ANNOUNCEMENTS:
After the presentation about the Arcata Gateway Project at our last general meeting the 350 Humboldt steering committee wrote a letter of support. We included a number of climate-related provisions we would like to see added as well. Our letter to David Loya is a the bottom of this email. David thanked us and replied:
“I wanted to mention that it is important to get your membership energized in the engagement. The Council and Planning Commission is hearing pretty consistently from one demographic that represents one viewpoint. The 350 letter will definitely have an impact, but nothing beats speakers at meetings. Have your membership sign up for our eNotifications at: https://www.cityofarcata.org/list.aspx. Use the Long-range Planning and Community Visioning list to get notified about meetings re: the Gateway.”
David Loya (him) Community Development Director, City of Arcata, ph. 707-825-2045
265 persons on our mailing list live in Arcata and many more treat it as a hub for entertainment (the Creamery district), shopping, eating out, recreation and more. So please sign up for the eNotifications and think about attending meetings over the next few months.
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Write letters and sign petitions on your own or join the 350 Humboldt “chat and write” letter-writing group Sunday evenings at 7pm. Here is the zoom link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86943045708?pwd=clVqWVJZNEFQSVl0QWd6VCtOZGtWZz09
A. Here are some petitions to sign and letters to write. It won’t take more than a few minutes and every action we take counts in the climate crisis. Below the petitions are opportunities to write postcards to voters in important elections.
LAST CHANCE ALLIANCE
Unprecedented winter wildfires and a worsening drought are wake-up calls — California must stop fueling the flames of climate chaos. With a few bold steps, Governor Newsom can set California and the world on the right track:
· End neighborhood drilling to prioritize public health over polluters’ profits.
· Lead a bold agenda for an equitable energy transition that centers impacted workers and communities.
· Stop new fossil fuel projects.
· Accelerate the timeline for a phaseout of dangerous oil and gas drilling.
Sierra Club
Despite consistent opposition by the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Enbridge, the Canadian company behind the construction of the tar sand pipeline called Line 5, is attempting to expand the pipeline in northern Wisconsin. Enbridge is specifically trying to get a permit that allows them to disturb and drill under the waterways of White River, which feeds into the waters of Bad River and Lake Superior.
We must ensure that Enbridge doesn’t receive the 404 permit to drill under this critical waterway. The Biden administration and their federal agency, the Army Corps of Engineers, are taking public comments on this permit and we need to create a major show of opposition to get their attention.
EPIC
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CLIMATE REALITY PROJECT
American families are hurting from higher and higher energy and grocery bills as conflict and instability abroad sends oil and gas prices skyrocketing at home.
Meanwhile, the world’s top climate scientists are warning that this is our last decade to prevent the climate change we’re already seeing transform our country from becoming the next global catastrophe.
SIERRA CLUB
The Michigan Public Service Commission approved a settlement agreement between DTE Energy and the Sierra Club, NRDC, National Housing Trust, The Ecology Center and the Michigan Attorney General’s Office. In this settlement agreement DTE committed to targeting their most vulnerable customers to increase energy efficiency services for low-income households, with a budget set-aside of $1 million. The areas will be determined through a set of studies to analyze the areas that are experiencing the highest energy burden and have other Indicators of vulnerability or burden including race/ethnicity.
Gov. Newsom could implement the same type of analysis in your state. Send a message now, and ask Gov. Newsom to target energy efficiency renovation and weatherization dollars to the homes with the highest energy burdens. It’s a way to spend federal infrastructure dollars to improve lives and reduce carbon footprints all at the same time.
WRITE LETTERS TO VOTERS
There are some new postcard writing and letter writing opportunities. Check them out.
Postcards to Swing States: New Campaign this week
Our first postcard program of 2022 is finally here! We need your help to highlight what Democrats have delivered.
Sign up now to write postcards to rally Democrats to vote in states with key Senate races in November: Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and New Hampshire.
For this program, volunteers need to provide their own postcards and stamps. Mail the postcards no later than May 31. We’ll email you a list of voters and instructions, which will include the message to write. We’ll recommend a place to buy postcards, including the design below, but you can use any generic postcards or buy them from any source. If you’re ordering a large quantity, consider using a local union printer.
Help us make sure voters hear what Democrats have delivered under President Biden’s leadership. We can expand the Senate majority so that President Biden is able to pass his full agenda. But it’s not going to happen without your help!
ENVIRONMENTAL VOTER PROJECT
Our next postcarding campaign will be to Colorado voters ahead of their June 28th state primary!
We’ll be sending postcards to environmental voters who voted in the 2020 General Election, but are unlikely to vote in midterm elections based on their previous voting history. We expect to begin mailing out packages of postcards to signed-up volunteers beginning in late March, and the required “mail-to-voters” date for this round of postcards is on Monday, June 6th.
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This sign up form is only for trained EVP postcarding volunteers. New postcarding volunteers should sign up for an orientation below.
If you have not already attended an EVP postcard training, please sign up for one of the 45 minute trainings below. We use very specific designs and messaging that are optimized to increase turnout, so we require all our postcarding volunteers to receive an EVP training before sending postcards.
VOTE FORWARD – NEW CAMPAIGN
Feb. 18 Today, we’re thrilled to announce: It’s time to get started. Vote Forward’s first 2022 letter writing campaigns are here.
Why now? Starting early gives us time to write more letters and reach more voters. And with so much at stake, there’s no time to spare.
Start writing letters today by visiting your Vote Forward dashboard. Remember: Hold your letters until our mail date in late October. Letters mailed now will not work to boost voter turnout this fall.
POSTCARD CAMPAIGN TARGETS FLORIDA VOTERS
Florida: Postcards and Letter Writing to Voters
Virtual Postcard Writing · Hosted by Broward for Progress (browardforprogress.org)
https://www.mobilize.us/mobilize/event/417759/
Join us for Postcards to Voters. We’re writing to Florida voters and need your help! Last cycle we sent almost 100,000 postcards out. Will you join us? 15 minutes a day can make a huge difference!
NEW POSTCARD CAMPAIGN FOR NORTH CAROLINA AND PENNSYLVANIA VOTERS:
From Activate America (Formerly Flip the West)
Earlier this week, we let you know about our brand new postcarding program in North Carolina to turn out the vote for Democrat Cheri Beasley.
Today, we’re excited to announce another postcarding program, this time in Pennsylvania. Voting by mail is a relatively recent option for most Pennsylvania voters, and in 2021, the state created an “Annual Mail Ballot List.” People on the list will get a mail-in ballot for every election in a calendar year. However, since it is a relatively new program, voters may not know or remember that they need to reapply each year.
People already on the “Annual Mail-In Voter List” have received a notification from the state that they need to complete a form to stay on the list, and we’re sending likely Democratic voters a postcard reminding them to return that form or to reapply online.
Interested? Sign up HERE.
We ask that all postcards be mailed before April 20th to give voters sufficient time to complete the required paperwork and receive and return their ballot before an upcoming May 17th election.
Pennsylvania is arguably the most competitive Senate election in the country, and there are multiple competitive House races as well, so this is a high priority action. We’re grateful for everyone who joins us in this and other postcard campaigns, and consider chipping in to help us continue delivering the kinds of volunteer opportunities that can make a big difference in a close election.
POSTCARD WRITING TO VOTERS ORGANIZED BY HUMBOLDT ACTIVIST FREDERICA AALTO
Here is Frederica describes what they are doing:
I am administering a postcarding network in Humboldt County (presently over 300 writers) and we supply postcards and stamps to writers, which are available for cost at several convenient pickup locations. Have anyone interested in joining us contact me. We mostly postcard for ROV (Reclaim Our Vote), which is non-partisan, but have also postcarded for Activate America (which used to be called Flip the West), which is partisan.
She can be reached at: [email protected]
GATEWAY LETTER FROM 350 HUMBOLDT STEERING COMMITTEE
March 9, 2022
To: David Loya, Director of Community Development
From: 350 Humboldt: Grass Roots Climate Action
Subject: Gateway Area Plan Element of the General Plan
Thank you for asking Delo Freitas to talk to the 350 Humboldt general meeting about the Gateway Plan. She did a great job describing the project and answering many of our questions.
Arcata is the home of 265 of our members, so we are happy to provide comments on the Gateway Plan from a climate point of view. We are very pleased with many of the elements of the Gateway Plan because of their attention to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. These include:
· Higher density including higher buildings
· Infill rather than subdivisions or large lots with single homes
· Non-motorized transportation emphasis
· Mixed residential and commercial development
· Parks and natural vegetation along creeks
· Taking a longer perspective (20 years)
· Planning that takes account of sea level rise
Our suggestions have to do primarily with reducing the carbon footprint of the area.
· Increase possibilities for rooftop gardening and clothes drying
· Require all-electric buildings with no gas hookups. Use all the climate-friendly REACH code provisions you can.
· Building should be required to have heat pump hot water heaters using natural refrigerants
· Heat pumps should be required to use natural refrigerants when they are commercially available and the lowest GWP from the onset [a refrigerant for residential heat pumps with GWP of 300 is now available from Honeywell].
· Our understanding is that new construction will require rooftop solar as a state mandate. It should also include energy storage linked to the solar and EV chargers to serve all residents.
· A solar microgrid is strongly recommended.
· Increased insulation of external walls and other weatherization features that will reduce energy use.
Sea Level Rise: What are the plans for dealing with flooding of creeks, emerging groundwater, and evacuation routes for earthquakes or tsunamis?
Thank you for considering these ideas. We would be happy to discuss them in detail at any time.