A Climate Emergency Resolution for the City of Santa Rosa

[Pete Gang]

Dear climate folks,

This is a call to action! On Tuesday January 14th, 2020 the Santa Rosa City Council will try to pass a Climate Emergency Resolution (CER). We have confirmed that Staff will be recommending that Council pass the Regional Climate Protection Authority’s (RCPA’s) suggested CER.

But here’s the thing: the RCPA's CER would only obligate the City to assist RCPA in creating a new climate action plan (called "2030 Climate Emergency Mobilization Strategy”). The need for a slow, methodical, multi-stakeholder approach is beyond dispute, but we are facing a climate emergency and the City needs to address the climate emergency as if it were an emergency!

In September and again in November, our local group submitted to the Mayor and City Councl a CER and a List of Actions that is comprehensive and bold. Building on Santa Rosa’s 2012 Climate Action Plan, our Climate Emergency Resolution calls for immediate, “no-regrets” actions in addition to supporting the RCPA in their efforts. 

And it satisfies the ‘asks’ listed in the change.org petition that today has 3,134 signatures (plus over 300 paper signatures).

Attached is a document highlighting the differences between the RCPA’s CER and the one that the community submitted. 

If they don’t hear from us, the Mayor and councilmembers are likely to pass the RCPA’s Climate Emergency Resolution.

Please send a short email to the Mayor, Vice Mayor, Councilmembers, City Clerk, and City Manager [cut and paste all the addresses below] asking them to step up their ambitions and pass a meaningful Climate Emergency Resolution!

tschw...@srcity.org, cro...@srcity.org, jsa...@srcity.org, eoli...@srcity.org, vfle...@srcity.org, hjtib...@srcity.org, City...@srcity.org, CMOf...@srcity.org

Speak in your own words. Short and sweet is perfect. Here are some talking points to get you started:

 

• Over 1,250 national and sub-national governments have declared a climate emergency (http://bit.ly/ce-governments)
• There is no remaining “carbon budget” that we can safely burn.
• Reducing our current emissions doesn’t solve the problem. It just slows down the rate at which we’re making the problem worse.
• We have to put ourselves on a steep path to zero emissions by 2040 at the latest. That’s 7% to 10% per year starting now!
• Just because there are many causes of the climate crisis that are beyond our control, we are still obligated to do everything that is within our control to address the climate crisis.
• We need to set a clear goal of zero emissions and annually track our progress toward that goal.
• Implementing climate actions moves us closer to a clean, equitable, resilient, people-friendly future.
• Many of the “no-regrets” actions that we can implement immediately save money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the same time!

And a few quotes:

• “The last time the Earth sustained CO2 levels near the 400 ppm range, a few million years ago, the Arctic was 14^oF warmer, and the West Antarctica Ice Sheet did not exist…. Sea levels were about 80 feet higher [than present levels].” --- “7 Reasons to be Alarmed by Record-Setting Levels of CO2,” by Dr. Joe Romm June 6, 2017
• “We are still not doing enough, nor moving fast enough, to prevent irreversible and catastrophic climate disruption.” --  UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, December 3, 2018
• “We are the first generation to see the effects of climate change and the last generation who can do anything about it.” — Mike McGinn, former mayor of Seattle.
• “One understands that politicians prize incremental action—but in this case, winning slowly is the same as losing. The planet is clearly outside its comfort zone; how do we get our political institutions out of theirs?” -- Bill McKibben, in a November 30, 2016 article in The Nation titled, “How the Active Many Can Overcome the Ruthless Few.

Together we can do this!

Thanks,

Pete