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Hi John |
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350 Eastside Community meeting: Wednesday, March 16th @ 7pm Here is the link for the meeting. Our time together will focus on the Yes to EKC PUD campaign, updates and ways to engage. The Yes to EKC PUD campaign is delighted to announce that we had a meeting last week with a Snoqualmie Tribe working group that convened in support of the campaign! We are grateful for the Tribe's involvement and look forward to working together to secure a better energy future for East King County.
The King County Democrats also recently passed a Resolution of Support in favor of the campaign, and we are working through all the other local LDs to make sure they are aware of our work and to earn their support.
Anyone interested in getting involved with the campaign can sign up to volunteer at www.ekc-pud.org/how-to-help. We have both remote and in-person opportunities, including signature-gathering, postcarding, and social media action. Donations are also gladly accepted at www.ekc-pud.org/donate. We are fundraising right now to bring on a paid field organizer to take the campaign to the next level, any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated. We are also expanding our outreach to local businesses and asking them to post information about the campaign in their storefront. If you own or patronize a business in the proposed service area and are interested in posting a flyer, please contact Lin. Action Item: Have you posted about the campaign to your social media recently? This article in the Bellingham Herald does a really great job of laying out the case against PSE. Please share the article and help us amplify it on Facebook, Nextdoor, and Twitter. 350 Eastside commissions an engineering study: 350 Eastside has retained an engineering firm to get specific about baseline costs and to investigate a radically accelerated decarbonization scenario in the proposed East King County PUD service area. This will include pathways for 100% decarbonizing all direct uses of fossil fuels (think autos and home heating) by substituting renewably generated electricity (likely wind and solar) by 2050. It will advance a positive narrative consistent with the magnitude of the climate crisis, in a specific, achievable context. With your help it can become a model for wider impact. The study will cost on the order of $60,000, so please consider a significant tax-deductible donation for the study through the 350 Eastside website . Click “Donate Now”, enter an amount, click “pay with credit or debit card”, and where it says “write a note”, indicate for "PUD education." If you’d like to speak about it first, please text Sue at 206-617-6855, and she’ll get back to you. Upcoming Community meeting: 350 Eastside’s next month meeting on Wednesday, April 20th, 2022: Energy efficiency in residential and commercial buildings, retrofitting, and changes in WA State building codes. Guest: Court Olson.
350 WA News ** You’re invited to join our upcoming Green New Deal book group: an awesome way to meet other volunteers and plug into our long-term Green New Deal organizing. Up next: we’re reading A Planet to Win. This short book is a fun read for anyone excited about a Green New Deal – it imagines all the ways a Green New Deal could transform our everyday lives, and explores political potential plus concrete steps for getting there. There’s also a podcast, if that’s more your speed! More info & book group sign up here. You can also reach out to Andrew with any questions. Hope to see you there! ** Join up with 350 climate organizers from across the PNW this March for our monthly call. We're excited to welcome special guest Doug Howell from Save Our Wild Salmon to talk about historic efforts underway in 2022 to remove the lower four Snake River Dams, and how we can build grassroots pressure to help stop salmon extinction, save the orca, support tribal justice, expand recreation, and create the largest wildlife restoration and climate adaptation area in the country. March 14th 6pm-7:30pm, Register HERE. These regional conversation calls are open to all active organizers from 350.org-affiliated local groups in Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Idaho, and Montana, and are a place to join in conversation around our local and regional efforts to grow the movement for climate justice. We join together in conversation to share ideas, companionship, and resources between organizers and to help build resilience in our local groups as we all work to adapt to the rapidly changing organizing landscape of 2020 and beyond.
Stop The Money Pipeline calls to ACTION A little over a decade ago, Wall Street greed tanked the economy and pushed millions of Americans into poverty. Now, Wall Street banks are helping to torch the entire planet.
If you bank with Chase, Citibank, Wells Fargo or Bank of America, please join thousands of other customers and sign on to the Customers for Climate Justice Open Letter to CEOs.
The campaign will also be supporting customers to take additional actions: setting up meetings with their financial advisors and branch managers to express their dismay that their bank is funding climate chaos; sending emails, making phone calls, and writing good old-fashioned letters to bank executives; and organizing other customers in your networks. PS: Want to learn more? Check out the Customers for Climate Justice website!
April 2 - April 10, we are working with Stand.Earth, Climate Justice Arts Project, and others to organize what some people are calling “the largest ever coordinated street art protest (that we know of!)”. We are mailing 30,000 street art posters (each poster is 5.5ft x 3.5 ft) to activists around the country so that they can get them out into their communities.
Climate Solutions Are you wondering what’s next for the climate movement? Or perhaps you’re hoping to learn more about how we can reduce the harmful climate emissions that are impacting our families and communities. If so, register for this upcoming Climate Solutions event, Momentum 2022: Embarking on a New Era of Climate Leadership. Momentum 2022: Embarking on a New Era of Climate Leadership, a Climate Solutions Event
2022 Legislative updates Legislative Victories: SB 5042 has been signed by the Governor. It closes the sprawl loophole in the Growth Management Act that previously allowed for growth in rural areas that does not comply with the GMA. This change will ensure that development is concentrated in designated urban growth areas easily connected to transit, jobs and public services. SHB 1099 which will improve the state’s climate response through updates to the state’s comprehensive planning framework passed both chambers and now (as of March 10th) still awaits a conference committee report and the Governor’s signature. Once SHB 1812 is signed by the governor, this legislation will improve and expand state siting and permitting processes of energy facilities to speed the state’s clean energy goals. HB1619 has also passed the legislature and awaits the Governor’s signature. It will raise efficiency standards for appliances. Legislative disappointments: HB 1838 (aka as the Loraine Loomis Act for Salmon Recovery) which would have called for mandatory riparian buffers to protect clean, cool waters and salmon habitat failed to pass. However, Washington’s proposed 2022 Supplemental budget does include funds to remove culverts. HB 1774/SB5722 which would have reduced greenhouse gas emission in buildings did not pass.
Recommended reading · Decarbonize the US Health Sector – First, Do No Harm campaign · The latest Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change Report. · A relevant article by Bill McKibbon
Spring is here and we are re-invigorated with the newness of the season, hope to see you join us in whatever capacity you have. All the best, Emily, Lin, Lynn, Marilyn, Phil, and Sara
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