What values drive Hartford’s approach to climate? Our shared values are public health, economic development, and social equity.
Let’s talk economic development. Climate action can save money for individuals and businesses. It can also create stable jobs with living wages that cannot be outsourced overseas – especially important since Hartford has a 8.5% unemployment rate overall (while the state has a 4.8% rate), and in some neighborhoods a rate as high as during the Great Depression. Our vision for improved economic development:
- Hartford residents have access to a wide variety of green jobs – in agriculture, renewable energy installation, bicycle repair, or energy efficiency retrofitting, to name a few possibilities.
- The cost of electricity – which in the highest in the continental United States – decreases for households and businesses, so they have more capacity to invest in workers and infrastructure.
- Pedestrian throughways, bikeways, and public transportation connect Hartford’s various neighborhoods to each other, our waterways, commercial centers, and residential areas, providing professional and recreational opportunities.
