RECALL ELECTION
Are you registered to vote in the recall election? Keeping Governor Newsom is critical for climate progress. If he doesn’t get least 51% of the vote, it is likely a Republican will be elected with 20% or less. You must be registered or register before August 30 to vote in this recall election. Please do so, tell your friends, and then VOTE NO!
Here is more information from the Environmental Defense Fund
· Are you registered to vote? If not, don’t worry! Eligible California residents are allowed to register by August 30th so they can cast their vote in this election. Same day registration may also be available at your polling place, find out more here.
· Are you voting by mail? If so, be sure to submit your ballot early so it can be counted before the September 14th deadline!
· Are you planning to vote in person? If yes, then consider early voting! Your polling place will be open starting September 11th for in-person early voting!
KEEP THE NORTH COAST TOGETHER AS A LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT
FROM TOM WHEELER, EX.DIR. OF EPIC
The Citizen Redistricting Commission is accepting testimony on “communities of interest” as part of the redistricting process. To maintain a legislative district that cares about our issues, it is important that we keep the North Coast together in future legislative districts. (Imagine the worst case scenario: we are lumped together with Siskiyou County—that would be awful for our environment.) Can you provide comment at the Monday August 23rd Commission meeting? The Commission will meet from 3-7pm and you can reserve a time to speak (click here!) Please let me know if you can attend as I need a good head count. ([email protected] )
Below are talking points that I hope will make commenting easier. Basically, the Commission needs to hear that Humboldt and the North Coast are similar to each other, such that we are a “community of interest” per the CA Constitution, and that we are also different from inland Northern California such that we shouldn’t be paired with them.
The Commission wants to hear four things. Feel free to use anything below to help you comment. Note you only have 3 minutes.
(1) Where is your community located?
State where you are from and that you view your community of interest as, broadly, Zone A (Del Norte, Humboldt, Trinity, Mendocino, Sonoma, Lake, and Napa Counties) or “the North Coast” or “Northwest California.”
(2) What are the economic, social, and/or cultural interests that bind your community together?
There are many ties that link our communities together in Northwest California. Here are a few we have thought of. Feel free to use any of these examples or add your own:
● We are noticeably different from much of rural California. Environmental protection, love of public lands, and concern about climate change are values shared in Northwest California.
● Humboldt is affected by climate change in a similar way to other counties on the North Coast, where sea level rise and changing ocean conditions, mixed with increased wildfire risk, will affect our economies and our natural resources.
● The North Coast of California shares a similar climate that defines our ecosystems. Unlike ecosystems further inland, our ecosystems are heavily influenced by the pacific ocean and the marine fog which blankets our coastline through much of the summer.
● State agencies likewise recognize the important connections that are shared by our coastal communities. For example, the North Coast Water Quality Control Board tends to clean water for Humboldt, Del Norte, Trinity and Mendocino Counties, among others. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife draws together the same four-county region too, together with other northern California counties.
● As small, rural counties, our populations are often too small to support necessary community institutions by ourselves. Thus, Humboldt County shares many resources and burdens with our adjacent counties that bind us together, such as the College of the Redwoods (which has instructional sites that serve Humboldt, Del Norte, and Trinity Counties).,
● Humboldt shares a cultural legacy together with Mendocino and Trinity Counties as part of the “Emerald Triangle.”
(3) Why your community should be kept together for fair and effective representation?
Because our economies and cultures are shaped by our shared natural environment, our interests are best served when we are represented together.
(4) What nearby areas does your community want to or not want to be grouped with?
Northern California’s coast and immediately adjacent areas share a common economy and culture; by contrast, we are less similarly aligned with residents to the east (such as Tehama, Siskiyou or Shasta County). These areas are more culturally conservative and their economies are still more tied to extractive economies, making them a poor “fit” with our area.
NOTE: You can also submit your written answers to the same questions along with a map on which you indicate which counties should be together at (bottom of page): https://www.wedrawthelinesca.org/august_23_coi_input_meeting
FYI: McGuire’s currrent district includes Marin, Mendocino, Lake, Humboldt, Trinity and Del Norte counties and most of Sonoma County.
PREVENT POWER BLACKOUTS AND KEEP EMISSIONS FROM GAS POWER PLANTS TO A MINIMUM BY JOINING OHM CONNECT AND GETTING A FREE SMART THERMOSTAT OR $25 AND TWO SMART PLUGS
OhmConnect is a free service that helps to prevent blackouts by coordinating saving energy in 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.
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
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 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]
VOTING – VOTE FORWARD
NEW campaign to get voters in Virginia to vote by mail this November. Format is letters – very similar to the Sierra Club voter registration campaign but more immediate.
Here’s the plan for Virginia:
FIRST WAVE: We started with a “vote by mail” letter wave, and we’re stockpiling those letters until we mail on Saturday, September 18, right when absentee and early in-person voting begin.
SECOND WAVE: When the “vote by mail” letters are written, we’ll roll out a wave of “please vote” letters to write and stockpile until the Saturday, October 16, mail date.
VOTING – POSTCARDS TO SWING STATES
IMPORTANT: The Postal Service is increasing postcard stamp prices on August 29th. The price will go up to $0.40 from the current $0.36. Here are a couple important things to know:
You can use postcard stamps forever regardless of their current price, just like Forever Stamps.
The easiest way to stock up on postcard stamps before the price increase is to buy them online from USPS here. You can also buy them from your local post office.
Prices for Forever Stamps also go up on the 29th, from $0.55 to $0.58.
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 – this campaign in Arizona is ended. Stay tuned for the next Sierra Club campaign. In the mean time write for Vote Forward.
OTHER LETTERS/PETITIONS/CALLS
ST0P THE MONEY PIPELINE
Earlier this year, President Biden issued a first-of-its-kind Executive Order on Climate-Related Financial Risk, a vital step toward tackling the U.S. financial industry’s outsized contributions to the climate crisis. The first findings of the Executive Order are due back on September 17th.
Between now and then, we need to make sure that the Biden Administration uses this opportunity to do everything it can to force Wall Street banks and other financial institutions to stop funding the fossil fuel companies driving climate chaos.
Can you send an email to senior White House officials, demanding that they regulate the US financial sector and drive down its funding of the fossil fuel industry? Your email will go directly into the inbox of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, National Economic Council director Brian Deese, and other senior officials in the Biden Administration.
CENTER FOR COMMON GROUND
Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives finally introduced the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
This important voting rights bill will restore an essential part of the Voting Rights Act that gives the federal government the ability to block state and local governments from passing racially discriminatory bills.
Congress has a chance to end racial discrimination at the ballot box. We must come together to ensure they create national voting standards so that we can safely and freely cast our ballots!
The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act faces a vote in the House next week. Use our tool to contact your representative and ask them to pass this critical piece of voting rights legislation!
SIERRA CLUB
Our activism is working. Fifteen insurers have already cut ties with Trans Mountain, but major insurance company Chubb still hasn’t. The Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline has less than two weeks remaining before the August 31st deadline to secure coverage for this disastrous pipeline and its companion expansion project.Now’s the time to make sure as many major insurers as possible publicly rule out supporting Trans Mountain.
NRDC
Congress is gearing up to pass what could be the most sweeping legislation ever to clean up toxic fossil fuel pollution and prevent the worst impacts of climate change when they return from August recess. But getting a bill this groundbreaking through an almost evenly divided Senate and House simply won’t happen without a massive, sustained outpouring of public support from constituents like you.
CLIMATE REALITY PROJECT
This is a critical moment. We’re already paying for inaction on climate and things could get much worse. Especially for people of color and families with lower incomes who are disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis. Send a note to your Representative in Congress.
Take action today: tell your members of Congress to go big on climate.
CLIMATE ACTION CAMPAIGN
Sign and share a petition. There are currently three petitions circulating with unique messaging:
CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
Riddled with loopholes, Biden’s new auto emission rules are actually weaker than the decade-old Obama standards for cutting auto pollution. And they rely on unenforceable promises by the same automakers who broke their agreement to follow those Obama standards.
Our country faces deadly heatwaves, devastating drought, massive wildfires and extreme storms caused by the climate crisis, which is worsened by emissions from gas-powered cars. And the vast amount of pollution produced by cars also harms human health.
SIERRA CLUB
NRDC
Our California state lawmakers are considering critical bills that would help reduce carbon emissions, invest in clean energy, fight toxic air pollution, and create high-quality jobs in the communities that need them most. But lawmakers only have a few more weeks to pass these BOLD climate bills, so they must hear from thousands of climate supporters (like you!) right away. We need California’s leaders to meet the urgency of the moment and invest in changes TODAY that will protect all Californians and provide a more livable climate and environment for generations to come.
These bills will help do just that:
- AB 1395 would commit our state to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by no later than 2045
- SB 596 would slash greenhouse gas emissions from the cement industry
- SB 47 would help clean up abandoned oil and gas wells, which pose a major risk to the climate, our environment, and health
- AB 1389/SB 726 would help increase the amount of zero-emission vehicles across the state — particularly in low-income and disadvantaged communities — by investing in technology innovations and infrastructure to support them
- AB 43 would improve the safety of walking, biking, and other modes of clean transportation in California