People’s Climate March: next steps
You will be reading this column a few weeks after the fantastic People’s Climate March (PCM) that sent the message loud and clear to the world and, most importantly, to world leaders that decisive, giant steps are necessary to greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and curb climate change. Now, how do we make that happen in our lives, our communities, our state, our nation and the world?
Take some deep breaths please, step back and think hard and out-of-the- box, creatively, on how each of us in our own way can make a difference. Let’s work within the Sierra Club—so many of our members are energized by the PCM and its resonance around the world. So how can we become more engaged, empowered and act?
The Atlantic Chapter leadership, its committees and the Groups in the Chapter will be planning and working together on how we can reach out to others in the wings to say come on board and let’s work together to expand our efforts on critical priorities. And we will be connecting with other key stakeholders, including other environmental organizations, environmental justice and faith-based communities, and labor to link our efforts and multiply their impact.
It is very important now to support candidates for political office in this fall’s elections who will work on our priorities. That means particularly in the NYS Senate, focusing our political efforts on those candidates who will help to break the roadblock that the Republican minority and the Independent Democratic Coalition have constructed to stop critical environmental legislation from coming to the floor for a vote, even when the majority of the senators support the legislation. That means supporting U.S. House candidates who will act to protect our Earth’s resources and its people from climate change. That means supporting Comptroller DiNapoli and Attorney General Schneiderman for reelection.
As environmentalists, we need to consider a holistic approach to next steps. We must consider many issues/actions that are important, such as campaign finance reform, population growth, energy conservation and efficiency as well as more efficient use of natural resources, greatly reduced pollution, and massive expansion of renewable energy.
We must also reduce public subsidies for fossil fuel industries to drill, transport, and burn more fossil fuels and, instead, direct those subsidies to renewable energy. Leveling the playing field, as other countries have done, with no subsidies, would work as more and more renewables become cost effective.
We can move our communities to become as green and sustainable as possible now and, as technology advances, make that even more possible. You can work with your local governments to become “Climate Smart Communities” that take a pledge to examine their energy use and then act to conserve energy and use renewable energy in all sectors of the community, including heat, power, light, construction, transportation and other areas.*
Smart planning and zoning to stop sprawl and protect critical environmental areas helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions. And you can work with other key stakeholders to get your communities to ban fracking for natural gas, importation of fracking waste, and exporting water for fracking elsewhere.
For those of you involved in one way or another in working to curb greenhouse gas emissions, thank you. or those of you considering your next step to become involved, please do so and we encourage you to join the Sierra Club in our many campaigns on these issues. If we each just focus on one or two priorities and take action, we can make a difference.
(*Download our “Renewable Energy Brochure” here, and learn more about ways to take action. Go to www.dec.ny.gov/energy?50845.htm for information about Climate Smart Communities.)