Jefferson County residents are savvy to the realities of climate change.

Back in 2007, Jefferson County commissioners and the City of Port Townsend passed a resolution agreeing to collaborate with each other to cut greenhouse gas emissions to levels 80 percent lower than 1990 levels by 2050.

The impact of climate change has hit home since then, and actions have been taken to reduce Jefferson County’s carbon footprint on the world.

In 2015, a serious drought in the Olympics put Port Townsend residents on alert over concerns about water use. The Port Townsend Paper Corp., which uses from 9 million to 10 million gallons of water a day, went so far as to install a pump at Lords Lake in case it was needed to keep water flowing to run the mill, and to keep hundreds of employees working. We had a practice run on water conservation.

The North Olympic Peninsula Resource Conservation & Development issued a report in September 2015 aimed at preparing the North Olympic Peninsula for the impacts of climate change. That report suggested the most notable impacts locally would include diminishing snowpack and a summer drought season, shifts in the timing and type of rainfall, high stream flows, an ongoing rise in the sea level, risk of wildfires, stressed forests as well as an increasingly corrosive ocean.

The 101-page report outlines strategies for ecosystems, strategies for water supplies and strategies for critical infrastructure. It’s a dense report, worth reading. Jefferson County Commissioner Kate Dean, who was involved in writing it, knows it well.

But perhaps on the eve of Earth Day 2017, it’s time to take a break from reports and proclamations, and get out and pull some Scotch broom at Fort Worden, help clean up a beach you walk, plant some sunflower seeds, teach your children how to ride Jefferson Transit or refresh our own memories of the extensive trail system in our own backyard.

There are plenty of things to do on Earth Day in Jefferson County due in large part to the fact that a lot of caring people in Jefferson County are not climate deniers and are taking action to care about the land and ocean and forests.

So, go celebrate Earth Day on Saturday.