Climate Crisis Mitigation Trifecta by Flagstaff City Council with Unanimous Votes
June 25, 2020
For immediate release – June 25, 2020
Media Contacts
Local - Flagstaff Community Member
Dara Marks Marino daramarksmarino@gmail.com Phone 928-853-6774
State - Flagstaff City Councilmember
Austin Aslan, Austin.Aslan@flagstaffaz.gov, Laustinspace@gmail.com Phone 928-707-4106
National - Citizens’ Climate Lobby
Shawn Newell shawnlnewell@gmail.com Phone 928-699-3441
Sierra Club - Flagstaff Northern AZ Group
Joe Shannon jshannon278@gmail.com Phone 928-380-9537
Flagstaff City Council takes three actions to address Climate Crisis
Flagstaff City Council unanimously declares climate crisis and commits to carbon neutrality, urges the Arizona Corporation Commission to advance statewide energy plans, and endorses national carbon pricing legislation.
(Flagstaff, AZ) In response to recent actions by the Flagstaff City Council, community members issued the following statements.
“The Flagstaff community has wholeheartedly supported - and pushed for - the declaration of a climate emergency and elevation of the goals of the Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP) to carbon neutrality by 2030 ever since the global climate strike on September 20, 2019. Declaring a climate emergency provides a platform on which the City of Flagstaff can stand to take bold action on climate and resiliency, while ensuring equity and justice remain at the forefront of all decision making.
City of Flagstaff staff are actively developing a process to further community engagement to meet the newly elevated CAAP goals. Flagstaff is showing great leadership by recognizing the connections between and among the many crises we are facing, and the far reaching importance of addressing these crises holistically. The climate crisis, environmental justice, structural racism, and our current health crisis are not separate issues. They are all symptoms of systemic dysfunction in our society, and are shining a spotlight onto every vulnerability we have created. We must recognize that the health of our planet and the health of all living beings are inseparably intertwined. No individual can single handedly change the trajectory of our collective future, but together we can, and we must!” -- Dara Marks-Marino, Flagstaff Community Member
“One of the unchanging things through all our recent uncertainty has been the science of climate change and the accumulating dangers it poses to our local Flagstaff community. It’s valuable to compare the climate crisis to our new experiences with a pandemic. The goals of the climate crisis resolution are all about “flattening the curve.” It’s the same narrative. It’s the same challenge. It’s just a different time scale. Significantly reducing our carbon emissions in the next decade aims precisely to flatten the curve so that environmental impacts are mitigated enough to buy us time to further address the problem—and keep our “environmental care system” from reaching capacity and experiencing catastrophic collapse.
I’m so proud of our community for pushing this, and of our city staff for ushering it along with such care. I’m also immensely encouraged by the courage of my fellow councilmembers, who approved this bold action with 100% unanimous support. This sends the strongest possible signal to our community and the whole state that Flagstaff is committed to tackling this emergency head on—and that we’re aiming to provide leadership that the rest of Arizona can follow”. -- Austin Aslan, Flagstaff City Councilmember
“Worldwide, climate scientists and economists agree that pricing carbon pollution must be a part of the solution. On Tuesday the 22nd, Flagstaff became the first Arizona city to endorse national carbon pricing legislation, and they did it with a unanimous vote. The resolution urges Congress to enact HR 763, The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act. The bill sets a small and steadily increasing fee that is paid on the carbon content of fossil fuels at or near the point of extraction, returns the collected fees in equal shares to people as monthly dividends, and keeps international trade fair with a border adjustment. HR 763 currently has 81 co-sponsors and has been referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The bill is a bipartisan, revenue neutral, and fair approach that spurs innovation and creates new jobs as it protects America's most vulnerable populations with the dividend. It would also result in a reduction of fossil fuel emissions that tracks closely the IPCC recommendations for emissions reduction through 2040 in their October 2018 Special Report. We are proud of Flagstaff's leaders taking bold climate action and a clear stand on a national carbon price.” -- Shawn Newell, Citizens Climate Lobby
“As a community, a state, a country, we still have so much to do to address the climate crisis, but action by our city council to put teeth in our local plans and to urge action by the Arizona Corporation Commission represent important progress. We look forward to working with the city to implement its climate plan and in continuing to push for stronger statewide action that embodies the intersectional goals of equity and 100 percent clean energy.” -- Joe Shannon, Chair, Flagstaff Northern Arizona Group, Sierra Club
Please note - Sierra Club supports the concept of carbon pricing and dividend returns, we believe that
sections of HR 763 require refinement including elimination of the prohibition of the EPA regulating carbon emissions, and including dividend investment in clean energy for low income people.
2019 Museum Fire on Mt. Elden, Flagstaff.