Making a Dent: How You Can Help the Climate Crisis Without Burning Out

This Issue

• Supporting 350 Chicago via Community Shares

• Upcoming Events

  • June 18: Adam Met Book Tour & Tabling

  • June 26: The Science and Policy of the Just Energy Transition

  • June 26-29: Come Along for the Ride: A Journey Through Climate Grief

• Action Center

  • Help Stop the Big Ugly Bill!

  • Online Petition: Climate Safe Pensions

  • Online Petition: Utility Transparency Act

  • Why You Should Table with 350 Chicago

• In Brief

  • Decades of Deceit: The Case Against Major Fossil Fuel Companies for Climate Fraud and Damages

  • 350 Chicago Tabling at Eco-Fest

• Main Article

  • What is Utility Justice?

Supporting 350 Chicago via Community Shares

350 Chicago strives to make a positive impact on climate and the planet. We advocate for fossil fuel divestment through our coalition Climate Safe Pensions Illinois, transparency of utilities’ business practices, and creation of clean energy jobs in Illinois. Wondering how you can support these causes? Consider contributing to 350 Chicago by making a donation through a giving campaign at your workplace.

350 Chicago is a member of Community Shares of Illinois, which connects people to local nonprofits that focus on the issues and causes they care about most in their community. 350 Chicago is proud to be a member of the Community Shares of Illinois coalition of organizations working to make a difference in the state.

If your workplace offers Community Shares, you can support 350 Chicago by helping to spread the word about our important work. We will provide you with information and you can let your co-workers know how they can protect our environment by supporting 350 Chicago via Community Shares.

Upcoming Events

Adam Met Book Tour & Tabling

• June 18, 7:30pm (doors at 6:00)

• City Winery, 1200 W. Randolph Street, Chicago, IL 60607

• Buy Tickets HERE ($40, book included)

via Planet Reimagined, City Winery, and the Book Cellar: Adam Met of pop/rock group AJR and founder of Planet Reimagined will be on a book tour for his book: Amplify: How to Use the Power of Connection to Engage, Take Action, and Build a Better World. Adam Met, PhD, seamlessly transitions between his roles as a musician, educator, and advocate. As the bassist in the multi-Platinum band AJR, he has played for millions of fans worldwide. He is the co-founder of the climate research and advocacy nonprofit Planet Reimagined and teaches about climate campaigning and policy at Columbia University.

350 Chicago will be tabling and collecting postcards for our Climate Safe Pensions Act and Utility Transparency Act campaigns. Want to come help us table at cool events like this? Read more about it in our article below, Why You Should Table with 350 Chicago, and email [email protected] to get started!

The Science and Policy of the Just Energy Transition

• June 26, 6:00pm

• Zoom Webinar

• REGISTER HERE (free)

In the next entry of the 350 Chicago Speaker Series, Dr. Daniel Kammen, professor at the University of California, Berkeley and director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL), will speak on the The Science and Policy of the Just Energy Transition.

While the climate science community has highlighted the critical need for immediate action towards a 1.5 degree C warming target, and while energy and transportation technologies are moving rapidly to enable that challenging goal, the US stands as a national denier that immediate action, swift transitions on both the climate crisis and justice. Every delay in moving the US to a productive, proactive position makes achieving these goals less likely. Immediate, pro-environment, pro-justice, pro-business decisions are needed at the household, state, regional, national and global levels to put us on a sustainable path. This talk will highlight a set of energy, transportation, & land-use modeling tools & policy opportunities that are consistent with the needed 1.5-degree Celsius objective that also meet social & environmental justice goals.

Come Along for the Ride: A Journey Through Climate Grief

• Thursday, June 26 - Sunday, June 29

  • 350 Chicago will be there for the performance on the 29th at 3:00pm

• Raven Theater, 6157 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL 60660

• Get tickets HERE (Student $15, General $28)

via Raven Theater and Eco.Logic: “Come Along for the Ride: A Journey Through Climate Grief” follows two women navigating life with climate anxiety. Sophie, a millennial in New York City, balances dating and career ambitions while grappling with the looming climate crisis. Mari, an immigrant about to have a child, traces her migration story to environmental destruction and fears for her baby’s future. Encountering activists, skeptics, and seekers of hope, Sophie and Mari confront their fears and search for resilience. The play offers audiences space for emotion, community, and action.

Action Center

Help Stop the Big Ugly Bill!

Trump’s bloated domestic policy bill has passed the House and is now headed to the Senate. The bill gives handouts to Big Oil, tax cuts for billionaires, and funds mass detention facilities with our tax dollars — while cutting essential services for people in need, repeals IRA tax credits for clean energy initiatives, and would reverse years of progress fighting the climate crisis.

Call your senators and let them know that we do not support enriching big oil and billionaires at the expense of the rest of the country and our planet. Find your representatives HERE, and let them know you oppose the bill and urge them to do the same. Phone calls are often most effective, and remember you can keep it short and simple: you don’t need to eloquently persuade the staffer who picks up (or the voicemail), just let them know clearly and forcefully where you stand.

Here is a sample script if you want one:

You can also use Evergreen’s online system to send a message to your senators urging them to vote against the bill HERE.

For more information see articles by Bill McKibben (A Truly Dark Day in DC), Michael Thomas (The Most Important 30 Days of This Decade Are Ahead of Us), and the New York Times (Electricity Prices Are Surging. The G.O.P. Megabill Could Push Them Higher).

a single sentence was amended in such a way as to potentially kill off most of the rooftop solar industry in the U.S. -Bill McKibben, A Truly Dark Day in DC

Most clean energy and climate advocates expected it to be bad … But the bill was far worse than most advocates imagined. -Michel Thomas, The Most Important 30 Days of This Decade Are Ahead of Us

Online Petition: Climate Safe Pensions

Investments in fossil fuels are driving climate change, and they are becoming increasingly risky with significant financial liabilities. The state of Illinois can be both a climate leader and protect the health of its pension funds by divesting from fossil fuels. Climate Safe Pensions Illinois, a coalition whose members include 350 Chicago, Third Act Illinois, and The Climate Reality Project Chicago Metro Chapter, is, therefore, asking the State of Illinois to protect pension funds and provide more transparency to the holders.

Learn more and sign here: Climate Safe Pensions Petition!

Online Petition: Utility Transparency Act

Over the years, utilities have made it acceptable to recover some of their costs from ratepayers that should be charged to their shareholders! They routinely charge ratepayers for the cost of a range of lobbying activities without the ratepayers knowledge.

Learn more and sign here: Utility Transparency Petition!

Why You Should Table with 350 Chicago

by Abigail Schwartz

Q: What is tabling?

A: Tabling is when members of 350 Chicago go to various events around the Chicago area to gather postcards supporting our initiatives and recruit volunteers. The initiatives we are currently collecting postcards for are getting the state pensions divested from fossil fuels and stopping corrupt lobbying practices by utility companies.

Here are some reasons why you should table with 350 Chicago:

Tabling is crucial to helping us accomplish our goals in fighting the climate crisis.

Postcards collected while we were campaigning to divest the city operating budget from fossil fuels were a big factor in making that campaign a success. We as an organization rely on volunteers, many of whom first hear about us because of tabling.

You get to attend interesting events in interesting places!

Because of tabling I saw a room in the Chicago Cultural Center I hadn’t seen before, attended the wild things conference for free, found the perfect mothers day gift for my mom at the Trashy Market, tasted some really great peaches at the Oak Park farmers market and more…

It is easy and low commitment.

No prior experience is needed and we provide training. Each shift is only a few hours long and any amount of time you can give is appreciated.

It is great for your professional and personal development!

The ability to talk to people from all walks of life is something that will serve you well in life and your career, this is a great way to develop that skill. Tabling is great networking especially if you want to meet people associated with climate and community organizations or sustainable business.

We will be tabling at events all summer long in the Chicagoland area: keep eye on our events above and on this newsletter to see more opportunities. Later this month we will be at the Adam Met Book Tour and at Raven Theater (both events listed above). Come volunteer with us, or just visit us at a table and fill out a postcard in support of the Utility Transparency Act.

Interested but haven’t volunteered with us before? No problem! Just email [email protected] and we’ll get you set up either with tabling or some other way you can help. See you out there!

In Brief

Decades of Deceit: The Case Against Major Fossil Fuel Companies for Climate Fraud and Damages

The Union of Concerned Scientists has just published a report, Decades of Deceit, which details how major fossil fuel companies hid knowledge about climate change for decades, funding campaigns to ‘profit from the planet’s destruction by profits over the planet deceiving the public and blocking climate action’.

The report comes on the back of a number of states and communities across the United States who are suing fossil fuel companies alleging damages as a result of this deception.

The full report can be downloaded HERE.

350 Chicago at Eco-Fest

350 Chicago tabled at the 47th Ward Eco Fest at Welles Park sponsored by Alderman Matt Martin. We collected signatures in support of our Fossil Fuel Divestment and Utility Transparency campaigns and talked about our work in Chicago and Illinois. We also had a special appearance by Yogi the dog: the best tabler in the business.

What is Utility Justice?

by Christine Skolnik

Why care about utility justice?

Tens of millions of Americans struggle to pay their utility bills and suffer the health impacts of oil and gas emissions while utility companies make unreasonable profits.

Because these utility companies have resisted the transition to clean and affordable energy, these companies now have to charge their customers to repair outdated oil and gas infrastructure and for the exorbitant costs of building new fossil-fuel infrastructure. Utility rates are rising steeply and are expected to increase dramatically in the near future, increasing the burden on low- and middle-income ratepayers.

Frontline communities are now bearing and will continue to bear the double burden of the environmental impacts of fossil fuel burning and the economic burden of rising energy costs. To add insult to injury, utility companies use ratepayer money to lobby against the health and economic interests of ratepayers.

Why is this a 350.org campaign?

Utility companies are effectively fossil fuel companies. Though not all utility companies are engaged in energy production they all profit (and profit unreasonably) from delivering fossil fuels to their customers. They lobby for rate hikes to guarantee excessive profits for their shareholders and to repair or expand fossil-fuel infrastructure. They also lobby against the clean energy transition and, indirectly, against the various health and employment benefits the transition would afford front line communities.

What is our campaign to support the Illinois Utility Transparency Act?

Over the years, utilities have made it acceptable to recover some of their costs from ratepayers that should be charged to their shareholders! They routinely charge ratepayers for the cost of a range of lobbying activities without the ratepayers knowledge.

This act would stop utilities from charging ratepayers for:

• Hiring outside lawyers and witnesses to raise rates;

• Paying for memberships in trade associations to lobby against the interests of ratepayers;

• Purchasing insurance to protect shareholders from potential losses;

• Buying goodwill advertising to enhance the utilities image, to the financial benefit of shareholders.

The Utility Transparency Bill would also:

• Require at least one Public Hearing on utility rate increase requests;

• Makes Intervenor Compensation Fund (ICF) money non-recoverable from ratepayers going forward in future rate cases.

Connecticut, Colorado, and Maine have already passed similar legislation. If enacted, for the average year, this bill would save ratepayers across Illinois approximately $40 million.

350 Chicago is working with the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) and a statewide coalition to advocate for Utility Transparency.

What can you do to help?

There are many ways to help! Fill out the Utility Transparency petition, or come to one of our tabling sessions to fill out a postcard in person that we will hand-deliver to legislators in Springfield. Want to get more involved? Come volunteer with us by emailing [email protected], and see our article above about why you should table with us! Also, any donation you could spare is greatly appreciated and helps us do this work day in day out. You could also become a subscribing member to this newsletter or ask your workplace to help support us through Community Shares, described above. However you choose to help, it all is one small step towards fighting the climate crisis!

More resources:

• Utility Justice: Why it Matters and Resources for Advocates – Just Solutions

• 350 Chicago – Utility Transparency Campaign