Page 18 - Sonoma County Gazette October 2018

© Tish Levee, 2018
On the 8th, “Rise for Climate, Justice, and Jobs,” drew over 30,000 people
to the streets of San Francisco, joining thousands of others at 900 events in 90 countries. All this was designed to say it’s time for a Fossil Free World with Renewable Energy for All, a message for leaders from all over the world, who gathered September 12-14 at the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco, to celebrate the climate action achievements of states, regions, cities, companies, investors, and citizens.
September was a big month for the planet.
I was unable to attend the march or the summit, because I was recovering from surgery. However Will Carruthers covered the summit for the Gazette. Look for his article online on our website.
Other good news on September 8th.
• On the 8th, the Ocean Cleanup, tackling an area of mostly plastic trash twice the size of Texas that floats 1200 miles off the California coast, launched
from San Francisco Bay. The Ocean Cleanup aims to cut the the Great Pacific Garbage Patch by 90% by 2040. (I wrote more about this in my May and June columns.)
• Gov. Brown signed two bills to block new offshore oil drilling in California by barring constructing pipelines, piers, wharves, or other infrastructure needed to transport oil and gas from federal waters to state land.
More power to California for showing the way.
On the 10th, the governor signed SB 100 for California to transition to fossil- fuel-free electricity. Requiring 60 % renewable energy by 2030 and 100% carbon- free energy by 2045, SB 100 makes California the largest jurisdiction to legally commit to clean energy.
The same day he signed an executive order to completely eliminate emissions in all sectors of the economy by 2045, making the state carbon neutral. Having achieved zero emissions by 2045, the state will then go negative, pulling more greenhouse gases from the atmosphere than it puts in. As California is the fifth largest economy in the world, we can provide the world—which must become carbon neutral by 2060 to 2070—a road map to follow.
During the Global Climate Action Summit, which he convened, Brown also took on the federal government’s lack of action on climate change, including its cutting funds for NASA’s climate research, declaring, “We’ll launch our own damn satellite” to track greenhouse gases.
San Jose Energy is the largest Community Choice provider in the US.
On September 12th, as part of the Global Climate Action Summit, San
Jose Energy held a ribbon cutting event to launch service to over one million municipal customers. Woody Hastings and Barry Vesser from Santa Rosa’s Center for Climate Protection, which has had much to do with spurring the growth of Community Choice Energy agencies (CCAs), attended. Since Sonoma Clean Power, the second CCA in California, launched in 2014, the Center for Climate Protection has helped launch 20 CCAs.
A controversial proposal from investor-owned utilities, such as PG&E, threatens the growth of CCAs which offer more renewable electricity than investor-owned utilities. The California Public Utilities Commission in on the verge of a decision that could stymie the growth of Community Choice Energy. Please check out the information at tinyurl.com/y85o8vuy and take action to keep Community Choice Energy!
Sonoma Clean Power has an incentive program to make buying or leasing an electric vehicle really affordable (sonomacleanpower.org/programs/ drive-ev). Gov. Brown’s January executive order set a goal of five million EVs by 2030; currently we have less than 400,000, so we have a long way to go! Transportation now accounts for 41% of our greenhouse gas emissions; 16% are from electricity as we’ve been transitioning to clean energy for some time.
VOTE! According to the Environmental Voter Project, 15.78 million environmentalists did NOT vote in 2014; it’s estimated over 10 million did NOT vote in 2016. If you care about the planet, this is ONE thing you can do! Register by October 22, if you aren’t already registered, and VOTE. (While you’re at it, help Sonoma County Parks by voting YES on Measure M.)
But now Community Choice Energy is threatened.
18 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 10/18
It’s a great time to buy or lease an electric vehicle!