Many thanks to CRP for organizing this excellent list of actions we can all take. This is their news letter and says a lot about the group and how they operate.
Scroll down to TAKE ACTION for the list of four easy actions you can do – one or all. It is all there for your activism pleasure.
You get extra credit for tweets.
Do what you can, but do something!
Marilyn
Call-To-Action November 21st, 2021
NY Climate Reality Chapters Coalition
One quick announcement before we jump in: On Sunday, November 28th we will conduct another tweetstorm – this time aimed at getting the Senate to support Build Back Better. We will, once again, have a zoom party starting at 6 pm (ET), but if you’re new to tweetstorms or to twitter, Maura will meet with folks starting at 5:30 to help you. (Depending on how things advance in Washington, we may schedule another of these in December – We’ll let you know) Zoom link to follow in a few days.
It has been, thanks to you, an absolutely, amazing week! Thanks to your advocacy the Build Back Better Act (which if it passes the Senate will be the largest investment in climate solutions in history) passed in the House of Representatives! (Along with all the letters and phone calls Climate Reality folks in NY met with 25 of the 27 Representatives and with both our Senators – some of them more than once) Also, this week NY governor Kathy Hochul announced the advancement of a program to deploy more than 50,000 EV charging ports (A tenfold increase in what the state currently has in just four years)! And our sister chapter in Memphis scored a big win with an oil pipeline amendment which combined with another law protecting the Memphis aquifer and the Byhalia Pipeline being stopped – all things you worked on – new oil pipelines in Memphis are functionally a thing of the past! (See the thank you note at the end of this letter) You did all that! Your activism matters and it’s making a difference!
Note of thanks from the Memphis Chapter Chairs:
“Thank you so much NY State Coalition for supporting our Memphis chapter and TN Coalition to stand strong with MCAP and our community against the Byhalia Pipeline. We won because of People Power and have since passed 3 new laws to protect our people and our aquifer! Thank you all for rallying with us through emails, phone calls, public comments and social media shares! Thank you for relentlessly advocating for MCAP and our community!”
In gratitude,
Duffy-Marie Arnoult and Vance LaVelle, co-founders/co-chairs of the Memphis & Mid-South Chapter and Allison Stillman, Chair of the Nashville chapterThis week’s Calls-To-Action should take you 9 minutes or less.
Take Action:
Action Number One:
Write your Representatives. The first action we want to take is to write our representatives either thanking them for voting for the Build Back Better Act or expressing our disappointment if they didn’t. The voting broke down on strictly party lines, so:
If your Member of Congress is a democrat, please send them the following message. Simply go to their website, click “contact”, fill out the form and cut and paste the text below. (Don’t know who your representative is? Simply go to: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative ) Remember to fill in the blanks and feel free to customize the text. Cut and paste this:
Dear Representative _____________,
My name is __________. I am a constituent living in _________ and a member of the Climate Reality Project. I am writing to express my deep gratitude for your vote to support the Build Back Better Act. The climate crisis is deeply important to me as a voter and I can’t tell you how much your support for this legislation means to me. Thank you for your service.
Sincerely yours, ____________
If your Member of Congress is a republican, please send them the following message. Simply go to their website, click “contact”, fill out the form and cut and paste the text below. (Don’t know who your representative is? Simply go to: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative ) Remember to fill in the blanks and feel free to customize the text. Cut and paste this:
Dear Representative _____________,
My name is __________. I am a constituent living in _________ and a member of the Climate Reality Project. I am writing to express my deep disappointment in your vote against the Build Back Better Act. The climate crisis is deeply important to me as a voter. 78% of New Yorkers accept the scientific reality of the climate crisis (per the exhaustive Yale Climate Opinion Map). I can’t tell you how saddened I am at your disengagement from an issue that means so much to New Yorkers. I hope you will reconsider your position and support Build Back Better if it is returned to the House. Thank you for your service.
Sincerely yours, ____________
Action Number Two:
Now that Build Back Better has passed the House, it moves to the senate. Let’s reassert our commitment to Schumer and Gillibrand.
1) Please call Senator Schumer at 202-224-6542 and leave the following message:
“Senator Schumer, My name is ____________. I am a constituent living at (State your full address ). I am also a member of the Climate Reality Project. I am calling to urge you to do everything you can to assure passage of Build Back Better. In particular, I am asking you to engage Senators Manchin and Sinema and bring them to the table. We have an historic opportunity to confront the climate crisis. Let’s seize the moment by passing Build Back Better. Thank you for your service.
2) Please call Senator Gillibrand at 202-224-4451 and leave the following message:
“Senator Gillibrand, My name is ____________. I am a constituent living at (State your full address ). I am also a member of the Climate Reality Project. I am calling to urge you to do everything you can to assure passage of Build Back Better. In particular, I am asking you to engage Senators Manchin and Sinema and bring them to the table. We have an historic opportunity to confront the climate crisis. Let’s seize the moment by passing Build Back Better. Thank you for your service.
Action Number Three:
Please Call Governor Hochul and leave her a message. We want to thank the Governor for the advancement of the EV Charging program and ask her to sign a bill into law which would explore new ways to use recycled glass. Call the Governor at 518-474-8390 (Press 3, then 1 to skip the outgoing recorded message and leave a message):
“Hi Governor Hochul. My name is _______________. I’m a constituent living in __________ and a member of the Climate Reality Project. I’m calling today for two reasons. First I want to thank you for the advancement of the program to build out EV charging ports in New York State. That is so vital if we are to achieve our climate goals. The other reason I’m calling is to urge you to sign S4094 into law. This bill would direct the DEC to find alternative uses for recycled glass. Our state has made recycling a top priority, but as buyers have decreased it is imperative that we find uses for this material. Thank you for your service.
Action Number Four:
Lastly, this week, please send a note to your state Senator and Assembly Member asking them to support S6843/A8431 – the “all electric building act”
Please write your State Senator (Don’t know who that is? Simply go to: https://www.nysenate.gov/find-my-senator ) Go to their website, click contact, fill out the form and cut and paste the following message (Please remember to fill in the blanks and feel free to customize):
Dear Senator _____;
My name is ______________. I am a constituent living in ____________ and a member of the Climate Reality Project. I am writing to urge you to cosponsor and/or support S6848, the “all-electric building act”, which would provide than no city, town or village shall issue a permit for new buildings that are not an all-electric building if the permit was submitted after Dec 31, 2023 unless certain circumstances apply. Updating our building stock is vital if New York is to meet our climate goals. (Fossil fuel emissions attributed to residential and commercial buildings accounts for 29% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions). Please support S6848. Thank you for your service.
Please also write your State Assembly member (Don’t know who that is? Simply go to: https://nyassembly.gov/mem/search/ ) Go to their website, click contact, fill out the form and cut and paste the following message (Please remember to fill in the blanks and feel free to customize):
Dear Assembly Member _____;
My name is ______________. I am a constituent living in ____________ and a member of the Climate Reality Project. I am writing to urge you to cosponsor and/or support A8431, the “all-electric building act”, which would provide than no city, town or village shall issue a permit for new buildings that are not an all-electric building if the permit was submitted after Dec 31, 2023 unless certain circumstances apply. Updating our building stock is vital if New York is to meet our climate goals. (Fossil fuel emissions attributed to residential and commercial buildings accounts for 29% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions). Please support A8431. Thank you for your service.
For extra credit, if you’re on Twitter, please send out some or all of the following tweets:
.@RepYvetteClarke .@RepJeffries .@NydiaVelazquez .@RepGraceMeng .@RepGregoryMeeks .@RepKathleenRice .@RepTomSuozzi Thank you for supporting solutions to the #ClimateCrisis in the #BuildBackBetterAct. Thank you for protecting the people of New York.
.@RepJerryNadler .@RepMaloney .@RepEspaillat .@RepAOC .@RepRitchie .@RepBowman .@RepMondaire .@RepSeanMaloney Thank you for supporting solutions to the #ClimateCrisis in the #BuildBackBetterAct. Thank you for protecting the people of New York.
.@repdelgado .@RepPaulTonko .@RepJoeMorelle .@RepBrianHiggins Thank you for supporting solutions to the #ClimateCrisis in the #BuildBackBetterAct. Thank you for protecting the people of New York.
.@RepLeeZeldin 74% of voters in the 1st accept the scientific reality of the climate crisis. Saddened you didn’t support them by voting for #BuildBackBetter.
.@RepJacobs Disappointed you don’t seem to be supporting your constituents. 82% of voters in the 27th want the govt to provide rebates for EV’s and Solar Panels. They want climate solutions. But you voted against #BuildBackBetter Shame on you.
@RepJohnKatko 71% of voters in the 24th accept the scientific reality of the climate crisis. Saddened you didn’t support them by voting for #BuildBackBetter.
.@TomReedNY23 72% of voters in the 23rd accept the scientific reality of the climate crisis. Saddened you didn’t support them by voting for #BuildBackBetter.
.@RepTenney Disappointed you don’t seem to be supporting your constituents. 83% of voters in the 22nd want the govt to provide rebates for EV’s and Solar Panels. They want climate solutions. But you voted against #BuildBackBetter Shame on you.
.@RepStefanik 72% of voters in the 21st accept the scientific reality of the climate crisis. Saddened you didn’t support them by voting for #BuildBackBetter. Who do you represent?
.@RepMalliotakis 76% of voters in the 11th accept the scientific reality of the climate crisis & 72% are actively worried about it. Saddened you didn’t support them by voting for #BuildBackBetter. Who do you represent?
@RepGarbarino 74% of voters in the 2nd accept the scientific reality of the climate crisis & 67% are actively worried about it. Saddened you didn’t support them by voting for #BuildBackBetter. Who do you represent?
.@SenGillibrand Please support the climate provisions in the #BuildBackBetterAct & actively work to bring Senators Manchin and Sinema to the Table. Let’s not let this once in a lifetime opportunity to address the #ClimateCrisis slip through our fingers. #ActOnClimate
.@SenSchumer Please support the climate provisions in the #BuildBackBetterAct & actively work to bring Senators Manchin and Sinema to the Table. Let’s not let this once in a lifetime opportunity to address the #ClimateCrisis slip through our fingers. #ActOnClimate
.@GovKathyHochul Thank you for advancing the program to build out EV charging ports in NY State! This is such a vital component to our climate goals and will help ensure our competitive economic edge.
.@GovKathyHochul Please sign S4094 into law. @JSandersNYC & @SteveEngles have crafted an important bill to find new uses for recycled glass. This is deeply important if recycling is to be a viable process.
If you’re a trained Climate Reality Leader, don’t forget to log your Acts of Leadership on the Reality Hub. Logging helps ensure funding by proving to CR’s funders the viability of the organization. So lets keep Climate Reality strong by taking a moment to log our actions!
For a deeper Dive:
https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2021/s4094
https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2021/a8431
https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2021/s6843/amendment/a
Thank you for everything you do. Together we are making a difference!
Best, Lynn, Maura, and Tim
