PREVENT POWER BLACKOUTS BY JOINING OHM CONNECT AND GETTING A FREE SMART THERMOSTAT OR $25 AND TWO SMART PLUGS (a million available)

https://www.ohmconnect.com/endcablackouts/?

OhmConnect is a free service that helps to prevent blackouts by coordinating energy savings by hundreds of thousands of homes one or two hours a week when there’s extreme demand on the grid. A smart device is not required to participate with OhmConnect but pays added dividends if you use one, for example, to turn off your refrigerator for short periods. You get paid directly for the energy you save at these critical times.

Also, if you use this link to sign up 350 Humboldt will get $50 as a signer’s bonus: https://ohm.co/dwchandl   So contribute by avoiding the use of dirty “peaker” gas power and by getting a bonus for 350 Humboldt.

Thanks,

Dan Chandler for the Steering Committee

WEBINAR ON HUMBOLDT REGENERATIVE FARMING

Webinar about regenerative agriculture/carbon farming in Humboldt County –  Monday August 2 from 5:30-7:30pm. Sponsored by the North Coast Growers Association, this event was created for local food producers but will be interesting for all of us who care about realizing Humboldt’s potential to sequester carbon on working lands.  Topics include: the science behind soil health practices, presentations by local regenerative farmers, and sources of funding for farmers to implement new practices.    Here’s the link to register:

https://norcalsbdc.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwocu-sqz4iGt3PYjxrrKwLTZ90gWB7loSJ

WRITE LETTERS TO VOTERS

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

POSTCARD WRITING TO VOTERS ORGANIZED BY HUMBOLDT ACTIVIST FREDERICA AALTA

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]

VOTING – VOTE FORWARD

https://votefwd.org/campaigns

Sending letters to voters thanking them for voting in last election and encouraging them to vote again in upcoming elections.

VOTING – POSTCARDS TO SWING STATES

Please SIGN UP to write postcards to make sure Democrats come out and vote. We’ll send you the postcards, addresses and instructions for free. You provide $0.36 stamps and mail the cards.  A number of campaigns are available on the website.

With the help of volunteers like you, we wrote 21 million postcards in 2020, and we saw incredible results! Voters who receive handwritten postcards are significantly more likely to vote. You can help us keep New Jersey and Virginia blue!

Visit our website to learn more about Postcards to Swing States and get answers to our frequently asked questions.

SIERRA CLUB VOTER REGISTRATION

Only 63% of Arizona voters are registered. Send a blank registration form and a letter to unregistered voters:

Print copies of this blank voter registration form and include a blank form with each letter you send. Please do not write on the voter registration forms.

These letters should be put in the mail as soon as you have completed them.

Please follow the instructions here to complete and send your letters: sc.org/LetterWritingInstructions.

When you are ready for your next batch of letters, please request more at sc.org/RequestLetters.

OTHER LETTERS/PETITIONS

350 HUMBOLDT

Letter writers: Let’s write a letter to the editor of each local paper and the SF Chronicle supporting a) the voting rights bills and b) the Democrats budget reconciliation bill. We’ll discuss in the group and parcel out targets. At the end of this message are some points you can use (courtesy of Sierra Club) and recent news.

ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND

Right now, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is working to craft a new rule to tackle methane pollution from oil and gas operations, and they want to hear from you.

Methane pollution is a severe threat to our climate, our health and our communities, and we need everyone to urge EPA Administrator Regan to protect our health and slow the rate of climate change by taking sweeping action on methane.

Send in your comment today and — tell the EPA that it’s time to put methane under control!
We have the tools and technology today to cut methane pollution from the oil and gas sector by 65% by 2025. And there is no time to waste. Every year, the oil and gas industry releases 16 million metric tons of methane into the atmosphere, along with other health-harming local air pollution

Take action now

ENERGY COMMISSION

CEC is looking for comments on their new building code regulations. Due by August 10. Submit at:

https://efiling.energy.ca.gov/EComment/EComment.aspx?docketnumber=21-BSTD-03

Or write:California Energy Commission, Dockets Unity, MS-4, Docket No. 21 BSTD-03, 715 P Street, Sacramento, CA 95814-5512

General comments can be on urgency of climate crisis and need to electrify everything as soon as possible. Also that because of path dependence, regulations now will be having emissions consequences for 30 years or more. The major consequence is that building so that there can be gas hook ups risks embedding fossil fuels in our housing and buildings when we actually need to be converting existing gas heating, water heating, and cooking to electric.

Specific comments can focus on need to eliminate gas hook ups from new residential and business construction. The proposed new rules require electrical hook ups, e.g. charger ready, but don’t eliminate gas hook ups. Many localities are moving to bans on gas hook ups. Berkeley just won the suit restaurant owners had filed. It will be a huge step if the state requires all electric building so the battle doesn’t need to be fought in hundreds of cities around the state. Incidentally, the Sierra Club reports the gas industry has gotten many state legislatures to prohibit local regulation of gas in new buildingsYou could also say that all of the CALgreen regulations should be mandatory rather than optional for localities.

You can read more about the CALgreen codes at: https://www.hcd.ca.gov/building-standards/calgreen/index.shtml or this report to the Legislature: https://www.hcd.ca.gov/building-standards/calgreen/docs/2020-calgreen-report-to-legislature.pdf

 

CIEL

Since 2017, CIEL and partners have been advocating for a new treaty — a legally binding global agreement to govern plastic, addressing impacts throughout the lifecycle. And momentum is building. So far, more than 140 countries have expressed their support, representing every region of the globe.

Reaching a global agreement on plastic is a key element in meaningfully confronting the growing plastic crisis. But the treaty must take a global, holistic approach, rather than piecemeal, voluntary measures. It must reduce the production of new plastic, develop infrastructure to stop and address existing plastic pollution, and create a safe circular economy for plastic. It must focus on preventing harm to people and the environment, not protecting plastic industry interests. And we need robust public support from all over the world in order to make it a reality.

Urge Secretary Blinken to join nations around the world in supporting a plastic treaty.

SIERRA CLUB

Sierra Club members and supporters have urged President Biden to halt construction of the Line 3 tar sands pipeline in Minnesota. Now there’s an Army Corps of Engineers official in place who could be instrumental in stopping Line 3. Longtime defender of Indigenous rights Jaime Pinkham, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, has bucked pipeline companies before, and we need him to do so again.

Contact Assistant Secretary Pinkham today.

GREEN AMERICA

Plastic production and incineration emit toxic air pollutants and millions of tons of greenhouse gases. Oil and gas industries want to ramp up plastic production in the coming decade to keep a demand in place for fossil fuels and line their pockets with more profits.

More plastic production will fuel the climate crisis and increase pollution that severely threatens the health of fenceline communities, disproportionately impacting Black, Indigenous, and Latino communities.

But there are solutions – including a major one in Congress right now.

The Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act tackles the harmful impacts of plastics on communities and the environment – urge your elected officials to support this legislation!

Plastic Waste Trade Watch

Report finds eggs poisoned by plastic waste

A report produced by IPEN and Arnika found eggs from chickens raised near plastic waste dumps and recycling centers contain unsafe levels of toxic chemicals leached from plastics, endangering those that consume them. Examining 25 sites in 14 low- and middle-income countries, it found that eggs uniquely accumulate persistent organic pollutants from the hens that lay them, which have picked food, worms and insects from the contaminated soil and dirt. These sites are located in countries known to accept imported plastic waste, particularly from the U.S. and other nations whose waste systems rely on exports.

To join or sign up new members to the Plastic Waste Trade Watch, click here.

CIEL

1.    Sign the Deadline Glasgow Petition.
We’re calling on all financial institutions and the US government to end their support for companies engaged in climate destruction and human rights abuses by the start of the Glasgow Climate Talks. Our goal is to gather hundreds of thousands of signatures and to deliver the petition to hundreds of insurance offices, bank branches, asset managers and pension fund offices, and federal targets in September. Sign the petition today.

2.    Attend the virtual Campaign Launch next Tuesday.
On Tuesday, August 3rd at 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT, join us and hear from frontline organizers on what the Deadline Glasgow Campaign will look like in the months ahead. Speakers will include Tara Houska of Giniw Collective, Kayah George of Indigenous Climate Action, Representative Rashida Tlaib, and Bill McKibben. Reserve your spot at the Campaign Launch now.

We have less than 100 days until the start of the Glasgow Climate Talks, so let’s put pressure on governments and financial institutions now to act on climate change and preserve our future.

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POINTS TO CONSIDER FOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (See above)

This summer and fall, Congress has the opportunity and mandate to pass a bold climate infrastructure plan at the size and scale of the crises we face, as well as critical democracy reforms like the For the People Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Act.

Infrastructure is moving forward in two chunks — One, a smaller bipartisan bill with a narrower interpretation of infrastructure that includes things like roads and bridges. Alone, it would be unacceptable. It must move alongside a bigger and bolder infrastructure plan that is broad in reach, ambitious in scale and centered in delivering investments in climate, equity and jobs to meet the challenges of our time. President Biden and Democratic leaders in Congress understand this, and many have committed to seeing it through.

Such a package can only be achieved by advancing it through Budget Reconciliation, a process that would allow passage with only a 51-vote majority.  This would require the support of all 50 Democrats and the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Harris.

The margins are razor thin and it will take sustained public pressure to make this possible. This August Recess, when our members of Congress are back home to hear from their constituents, we have to make it clear that we will accept nothing less than a fully functioning democracy and an economy that sustains both people and the planet.

This could look like scheduling a meeting (in person or virtual) with your Members of Congress and urging (aka “lobbying”) them to support passage of a big, bold budget reconciliation package that delivers on climate, clean energy, jobs and justice. Or you could gather a few friends and neighbors for an action party to put pressure on your reps in other ways — writing Letters to the Editor of your local newspaper, having an art build to make banners or posters or stencils.

You can adapt these tactics based on what makes sense for you and your community, and what you think will be most effective in putting pressure on your Members of Congress. The important thing is that we’re bringing people we know into the movement and taking action together.

We have a narrow window of opportunity to build enough pressure to influence these infrastructure plans, and to ensure the most ambitious version of them passes. We’re likely looking at drafting and negotiations through September, with final votes in October or later. But that all could shift. So act now and later.

Here is the danger: https://washingtonmonthly.com/2021/07/31/no-one-can-out-organize-the-gop-plot-to-end-american-democracy/

Here is what HR 1 proposed before it was defeated in the Senate: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/30/us/politics/voting-rights-law.html

The voting rights picture right now is not clear: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/23/us/politics/voting-rights-bill.html

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/30/new-voting-rights-bill-501772

The current Democratic budget reconciliation proposal (to go along with bipartisan infrastructure bill) is: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/13/us/politics/infrastructure-deal-budget.html

Climate provisions are: https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/07/16/climate-deal-democrats/

But this won’t be final form: https://www.rollcall.com/2021/07/28/sinema-deals-blow-to-democrats-budget-reconciliation-target/

Example letter

Dear Editor,

I am glad to hear there will be a bi-partisan infrastructure bill in Congress. But there are two even more important issues hanging fire. First is voting rights. My main concern is the climate crisis, but if states’ efforts to suppress the vote are successful our already belated efforts to tackle climate change will be wiped out in a flood of climate deniers taking office in the Congress in 2022. We need a federal voting law that keeps voting administration non-partisan, eliminates gerrymandering with non-partisan commissions like California’s, and recognizes that that voting is not a privilege for white Republicans but a right of every citizen.

The other important issue is funding for the climate crisis itself. We need a clean energy standard that rewards adoption of energy sources that don’t emit carbon dioxide; we need incentives so that everyone can get a non-polluting (electric) vehicle; and we need to take away the government subsidies to fossil fuels, and start charging fees for release of methane and other warming gases. These actions are in the Democrats’ budget reconciliation bill.

The extreme weather events – drought, hurricanes, floods, and fires – we are experiencing now are a modest downpayment on what our warming atmosphere has in store for us. The Biden climate initiative incorporated in the the legislation currently being considered won’t solve climate change – that will be a gigantic effort over decades – but it is a really good first step.

Sincerely,