Author Archives: olyclimate

About olyclimate

We seek a safe, prosperous, sustainable future for residents of the North Olympic Peninsula by addressing climate change.

Clallam County Commissioners to consider climate resolution

At their regular meeting of June 19, 2018, starting at 10 a.m., the Clallam County Board of Commissioners will consider a resolution long in the making, shepherded by Commissioner Mark Ozias, to reinvigorate a Climate Action Plan passed in 2009. The draft of the resolution is here.

Passage of this important resolution is not guaranteed; your input may help sway the Board of Commissioners to support it. You can provide input:

  • In person, at the beginning or end of the meeting (agenda here–please note the instructions for speaking given at the end), limiting your comments to three minutes.
  • In writing, either by presenting it to the Clerk of the Board prior to or at the meeting (where you can also read it aloud), or by sending an email to the Commissioners by the prior business day.

BACKGROUND: Clallam County passed a Climate Action Plan in 2009, and a climate-preparedness resolution was passed in 2016 with OCA support, but neither has led to significant action in recent years.  Commissioner Ozias hopes to put life back into the CAP to quantify the actions the county needs to take and to engage citizens in dialogue about their concerns related to climate impacts and mitigation.

GUIDELINES FOR COMMENTS:

  • Speak from your own experience:  Why are you concerned about climate change? What would you like to see County government do about it?
  • The resolution itself has great talking points and is a good place to start.
  • It’s helpful if you can think of ideas that will motivate individual council members to pass the resolution and implement the CAP. In what various ways will the resolution help their constituents?
  • Commissioner Ozias reported that many County department heads are anxious to investigate ways they can help the county save money and reduce our carbon footprint. Getting climate back on the agenda should help to serve both goals.

Climate change is going to occur no matter what we do, but planning ahead can minimize its severity and maximize our resiliency.  Let’s do our part here to come to grips with this reality.

BPA faces stiff financial challenges

Energy market changes may spell its doom

BPA financial threats

OCA endorses I-1631; time to gather signatures!

State initiative would put a fee on carbon and devote the proceeds to clean energy and climate protection

At its April 2018 monthly meeting, Olympic Climate Action (OCA) agreed by consensus to endorse I-1631, the Protect Washington Act initiative. OCA joins Sierra Club, The Nature Conservancy, Washington Audubon, a coalition of Native American tribes and 200 other statewide organizations in our endorsement.

We cannot continue to treat our atmosphere as a sewer without incurring a deadly cost, one much greater than the cost of an emissions fee.

We must collect 270,000 signatures statewide by the end of June to get this initiative on the ballot, and residents of the Olympic Peninsula must do our part. To help this signature-gathering campaign, contact:

Links for more information:

Warrior Up! Rally on land & sea vs. Kinder Morgan May 20 in Seattle

The Kinder Morgan pipeline project can and must be stopped! Tar sands are one of the biggest climate threats we face, and Houston-based Kinder Morgan is trying to build a massive new pipeline through British Columbia to export this oil. They’ve encountered much more resistance than they expected so they’ve temporarily stopped investment and will decide whether to proceed on May 31. To send a big message to the company before that decision, there will be a huge indigenous-led rally on May 20th in Vancouver. They’ve asked environmental groups in Washington to help support them, so an event is planned that same day in Seattle with kayaktivists in the water and a big rally in Occidental Park. It’s family-friendly and everyone is welcome. This is a pivotal time to take a stand against this project!

Event registration: https://actionnetwork.org/events/seattle-vs-kinder-morgan?source=fbevent

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1604045999711999/?notif_t=plan_user_associated¬if_id=1525283237248850

Poster: JPG – PDF

Celebrate science at PA Pier April 28

On April 28, 2018, Feiro Marine Life Center, Olympic Climate Action, and Sierra Club North Olympic Group are again hosting a free, community-oriented celebration of science at Port Angeles City Pier from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. People of all ages and interests are invited to engage with scientists at booths and presentations, and examine infographic posters that provide examples of how science works locally to contribute to our communities and our quality of life. To put a face on science in the community, Science on Display provides profiles of local active and retired scientists and science educators.

The event kicks off at 10 a.m. at the Port Angeles City Pier stage with a welcome and opening remarks. Jim Waddell, Civil Engineer, PE USACE Retired, will speak about how a non-scientist evaluates the massive amount of scientific claims. Most science is done out of the public eye in labs or remote field sites and presented in specialized journals. As a result, there’s limited awareness of the rigorous, self-correcting scientific process: a method based on evidence and experiments that can be replicated, tested, and scrutinized by other professionals. This scientific process, scientific consensus, and evidence-based models are the tools that help make sense of science.

Science on Display is designed to honor the broad spectrum of retired and active scientists and science educators living on the Olympic Peninsula. From each profile, learn what inspired him or her to pursue a chosen field. Many residents are not aware of the science education, applied science, and interesting research conducted by their neighbors. Science on Display puts a face from the community on science in the community.

Why celebrate science? We use science to heat our homes, grow our food, take pictures of Mars, and send people far beyond Earth’s atmosphere. Science helps us understand why we have wind, tides, fish, and plants. Science has shown us that it’s important to wash our hands and to cover our mouths when we sneeze. Come learn about birds, bugs, tea, trees, water, and how to capture power from the sun. Visit with some of our favorite local scientists as they show you how they use science in their work and lives.

Feiro Marine Life Center, Olympic Climate Action, and Sierra Club – North Olympic Group created this local celebration in 2017 with a shared mission to celebrate the essential role science and technology plays in all our daily lives.

We’re in deep

Even conservative pathways to capping rising temperatures at 2 degrees Celsius suggest industrialized nations should start reigning in carbon emissions by 10 percent each year before zeroing them out entirely by mid-century; even that scenario assumes we’ll be able to deploy so-called negative emissions technology at a global scale, despite the fact that those technologies remain untested at scale. Without negative emissions, the deadline for decarbonization comes much sooner: 2026 — eight years from now.

Kate Aronoff, The Intercept

KWEKWECNEWTXW – Protect the Inlet

March 10, 2018:  Representatives from OCA, Sierra Club and thousands more joined with First Nations in Vancouver BC to resist the Kinder Morgan tar-sands pipeline. They sent a clear message to Prime Minister Trudeau that he does not have consent to allow the Kinder Morgan Trans-Mountain pipeline expansion.Surrey2b

For more information or to donate: https://protecttheinlet.ca/

Articles: https://other98.com/coast-protectors-occupation-kinder-morgan/

 

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/its-standing-rock-north-trans-mountain-pipeline-in-canada-stirs-strong-opposition/

Surrey5b