Action #1 – Tell Governor Newsom to pass SB-1 NOW!
Click here for information and contact information.
Action #2 – “If a Kid Says Help, You Help” – Get ready for Friday’s Climate Strike
(from Ventura County Climate Hub) Join to learn, unite, and march to demand immediate climate action. This is just the beginning! We are a cross-generational coalition of Ventura County students, organizations and businesses in solidarity with the Global Climate Strike. Young people and adults will strike all across the US and world to demand transformative action be taken to address the climate crisis on Sept. 20, three days before the UN Climate Summit in NYC.
Come to Mission Park and join the strike to demand that leaders declare a climate emergency and act now to slash greenhouse emissions and draw down carbon dioxide. Questions? CONTACT: Adam Vega, 805-312-6875, adamvega12@gmail.com
- 12:00 – Meet @ Mission Park
- 2:00 – March to City Hall
- 2:30 – 3:00 – Activation @ City Hall
- 3:00 – 4:00 – Walk back to Mission Park + Wrap
Other local events:
- Ojai – Join this event
- Carpinteria – Join this event
- Conejo/Westlake Village – Join this event
- Camarillo – Join this event
If your location wasn’t listed here or you’re interested to see all the events planned, you can check the map at globalclimatestrike.net/usa
LINKS:
- ClimateStrike805 https://www.facebook.com/events/2387486241538923/
- Global Climate Strike USA https://globalclimatestrike.net/usa/
- Fridays for Future https://www.fridaysforfuture.org/
- How to stand with young climate strikers https://350.org/support-climate-strikes/
- “If a Kid Says Help, You Help”: Adults Urged to Join Upcoming Global Climate Strike, Common Dreams, August 27, 2019
- #strikewithus #thereisnoPlanetB #ClimateStrike805
Action #3 – Send a “thank-you” support note to CA Attorney General Xavier Becerra
As part of the administration’s continuing efforts to guarantee a captive market for his fossil-fuel industry donors and to backup their need for drilling rampages through our wildlife sanctuaries, public lands and sacred Native American sites, Trump stated on Wednesday that he will be revoking our state’s ability to enforce the stringent limits on vehicle carbon pollution. However, California needs to stay on the cutting edge to improve our air quality and to protect our citizens’ health. Consumers Reports has noted that effects of reducing our 2025 goals of 51 mpg down to gas-industry approved 37 mpg will cause the following effects:
- The rollback will cost American consumers an additional $460 billion, which comes out to an added $3300 per new vehicle, compared to keeping the current standards, taking into account fuel costs and vehicle costs, among other factors.
- The rollback is equivalent to forcing new vehicle buyers to pay an additional gas tax of $0.63 per gallon by 2025, except instead of that added cost going towards a community improvement project like infrastructure, it goes directly to oil companies.
- About 70 percent of the additional fuel costs from the rollback will fall on pickup truck, minivan, and SUV drivers.
- The rollback will harm the automotive industry, lowering vehicle sales by over 2 million through 2035.
- The rollback means losing out on the development and installation of fuel-saving technology, which, under the current standards, would have saved drivers $3 for every $1 invested. Our cars will become uncompetitive with foreign imports, again. European vehicles have to effectively achieve around 57 mpg, starting next year. Under CA’s agreement with 4 automakers, our cars would reach a standard of 50 mpg by 2026.
So what about pollution? The Trump administration says that rolling back the stricter rules won’t seriously increase the effects of climate change – because they’ve gotten rid of the scientists who would say otherwise, leaving a former coal lobbyist in charge. Rhodium Group estimated that the rollback from this corrupt action will increase carbon dioxide pollution by 321 million and 931 million metric tons through 2035. At their upper estimate, they state that the increase in annual CO2 emissions by 2035 from this action would be larger than the total national annual emissions today of 82% of the countries on earth, and larger than the COMBINED annual CO2 emissions of the 70 smallest countries in the world. A separate estimate by the think tank Energy Innovation pegged the upper number even higher, at 1.25 billion metric tons.
Minimal script: I’m calling/writing to thank CA Attorney General Becerra for taking on the job of stopping Trump Administrations’ roll back of CA’s emission standards.
Contact: (916) 445-9555 or leave him a supportive comment here.
Action #4 – Stop the financers of destruction.
(This video ends with a call for a petition. We think letters are more effective and there’s a sample letter in this section.)
(from the Sierra Club)
“Each year since the Paris climate agreement, major world banks have increased their financing of fossil fuels, pouring $1.9 trillion into the industry from 2016 through 2018. And, it turns out, US banks are the worst offenders, according to a recent report published by a group of environmental organizations. (full report here) (English summary report here)(en español aquí)
“The sad reality is that the fossil fuel sector has only grown since Paris,” says Patrick McCully, climate and energy director for the Rainforest Action Network and one of the report’s authors. “The banks are following what the industry is doing, and the industry’s able to expand because it’s able to keep getting capital from the banks…It’s just this really alarming, really terrifying dynamic going on worldwide.”
Communities around the world are facing an unprecedented crisis — rising seas, stronger storms, ruthless wildfires, and extreme temperatures… Yet astonishingly, over $5 trillion of public financing, and trillions more in private investments, continue to pour into the pockets of Big Coal, Oil, and Gas each year. These financiers support dangerous projects that threaten public health and infringe on rights of local communities, like the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). Wells Fargo, for example, is one of 17 banks that invested $3.8 billion to fund the construction of a pipeline through the Sioux tribe’s sacred lands.
We know that shifting the trillions will be hard work — but we also know it is achievable if we act together and act right now. With our efforts combined, we can and will change our personal investments, the investments made by the U.S. government and the world’s largest institutions, and the priorities of governments around the world…”
Actions:
- Re-home your money. (the Sierra Club has some suggestions here.)
- Write to the offenders. Contact list here
- Example letter from fossilbanks.org: We, organisations and individuals from all over the world, are now directly experiencing the impacts of climate change on our lands and our lives. We are living through temperature extremes; we witness the disruption and destruction brought to our communities and societies by floods, storms, droughts and fires; we grieve for what is precious to us and lost, and we fear for the future of our children.In light of this grave threat, we demand decisive action on tackling the root cause of climate change, which is the continued extraction and burning of coal, oil and gas – by far the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. We can end the fossil fuel era – the technology exists – but only if governments and financial institutions end their support for the fossil fuels of the past and instead invest in a rapid and just transition to a 100% clean energy future that serves our communities and not corporations.This requires that you, our banks, which hold our money – acknowledge that your continued support for the fossil fuel industry is incompatible with stopping catastrophic climate change, and that you take concrete steps to end this support.We therefore demand by the 25th UN Climate Summit in November 2019 at the latest, you:
- publicly clarify your bank’s position on the relation between climate change and the extraction and burning of fossil fuels
- publicly commit to immediately end your support for all new fossil fuel projects, including exploration, extraction, transportation and power
- publish a robust plan for phasing out your support for all existing fossil fuel projects and companies on a timetable consistent with what is necessary to meet the Paris targets.
- Fully respect all human rights, particularly the rights of Indigenous peoples, including their rights to their water and lands and the right to free, prior and informed consent, as articulated in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Prohibit all financing for projects and companies that abuse human rights, including Indigenous rights.
- We welcome all other steps your bank will take to help combat climate change, such as financing renewable energy solutions, but we will judge you first and foremost on your public commitment and strategy to terminate your support for the fossil fuel industry.With so much at stake, you can count on our relentless efforts to ensure your bank makes these commitments. We will not rest until you side with us in ending the fossil fuel era.”
- Example letter from fossilbanks.org: We, organisations and individuals from all over the world, are now directly experiencing the impacts of climate change on our lands and our lives. We are living through temperature extremes; we witness the disruption and destruction brought to our communities and societies by floods, storms, droughts and fires; we grieve for what is precious to us and lost, and we fear for the future of our children.In light of this grave threat, we demand decisive action on tackling the root cause of climate change, which is the continued extraction and burning of coal, oil and gas – by far the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. We can end the fossil fuel era – the technology exists – but only if governments and financial institutions end their support for the fossil fuels of the past and instead invest in a rapid and just transition to a 100% clean energy future that serves our communities and not corporations.This requires that you, our banks, which hold our money – acknowledge that your continued support for the fossil fuel industry is incompatible with stopping catastrophic climate change, and that you take concrete steps to end this support.We therefore demand by the 25th UN Climate Summit in November 2019 at the latest, you:
Stay tuned for part 2…
INDIVISIBLE VENTURA 