Two myths tend to shape how people talk about Kentucky and climate change. One is that the state is a “climate haven,” insulated from the worst effects of global warming. The other is that Kentuckians are hostile to climate action despite the existence of Kentucky's climate action plan.

Officials pushing for change — researchers, environmental directors and more — say their conversations around climate are more nuanced than a red or blue ticket makes it look.

Kentucky is the sixth most climate-vulnerable state, according to a report by Texas A&M University and the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund. From 2020 to 2024, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration documented 27 “billion-dollar” climate disasters in the state, including tornadoes that killed more than 50 people in western Kentucky and flash floods that killed 39 in the east.

From the outside, the Commonwealth’s politicians and residents — largely rural, with a reputation for voting conservative — may appear indifferent. Last year, state leaders passed S.B. 89, removing groundwater and wetland protections, and stood by President Donald Trump as he signed executive orders to boost the coal industry.

“I am delighted to share that that is a false assumption. And absolutely, it is an assumption that people make,” says Lauren Cagle, a professor at the University of Kentucky specializing in climate rhetoric.

Locally, municipalities varying in population density, income levels and industry are teaming up to strengthen their own communities’ climate resilience through a six-county regional climate action plan. The draft Central Kentucky Climate Action Plan, published last fall through an Environmental Protection Agency grant, targets an area of more than half a million people. Their leaders say neither politics nor an urban-rural divide can predict the popularity and effectiveness of climate action.

“There are three parts to this, and it includes the environment, the people and the economy. We believe if we focus on those three areas, then we can make our community stronger,” Jada Walker Griggs, the senior program manager in sustainability for Lexington-Fayette Urban City Government, explains.

Under the plan, the six counties — Bourbon, Clark, Fayette, Jessamine, Scott and Woodford — as well as municipal governments within will collaborate to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 23 percent by 2035 and 40 percent by 2050, as compared to 2021 levels.

Read the full article about Kentucky's climate action plan by Anabel Peterman at Reasons to Be Cheerful.