By Richard L. Gaw
Staff Writer

Some of Chester County’s leading stakeholders in the areas of conservation and sustainable energy sources met with hundreds of concerned residents this past weekend to discuss how “green” efforts like sustainable energy and ecological landscaping can create a lasting impact on the overall health of the county.

The Chester County Sustainability Summit & Expo, held May 17 at West Chester University’s Sciences and Engineering Center and produced by the Chester County Planning Commission, served as a four-hour incubator of ideas, presentations by experts, networking between residents and conversations with representatives from 40 of the area’s top leaders in the areas of conservation, landscape design and clean energy. 

The schedule featured breakout sessions that invited experts to speak about emerging energy resources such as solar power and geothermal heating and cooling, sustainable landscaping that included discussion about backyard habitat certification programs and gardening with nature. In addition, the event provided those in attendance with tours of the Sciences and Engineering Center - a LEED Gold sustainable building - and invited all attendees to bring home a native plant.

Rachael Griffith, sustainability director at the Chester County Planning Commission, said that the event serves as part of Chester County’s on-going climate action plan, first developed in 2021 to reduce greenhouse gases in the county by 80 percent by 2050. She said that the commitment to foster sustainability and a clean environment is the responsibility of everyone from the homeowner to business owner. She called the plan “a roadmap for the whole community.”

“The decisions we make have a big influence over the environment, so the goal of this exposition is to share solutions that everyone can use in some way in their life, whether it is from an energy perspective in their home or business, switching to renewable energy or changing how they manage their landscape,” Griffith said. 

In her comments at the beginning of a break-out session, Chester County Commissioner Marian Moskowitz said that the county has collaborated with clean energy efforts happening in nearby Bucks, Delaware and Montgomery counties to form the Southern Pennsylvania Sustainability Partnership, which she said allows the county to leverage its buying power to enter into large scale renewable agreements. 

“We knew that for us as a county, if we were going to work with other counties, we wanted to have our local partners to work with us, too,” Moskowitz said. “We’re really proud of the progress we have made but are even more excited about what is ahead.”

Despite witnessing the U.S. tripling its use of renewable energy over the last decade through wind, solar and geothermal investment, the efforts to make Chester County cleaner – through its climate action plan and in its grassroots campaign to promote sustainability – the event took place against the backdrop of the Trump administration’s goal to eliminate clean energy projects in favor of deriving energy from fossil fuel resources and instead. Recently, the administration terminated two clean energy projects, and about 300 other projects are in severe jeopardy of being defunded by the U.S. Department of Energy. In total, the U.S. faces a loss of nearly $8 billion in renewable energy investment, and federal funding designated to The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to see a 54 percent cut. 

In the wake of these slashes in both funding and priority, Griffth said that the county is still committed to the cause. Pointing toward the many partnering Chester County-based organizations who patrolled information booths at the conference, Griffith said that the power of ushering in responsible sustainability efforts is one that has gained traction through collaboration between agencies.

“So many of these organizations here are working on projects and communication together and it is that deep environmental ethic that is one of the special things about Chester County,” Griffith said.

“We’re at a tipping point with sustainability, where big corporations and local governments are starting to prioritize sustainability and climate action,” she said. “It can be a daunting task for an individual to become motivated to make changes at home when they don’t see other changes happening in the world. It is natural to ask, ‘What impact am I going to have as one person?’ The truth is that when we’re all doing things together, our individual impact is greater.”

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email [email protected].Some of Chester County’s leading stakeholders in the areas of conservation and sustainable energy sources met with hundreds of concerned residents this past weekend to discuss how “green” efforts like sustainable energy and ecological landscaping can create a lasting impact on the overall health of the county.

The Chester County Sustainability Summit & Expo, held May 17 at West Chester University’s Sciences and Engineering Center and produced by the Chester County Planning Commission, served as a four-hour incubator of ideas, presentations by experts, networking between residents and conversations with representatives from 40 of the area’s top leaders in the areas of conservation, landscape design and clean energy. 

The schedule featured breakout sessions that invited experts to speak about emerging energy resources such as solar power and geothermal heating and cooling, sustainable landscaping that included discussion about backyard habitat certification programs and gardening with nature. In addition, the event provided those in attendance with tours of the Sciences and Engineering Center - a LEED Gold sustainable building - and invited all attendees to bring home a native plant.

Rachael Griffith, sustainability director at the Chester County Planning Commission, said that the event serves as part of Chester County’s on-going climate action plan, first developed in 2021 to reduce greenhouse gases in the county by 80 percent by 2050. She said that the commitment to foster sustainability and a clean environment is the responsibility of everyone from the homeowner to business owner. She called the plan “a roadmap for the whole community.”

“The decisions we make have a big influence over the environment, so the goal of this exposition is to share solutions that everyone can use in some way in their life, whether it is from an energy perspective in their home or business, switching to renewable energy or changing how they manage their landscape,” Griffith said. 

In her comments at the beginning of a break-out session, Chester County Commissioner Marian Moskowitz said that the county has collaborated with clean energy efforts happening in nearby Bucks, Delaware and Montgomery counties to form the Southern Pennsylvania Sustainability Partnership, which she said allows the county to leverage its buying power to enter into large scale renewable agreements. 

“We knew that for us as a county, if we were going to work with other counties, we wanted to have our local partners to work with us, too,” Moskowitz said. “We’re really proud of the progress we have made but are even more excited about what is ahead.”

Despite witnessing the U.S. tripling its use of renewable energy over the last decade through wind, solar and geothermal investment, the efforts to make Chester County cleaner – through its climate action plan and in its grassroots campaign to promote sustainability – the event took place against the backdrop of the Trump administration’s goal to eliminate clean energy projects in favor of deriving energy from fossil fuel resources and instead. Recently, the administration terminated two clean energy projects, and about 300 other projects are in severe jeopardy of being defunded by the U.S. Department of Energy. In total, the U.S. faces a loss of nearly $8 billion in renewable energy investment, and federal funding designated to The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to see a 54 percent cut. 

In the wake of these slashes in both funding and priority, Griffth said that the county is still committed to the cause. Pointing toward the many partnering Chester County-based organizations who patrolled information booths at the conference, Griffith said that the power of ushering in responsible sustainability efforts is one that has gained traction through collaboration between agencies.

“So many of these organizations here are working on projects and communication together and it is that deep environmental ethic that is one of the special things about Chester County,” Griffith said.

“We’re at a tipping point with sustainability, where big corporations and local governments are starting to prioritize sustainability and climate action,” she said. “It can be a daunting task for an individual to become motivated to make changes at home when they don’t see other changes happening in the world. It is natural to ask, ‘What impact am I going to have as one person?’ The truth is that when we’re all doing things together, our individual impact is greater.”

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email [email protected].