Climate Reality King County - August 2023 Newsletter

It’s admittedly been a tough week with the initial and evolving news about the massive fire and loss of lives in Maui. Providing here the same link for donations provided in the recent Climate Reality Chapters email.

Last weekend was the Othello Park International Festival in Rainer Valley where we partnered with Sierra Club to showcase the “Tiny Tiny House” with it’s little solar panels and other display features which helped facilitate discussion around all the current and upcoming rebates as part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Think EV rebates, Heat Pumps (heat & AC), and Induction Stoves + more. It was a fun, engaging & hot(!) event. Feel free to reach out to [email protected] if you’re interested in tabling at future events. I’ve found the tabling to be a great way to help folks talk through their plan to electrify their households. It’s typically a multi-year process, but significant steps can often be taken immediately to move the process along. #RewiringAmerica is the group that has amazing info on the IRA if you want to learn more by clicking here, and check out the IRA Savings Calculator!

If you missed the launch webinar with former US Vice President Al Gore and Climate Reality President and CEO Phyllis Cuttino or want to see it again, you can watch the recording here, OR check out an extraordinary recent TED talk where Al Gore passionately takes on COP28 corruption & Greenwashing with his humor on full display! “Do you take us for fools?!” LOL!

So, what’s this launch about?  Well, besides the shift to become a more diverse & global organization in terms of reach of trainings around the world (doubling trained leaders to 100,000), this launch is the plan and vision for how we will pull on the levers of power in four key areas that can unlock the transformational changes we need this decade to reach true net-zero by 2050.

1 Reducing Emissions Urge G20 nations to enhance ambitious targets, target heavy emitters using Climate TRACE, and drive implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act in the US.

2 Financing a Just Transition We need to scale down the anti-climate finance, and scale up finance for climate solutions. Continued reform needed at the World Bank to assist southern hemisphere counties and promote real international cooperation to keep the Paris Agreement strong. Advocate for green bank at state level and protect the IRA at the federal level.

3 Calling out Greenwashing - Expose and hold fossil fuel companies accountable for misinformation, and advocate for end of fossil fuel subsidies. There will be a marketing campaign to highlight and expose misinformation and mischaracteration. If you find Greenwashing, please share it!!

4 Strengthening International Cooperation Build political will to hold governments accountable.  Call out the issues with COP28 which been “brazenly seized” by fossil fuel delegates to the point of vetoing any mention of “phasing down fossil fuels” and COP28 is set to be led by the head of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. This is a blatant conflict of interest, and we need to join members of Congress and the European Parliament calling on Sultan Al Jaber to resign as COP president, as well as demand a conflict of interest policy. “Gotta keep 1.5 alive!”

SAVE THE DATE: September 11th 7:00 PM: Climate Reality King County is hosting a ZOOM event to learn about Citizens Climate Lobby (CCL): An overview of fee & dividend and more about the bipartisan PROVE IT Act which has been introduced in the Senate and will soon be introduced in the House. The PROVE IT Act measures the carbon emissions of certain goods in the U.S. and other nations, which can lay the foundation for a carbon border tariff (CBAM) in the U.S.. We’ll also have a look at the EN-ROADS Climate Solutions Simulator which allow you to adjust different levers of climate action to see the effects on future global temperatures. Meeting ZOOM LINK Meeting ID: 928 2737 0043 & Passcode: 110567

A few more comments….

• More to come on advocacy around working towards Community Solar in WA (think renters!), and expanding Net Metering, which is critical to continue expanding Solar in WA.

• Did you know that Climate Reality King County has a KIVA Microloan group, with over $30,000 in team loans already made?! Click here to join the team and make “Eco-friendly” loans (e.g. Solar).

• Speaking of Greenwashing! Gas utilities like NW Natural and Puget Sound Energy (PSE) are spreading misleading information about their products and services to consumers in Washington. Specifically, both utilities have been providing misinformation regarding the availability of renewable natural gas and the health impacts of burning gas in homes. If you’ve seen these ads, and would like to learn more about how to submit a complaint,  Check out this toolkit provided by Sierra Club

• Newsletter Contact: Michael Truog (Chair), [email protected]