current actions we recommend
Another Way to Support Equitable, Local Climate Action in Sonoma County!
A growing coalition of community groups and individuals are banding together to push for Climate Emergency Resolutions at the County level and in all the cities – Petaluma has already passed a CER, and Santa Rosa is in the process of considering it. Sign the online petition to support the effort to pass the Climate Emergency Resolutions and immediate actions in our county to reduce climate emissions.
Actions for After the Climate Strike!
Take Action!
1. Register to vote. In California citizens can pre-register to vote starting when they are 16 (and can vote in elections when 18 or older).
2. Ask CA Senator Diane Feinstein to support the Green New Deal Resolution in U.S. Congress. Call her office: (415) 393-0707 or Send email to California Senator Diane Feinstein
Script: “Hello, My name is ____, and I am a student from _____(city), zip code is 95472. I am calling today to urge Senator Feinstein to sign onto the Green New Deal. This is extremely important to me because I need a livable climate for my future (and/or add your own reasons!). Thank you
3. Sign online petition asking the California teacher retirement fund (CalSTRS) to divest from fossil fuel companies.
Participate!
Come to Climate Action Night, April 24th, 4:30-7:15, Santa Rosa Junior College. Learn from student presenters and take action on climate legislation.
Volunteer at Sebastopol’s Apple Blossom Festival on April 13th or 14th for a 2-hour shift to help with compost and recycling. Free admission when you volunteer! Sign up here
Volunteer at Santa Rosa Earth Day on April 27th to help with compost and recycling: Click this link to sign up to be a volunteer at Santa Rosa Earth Day April 27th. If you want to be on the compost/ recycling stations, write “Put me on the Green Team” in the “Additional Comments” section.
Learn!
Learn about the Green New Deal from the youth activist Sunrise Movement website
Learn why divestment from fossil fuel companies is a powerful tool to combat climate change: Watch video
- After you sign the online petition asking the California teacher retirement fund (CalSTRS) to divest from fossil fuel companies, ask your teachers to sign the petition by giving them this flier
- Currently over $6 billion of the teacher retirement fund is invested in fossil fuel companies, an industry that pumps CO2 into the atmosphere, the main source of climate change
- This letter explains the campaign.
Ask Sen. Feinstein to Champion the Green New Deal
Before February 25, Call Senator Feinstein and tell her to stand with the majority of Californians and champion the Green New Deal. SF Office: (415) 393-0707
SCRIPT:
Hi, my name is [FULL NAME ON VOTING REGISTRATION], I’m [AGE] years old and I live in [ZIP CODE], and I’m calling to ask that Senator Feinstein support a plan to stop the climate crisis that’s actually in line with what the world’s top scientists with the United Nations say is necessary. That starts with her cosponsoring Senator Markey’s resolution for a Green New Deal.
I am scared to lose [what are you scared to lose?] to climate change, and I’m asking Senator Feinstein to support the resolution. Thank you.
Take Action to Support Public Banking
Public banks keep money in our communities, and provide local investment. Fossil fuel Infrastructure is made possible by big banks. Let’s divest our public funds from Wall Street and bring our money home!
The Friends of Public Banking group in Santa Rosa is asking us to take action. They are collecting signatures of support for the California Public Banking Alliance (CPBA) legislative proposal. This will make it easier to establish public banks at the local level, so we can rebuild our local economy. Consider adding your name to the petition here. You can also write a letter directly to your Congressional Representative showing your support for public banking and our legislative proposal. Send a letter of support.
Here’s a video explaining what public banking is and how it works.
Ask Sebastopol to Ban Polystyrene Foam
Come to Sebastopol City Council meeting on Tuesday, March 5th to support the city’s adoption of the ordinance written by Sonoma County Waste Management Agency: “Ordinance to Prohibit Use and Sale of Disposable Food Service Ware and Other Products Containing Polystyrene Foam” which would ban polystyrene foam and other disposable food ware that is non-compostable and not recyclable. Tuesday, March 5th, starting at 6pm at the Sebastopol Youth Annex, Teen Center, 425 Morris Street. Check here after Feb 28 for the agenda to estimate time item will be considered.
You can send an email to council members now to let them know you support adoption of this ordinance: Sample script:
Dear council members-
Please vote to adopt the Ordinance to Prohibit Use and Sale of Disposable Food Service Ware and Other Products Containing Polystyrene Foam. Polystyrene foam products are not recyclable or biodegradable and are a threat to wildlife in our waterways, public spaces, and beaches. (your name and address)
Email to: Sebastopol City Council email list: Slayter, Patrick <ps.sebcc@gmail.com>, Sarah Gurney <sarahgurney.seb@gmail.com>, una.glass.seb@sonic.net, neysacouncil@gmail.com, Michael Carnacchi <mcarnacchi@cityofsebastopol.org>, mgourley@cityofsebastopol.org
Support the Green New Deal!
350 Sonoma has just joined over 600 environmental organization demanding our government officials support and activate the Green New Deal as a response to catastrophic climate changes. The Green New Deal proposes 1) Halting all fossil fuel leasing, extraction, and dirty energy subsidies, 2) Transition to 100% renewable energy by 2035 or earlier, 3) Expand public transportation and phase out fossil fuel vehicles, 4) Harness the full power of the Clean Air Act, 5) Ensure a just transition led by impacted communities and workers 5) Uphold indigenous rights as outlined in the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People. The letter also opposes rolling back environmental, health protections, corporate scheme that place profit over community health, including market based technological fixes. We ask that energy companies be held responsible for damages rather than shifting these costs to taxpaers.
We thank our new Representatives, led by Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, for promoting this response to our real existential emergency. We urge you to sign on to support the Green New Deal and to spread the word among your families, friends and social media contacts.
Why Renewable Sonoma?
Ask the Sonoma County Waste Management Agency board to accept their staff’s recommendation that Renewable Sonoma be awarded the commercial compost operation contract for the proposed Llano Road site (by the waste-water treatment facility). Send emails to the SCWMA board via executive director Patrick Carter by August 14th (patrick.carter@sonoma-county.org)
Talking point ideas for your email:
- Renewable Sonoma is owned by Sonoma Compost, the company operating our former, excellent local compost facility at the central landfill site.
- They have a long history of supporting composting education, school garden programs, community waste-diversion/ Zero Waste efforts, and local farmers and gardeners
- Their proposal includes an anaerobic digester that will generate electricity from green waste via natural gas generation
- They are excellent environmental stewards
- They have a long history of working with local farmers and have extensive knowledge of the local composting market
- Their business emphasis is on creating high-quality soil-amendment products for customers (as opposed to merely diverting green waste from landfill)
Local composting means:
- We do not have to truck our greenwaste out of the county (thereby reducing greenhouse gas production)
- Farmers, schools, and gardens can purchase high-quality compost produced locally (at lower prices because of reduced delivery fees)
Find a form for a petition to the SCWMA Board Members here: RenewableSonoma_petition
Eye-opening Zero Waste Display and Info Booth at the Sebastopol Farmer’s Maket
By Caitlyn Thomasson
Folks in Sonoma County are learning how to work towards Zero Waste by composting, recycling, and reducing plastic use. Considering that Sonoma County residents contribute 4.6 pounds per person, per day to the landfill, this is an much needed culture shift. On June 24th, the Sebastopol Farmers Market hosted the first Zero Waste outreach booth with the help from Recology and 350 Sonoma members to help address this issue. Market-goers could stop by and decorate reusable produce bags made from repurposed from cloth with veggie stamps. The bags are a fun, colorful, and an eco-friendly way for people to gather veggies at the market without using plastic bags. Enthusiastic employees from Recology were on hand to provide information about their company and answer questions about recycling and composting. Also, a travelling trash installation from the Santa Rosa Junior College was on display, providing education and a unique conversation starter to help us all realize how much single-use plastic and disposable coffee cups are sent to the landfill weekly.
To get involved, visit us at the Sebastopol farmers markets for our monthly zero waste outreach booth (July 29th, August 26, September 30, October 21, November 18, December 16 January 27); join us at our zero waste subcommittee maker meetings to make more reusable veggies bags and other reusable DIY items to share at the market (contact Sunny Galbraith for more information: galbraithsunny@gmail.com); make a personal pledge to get closer to zero waste in your life, and encourage your city counsel or supervisor to adopt the upcoming Zero Waste Resolution, and ask restaurants/vendors to replace single-use plastic with compostable and recyclable alternative.
AB 813: Contact your state senator’s office to stop the California Coalification Bill!
AB 813 would regionalize California’s electricity grid, merging the existing independent management into a broader regional system. This is an extremely complicated issue. There are compelling reasons to consider regionalization, but the risks far outweigh the potential benefits at this time. Regionalization would increase the control that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has on California’s grid, and FERC is currently dreaming up ways to support extending uneconomical coal and nuclear generation. Also, the western region envisioned in the bill includes coal country – and there is the strong potential that this regionalized grid could extend the economic viability of some of the nation’s worst coal plants. California’s existing grid management system is not in dire circumstances! We have a functioning operator supported by existing out of state contracts that balance our energy needs. We are at a time of remarkable innovation in electricity generation and distribution – it is quite premature to lock in this approach in the face of rapidly changing circumstances, especially when California risks losing control over its electricity generation portfolio by doing so.
Call or email your State Senator McGuire’s office before Tuesday morning! There is a critical vote on this issue on June 19, and we need to reach Senator McGuire, a key vote on this issue. His phone number is (916) 651-4002, or email his legislative aide Christopher.Nielsen@sen.ca.gov
Sign the Divest Big Oil Petition
We call on CalSTRS and CalPERS to divest by 2020 from all oil and gas companies, beginning with ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Shell. These companies have known for decades that their products increase the dangers of climate change, but they have not joined the international effort to minimize global warming. Since they refuse to modify their business plans or activities, and since their reserves are at risk of becoming worthless stranded assets, CalSTRS and CalPERS should refuse to own any of their shares.