Dear Supporter,
I hope you are staying safe and healthy indoors, and are enjoying the crisp fall weather sweeping through the state. This month, we're bringing you an exciting opportunity to get involved in local politics, an update on our fight against the Kalama Methanol Refinery, and an exciting Big Win for our utility work--ensuring that Washington families have access to water and electricity during this pandemic.
I also highly encourage you to check out the event information for our Fall Fundraiser! We hope to see you there!
Thanks for all that you do,
Jesse Piedfort
Chapter Director
Washington State Sierra Club |
|
On October 9th, the Governors of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana released a letter committing to work together to rebuild the salmon and steelhead of the Columbia and Snake Rivers. This is good news for the orca who rely on chinook salmon from these rivers for survival. Here's how you can make sure we invest in comprehensive solutions for our iconic Northwest species:
|
|
|
|
With cold weather already arriving in many parts of the state, state regulators have taken actions to ensure that Washington utility customers won't have to worry about their electricity or heat getting shut off this winter if they cannot make payments.
While this is a big win for struggling Washington families, the question of who will pay for additional COVID-19 assistance remains to be decided. Here's what you can do to make sure Washington's families don't carry the burden of COVID-19:
|
|
|
|
I will be concise here - elections matter. Every election matters. While we know Sierra Club members turn out to vote in great numbers, we also know that some of our friends, family and neighbors aren't turning out. I urge you to take the time to call, text, or video conference friends and ask them, “please, vote.” Have all your voting questions answered here:
|
|
|
|
|
By Sept Gernez, Chapter Organizer • 573 words / 4 min
Last month, we had a key opportunity to stop this project when the Department of Ecology held a public comment period and 4 virtual hearings. Our members and supporters stepped up, submitting over a thousand comments, and showing up in the hundreds at each of the virtual hearings! Here's a recap of our recent actions and our plan moving forward:
|
|
|
|
Join a small team of volunteers lobbying your representative or senator in the Washington State Legislature. We are working to multiply our impact by recruiting and supporting smart, effective advocates like you who will take the lead on developing a relationship and communicating with their legislator.
|
|
|
|
By Margie Van Cleve, Conservation Chair - WA Chapter Sierra Club • 436 words / 3 min
A new hydroelectric project in Goldendale threatens the Columbia River and its wildlife, is fiscally irresponsible and disregards the Yakama Nation’s treaty rights. Here’s how you can help us stop this project:
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fall Fundraiser
Join us in hearing from Sierra Club President Ramon Cruz, and learn about chapter priorities for Washington State.
We combine powerful grassroots organizing and effective advocacy to fight back against the fossil fuel industry, stop climate pollution, and safeguard our state's beautiful lands, water, and wildlife for future generations. Your financial support makes this work possible. Thank you for all that you do! |
|
|
|
|
|
The Northwest Community Bail Fund
The Northwest Community Bail Fund (NCBF) works to ensure that people accused of low-level crimes have an equal opportunity to defend themselves from a position of freedom.
They provide cash bail for people who are unable to pay due to poverty and who are charged with crimes in King and Snohomish Counties and have no other holds. They also provide support to navigate the legal process with the aim of reducing pre-trial incarceration and its consequences, reducing the pressure to plead guilty. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
How can we create change from within institutions? In this podcast, hosts Aminatou Sow & Ann Friedman talk with longtime civil rights activist, Pramila Jayapal, who was elected to Congress in 2016 about her work with the Congressional Progressive Caucus, pushing for change within the Democratic Party. Plus, the challenging pace of change within government and the prospects for better federal policy to support immigrants, people out of work, and Black and brown communities devastated by police violence and other structures of white supremacy. We also discuss the viral moment in a 2019 hearing, when she reflected on being the parent of a non binary child. |
|
|
|
Our Reading List:
While this kind of reform may seem in the purview of criminal justice policymakers, the planners lay out in a letter to the American Planning Association how neighborhoods that were racially segregated by a range of planning policies have become further denigrated by police violence and harassment of Black people — and that planners have done little historically to help change this dynamic.
As more communities look at developing electrification policies, it’s crucial that decision makers take steps to understand the costs and benefits of building electrification to low-income residents, communities of color, and other underrepresented populations.
First, experts broadly agreed, if we want to stop the planet from relentlessly heating up forever, humanity will quickly need to eliminate its emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases. That means cleaning up every coal plant in China, every steel mill in Europe, every car and truck in the United States.
“We say ‘when the tide is out the table is set,’” said Haliehana Stepetin, an avid fisherwoman and subsistence practitioner. But more and more, when the tide is out, the shellfish are poisonous and unsafe to eat.
Across the globe, we’re faced with these two crises of an affordable housing shortage and climate change. This problem is going to be four or five times exacerbated with the massive wave of evictions that is coming up. For many people, driving becomes their default mode of transportation and they are faced with longer commutes... If you care about the environment, housing density should be a priority for you.
|
|
|
