When it comes to climate change, Long Beach officials have a simple message: “Things are going to change, period.”

The question, then, is how to respond to those changes. And to find the answers, officials want the public’s help.

The city will hold an open house on June 2 to discuss a proposed strategy to fight and adapt to climate change. That strategy, called the Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, is still in the early stages of what will be a months-long process of developing the best ways to reduce the effect rising temperatures will have on Long Beach.

The June 2 meeting will be the first of several where city officials will discuss the need for a climate plan and ask for the public’s feedback.

“We’re all in this together,” said Christopher Koontz, an advance planning manager working on the climate plan. “We’re looking at how we create champions and ambassadors for fighting climate change.”

The Climate Action and Adaptation Plan has been in the works for more than two years. During that time, officials and a private consulting firm have reviewed environmental science and data to develop different scenarios of how climate change could affect the quality of life in Long Beach; they’ve also looked at how well the infrastructure of the city can hold up to increased temperatures.

“We did mapping of what we call stressors,” Koontz said. “We’re taking a hard look at our own infrastructure.”

A stressor is something that strains a specific piece of infrastructure. During its research, Koontz said, the city looked at Long Beach’s electrical grid and its ability to withstand heat waves — and the constant churning of air conditioners.

In 2015, thousands of residents in downtown went without power for up to five days because of a mass blackout. If a similar blackout hit during a heatwave, children and the elderly could be put at risk of heat exhaustion and stroke.

By mid-century, data shows, the number of days exceeding 95 degrees Fahrenheit in Long Beach will be 11 days, up from four at the turn of the century, according to an Aquarium of the Pacific study.

Part of the action plan, Koontz said, would be figuring out how best to revamp the electrical grid while also honing evacuation procedures.

“How do we make sure people aren’t harmed?” Koontz asked, summing up the city’s mission for the plan.

Any plan would ultimately have to be approved by multiple voting bodies, including the City Council, with a timeline set for 2019.

Under two state laws, passed in 2006 and 2008, cities, and the state generally, have to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and to 50 percent of 1990 levels a decade later.

The plan, city documents said, “will allow Long Beach “to achieve these obligations for (greenhouse gas) emission reductions by providing a road map for integrating strategies into city objectives, planning documents, and legislative updates.”

The plan will likely be far-ranging, laying out incentives for folks to be more energy efficient, creating requirements for those who buy beachfront properties in case those houses get destroyed during a flood, and getting more people out of their cars.

The city, under Mayor Robert Garcia, has already taken some steps to address climate change, such as planting more trees to cut down on extreme temperatures in urban areas and creating more bike lanes.

“Long Beach must be prepared for the effects of climate change. More extreme heat is our most likely impact and will affect our most vulnerable communities, such as seniors,” Garcia said. “This plan will help us develop strategies to save lives and be resilient in the face of climate change.”

But, Koontz said, there is more work to be done. And that’s where the city needs the public’s help.

The rest of the year, he added, will be dedicated to talking to the public, getting ideas for the plan and getting the public to accept changes to their way of life.

The open house, at Martin Luther King, Jr. Park, will include a public workshop on the action plan and a sustainability resource fair for residents to learn how to improve sustainability at their houses or businesses.

“There is always push back to changes,” Koontz said. “But we need the public to buy in.”

Garcia, though, said he expects residents to help find a way to combat climate change while improving the quality of life.

“Our residents are the ones who will be affected by these changes,” he said, “and we need to partner with and equip them with strategies to adapt to climate change and to prevent some of the worst predictions from occurring.”

If you go

When: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 2

Where: Martin Luther King, Jr. Park, 1950 Lemon Ave.

More info: lbds.info/climateactionlb