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

Warning Labels on Gas Pumps--update

The idea of warning labels on gas pumps stating that burning gasoline is causing global warming has been bouncing around the internet for a year or more.  This past Sunday, September 9, I got a chance to see how the idea would fly in Berkeley, CA by collecting signatures on petitions at the Solano Stroll, a huge block party in Berkeley/Albany with around 100,000 people in attendance.

I was staffing a table for 350 Bay Area, one of whose projects is to urge local Bay Area cities to require labels on gas pumps reading something like:

The warning would be accompanied by a link to the local city's Climate Action Plan.  Most SF Bay Area cities have adopted climate action plans.  See for example Oakland , Berkeley, San Francisco, El Cerrito, . . .

Having a warning label on the gas pumps puts the oil companies in the same category as cigarette companies. Their product is legal, but it is a health hazard and consumers are warned that they should avoid it or use as little as possible.

Altogether we collected about 70 signatures on petitions aimed at the city councils of Berkeley, Albany, El Cerrito, and Oakland, plus a few miscellaneous cities.  We also handed out a couple hundred leaflets explaining our proposal.  Here are my thoughts/observations:

Most people are not at Solano Stroll to sign political petitions--they just want to listen to music, have some fun with their kids, eat, and people watch. But I think it is a very supportive audience in general.  Quite a few people liked the warning label idea right away and signed the petition without any questions, which was very encouraging.

The number one reason people gave for not signing was "Doesn't everyone already know that?"  I have two responses to that:

First, I think many people do NOT know that burning gasoline is causing global warming, or if they do know, they don't think global warming is a very serious problem.  Many people who watch Fox "News" or listen to Republican politicians are likely to dismiss global warming as a hoax or as a natural climate fluctuation and a non-issue.  They tend to think there is a lot of debate and uncertainty with regard to climate change predictions.  (It is true that scientists constantly debate and refine their models, but there is overwhelming agreement that climate change is human caused and is a real threat.)

Second, and of more importance to the general San Francisco Bay Area population,  I think the feeling behind the question is "Yes, I know I am causing global warming by buying gasoline, but this warning label is too much of a guilt trip, and there aren't really good alternatives."   That's why the petition also calls for the warning label to link to the local city's Climate Action Plan as a positive way to reduce gasoline consumption.  Here's the exact wording (with Berkeley, Oakland, . . . substituted for "Our City"):

Petition to the Bay Area Local Governments:

We urge our city council to require warning labels on gas pumps to:

1)   Warn consumers that burning gasoline is causing global warming,

2)  Inform people that our city has a Climate Action Plan to reduce CO2 in general and gasoline use in particular.

I'm pretty sure that most people are not aware that their city has a climate action plan.  I think it is important for people to understand that there are good alternatives to internal combustion engine vehicles.  Even getting a high mileage vehicle is a positive step, although it will only slow the rate of global warming; it won't stop it. The local climate action plans call for transportation related ways to reduce CO2 emissions--transit, pedestrians, bicycles, and electric vehicles.  The plans also call for conservation/weatherization of buildings and conversion to clean energy among other points.

The petition drive shows that people will support this effort to stop global warming, and to shift to carbon neutral transportation.  This is only the beginning of this campaign.

Electric Car at Solano Stroll

View down Solano Avenue 9/9/2012

 

 

To learn more about 350 Bay Area please click here.