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Things YOU Can Do To Help Save the Planet

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1) Eat less meat.  You’ll have 70% less environmental impact than if you eat a high-meat diet.  Better yet, become a vegan: “Scientists confirm vegan diet is massively better for the planet!!!”    https://www.sciencealert.com/oxford-scientists-confirm-vegan-diet-is-massively-better-for-planet  

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2)  Move your money.  Wall Street banks are hugely funding fossil fuel projects.  Switch your mortgage and banking to a credit union or a local community bank (SC County Bank, for example).  Let your bank know why you’re moving.  Tell your friends.  Bay Federal makes it easy for you to switch; or ask our Tikkun Olam committee for more information; or participate in our fall Dayenu webinar (details to come) on exactly how to do that!  See this: Steps to divest and reinvest:  https://www.greenamerica.org/fight-dirty-energy-grow-clean-energy/divest-reinvest/steps-divest-reinvest

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3)  Switch your investments to companies or mutual funds that don’t invest in fossil fuels (or armaments, or nuclear, or bad labor practices – whatever filters you want to use). See these lists: https://www.fossilfreefunds.org and https://www.asyousow.org/invest-your-values.

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4)  Help influence environmental advocates. The Sierra Club will send your letters directly to your senators and representative.  Donate a small amount to the Sierra Club and get their quarterly magazine which has scads of suggestions for environmental protectors, projects and candidates to support. Go to: https://www/sierraclub.org  ‘explore issues’, ‘take action’.  Join the Ventana Chapter of the Sierra Club.  Join Bill McKibben at thirdactsfbayarea@gmail.com.

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5)  Tell President Biden and EPA Administrator Regan: We need the strongest climate pollution standards possible.  Urge them to finalize their proposed new federal limits on climate pollution from power plants. Please personalize your message to have the greatest impact. https://act.sierraclub.org/actions/National?actionId=AR0390419&id=7010Z0000027A9WQAU 
 

6)  Support the Farm Bill:   Tell Congress: We need a 2023 Farm Bill that's good for the land, the climate, and communities! The Sierra Club is calling on Congress to prioritize the climate, the land, and communities in this year's Farm Bill, particularly:  1) Defend billions of dollars in the Inflation Reduction Act to combat climate change through agriculture. 2) Promote organic and regenerative farming that reduces water and air pollution, improves soil health, and lowers greenhouse gas emissions. 3) Support clean energy development with rural electrical cooperatives and innovative, beneficial technologies like agrivoltaics (the use of land for both solar and agriculture). Address environmental injustice and negative health impacts from forever chemicals like PFAS and air pollution from pre-harvest sugar cane burning. https://act.sierraclub.org/actions/National?actionId=AR0389518&id=7010Z0000027A9WQAU 

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7.  From the Houston Ship Channel to the Mississippi delta to the Navajo reservation to the foothills of Appalachia, grave environmental injustices call upon stronger Federal legislation. The Environmental Justice for All Act, now in the House and Senate, is the type of bold legislation we need to right the wrongs of environmental racism. Let your Congresspeople know!

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8.  Save Energy, Save Money, and Save the Planet:  Use Interfaith Power & Light’s Cool Congregations carbon footprint calculator. Measure your household carbon footprint and get ideas for steps you can take to reduce it: https://interfaithpowerandlight.org/coolcongregations/calculators/household-calculator/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=2b0c642e-b916-4970-9310-bd9ea463935c

Check out federal incentives available for your chosen actions on the government: https://www.energy.gov/save?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=2b0c642e-b916-4970-9310-bd9ea463935c Find incentives for home improvements, appliances, and electric vehicles. There are tax credits for those with a tax liability and upfront discounts for those whose income precludes taxes. Every fraction of a degree of heat we can prevent makes a difference.

9.  If you live in Santa Cruz City, tell the City Council you support the draft divestment resolution for Santa Cruz City Council.  Developed by TBE’s Dayenu Circle, we’ve put it on the CY website.  You could meet with Mayor Keeley or any of the councilmembers to discuss it - or with any members of the City’s climate task force. You could send a copy to your union, or one in which you have member-friends, letting them know the City Council has not yet voted on the resolution and that it is just a draft. See the draft resolution on the CY website.

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10. Email your Assemblymember and ask for their YES vote on SB 252, to divest California's public pensions from fossil fuel investments. Go to https://fossilfreeca.org/ for an easy way to email them.  So many of us have been teachers or government workers. Pressure your union – STRS and PERS – to divest now, by sending the report summary to the officers and union reps: ”New report shows US pensions are losing billions staying invested in fossil fuels”. Almost every elite university — the UC system, Harvard, Princeton, Oxford, Cambridge — as well as huge public pension funds in New York state, Quebec and the Netherlands have divested. Advocates for full or partial divestment have included Barack Obama, Pope Francis and Queen Elizabeth II. https://uwaterloo.ca/school-environment-enterprise-development/sites/default/files/uploads/documents/the-impact-of-energy-investments-on-the-financial-value-and-the-carbon-footprint-of-pension-funds_pdf_final-version.pdf

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11.  Contact your Congresspeople.  Call Chris Holden, Chair of Appropriations CA at (916) 319-2041 and tell him you support SB 253 and SB 261, as National Dayenu does:

Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (SB 253) Want large corporations to disclose their carbon emissions?  This bill empowers consumers, spotlights sustainable companies.  

Climate-Related Financial Risk Act (SB 261) Make California's 10,000 largest companies assess their financial risks related to climate change, and disclose how they're mitigating those risks.

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Please act ASAP – these bills are expected to be up for committee approval any day this month. You can email any Assemblymember using this format:  assemblymember.lastname@assembly.ca.gov.

 

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