Climate Action Alliance of the Valley
Working toward a sustainable future for all
CAAV steering committee member, Joy Loving, discovered this work by Gregory Johnson here on the Sightline Institute’s blogsite: Sightline Daily. Aside from its simple beauty, “it doubles as clear, concise, powerful talking points and a compelling visual guide” of a complicated and technical report.
Joy has converted Greg’s work into a slideshow for us. Click on the image above to launch a power point show of this creative effort.
Inspired by Bill McKibben’s words in “What the warming world needs now is art, sweet art,” New York-based playwright and translator Chantal Bilodeau maintains a blog site devoted to all things climate art related: Artists and Climate Change: Contributions from the artistic community to the vexing problem of climate change.
“Today, interesting artistic work about climate change is popping up all over the country, in all kinds of venues. It shows up in opera houses and hip hop poetry slams, in established galleries and on-the-fly exhibitions, in off-Broadway houses and regional theatres. The goal of this blog is to track these works and gather them in one place.”
Thanks to CAAV steering committee Joy Loving for bringing this site to our attention.
Many thanks to Chelsea Harnish and Emily Heffling for traveling here from Richmond to deliver their hopeful and positive messages of work in the General Assembly and the power of grassroots organizing on Tuesday evening, April 8.
Among the almost three dozen people in the audience was Jonathon Shacat, journalist for the Daily News-Record. His article covering Chelsea’s presentation at Ruby’s Lounge was printed in the April 10, 2014, edition of the Daily News-Record and is in pdf format here: A Really Good Session.
Next up: Angela Navarro of the Southern Environmental Law Center: April 29, 2014, 5:30-7:00 PM @ Ruby’s at Clementine | Join us!
___________________________________________________________________________
What Did the General Assembly Do for Virginia’s Future?
So. The 2014 General Assembly regular session has ended. What did our legislators do to protect Virginians from the effects of current and future climate change? What did they do to help prevent it? Will Virginia support an energy efficient 21st century powered by non-fossil fuels or are we going to continue down the “business as usual” path we were following in the last century?
The Virginia Conservation Network (VCN) and Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) constantly lobby the General Assembly to do what
needs to be done to save the energy we have, produce energy that doesn’t pollute, and recognize the risks of climate change. Join Chelsea Harnish of VCN and Emily Heffling of CCAN in a discussion of what worked and what didn’t, who our allies are in Richmond, and how we can help change the hearts and minds of those who don’t yet understand the urgency of this critical problem.
This event is free and welcomes our entire community. Please come! Share it through facebook here.
April 8, 2014, 5:30-7:00 PM @ Ruby’s at Clementine, 153 S. Main St., Harrisonburg
Then plan to join us again on April 29 for Angela Navarro of the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC). She will be visiting here from Charlottesville for a presentation and discussion about the wide scope of SELC’s advocacy for and protection of our natural world through law and policy.
April 29, 2014, 5:30-7:00 PM @ Ruby’s at Clementine, 153 S. Main St., Harrisonburg
In response to Democratic Senators’ March 10, 2014, all night session to stir up climate change action, CAAV’s Legislation and Election committee prepared the following letter to Senator Tim Kaine. It was displayed and available for signatures by the attendees of CAAV’s March 18 letter writing workshop with Pete Bsumek. Find Senator Kaine’s presentation to the Senate Climate Action Task Force’s overnight meeting here.
Senator Tim Kaine
388 Russell Senate Office Bldg.
Washington , D.C. 20510
Dear Senator Kaine:
We listened carefully and were encouraged by your remarks at the recent all-night Senate event on March 10. Your understanding of climate issues and energy challenges was correct and to the point. You stated there is no conflict between the economy and the environment and that, in fact, the path to the new economy lies in environmental innovation. Win! Win! We agree!
There is another important arrow in our quiver in the fight against climate change and that is putting a price on carbon. Experts agree that it is the most cost effective and efficient way to reduce carbon emissions. The carbon price discussion draft released in March of 2013 by Waxman, Whitehouse, Blumenauer and Schatz provides an excellent starting point but needs strengthening.
1. The tax or fee should be applied upstream on carbon-based fuels at the first point of sale. Sale of permits should not be allowed because that leaves open the possibility of switching to a cap and trade system, which creates complexity and non-transparency.
2. The carbon tax legislation must include border adjustment tariffs to prevent American businesses from being placed at a competitive disadvantage. Countries without similar carbon prices would have a tariff imposed, along with refunds to U.S. businesses exporting to those countries, in order to create a level playing field. Also this would help encourage the carbon pricing to spread world-wide.
3. The tax should start at $35 per ton and increase at an annual rate of 8% per year. (The original numbers put forward by the task force were too weak).
4. All revenue generated from the tax should be divided equally among individuals in the U.S. and returned as a monthly or annual payment. This protects low and middle income consumers and makes the bill truly revenue neutral. (There are many other ideas out there on this point including a portion going to R and D and subsidies for renewables).
5. There must be bipartisan support!
We look to you and Senator Warner to provide leadership not only for Virginia but for the entire Nation on this climate crisis. Thank you for stepping out and into the light last week and becoming a “climate hero”. We’re right here behind you, supporting you in any way we can with the political will for a livable world.
For the CAAV Steering Committee and the Citizens signing the following page,
Leslie Grady Jr, Ph.D.
Chairman CAAV Steering Committee
Harrisonburg, VA
On Wednesday, March 12, 2014, 6 CAAV members of the Legislation and Elections Committee (Cathy Strickler, Charles Strickler, Joy Loving, Bishop Dansby, Sallie Newkirk and Laura Dansby) went to Washington, D. C. and met with aides for Senators Kaine and Warner and Rep. Goodlatte. The overall purpose of our visit was to provide political will for a livable planet through education on the climate crisis. We talked specifically about a proposal (S. 332) introduced in 2013 that would put a price on carbon. Putting a price on carbon is the most cost effective and efficient method of slowing climate change (See Below for the main points). We left with each office the latest printed version of the National Academy of Sciences booklet on climate. The day was long but we all felt good about going and will follow up with letters of appreciation and education.
Carbon Tax Proposal-Whitehouse, Shatz, Waxman and Blumenauer:
1. The tax or fee should be applied upstream on carbon based fuels at the first point of sale.
No permits allowed because that leaves open the possibility of switching to a cap and trade system which creates complexity and non transparency.
2.The carbon tax legislation must include border adjustment tariffs to prevent American businesses from being placed at a competitive disadvantage. Countries without similar carbon prices would have a tariff imposed, along with refunds to businesses exporting to those country would keep a level playing field.
3. The tax should start at $35 per ton and increase at an annual rate of 8% per year per ton.
4. All revenue generated from the tax should be divided equally among individuals in the U.S. and return as monthly or annual payments. This protects low and middle income consumers and makes the bill truly revenue neutral. We must have Republican support.
Click on the image at right for Pete Bsumek’s slide presentation on letter writing.
Dr. Bsumek recommends this resource for letter writers: Writing and Submitting an Opinion Piece: A Guide. It is also available on The Earth Institute, Columbia University webpage here along with more resources.
Also recommended is James Hoggan’s book Climate Cover-Up.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
The Climate Action Alliance of the Valley is holding an exciting workshop: “What to do when the newspaper makes you mad—or glad” on March 18th from 6—7:30 PM at the Massanutten Regional Library.
Do you still read the newspaper despite the misinformation on many subjects? Bring an example!
Do many editorials and opinion pieces upset you? Bring an example!
Do some of the letters to the editor mystify you with their illogic or ignorance? Bring an example!
Do some of these also entertain, educate, or inspire you and would you like to know more about how to write Letters to the Editor and OpEd pieces with the same impact?
Come and find out how to do it from Dr. Pete Bsumek, an associate professor in the School of Communication Studies at James Madison University. He is director of the MA program in Communication and Advocacy and coordinator of the interdisciplinary Environmental Studies minor.
Dr. Bsumek earned a B.S. in Political Science from the University of Utah, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Communication from the University of Pittsburgh. His research and teaching focus on rhetoric and the processes of advocacy and decision-making in social change, with a specific emphasis in environmental communication. He is currently working on a collaborative project investigating public controversies surrounding coal. Prior research focused on the rhetoric of the wilderness movement, processes of debate and deliberation, and greening the public relations curriculum. He is also currently serving on a grant funded research team investigating means for reducing greenhouse gases through low cost energy management and community based social marketing in university residence halls.
Valley readers deserve a steady stream of accurate, informed, compassionate, and literate information and opinion on fighting and dealing with climate change. Each one of us can help.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. Bsumek recommends this resource for letter writers: Writing and Submitting an Opinion Piece: A Guide. It is also available on The Earth Institute, Columbia University webpage here along with more resources.