2020 Action

April 2025: What is Your Role in Preventing Climate Change?

BACKGROUND: We all know about the consequences of burning gas and oil to drive our vehicles and to heat and cool our homes: wildfires, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts, and increasingly deadly heat waves. Are we, our children, and grandchildren doomed to live in a world with increasing disasters? NOT IF EACH OF US—ALONG WITH OUR FRIENDS, FAMILY AND PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD—ACT TO CHANGE OUR PIECE OF WHAT IS INVOLVED.

Currently, the worldwide average of Greenhouse Gas (GHG)* emissions is 4.6 tons per person per year. The Paris Agreement of 2015 agreed on a goal of 2.3 tons per person per year. The emissions of governments, militaries, and corporations make up about one half of the total, leaving the other half, roughly 1.2 tons for each of us residents of the planet as our personal "GHG budget". Here are the most effective ways that each of us can reduce our GHG emissions to 1.2 tons per year:

1. Make plans now for when your furnace quits, to replace it with an electric heat pump system powered by renewable energy. This is the most important thing you can do.
2. In the U.S., the yearly average GHG emissions per gas-fed car is 5 tons. When possible, replace your gas-powered car with an electric vehicle fed from a fossil-free source.
3. Beef is surprisingly ‘GHG-expensive’: eating half-a-pound of beef a week causes almost 1 ton of GHG emissions/year—almost all your total yearly budget! Eat less, or no beef at all.
4. Flying is especially ‘GHG-expensive’. A single flight from NYC to LA and back can cost you between 0.6 and 1.2 tons of GHG, depending on class, wind, stopovers, and fullness of the cabin. One round-trip can cost you your entire GHG budget for the year.

ACTION:  Discuss the facts above with your family, friends and community. Make a plan and begin to do everything you can to reduce your personal GHG emissions.

*GHG emissions include carbon dioxide, methane and other global warming gases.

Please use the info in this Action Alert to write a letter-to-the-editor of your local paper.

February 2025: No Immunity for Corporate PFAS Polluters

BACKGROUND: Huge stretches of America’s farmland have been contaminated by fertilizer tainted by PFAS — a class of “forever chemicals” linked to cardiovascular, immunological, developmental and reproductive disorders. They may cause growth and behavioral problems in children and kidney and testicular cancer in adults. Affected farms face enormous and debilitating remediation costs or the harsh reality that their land will be unusable for food agriculture . . . . FOREVER. The EPA has taken steps to regulate PFAS chemicals and is reported to be on the verge of phasing it out altogether, as some European countries have.

The corporations responsible for selling these “forever” chemical fertilizers to farmers are now lobbying Congress to grant them immunity from lawsuits that would, if they were found guilty, force them to clean up the fields their chemicals polluted.

ACTION: Write to your U.S. Senators. Tell them not to grant protection from liability to fertilizer companies that sold fertilizer containing polluting PFAS chemicals. This will make it possible for farmers to sue the fertilizer companies that sold them polluting PFAS chemicals and to make the companies assist in remediation of their fields. 

CONTACT: Your Senators

• Web: Find their names and links to their websites at senate.gov, send an email or leave a message via ‘Contact’ on his/her website
• Tel: 202 224-3121 (Capitol switchboard-ask for his/her office & leave a message)
• Mail: Senator (first & last name) S. Senate, Washington, D.C. 20510

Please use the info in this Action Alert to write a letter-to-the-editor of your local paper.

December 2024: Get Your EV & Heat Pump Incentives Before They’re Shut Down

BACKGROUND: Currently, the federal government offers up to $7,500 in rebates in support of Americans buying an electric vehicle. In addition, Massachusetts and many other states offer up to $16,000 to help residents switch from fossil fuel heating systems to much cleaner heat pump systems which provide both cooling and heating. Some of these are known as ‘mini-splits’. Consult Federal and State government websites for rebates in your area. Most of these incentives are funded through the Inflation Reduction Act which incoming Pres. Trump has vowed to shut down. 

Trump also has said he would "slap" 20% tariffs on heat pumps from Japan and South Korea where many heat pumps are manufactured, which can be expected to raise their prices by 20%. 

ACTION: Revoking existing incentives to buy and install heat pumps and to purchase electric vehicles has in the past, required congressional action, which after January 20 could be swift. Tariffs on heat pumps and all other imported items can be imposed quickly by the President. Trump says he will revoke the incentives and impose tariffs by executive action as soon as he takes office. Don't delay to purchase a heat pump system and an electric vehicle! 

Act before the rebates are pulled off the table! 

Use the info in this Action Alert to write a letter-to-the-editor of your local paper.

November 2024: Do You Want Trump Negotiating Nuclear Policy?

BACKGROUND: When Trump was President, he removed the US from the IRAN Deal which has meant that Iran has proceeded with developing their nuclear capacity. When the U.S. and Iran were complying with the Deal, it was estimated that it would take Iran about one year to produce enough fissile material (weapons grade uranium) for a nuclear bomb. Today, Tehran is believed to be not one year but just weeks from being able to produce a bomb. The declining security situation in the Middle East has greatly raised the stakes on Iran’s nuclear capacity.

Also while Trump was President, he removed the US from the INF (Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces) Treaty, an agreement between the US and the former Soviet Union that eliminated an entire category of nuclear weapons. The treaty banned ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500–5,500 kilometers. These missiles are considered destabilizing because they can reach their targets quickly, leaving little time for decision-making. As a result of ending this treaty, Putin now has these nuclear forces to threaten Ukraine and the world. 

If Trump were again President, the terrifying situations in the Middle East and Ukraine would become even more dangerous and deadly. 

ACTION: Turn your worry over the fall elections into action. Go to The Environmental Voter Project, https://www.environmentalvoter.org/  for a list of immediate actions you can take. Also, email, text, call and/or visit your family, friends and contacts in any of the swing states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Encourage them to vote by Nov. 5^th and support candidates that will lessen our reliance on nuclear weapons.

Use the info in this Action Alert to write a letter-to-the-editor of your local paper.

October 2024: Concerned about what a Trump Presidency would mean for the Environment and our struggle against Climate Change?

BACKGROUND: Project 2025 provides a detailed description of what a Trump Presidency would mean for environmental concerns.  Although not yet official policy, Project 2025 was written by high-level Trump team members to guide policy under a Trump Presidency.  The document is crystal clear in its goal of dismantling environmental regulations and prioritizing fossil fuel use.  A Trump Presidency would pursue these goals and aim to:

• Weaken environmental regulations: Project 2025 proposes weakening or repealing regulations that limit air and water pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and endangered species protections.
• Reduce funding for environmental agencies: The project suggests cutting funds for agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
• Increase fossil fuel development: Project 2025 advocates opening up public lands for oil and gas drilling and expediting permits for pipelines.
• Shift us away from a focus on clean energy: The project downplays the importance of renewable energy sources like solar and wind power.

ACTION: If you want to help prevent four years of backsliding on the environment, go to the website of The Environmental Voter Project, a highly effective organization that will give you precise tasks to help identify inactive environmentalists and transform them into consistent voters.  Turn your worry over the fall elections into action.  Do your part to build a powerful environmental movement.

CONTACT:

• Website: The Environmental Voter Project https://www.environmentalvoter.org/
• Email: [email protected]

 Writing a letter-to-the-editor in your local paper will help inform others

August 2024: Planet Earth is Heating Up Faster all the Time

BACKGROUND: It does not just seem to be getting hotter; it actually is. Each of the last 11 months was the hottest month globally for that calendar month. This year is on track to break our US and global heat records.   

Until now, most wildfires in Western North America are much reduced at night because the temperature decreases while the humidity increases, thus giving the firefighters a chance to rest. But now, the number of high-intensity fires where that cool-off does not occur, has gone from 6 in 2003 to 67 last year. The human heat death toll is staggering. At this year's Hajj in Mecca, 1,300 people collapsed on the sidewalks and died from the heat.

We need to act now to prevent the looming "hell on earth." Former Pres. Trump has called for "Drill, baby, drill." This will increase our burning of fossil fuels, escalate greenhouse gases, and speed-up the global ‘heat-up’. With the enthusiastic support of VP Kamala Harris, Pres. Biden signed a bill with an estimated $450 billion over 10 years to allow the US to shift from fossil fuels to wind and solar energy. Make your choice as to what seems best to you, then get involved in educating and engaging others to vote.

ACTION: Contact The Environmental Voter Project and join their effort to tell people about the global heat threat, and the critical need to vote in November to stabilize our still livable Earth.

CONTACT: The Environmental Voter Project

• Web:  https://www.environmentalvoter.org/
• Email: [email protected]
• Address: Environmental Voter Project, PO Box 962002, Boston, MA 02196

Please write a letter-to-the-editor on this important issue.
It is a good way to educate others and build support for needed policies.

June 2024: The Threat Posed by Nuclear Weapons is Expanding. What can we do to Counteract it?

BACKGROUND: The world is slipping deeper into the nuclear weapons death spiral. Must we wait for nuclear catastrophe before we decide that nuclear weapons are the ultimate threat to human life? The spread of these weapons, and their modernization, is only making things worse. 

Two House bills H. Res. 77 and H. R. 3472 address these mortal dangers. The first, H.R. 77, opposes the vast costs of modernization planned for the whole U.S. nuclear arsenal. The second, H.R. 3472, calls for the reduction of some programs that were pushed by Pres. Trump but found to be unnecessary by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO). We have enough nuclear weapons subs, and enough plutonium pits (triggering devices for H-bombs) for the next 60 years.

ACTION: Urge your representative to co-sponsor H. Res. 77 and H. R. 3472. Now, 54 years after the U.S. committed to work to eliminate nuclear weapons, are we not finally obligated to take these steps?  It's time to climb back out of the nuclear death spiral of human extinction and make life safer for our kids and grandkids.

CONTACT: Your Representative in Congress

• Web: Find their names and links to their websites at house.gov; send an email or leave a message via ‘Contact’ on his/her website
• Tel: 202 224-3121 (Capitol switchboard-ask for his/her office & leave a message)
• Mail: Representative (first & last name)
  S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515

Please write a letter-to-the-editor on this important issue.
It is a good way to educate others and build support for needed policies.

May 2024: Ban Bee-killing Chemicals

BACKGROUND: The EPA is currently undertaking a major policy review concerning regulation of harmful chemicals, including two chemicals that threaten bee populations.  Bees are essential pollinators that play a vital role in most of our food supply and the health of the environment, yet many species of bees are headed for extinction. There is a vast body of research showing that neonicotinoids can cause irreparable harm to bee populations even at low levels of exposure, including brain damage, paralysis, and death.  Chlorpyrifos, a second chemical linked to pollinator harm, is acutely toxic to bees, and to humans as well.  Exposure to chlorpyrifos is linked to increased risk of a range of serious health problems in humans, including autism spectrum disorder, attention disorders, and reduced IQ and working memory in children. Both chlorpyrifos and nicotinoids have been banned or restricted in the European Union, Canada and in several US states.  Unfortunately, a recent EPA ban on chlorpyrifos was overturned in the courts but can be reinstated with more EPA attention to detail.

ACTION: Bees cannot wait. Their survival, and the future of our food supply, depend on us acting now to get neonicotinoids and chlorpyrifos out of the environment.  There are effective alternatives for pest management that are less toxic for bees, farmworkers, children, and rural communities. Contact EPA Administrator Michael Regan and urge the EPA to ban the use of neonicotinoid pesticides and take the necessary action to reinstate the EPA ban on chlorpyrifos.

CONTACT:

• Email: [email protected]
• Mail:   Michael Regan, Administrator, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20460

Please write a letter-to-the-editor on this important issue.
It is a good way to educate others and build support for needed policies.

February 2024: Tell the President & DOE “No on Liquid Natural Gas Terminal in Louisiana”

BACKGROUND: True: Natural gas is the cleanest burning fossil fuel. However, if you add the climate damage done by the leakage of methane, especially at the gas wellheads, natural gas is even worse than coal. 

A 12/29/2023 NYT graph shows the global temperature is not only rising, but at an ever-faster rate. Nearly a quarter of humanity is now living in drought conditions, making even subsistence farming untenable. Rather than waiting for slow starvation, many people turn to migration, creating political instability in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Europe, the US, and many other places. 

Despite this, the Dept. of Energy (DOE) will soon decide if it would be "in the public interest" to allow the construction of CP2, a $10 billion Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) export terminal in Louisiana's coastal marshes. There are 16 other US locations also being considered as LNG export terminals. The President just announced that he has delayed the decision re the LNG terminals. We need to tell the President & Secretary of the DOE that exporting LNG is ’NOT in the public interest.'

ACTION: Tell Pres. Biden and the Secretary of DOE that CP2, the proposed LNG terminal for Louisiana, and all other proposed LNG terminals, are not in the public interest. Exporting more LNG would lower the price of natural gas abroad and cause higher fuel use and higher temperatures worldwide. This will lead to more destructive climate-related disasters, higher global food prices, and higher migration causing political instability and increased conflict.

CONTACT: President Biden

• Web: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/  (leave a message)
• Tel: 1-202-456-1111 (leave a message)
• Mail: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC 20500

CONTACT: Jenifer Granholm, US Secretary of Energy - Email: [email protected]

Please write a letter-to-the-editor on this important issue.
It is a good way to educate others and build support for needed policies.

December 2023: Report on World Climate Change & What You Can Do to Help Stabilize Our Climate

BACKGROUND: In the 2015 Paris Accords the countries of the world committed to cut Greenhouse Gases (GHG) sufficiently to keep the global rise in temperature below 1.5 Celsius or 2.7 Fahrenheit. New research projects that we'll blow right past these levels by 2028.

In the meantime, the U.S., Russia, and Saudi Arabia are each planning to increase their drilling for fossil fuels. Not surprising, in the face of still rising consumer demand for oil and natural gas to power our cars and heat our homes and businesses.

This needs to change. The most effective action each of us can take—bigger than all other actions combined for most households—is to get heat pumps to heat and cool our homes, and to sign up for 100% fossil-free electricity to power them. This is absolutely the most effective thing we each need to do NOW.  It’s time to ask several installers for free bids on how your home would be best heated and cooled by heat pumps. It’s a little more complex than just buying another furnace. When your furnace fails, usually in winter, you want a quick fix, so it helps to have heat pump plans in place. You don't want to panic and buy another fossil fuel burning furnace which will need replacement before 2050 because by then the U. S. plans to be fossil-free. Also, sign up for 100% fossil-free energy now.

ACTION: Call several local heat pump installers to get design plans and cost bids for a heat pump for your home. There will be a lot of factors to consider. Also, call your electricity provider and ask how you can get 100% fossil-free energy. Please tell your family, friends, and neighbors about this.

CONTACT: Your local heat pump providers & installers, and your electricity provider.

Please write a letter-to-the-editor on this important issue.
It is a good way to educate others and build support for needed policies.