To: Members of the Napa County Climate Action Committee
RE: Continue the funding for the NapaCountyClimateChallenge.org website for fiscal year 2023/2024
Dear Honorable Members of the Climate Action Committee,
The Napa Sierra Club Group wholeheartedly supports the continued funding for Community Climate Solution’s Napa County Climate Challenge (NCCC) website (aka RegenerationNapa.org) for fiscal year 2023/2024. Many of our members have used it and have reduced their carbon emissions significantly. As the Chair of the Napa Group, I have been an advocate for their RegenerationNapa.org website since first using it back in November 2019. As you recall, it was recommended to the committee back then by both Gopal Shanker and me. I can attest to how, after using the website’s tools, I was able to first calculate my carbon emissions and then reduce them by 72%!
In light of the recent UN’s IPCC Climate Change Report, which clearly outlines the widespread impacts and risks associated with increased emissions, NCCC becomes an essential tool for our community to combat the Climate Emergency. Which is why it should be funded as well as promoted.
Below, I include one of my articles that I wrote for both the Napa Sierra Club’s newsletter and the Napa Register. I hope it will convince you of the importance of this website in helping our community members deal with the Climate Emergency today.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Nick Cheranich
Excom Chair, Napa Sierra Club Group
A Way to Fight Climate Change, Today
with NapaCountyClimateChallenge.org
An Article by Nick Cheranich
Discussing Climate Change can be difficult, and can give people a sense of hopelessness and despair. The constant “we’re doomed” scenarios can create what Climate psychologist Per Espen Stoknes calls “the doom barrier*,” which leads us to disengage from the problems at hand and to develop a passivity towards any necessary action. It’s just too big and scary to deal with.
That's why I want to explain how we, as individuals and as a community, can take easy and significant steps to help solve Climate Change right now. Doing so will give us a sense of empowerment and hope that we can have a better future by working together as responsible members of a community.
Before we get to those steps, a quick mini-lesson. Did you know that at least forty percent (40%) of the US’s entire carbon emissions comes from five basic household activities we do every day? They are: 1) our transportation; 2) the electricity we use; 3) the natural gas we burn to heat our water, food, and home; 4) the food choices we make; and, 5) the way we deal with our food waste.
Easy solutions to lowering our household emissions in these 5 categories exist. These are affordable and accessible alternatives, which can drastically reduce carbon emissions and save money for each household. And we can do it together as a community.
When you go online, there are dozens of websites that allow you to first calculate, and then reduce your emissions. The Environmental Protection Agency has one. Even BP Oil has one!
But only the website, NapaCountyClimateChallenge.org, allows Napans to partake in the carbon reduction process for their household. It is a very useful tool that can get us going in the right direction. It is also one of the only sites that can be easily switched to the Spanish language. Also, for 8th-12th grade teachers, there are easy-to-do activities for your classroom, which can be accessed here. And even better, it’s free. Figure 1, left. NapaCountyClimateChallenge.org website.
To get started, go to the website and click "Join the Challenge." Sign up, calculate your Carbon Footprint, and then perform a few Actions that will reduce your emissions. As just an example, by using the site’s Household Profile section, I calculated my total emissions to be 8.3 tons of CO2 per year, which is about what the average Napan household emits. [That’s equivalent to the weight of about 7 Ford Fiestas. Try to image 7 Ford Fiestas above your house, stacked on top of each other, year after year. That’s what we emit in greenhouse gases!]
Then, after doing about 35 “Actions” that the site provides (out of a total of about 75, many of which I had already done), I was able to reduce those emissions by 72%! And I didn’t need to buy an electric car or make other financially difficult changes. Figure 2, right. A list of ‘Actions,’ tasks that when accomplished reduce carbon emissions. There are over 75 Actions.
The whole process can actually be fun in a team-spirited way. For example, you can join our Napa Sierra Club “Community Group,” and then create or join your own Team within it (a Team is usually 5-8 households). You can try to “beat” the Napa Sierra Club Executive Committee Team in points (1 point for each pound of CO2 emissions saved). Or, create your own Community Group and/or Team.
After using the tools on NapaCountyClimateChallenge.org, and seeing the difference you can make, please spread the word to others that there is something we can all start doing about the Climate Crisis--now. Although we still need to press local, state, and federal governments for climate action and climate justice policies, we don’t have to wait or be paralyzed by the scope of the problem. If everyone takes basic actions at home, we can lower U.S. emissions dramatically today. Figure 3, left. A "Before and After" calculation of emission reductions from author's NapaCountyClimateChallenge.org page.
If we start the process--by first understanding, and then taking easy actions--we start to make an impact. We become aware of how our individual actions contribute to climate change. And when we see how easy it is to take action and make a difference, we are less inclined to be afraid or unsure of what to do about it. We become empowered. Then, I think, we will be more inclined to try to convince others--our friends, neighbors, and politicians--that they too can make a difference. And if we all take a few actions, then we all can make a big difference.
Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you.
Nick Cheranich, Chair of the Napa Sierra Club Group: NapaValleySierraClub@gmail.com
* Psychology Behind the “Doom Factor,” by Per Espen Stoknes