With his family watching, resident Brian Kendrick slogs toward his home in the 500 block of West Brady Street in Butler in February following several days of rain. Climate change could mean a lot more rain in the future for Butler County, according to one speaker at next weekend's Re-Imagine Butler County symposium.

Ever wonder what the future of Butler County will be like?

It could be a bright one where small farms and food processors, as well as tourists, drive the county economy.

Or it could be a gloomy, soggy one where increased rainfall caused by climate change leaves a polluted and infectious landscape in its wake.

That's the issue that will be tackled next weekend during a symposium of residents, local leaders and nonprofit organizations.

Re-Imagine Butler County will gather people and groups together to envision both an environmentally and economically sustainable future for the county.

It will be staged from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sept. 29 in Founders Hall on Butler County Community College's main campus, 107 College Drive, Butler Township.

Lou Hancherick of Marcellus Outreach Butler said his group, along with the Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau and the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, are the organizers of the event.

Marcellus Outreach Butler describes itself as a grass-roots environmental organization that was formed in 2010 by a group of concerned Butler County residents to educate and inform the public about the dangers of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

MOB is a founding member and steering committee member of Pennsylvanians Against Fracking, a statewide coalition made up of groups and individuals across the state working toward a ban on fracking.

And, Hancherick said, one focus of the speakers slated to talk at the event will be clean and sustainable energy.

“According to the 2018 Clean Jobs Report, there are 86,285 clean energy jobs in the state and its growing very fast,” said Hancherick. “Forty two percent of those clean energy jobs are in construction, good-paying, family sustaining jobs.”“We'll have experts talking about different aspects of sustainable energy like solar power,” he said.Hancherick said, “In Pennsylvania, sustainable agriculture is big, so is tourism. Agriculture and tourism are the biggest industries in Pennsylvania.”Speakers include:Paul Scanlon, director of sustainability for Slippery Rock University. The university defines sustainability as “the ability to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. For an action to be sustainable, “it must be environmentally benign, economically justifiable, and socially just.”Mark Szybist of the Natural Resources Defense Council. Szybist is an advocate for clean energy policies in Pennsylvania that will reduce global warming, create quality jobs, and ensure environmental justice.Hal Saville, commercial energy project consultant for EIS SolarT. Lyle Ferderber, founder and owner of Frankferd Farms Organic Foods in SaxonburgDustin Drew, Moraine State Park managerEd Grieser — Founder and CEO of HydroBloxx, a company that manufactures drainage systems from recycled plastic.Scanlon said, “I'm the first speaker. I'm going to talk about how global warming and climate change might impact the county.“The oceans are warming and evaporating more moisture into the atmosphere. That's what's causing the intense rainfalls we've been having,” he said.Scanlon said this rainfall is causing flooding and runoff which is polluting waterways and spreading infections.

“I'll give our view of the potential impacts of climate change and the new technologies which might mitigate it,” said Scanlon.But he said, the focus of Re-Imagine Butler County is not the speakers but the audience.Scanlon said, “We are going to keep our speeches short, about 15 minutes per person. We will spend the majority of the time brainstorming what we think will be the future of Butler County.”Following the speakers, attendees will be invited to develop their own visions in small groups and then share their results with the room.“Following the presentation, tables of eight or so people will be given a Butler County map. The idea here is the speakers will stimulate thought about what the future might be,” said Hancherick.“The whole point of the symposium is to get everybody to piece together that future,” said Scanlon.Ferderber said, “The thing I'm going to discuss is agriculture. Butler County farms are productive, but the farmers are getting older and farms are being sold, being concentrated into fewer hands. I do think there is a future for agriculture in the county but it is being threatened. There are less people doing it, they are getting older and the variety of crops are narrowing. There needs to be more farmers and more variety of crops from hemp to popcorn to more potatoes.”And, Ferderber said, there has to be food processors in the county to create value-added products from locally grown crops.“There's a potato chip manufacturer in northern Pennsylvania, Troyer Farm Foods,” said Ferderber. “What if there was a potato chip manufacturer here, or a pretzel maker here to use Butler County crops?”One of the event's organizers, Marcellus Outreach Butler, seemingly has its future for Butler County already laid out in its mission statement: “We envision a Butler County powered by renewable energy, not fossil fuels. Our mission is to educate, advocate, and activate communities to ban fracking and its infrastructure and promote renewable energy.”

WHAT:Re-Imagine Butler County symposiumWHEN: 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sept. 29WHERE: Founders Hall on the Butler County Community College main campusINFO:While the event is free and open to the public, registration is required by Sept. 22. Visit www.reimaginebutlercounty.com for more information or to register

Ryan Graham of Graham Haven, a grain farm in Connoquenessing Township, loads hay onto a truck. Agriculture, as well as tourism could play a big part of the county economy in the future.

Members of anti-fracking protest group Marcellus Outreach Butler try out a projection system last fall at the county government center. MOB is one of the organizers of the Re-Imagine Butler County event.