability committee needs to find a “clear focus” going forward, Strand said, and chase “tangible” results.
Currently, the committee is not “honed in” on any specific issues, Strand said. He told The Forum in February 2023 that the committee prompted the city of Fargo to create
carbon dashboards that will start tracking energy use in a few city facilities
and has helped promote reusable bags in the community.
He said he understands the concern that the committee hasn’t taken enough action.
When the committee first formed, Strand said, they needed time to get their feet under them, assess what had been done in Fargo and decide where the committee was going.
He said the same thing to The Forum this time last year
when the committee expanded its membership from 11 to 15 people.
“I’m sensing we’re getting closer to actions,” Strand said last week. “Rather than just theoretical studies of things. The public needs it and expects it of us.”
Taggart also drew attention to the committee’s lackluster time commitment to finding solutions.
Since its founding, the number of annual meetings of the sustainability committee has steadily declined, according to the committee’s
The committee met seven times in 2021, six times in 2022, five times in 2023 and is scheduled to meet six times in 2024.
Each meeting is scheduled for an hour, but they occasionally run over time.
To achieve anything, the committee needs longer, more frequent meetings, Taggart said.
There are a lot of city officials at the table, Taggart pointed out, before gesturing to the empty audience seats behind him.
“If you need proposals written, if that’s what you need, let us know,” he said
There are many people in Fargo who can lend the committee their expertise if the committee asks, he added.
Taggart is involved with River Keepers, Fargo’s community gardens and the Park District as an arborist during events, he told The Forum. He previously served as a board member for
Citizens Local Energy Action Network, or CLEAN.
Groups like CLEAN
have presented to the committee in the past.
“We need you to let us know what we can do,” Taggart said. “Make a call for requests.”
The Sustainability and Resiliency Committee is scheduled to meet next at 3 p.m. Tuesday, April 9, in the Fargo City Commission Chambers at 225 Fourth St. N.
Readers with thoughts about this issue can
contact their elected officials,
or email Forum reporter Melissa Van Der Stad at
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