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/85643874306?pwd=Tm1yeXJBVVhWMGt5ZjZXVTVYbGFoZz09
Writing a personal letter and sending it snail mail will sometimes be more effective than an email sign on, but if you are short of time signing petitions can be a quick way of letting decision-makers know your views. Most of the 12 recent requests compiled below are of the petition or letter sign-on variety, but there are a couple that lend themselves especially well to personal letters.
1. Sum Of Us – Petition on Arctic Oil
French oil giant Total wants to pump the equivalent of 535,000 barrels of oil per day from under the Arctic’s fragile ice. The Arctic is home to Indigenous communities like the Gwich’in, the Inuit, and the Sámi. It also shelters many endangered species like polar bears, narwhals & penguins.
Total’s planned Arctic gas megaproject is set to become one of the most polluting projects in the world — and financial backing of the French government could make it a reality.
France’s President Macron likes to show off his green credentials, even calling Total’s project “incoherent” and “reckless”.
But away from the TV cameras, he’s about to quietly grant a €700 million loan guarantee to Total.
This dirty double-dealing must stop, and we need to move fast before Macron’s final decision. Macron is obsessed with his international image, a global public outcry will definitely embarrass him. Diane, if we stand together, we can still stop him becoming a Total Arctic Destroyer. Will you join this global action?
Tell Macron to withdraw from Total’s deadly Arctic project and stick to his international climate commitments!
https://actions.sumofus.org/a/stop-bankrolling-oil-and-gas-drilling-in-the-arctic/?
2. Support the anti-fracking ban and a 2500 foot set back of gas and oil installations from schools and other vulnerable populations. Sponsored by NRDC.
The California State Legislature is currently considering a critical bill — SB 467 — that would help protect communities from dangerous oil drilling.
This bill would begin to limit the most dangerous oil drilling practices in our state. It would help ensure that drilling doesn’t happen near our homes, schools, hospitals, and other vulnerable places. And it would provide a pathway for a just transition to clean energy for workers who have been impacted by a fluctuating oil industry for decades.
Tell your state senator: California must no longer sacrifice the health of our families, friends, and neighbors to the oil industry.
California’s lack of a meaningful plan to phase out oil drilling is a stain on its reputation as an international climate leader.
That’s why, in partnership with VISIÓN (Voices In Solidarity Against Oil In Neighborhoods), the NRDC Action Fund is rallying supporters like you to demand change.
We must do everything in our power to pressure our lawmakers to confront the destructive impacts of California’s oil industry and pass this critical legislation before corporate polluters can inflict more damage on our communities.
Join the NRDC Action Fund and our partner VISIÓN now in demanding that the California State Senate pass SB 467 to move toward a clean energy future.
https://act.nrdc.org/letter/5717-af-ca-drilling-setback-210330?
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| Learn more about SB 467
On Wednesday, April 7 at 12:00pm, join CA State Senator Scott Wiener and NRDC experts Ann Alexander, Jon Colmenares, and Miriam Rotkin-Ellman to hear about Senator Wiener’s bill (SB 467). |
3. Environmental Action asks for help moving Amazon away from single-use plastics
Amazon uses so much plastic packaging that — if the waste were all turned into air pillows — it could circle the globe 500 times.1
Once Amazon’s single-use plastic packaging is thrown away, it doesn’t just disappear. Flexible plastic packaging can flood into the ocean, where it’s responsible for the deaths of whales, dolphins, sea turtles and other marine mammals.
Right now, Amazon is a huge contributor to the plastic pollution crisis — but the company has the power to protect marine life by reducing its plastic footprint.
4. Support home solar
Petition to oppose the big utilities’ efforts to double costs to solar panel owners. Costs would be the highest in the country if passes. Sign a petition to Governor Newsom:
https://www.savecaliforniasolar.org/sign-petition
5. 350.org supports the Build Green Infrastructure and Jobs Act
It is clear that in order to heal and rebuild our nation we need an immediate plan to tackle two of the biggest crises of our lifetime: climate change and a rigged economic system that works for the few, not the many.
The good news is that Senators Warren and Markey and Representatives Ocasio-Cortez and Levin have a plan.
Will you send a letter to Rep. Huffman and Sen. Feinstein urging them to co-sponsor the BUILD GREEN Infrastructure and Jobs Act that was just introduced in Congress?
According to climate experts, electrification is one of the best options to address climate change within our transportation sector, because electric engines are more efficient than combustion engines and reduce the amount of energy needed for transportation by about two-thirds.
The BUILD GREEN Infrastructure and Jobs Act will help create an infrastructure system that mitigates the climate crisis and adds approximately 960,000 new jobs.
It’s our chance to stand up to the fossil fuel industry, create clean energy jobs, and lay out the foundation for a 100% renewable energy future. To make that happen, we need thousands of people to step up and tell their representatives that inaction is no longer an option. Together, we can build back fossil free. I’m asking you, will you join me and help make it a reality?
https://huffman.house.gov/contact/email-me
https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/e-mail-me
6. Send a comment to the Public Utilities Commission about clean energy as a replacement for nuclear power
Right now, California is at a key moment in deciding its energy future. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) faces a major opportunity to promote clean energy, but if it does not act soon our state could see a significant increase in global warming and health-harming emissions in the coming years.
The Diablo Canyon Power Plant, California’s last remaining nuclear power plant, is set to shut down in 2025. Now the CPUC must decide how to replace the electricity it generates. Tell state regulators to prioritize clean energy for our climate and health. We have provided talking points below for guidance.
A new UCS analysis found that if the CPUC does not take proactive steps to replace Diablo Canyon’s generation with additional clean energy resources, heat-trapping emissions could increase by 15.5 million metric tons over the next decade due to increased electricity generation from gas power plants.
7. Elders Climate Action asks that you support changing the US Post Office vehicle fleet to electric
Below you will find a letter to USPS’ Environmental Counsel.
The letter points out that:
– USPS violated the National Environmental Policy Act by awarding the contract for new mail trucks before completing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS),
– asks that the contract be placed on hold until the EIS is completed, and
– asks that the EIS include an evaluation of purchasing 100% electric vehicles.
________________
Write a letter or copy and paste the text below in a new email and add your name as the signature
Email to: [email protected]
You can also sign this petition: https://sign.moveon.org/petitions/usps-replace-the-delivery-fleet-with-electric-trucks-not-gas-1
************SAMPLE LETTER*************
Subject line: Comments on United States Postal Service’s March 4, 2021 Notice of Intent to Prepare Environmental Impact Statement for Purchase of up to 165,000 Next Generation Delivery Vehicles
Mr. Davon Collins
Environmental Counsel
United States Postal Service
475 L’Enfant Plaza SW
Washington, DC 20260–6201
Dear Mr. Collins,
I am a citizen climate activist and a breather of the air in a place served by USPS delivery vehicles. And I am one of millions committed to ending the Climate Crisis and the air pollution pandemic that contributes to premature death and disease in America. We call on the USPS to join us in building a just and sustainable future for our children, our grandchildren, and all children. I write to comment on the Notice of Intent referred to above, as well as on the contract recently awarded to Oshkosh Defense.
The award of the purchase contract to Oshkosh Defense before completion of an Environmental Impact Statement violates the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
In its March 4, 2021 Notice of Intent (NOI) to Prepare Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), the USPS states that it has not yet decided on the mix of powertrain for the new delivery vehicles and will evaluate the environmental impacts of 3 alternative powertrains for the vehicles: (1) a mix of internal combustion and battery electric powertrains; (2) existing “commercial off the shelf” vehicles; and (3) no action. Yet USPS News announced on February 23, 2021 that the USPS has already awarded the contract for the delivery vehicles to Oshkosh Defense, which builds only internal combustion engines.
NEPA prohibits any agency from taking action that will have a significant impact on the human environment before it completes the NEPA process, including an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). It prohibits any agency from making irreversible commitments of resources before it provides information to the decisionmaker and citizens in a Record of Decision (ROD) after an environmental impact statement. No EIS has been completed and no ROD has been issued. Therefore, the award of the purchase contract to Oshkosh Defense must be reversed pending completion of an EIS according to NEPA rules.
The EIS as described in the NOI will violate NEPA rules requiring evaluation of the “environmentally preferable alternative” which is, of course, vehicles that do not contribute to unhealthy air pollution.
NEPA Section 101(a) says that each ROD must identify all alternatives considered and specify which alternative is “environmentally preferable” (that is, the one that will promote national environmental policy as expressed in NEPA Section 101). NEPA Section 101(a) requires the use of “all practicable means and measures…” to “create and maintain conditions under which man and nature can exist in productive harmony…” Clearly NEPA requires consideration of the health impacts of air pollution which deny many Americans any hope of “productive harmony,” and consideration of the impact that greenhouse gases will have on the stability of the climate and the consequential impacts on the environment, human health and the sustainability of natural systems on which human civilization depends.
The Energy Information Administration reported that the transportation sector of our economy contributes 37% of total U.S. CO2 emissions in 2019. Transportation CO2 emissions have been rising by nearly 3% annually for the last 5 years. Before the COVID pandemic, scientists estimated that air pollution from burning carbon would take an estimated 242,000 lives in 2020, the third-leading cause of death in the U.S. The science is clear: air pollution harms health across the entire lifespan, damaging lungs, hearts, brains, skin and other organs … affecting virtually all systems in the human body.
In light of NEPA’s clear intent to protect present and future generations of Americans, the USPS must consider the option of an electric delivery fleet that will cut emissions immediately and become pollution free when the grid has been decarbonized. We cannot have a postal service that delivers our mail while polluting our air, damaging our health, and threatening our future. The NOI must be revised to include the environmentally preferable alternative of 100% electric delivery vehicles.
Purchase of 100% Electric Vehicles is Practicable and Will be Effective.
NEPA Section 101(a) requires the use of “all practicable means and measures” to “create and maintain conditions under which man and nature can exist in productive harmony, and fulfill the social, economic, and other requirements of present and future generations of Americans.” What does “practicable” mean with respect to USPS Next Generation Delivery Vehicles? “Practicable” is defined by Meriam Webster as “capable of being put into practice or of being done or accomplished: synonymous with FEASIBLE; and capable of being used: synonymous with USABLE.”
For-profit U.S. companies with operations similar to those of the USPS, like FedEx, Amazon and UPS, are demonstrating that a 100% electric delivery fleet is both feasible (capable of being put into practice) and usable (capable of being used), by converting their delivery fleets to electric vehicles: (a) FedEx has issued detailed plans for its entire pickup and delivery fleet to be zero-emission electric vehicles by 2040.; (b) Amazon already uses electric delivery vehicles and plans to have 100,000 on the road by 2030; and (c) United Parcel Service has already begun using small zero-emissions vans similar to the type that the US Postal Service needs, with plans to have 10,000 by the middle of the decade.
The US Postal Service can do the same. And this very practicable alternative of a 100% electric vehicle delivery fleet will also be effective in reducing the health impacts of air pollution, accomplishing NEPA’s goal to “create and maintain conditions under which man and nature can exist in productive harmony, and fulfill the social, economic, and other requirements of present and future generations of Americans.”
Therefore, I ask that the USPS take no action on the award of the contract for purchase of delivery vehicles until completion of the NEPA process, including a proper Environmental Impact Statement. I also ask that the NOI for the Environmental Impact Statement be revised to include, as the environmentally preferable alternative, evaluation of the option to purchase 100% electric powertrain delivery vehicles.
Thank you for your consideration of my comment on this important matter.
[Insert your name, City, State, Zip]
8. EPIC asks for help with another forest and climate change
The Shasta-Trinity National Forest has proposed extensive post-fire logging under the guise of restoration within the August Complex Wildfire area. The August Phase 1 project includes over 3,500 acres of logging around the town of Forest Glen and east of South Fork Mountain within the Wild and Scenic South Fork Trinity River corridor and its tributaries of Collins, Rattlesnake, Smoky and Prospect Creeks and the East Fork South Fork Trinity River. The stated purpose of the project is for public safety along 33 miles of roads and other infrastructure, expedited restoration, and economics. Let the Shasta-Trinity National Forest know that logging after a fire harms water quality, wildlife and wild places. Real restoration allows for natural recovery.
The public scoping notice claims that post-fire logging increases carbon sequestration. On the contrary, post-fire logging has negative implications for climate change. When a live tree burns in a wildfire, most of the carbon is not released into the atmosphere. In fact, roughly 95% of the carbon remains in the burned snag. As they naturally decompose and decay, much of the carbon is returned to the soil where it provides nutrients to plants as they re-grow the forest. However, when trees are removed, that carbon is erased from the ecosystem and the already depleted soil is left without the nutrients it needs to replenish and regenerate. Logging, trucking, milling and manufacturing also greatly contribute to carbon emissions.
Check out other EPIC campaigns at: https://wildcalifornia.org/
9. Ask CalPERS to divest from coal – from Fossil Free California
California Public Employees Retirement System still holds $8.5 million in thermal coal producers in violation of SB 185, a 2015 state law on thermal coal divestment. This act requires CalPERS to divest from companies that earn the majority of their revenue from thermal coal production.
Join Fossil Free California and allies to call on CalPERS to finish its mandated thermal coal divestment by immediately adding Exxaro, Adaro, and Banpu to the thermal coal exclusion list.
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/calpers-must-comply-with-coal-divestment-law?
10. Get Newsom going on offshore wind power
Diane Ryerson has suggested writing letters to Governor Newsom to get the state on board and acting on offshore wind.
Focus should be on need to have a separate bidding process for the Humboldt Call Area. Don’t tie to central California. Reasons: a) RCEA and partners ready to go, b) very different issues—here transmission is an issue in S CAL it is not; but they have conflict with the military and we don’t. So best to separate, letting bidding go ahead here.
11. Multiple organizations ask you to write to the banks destroying the future
This edition of the Banking on Climate Chaos report looks at the world’s 60 largest private sector banks, and finds that together they financed fossil fuels with $3.8 trillion since the Paris Agreement was adopted. Despite a massive global drop in fossil fuel demand and production last year, banks’ 2020 fossil fuel financing numbers still remained above 2016 levels, and the overall trend of the last 5 years remains headed in the wrong direction. JPMorgan Chase remains the world’s worst funder of climate chaos, though Citi came in a close second in 2020. Worst in Canada: RBC. Worst in the UK: Barclays. Worst in the EU: BNP Paribas. Worst in Japan: MUFG. Worst in China: Bank of China. Banking on Climate Chaos also scores banks’ fossil fuel policies, and analyzes the recent wave of bank financed emissions commitments — finding that “net zero” commitments are a reluctant admission that banks are major emitters, but no substitute for immediate steps to phase out financing of fossil fuels, and that banks must avoid relying on “net zero” schemes that violate human rights and Indigenous rights. The report also highlights case studies around the world where banks’ fossil fuel financing harms communities on the ground, from the Line 3 tar sands pipeline in Minnesota, to the EMBA Hunutlu coal plant in Turkey.
At bankingonclimatechaos.org you can download the report, interact with the data, read the case studies, and take action. If you’d like to spread the word, here is a social media toolkit with some sample posts and share graphics for your use! Thank you for all you are doing to end bank financing for fossil fuels and human rights abuses.
On behalf of Rainforest Action Network, BankTrack, Indigenous Environmental Network, Oil Change International, Reclaim Finance and Sierra Club
12. Ask President Biden to support restoring the lower Snake River and its salmon and steelhead by investing in Northwest communities, infrastructure and environment!
Now is the time to (1) Remove four dams to restore the lower Snake River and its endangered salmon – and help feed hungry orcas; (2) Create a new National Recreation Area along the banks of the lower Snake River; (3) Invest in clean energy; and (4) Uphold our nation’s promises to Northwest Tribes.
You can help! Ask the Biden Administration to support a comprehensive solution in Congress to restore the lower Snake River and its endangered salmon populations, and invests in Northwest communities and its clean energy economy.
https://saveourwildsalmon.salsalabs.org/bidenadministrationpetition/index.html?