What does it take for a small community to make a measurable difference on climate change? An inventory of local greenhouse-gas emissions, a reduction target, sustained civic work, and practical decisions. But above all, it takes citizens who decide not to wait. 

That is the hopeful lesson of “The Little Town That Could,” a documentary about Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., that will be screened on Friday, Nov. 13, at the Point Reyes Presbyterian Church. Filmmakers Susan Todd and Andrew Young, and Patty Buchanan and Chandu Visweswariah, key movers from Croton-on-Hudson, will be present for a discussion.

Croton’s climate efforts include a municipal sustainability committee established in 2009, and Croton100, a grassroots organization founded in 2020. The film follows how residents made solutions visible, organized their neighbors, and pressed public institutions to act. Government became a partner and a multiplier of civic initiative. 

The results include solar power, cleaner vehicles, heat pumps, renewable electricity, and food-scrap collection. After a sustained citizen campaign, the school district began adding electric buses. Measured together, these projects became a strategy. “People need to see that change is possible—not in the abstract, not in some imagined future, but on streets that look like their own,” Todd told me. “We’ve come to believe that hope, when it’s earned, is contagious.”

Patty Buchanan, a founding member of Croton100 and one of the film’s central voices, described why this approach works. “People are more likely to adopt decarbonizing solutions that they see happening around them, and are embraced by people they know,” she said. 

That lesson applies to the upcoming West Marin Vision project. Although Marin is convening the process and will control many of the policies and investments that follow, the vision itself must not be driven by Marin. County staff can provide data, expertise, funding pathways, and legal authority. Residents must identify priorities, weigh tradeoffs, and define what success looks like. The proper model is community-led and county-enabled.

Climate should be woven through that work. Housing and transportation choices affect driving, buildings affect energy use, and agriculture influences fuel use, soil carbon, and methane. Local food and clean energy can reduce emissions and strengthen resilience.

West Marin is not starting from zero. Marin already inventories emissions, has goals for 2030, and aims to be carbon neutral by 2045. Its latest inventory reports a 37 percent reduction since 2005. West Marin Climate Action has organized home-energy programs, electric-vehicle expos, repair events, food gleaning, waste-reduction projects, and support for village microgrids.

“Our programs to date have focused on inspiring residents to take individual-level actions,” said Kathy Hunting, a co-founder of the group. “We’ve learned that community members are keen to fight climate change. The West Marin visioning process presents a critical opportunity to articulate larger goals and work toward system-level solutions.”

A credible, citizen-led vision process should make five climate commitments.

First, the county’s inventory should be translated into useful West Marin indicators and progress should be tracked. Second, set measurable objectives should be aligned with county goals, with dates, responsible agencies, and public reporting. Third, strategies should be matched to the rural realities of long distances, limited transit, older buildings, working farms and ranches, dispersed settlements, unequal access to capital, and tourism impacts.Fourth, early projects should have visible benefits, such as building-energy upgrades, shared transportation, resilient emergency hubs, composting, and assistance for lower-income households. We can then fill gaps and build on what succeeds.

Finally, we should create a durable structure that links residents, community organizations, agriculture, and county departments long after the vision document is finished. Officials should be accountable for implementation, but residents must remain its authors, advocates, and watchdogs.

Some may say that a small rural region cannot affect a global problem. But West Marin knows stewardship is not measured only by scale. Caring for a creek, farm, or neighborhood is both a local duty and part of a larger, integrated response.

“The Little Town That Could” does not claim that one village has solved climate change. Its message is that citizens do not need to wait for a complete solution—or for government to go first. “The planet doesn’t need a few perfect heroes,” Todd said. “It needs a great many ordinary towns deciding, together, to be a little braver.”

That is already West Marin’s instinct. The vision process should honor that ethos. If residents lead and the county listens, supports, and acts, the result can be more than a portrait of what we value. It can be a practical plan for protecting those values in a changing climate.

Chris Desser is a land use lawyer and a former Marin County Planning Commissioner and California Coastal Commissioner. She lives in Point Reyes Station.