Kate Aronoff with one of the most important pieces you will read this year. https://theintercept.com/2018/12/08/shell-oil-executive-boasts-that-his-company-influenced-the-paris-agreement/
National Climate Assessment
This past Friday government released the 4th National Climate Assessment, clearly they were hoping people would be too busy with post Thanksgiving madness to notice. It is a stark report of how climate change is already impacting life in the US and how it will continue to get worse, and much much more expensive, if we don't …
OCA members have their say
Now that most of the dust has cleared on the 2018 election, OCA members should be acknowledged for having their say about climate in the public sphere. In these fractured times, there's a need for citizens to state plain truths out loud, and OCA members are to be congratulated for stepping up to the democratic …
One more chance for WA’s “Green Wave”
...with inaction at the federal level, maybe a single state paving the way is our best hope for catalyzing broader action. Someone needs to lead. With lessons learned from this most recent failure, and more Democratic seats picked up in the state legislature — offering a firmer legislative route to passing a carbon tax — Inslee …
Just an environmental issue? Not!
Where will we find the political will to do what we know needs to be done in the time we have? Here's an essay in the Sequim Gazette by OCA board member Ann Soule, who also serves as Resource Manager for the City of Sequim: In our small corner of the globe, the biggest threats …
Shared sacrifices of the past show way forward on climate
Remembrance Day Shared sacrifices of the past show way forward on climate Remember the extraordinary resolve our society showed the last time it faced an existential threat Opinion by Robert Green RicochetNOVEMBER 10, 2018
1631 opponents: Make good on your word
"Opponents argued a better proposal was needed. They must now stand by their word in calling for a better proposal." Note from the chart below that Jefferson and Clallam Counties generated some of the highest percentages of Yes votes on 1631! Kudos to all who helped spread the word about the need for substantive, immediate …
Their future is in our hands
Please pay attention...please get involved in this most important decision-time for this nation...please get everyone you know to do the same. A plea from our kids: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89Jhj3MX1WU And a plea from our brothers and sisters under the sea: http://forthewild.world/listen/kurt-russo-on-the-people-under-the-sea91 https://omtimes.com/2018/08/tahlequah-grief-animal-kingdom/
R.I.P. Oil, Coal and Gas
The Midterms Have the Power to Usher in an Era of Climate Action Trump and the fossil fuel lobby can stall for time. But change is coming faster than you think. ALEX STEFFEN
Who is the “we” in “We are causing climate change”?
(Hint: If you're reading this, probably not you!) By Genevieve Guenther in Grist Oct 13, 2018
First American PAC promotes I-1631
First ad features Quinault Tribe executive director The first commercial produced by the First American Project PAC, a coalition of Washington's Tribes and allies, stands in support of I-1631. This unedited, long-form commercial features President Fawn Sharp of the Quinault Tribe. Multiple other leaders will be featured in the next two weeks in ads. Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMqqAyli6A8&feature=youtu.be …
White House response to IPCC climate report: “Lalalalala”
"This disaster is going to be as bad—as very, very bad—as we make it." From Elizabeth Kolbert at the New Yorker: What Is Donald Trump’s Response to the U.N.’s Dire Climate Report? The U.N.’s scientific advisory board sounds a piercing alarm on climate change, but the President doesn’t seem to hear it. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/10/22/what-is-donald-trumps-response-to-the-uns-dire-climate-report More New …
Continue reading "White House response to IPCC climate report: “Lalalalala”"
Clallam PUD’s opposition to I-1631: What part of “Utility” don’t you understand?
Clallam PUD Sides with Petroleum Industry in Opposition to Carbon Initiative by Andy Cochrane, President, Power Trip Energy | Oct 3, 2018 The Clallam PUD board of commissioners has taken the step of publicly opposing Initiative 1631, citing increased operating costs and higher gasoline prices as reasons for opposition. Clallam County PUD officials say the carbon fee initiative …
Continue reading "Clallam PUD’s opposition to I-1631: What part of “Utility” don’t you understand?"
The laws of thermodynamics…beyond the power of the veto
One might say the melting is like weeping, glacial tears upon the cheek of the sea. Our lament is an embarrassment; no excuse can set us free. Memories of ancient times slipping through our grasp; what once we thought forever has now become the past. --OCA member Brian Grad
Rise for Orca and Climate Justice
* Part of a National day of observance sponsored by 350.org. Prelude to the Global Climate Summit being held in San Francisco September 12-14 * Beach Party, meet and greet, potluck/picnic * Kids activities all day long * Story telling and music * Orca Vigil * Kayaktavists Invocation ceremony asking protection for our waters and …
Bill McKibben: To slow down climate change, we need to work together
Confessions of a Monkeywrencher
Leonard Higgins explains why he broke the law to protect the climate "My hope is that more and more of us, including this court, will see and feel the emergency and pull together to demand immediate changes to reduce our carbon emissions and the other responses needed to avoid the worst." Leonard Higgins gave the following …
A Plea for Initiative 1631
by volunteer Don Steinke, with the Washington State Sierra Club: Can We Save Civilization As We Know It? A Plea for Initiative 1631 We’ve waited thirty years for Congress to act on global warming. We’ve waited enough. Some scholars are saying it is too late to save civilization as we know it, but I believe …
A climate game of chance–literally
Developed by the Thurston County Regional Planning Council: http://www.trpc.org/844/Resilience-Road---Board-Game
Declaration of Independence from Fossil Fuels
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary to dissolve our dependence on fuels that have driven so much human development, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that we should declare the causes which impel us to the dissolution. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal, …
Continue reading "Declaration of Independence from Fossil Fuels"
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 …
Should Houston sue the oil companies?
Should the oil capital of the world take oil companies to court?
Opinion: Clallam PUD should encourage sun power
"We have three (Clallam PUD) districts and three commissioners elected to that office. In the case of Clallam County, they are elected for six years. That is a long time to hold a public office. It is enough time to become complacent, to not rock the boat, to not stay abreast of the times, to …
Continue reading "Opinion: Clallam PUD should encourage sun power"
Clallam County considers climate action
At their work session on 2/12/18, the Board of Clallam County Commissioners discussed a resolution proposed by Commissioner Mark Ozias for Clallam County to take further steps to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Clallam County residents are urged to communicate with their Commissioners about this resolution. Public comment of a general nature is taken …
“Natural” gas…”the dirtiest of all”…
Opinion: Monetized foreign policy leads to climate change
From OCA member Bob Vreeland: http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/letters/letter-monetized-foreign-policy-leads-to-climate-change/
Block the Gates – “No LNG in 253″
OCA members participate in the Lock-Down demonstration at the Port of Tacoma Liquefied Natural Gas terminal construction site on December 18, 2017. By OCA member Michael Clemens On Sunday the 17th and Monday the 18th, the Puyallup Tribe sponsored a protest of the unpermitted LNG terminal in the Port of Tacoma. 350.org and many other …
Columbia Generation Station
At the last OCA meeting, Phil Lusk gave a talk about the costly electricity we buy from the Columbia Generating Station (CGS), a nuclear power plant located near Richland WA. Phil’s analysis indicates that this nuclear-energy facility, owned and operated by Energy Northwest, is subsidized heavily, to the tune of $1.64 billion by 2028. Phil …
Will Humanity Survive the Next 50 Years Of Climate Change?
Dr. Veerabhaadran Ramanathan (Distinguished Professor-Scripps Institution Of Oceanography, UC San Diego & UNESCO Professor Of Climate & Policy, TERI University, New Delhi, India) discusses the possibility that climate change could lead to human extinction in the next 50 years. What can we do to fight global climate change before it gets too late?
50 inches of Harvey
This Harvey was no six-foot invisible rabbit. This Harvey dropped four-feet-two-inches of rain on millions of Texans in less than a week. When that many inches of rain land in your community in one storm, you can bet on a flood of tragic proportions. In Texas, 1 million people evacuated and hundreds of thousands are …
More Tanker Traffic in the Strait?
In a letter to the editors of Peninsula Daily News, November 6, 2017, Brian Grad wrote: Oil tankers have delivered North Slope crude for decades through the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and although that history hasn’t been spill-free, we’ve come to accept that traffic, governed by federal law, as an acceptable risk. Would it …
Think about it: heating up?
Column in the Sequim Gazette by local columnist Bertha Cooper: http://www.sequimgazette.com/opinion/think-about-it-heating-up/
Personal Consumption Choices and Capitalism
Personal Consumption Choices alone Can’t Save the Planet: We Have to Confront Capitalism itself. To stave off disaster, we must transform the economic system driving climate change. By Kate Aronoff
State & local leaders: It’s time to commit
Bill McKibben writes in the latest Rolling Stone magazine: How to Tell If Your Reps Are Serious About Climate Change In the wake of Trump pulling the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement, how serious are your elected leaders about fighting back?
Trump’s “low-energy” thinking on energy
Global climate: the art of the deal
Oppose Kinder-Morgan pipeline to protect our water and climate
Letter to the editor from OCA member Lisa Dekker: "Here in our waterway, ecological and economic interests are one and the same, and this pipeline project absolutely must be stopped." http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/letters/letter-trans-mountain-pipeline-expansion-evidence-of-fossil-fuel-industrys-desperation/
While Feds fail, locals step up
President Trump's withdrawal from our country's commitment to the Paris climate accord has engendered both dismay and determination around the globe, and here on the Olympic Peninsula, Olympic Climate Action has joined that chorus. Around the country, groups are now calling for their state and local governments to fill in the void of federal leadership by …
On Paris accords, remember first-world nations had head start on exploiting fossil fuels
Letter to Peninsula Daily News from OCA member Bill Marsh of Port Angeles: When President Donald Trump told us June 1 of his decision to pull out of the Paris climate change agreement, he referred to how China and India were less limited by it than the U.S. Our president conveniently seemed to forget that …
Climate activists & Peninsula officials react to Trump’s pullout from Paris
This Peninsula Daily News story in the wake of Donald Trump's announced withdrawal from the Paris climate accord includes reactions from OCA members, the Local 20/20 sustainability group in Port Townsend, and officials from Clallam County and the Jamestown S'Klallam, Quileute, and Quinault Tribes: https://www.peninsuladailynews.com/news/peninsula-reacts-to-trumps-decision-to-pull-u-s-from-paris-climate-accord/
Pushback from cities, CEOs
187 leaders of cities around the country representing more than 50 million Americans have signed a pledge to stand by the Paris Accord Major company CEOs voice criticism of DT action
Squeezing money out of poison
A short while ago, unpopular President Trump stood in the White House’s Rose Garden and addressed a group of very old wealthy white men. He told them that they would be able to squeeze a little more money out of poisoning the earth and, fingers crossed, would all die before the earth burned up. --Walter …
It’s only fake weather…
Legislators: Put a price on carbon now
By unanimous agreement at our meeting of 5/7/2017, we have sent this letter to our state legislators: Senator Kevin Van de Wege Representative Steve Tharinger Representative Mike Chapman Washington State Legislature Dear State Legislative representatives from District 24: Olympic Climate Action maintains a membership of more than 600 members from the Olympic Peninsula through email …
Climate change is a justice issue
Heat waves that have office workers reaching for the air conditioning will have farm workers facing heat stroke. Rising food prices that hit the rich in the wallet will hit the poor in the stomach. And storms that rattle windows in affluent homes will sweep away poor homes entirely. --environmental economist Jonah Busch
Trust me! I’m from Exxon!
It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it. Upton Sinclair, 1878-1968 (cartoon by Port Angeles artist Jim Fetter)
Oppose a “Climate-Denial Cabinet”
Peninsula Daily News story here This issue was discussed at the Clallam County Commissioners' work session on Jan. 17. One Commissioner, Mark Ozias, pledged to take action on behalf of our community, and deserves our thanks. At our monthly meeting on 1/8/2017, OCA unanimously directed our Executive Committee to write this letter to Washington's Senators, urging them …
Hitchhiker’s Guide to Climate Change
An artistic tour-de-force by local family physician Ned Hammar (notes here):
Vote! Our future depends on it!
Paul Krugman makes clear how crucial this election is to the fate of our climate. He's talking at the national level, but that's true at all levels. OCA endorses these state initiatives: I-732 would put a tax on carbon that would be balanced by reductions in other state taxes plus a Working Families Tax Rebate. I-735 …
Stand up and be counted! Vote!
OCA endorses these state initiatives: I-732--a revenue-neutral carbon tax I-735--calling for a constitutional amendment to enable better regulation of campaign finance
“Occupy” endorses I-732
Occupy.com has posted a story about “6 ballot initiatives to watch in 2016.” Author Matt Stannard calls I-732 “absolutely the most important initiative in the country.” From the story: “At the top of the list is the first and only carbon tax and rebate initiative in the United States, an idea championed by a variety of …
I-732 will benefit Clallam County $$$
In a presentation to the Dungeness River Management Team, CarbonWA executive board member Mike Massa made the case for the I-732 revenue-neutral carbon tax and refuted the statements that the Clallam County PUD had made opposing the initiative at a previous DRMT meeting. Here are his slides in Powerpoint and PDF format. Note the projected economic impacts: …
PUD Commissioners: fulfill your mission and support I-732
"We are disappointed that the Clallam County PUD Board of Commissioners voted against supporting Initiative 732, a measure designed to accelerate the switch to affordable clean energy." In a guest opinion piece in the Sequim Gazette, OCA members collaborated on a response and appeal to the Clallam County Public Utility District Commissioners to rescind their …
Continue reading "PUD Commissioners: fulfill your mission and support I-732"
OCA responds to PUD misstatements about I-732
On May 9, members of OCA presented this statement to Clallam County PUD commissioners regarding their ill-considered opposition to I-732, the state carbon-tax initiative that will be on the ballot in November. In spite of substantive refutations from OCA, OCA members, and a representative from the I-732 campaign, pointing out that I-732 will have very little economic …
Continue reading "OCA responds to PUD misstatements about I-732"
OCA comments on Port Angeles Comprehensive Plan
Urges consideration of climate change in guiding the City's future OCA delivered these comments to the Port Angeles Planning Commission, which is charged with taking public input and drafting a periodic required update of the Port Angeles Comprehensive Plan. This plan guides decision-making of the City as it strives to meet its mission to enhance the quality …
Continue reading "OCA comments on Port Angeles Comprehensive Plan"
OCA Reacts to COP21
At the end of the Paris Conference of Parties meeting #21 on Dec. 12, spontaneous celebrations around the globe marked the mood of relief that political leaders from 187 countries had just agreed to acknowledge responsibility for turning the climate change ship around. The significance of this agreement at the two-week COP21 climate summit in …
Legislators: Continue the WA solarization program
Dear Senator Hargrove and Representatives Van de Wege and Tharinger: We represent some 500 residents of the Olympic Peninsula, concerned about the impacts of climate change which are already affecting us all, and hoping to reduce our collective carbon footprint as much and as quickly as possible, as well as preparing for the impacts we …
Continue reading "Legislators: Continue the WA solarization program"
Why we need a carbon tax now
OCA is affiliated with the Citizens' Climate Lobby, a national organization lobbying for national carbon fee-and-dividend legislation. Here is an editorial from the Wenatchee World written by two fellow CCL members: Carbon tax commentary. OCA is communicating with U.S. Representative Derek Kilmer to urge him to co-sponsor carbon-tax legislation. We urge letters to Rep. Kilmer …
Climate adaptation grant announced in PT Leader
This commentary piece in the Port Townsend Leader describes the grant on which OCA is collaborating with the North Olympic Peninsula Resource Conservation & Development Council, to study the probable impacts of climate change on the North Olympic Peninsula and work with local governments to develop strategies to take those impacts into account.
“If we’re wrong…”
"The worst that can happen to everybody in the world if I'm wrong and Al Gore is wrong and scientists are wrong and the U.N. is wrong ... is that we make a decision to have cleaner air, better health, more jobs and new energy independence. That's what happens. But if the guys who say …
Why we must reject Keystone XL
Comments sent to the State Department by Seattle Climate Reality leader Ken Lans.
The moral challenge of our time
In this reply to a Cal Thomas column ["Ice breaking climate change fears", 2013-09-19], we challenge this so-called "man of values" with a very simple value: If you make a mess, clean it up. There is little doubt about the mess: climate scientists have never been in greater agreement (98%) that human-caused greenhouse gases are the …
Rhetoric does not trump science
Cal Thomas is entitled to his own opinions, but not his own facts, to paraphrase wise words attributed to the late Senator Daniel Moynihan. In Thomas's commentary, "Ice breaking climate change fears" (published in the Peninsula Daily News on 19 September 2013), by egregiously cherry-picking data and misrepresenting facts and/or, perhaps, simple ignorance, he represents a philosophy …
Haiyan – let’s not beat around the bush
When do you say, "It’s Time to Start Talking About Climate Change?"
Olympic Climate Action 