Climate change movement bursts ahead

We can't stop climate change without a movement, and today was a giant step forward in building that movement.  As many as 50,000 people in Washington, DC, and 5,000 in a support rally in San Francisco plus tens of thousands more around the country demanded that President Obama and his State Department reject the Keystone XL pipeline. 

In the Fall of 2011, President Obama made the right decision by saying that the pipeline needed more study and he could not approve it (See posts from November, 2011, such as this one).

I was pleased to see the Golden Gate Electric Vehicle Association at the San Francisco march and rally, as well as a table from Tesla.  Our 350 Bay Area group, one of the main sponsors of the event, collected signatures supporting our proposal to require labels on gas pumps warning that burning gasoline is disrupting our climate and causing extreme weather.  See below for latest design proposal.  One of the signature gatherers said many of the people he talked to at the rally already drove electric cars or didn't own a car, but they still supported the labels.

One of the San Francisco speakers, member of the Board of Supervisors, John Avalos, not only supported the demand to say no to the pipeline, but he also called for San Francisco to divest from oil, coal, and gas company stocks.  The San Francisco rally was lead by Native American drummers, vowing opposition to the tar sands mining and the pipeline.

I was especially impressed by a comment from Washington DC where Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr. declared, "This is as important as when Dr. King marched in 1963,” he said, except more so. “It’s not just about equality. It’s about existence.”

                                     

Rev Yearwood addressing the Washington rally

Photos from the San Francisco march and rally:

For more photos of the San Francisco event, please click here.

Personal actions and political solutions

Stephen Lacey posted an article on Climate Progress which reports on a survey from the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication and George Mason University’s Center for Climate Change Communication.  The survey found:

             "Since 2008, Americans have become less likely to say a number of actions taken by themselves and others can reduce global warming.  Americans have become less confident that their individual actions to save energy will reduce their own contribution to global warming (32%, down 16 points since 2010)."

To me it is a good thing that people realize that small personal choices will not stop climate disruption.  Of course, we should make those choices--we drive an electric car powered by solar panels on our roof and conserve energy conscientiously--but the real change must be society wide.  

Our group 350 Bay Area has just launched five campaigns:

1. Divest city and schools fossil fuel stocks.
2. Stop Chevron from refining dirty oil.
3. Support actions to stop tar sands oil pipelines and mining.
4. Require warning labels on gas pumps saying WARNING: BURNING GASOLINE CAUSES CLIMATE DISRUPTION
5. Enact a Bay Area carbon tax. 

These are only a few of the many good suggestions that we would like to work on.  Join us and lend your energy to make all this, and more, happen.  Log on to 350 Bay Area and be part of the solution!  If you don't live in the SF Bay area, join or start your own local www.350.org affiliate in your area.

That's a relief!

We have four more years with a president who understands that climate disruption is a serious threat.  And we have four more years with a president who understands that electric vehicles and renewable energy are important ways to address this problem.

That's a relief!

But we still have a Senate where it takes 60% to get anything passed since the Republicans shamelessly use the filibuster to block even the most modest legislation.  And we have a House of Representatives that is still controlled by tea-party influenced Republicans who are totally under the sway of big oil, gas, and coal.  (I couldn't help but notice the irony when I heard the announcer say "CNN's election night is brought to you by clean coal" and other fossil fuel advertisers.)

So the chances of getting any new national legislation passed is dim.  However, state and local legislation are very possible.  And with more Sandys, droughts, and increasing extreme weather certain in the next two years, perhaps we can elect a new Congress in 2014 that "gets it". 

A great post-election action is to attend Bill McKibben's "Do the Math" speaking tour around the U.S. throughout the month of November.  See 350.org for locations and schedule.

For those in the San Francisco Bay Area, please attend one of Bill McKibben's talks on November 9 and 10.  See 350 Bay Area for details and join us for ongoing actions!

More Action ----> Less Hot Air

Dump the Pump

I've been a supporter of 350.org since it was started a couple of years ago.  Now I'm working with the Bay Area affiliate of 350.org--350 Bay Area.  We should have our web site up in a week or two.  One of our projects is to campaign for warning labels on gas pumps.  Below is a description of the campaign.  It is patterned on the line of reasoning I learned about last month.  See post from September 23.

 

Dump the Pump!

To fight global warming we have to get beyond oil.  This is a campaign to require warning labels on gas pumps that say WARNING: BURNING GASOLINE CAUSES GLOBAL WARMING.  The label would also point to the city's Climate Action Plan so people understand that there are alternatives to gasoline and other fossil fuels.

Why this campaign?

Stepping up to the climate challenge is the right thing to do.  We can't ignore the growing reality of destructive weather—wildfires, drought, floods, severe storms, heat waves.   We owe it to our children to try to provide a stable climate and do everything we can to stop climate disruption.  We have to work for alternatives to fossil fuels, and to encourage others to do so as well.

Can we do it?

No one should doubt the ingenuity and resolve of our country to face the climate challenge.  Especially with the creativity we have here in the Bay Area, we can build a highway to a carbon neutral future with clean energy, conservation, energy efficiency, and innovation.  The highway will be open to bikes, transit, pedestrians, electric vehicles, and environmentally sound biofuel vehicles.  It must be closed to fossil fuels.

The city council (or Board of Supervisors in San Francisco) can pass an ordinance requiring these warning labels.  Each city can have a graphic design contest to make the labels as effective as possible.

What will it take?

The biggest roadblocks we face are the oil companies, who spend millions to spread confusion about climate change.  It's very simple—look out the window.  The climate is changing and fast.  Extreme weather events are setting new records and still getting worse.  We can't allow Exxon, Chevron, BP, the Koch brothers and their cohorts to continue to rig the system, block clean energy solutions, and act like they have nothing to do with all the climate disruption that is happening.

Requiring warning labels on gas pumps, with a link to clean air alternatives, is a small step to remind people that they can be part of the solution.  Like warnings on cigarette packages, the gas pump warning will make it clear that burning gasoline is a public health hazard, and people should try to use as little as possible.

Of course, this is only a beginning.  This campaign was begun by 350 Bay Area (http://local.350.org/350-bay-area/) .  We are working to build a Bay Area grassroots movement for deep cuts in CO2 emissions.  We want to work to clean up the Chevron refinery, fight against tar sands oil coming into the Bay Area, develop workshops on climate change activism, and join other climate actions.  Please join our mailing list by emailing:  info@350bayarea.org