One of the most delightful things about Cary is the trees.
Those of you living here may take them for granted, but Cary is a 42-year veteran of the Arbor Day “Tree City USA” program and works hard to support and grow a tree canopy that protects and cools the town year round. There are even classes on trees, and a “My Tree, Our Tree” program to offer free trees to residents.
For those of you wondering why trees are getting so much play in a “Geek Peek” column, let me introduce you to the Town of Cary’s new Sustainability & Climate Action Strategy Dashboard. While the dashboard isn’t counting trees (yet), it is delivering data and details on what it takes to keep Cary sustainable and achieve long-term climate goals as Cary works to be “near net zero” by 2050.
Developing a Strategy
The Climate Action Dashboard was born with the Town’s first ever Sustainability and Climate Action Strategy document. While Cary has always been environmentally conscious, that work had never previously been codified. Begun three years ago, the Strategy was designed to be a guide to safeguard resources for future generations. The work is broken into six “pillars” or focus areas, and the plan collected community feedback through the “Count me in, Cary” initiative for much of last year and through the early months of 2025. The final document was approved by the town council this spring.
“We are thrilled with this document,” Sara Caliendo, Town Energy Manager told me on a recent call. “It reflects the Imagine Cary Community Plan, the foundations of providing our high-quality public services, protecting nature and the environment and managing future land use.”
Dashboard Insights
With the Strategy in hand, the Town turned to the work of communicating what is included. The Dashboard follows the core of the plan, divided into the six focus areas: Community, Energy, Natural Resources, Solid Waste, Transportation & Mobility, and Water Infrastructure. The Dashboard also has a section for “Climate Change in Cary,” which serves to provide some basic information and stats on the current state of climate for our region, and the state.
“We wanted it to be (a) sustainability hub for our citizens to provide an education and awareness component about the Cary community,” Sara says. “Providing some preparedness, as well as information on where Cary is today, and where we could be in the future. We wanted it to be inspiring and motivating.”
The Town of Cary has lots of initiatives and resources that connect to climate, and these are able to be integrated into the Dashboard. For example, the number of permits for solar panels are displayed in the “Energy” area to help show the trends towards renewable energy. Data on Food Waste Recycling demonstrate the Town’s composting and waste management improvements, with data included through May of this year.
At its core, the Strategy can be examined in the “Track Our Progress” section of the Dashboard, with an interface to drill down into the full list of Goals, Strategies, and Actions. Each action also shows the current “phase” of work, which will be updated over the life of the plan.
What You Can Do
Perhaps the most important and exciting piece of the Dashboard is “What You Can Do.” Each focus area includes tips and links to resources from the Town and beyond that can provide Cary residents (and others!) real, actionable steps to improve sustainability. There’s also a single page that pulls all these recommendations into one place — more than 30 in all — to provide a clear path to action.
Some of these steps are surprising. Small actions like just talking about climate can have a big impact. If you have an idea for your community, check out the Town’s grants for neighborhood improvements. And you may not be aware that Town offers Environmental Education classes that cover everything from gardening and understanding pollinators to “Solar for Your Home.”
Sara has trouble picking her favorites from the list.
“Where can I get involved with a tree planting event? Are there opportunities for me to volunteer at one of our events? Using Cary’s Waste Wizard to know, ‘is this compostable?’ Do I know how to navigate the GoCary trip planner? What are some ways I can be more water efficient and conserve?” she asks, running through the resources. “I think that the ‘What You Can Do’ is a great resource for our community, to just have a level of awareness.”
Evolving Insights
Going forward, the Dashboard will be updated on an annual basis, with new data coming in via Town’s Open Data Portal and reporting to the Town Council. Stay tuned to Town news and social media channels as well to see “wins” shared. You’ll also be able to follow along in the “Track Our Progress” section of the Dashboard to see the goals move towards completion.
As for the broader Strategy, Sara expects that it will continue to be evaluated regularly, maybe every 5 to 10 years. “(We want) to see what our impact is and what needs to change,” she says. “We’re in an evolving world.”
