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Climate Strike -- How To Take Action (week 65) [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-08-29  

You can make a difference to the hurt being caused by climate chaos and the great extinction event, in your town or your city! How? Reuse, repurpose, and recycle this information.

This is the letter for week 65 of a weekly climate strike that went on for 4 years in front of San Francisco City Hall, beginning early March 2019. For more context, see this story. For an annotated table of contents to see topics for all the strike letters, see this story. Meanwhile…

STRIKE FOR THE PLANET

Because one type of tragedy is when action comes too late.

The week’s topic: Why aren’t you acting to save San Francisco?

The human-caused environmental disasters destroying the ability of this planet to support life are getting worse. While you’ve taken some recent action in SF to mitigate some of these issues, most of your recent acts have made and will make the situation much worse. You have plenty of information on what needs to be done, when, and on whom to contact for assistance and where to look for models or examples (physical, legislative, legal, and financial). So what do you need to do to finally start working for San Francisco and try to save her citizens?

Let’s look at the points listed above in a little more detail.

1. The environmental disasters still exist and are getting much worse.

This is just news from last week:

A heat dome forming over much of the continental U.S., combined with Covid-19 lockdowns and unemployment (so no money for air conditioning), is going to kill. 1

CA faces massive increases in flooding from extreme storms caused by climate change driven atmospheric rivers. 2

Natural gas flaring increases premature births by 50%, especially among Latinx families. 3

BPA is more dangerous and pervasive than we thought and the FDA doesn’t care. 4

We’re at a new record low for Arctic sea ice, devastating ecosystems and the climate. 5

The Amazon is being murdered. 6

The permafrost is burning. 7

Polar bears and right whales will soon be extinct. 8, 9

And methane emissions are at the highest levels ever.10

So, clearly the situation isn’t getting better and action is required.

2. While some of your recent environmental actions have helped a bit…

Slow Streets and street closures (such as the Upper Great Highway and JFK Dr in Golden Gate Park) and continuing bike and pedestrian fixes (such as on Fell, Fulton, and Jones) take some cars off the road and reduce some air pollution. (Unfortunately, the majority of these actions are “temporary” measures.11, 12, 13)

… most have made the situation worse.

From stopping work on bioswales to the disastrous and anti-scientific plastics ban14, from the Noe Valley deforestation and replanting with non-natives15 to killing CalTrain16, your actions have produced huge amounts of pollution and will continue to do so for a long time to come.17

3. You have plenty of information needed to start acting.

You know the basics on what needs to be done, the timelines, who to contact for assistance, the legal issues, and the financial issues because all these have been covered in Strike Letters. See Weeks 21, 27, 28, 29, 31, 34, and the end of every letter since week 44 for what to do; Weeks 18, 30, 53, and 54 for some of the timelines; Weeks 20, 28, and 52 are a good example of the resources, contacts, and legal issues for one topic (blackwater recycling); and Weeks 10, 13, 17, 19, 42, 48, 51, and 55 cover many of the financial issues. It’s all there, all the basic information you need to get started. If you need more, ask and I’ll do the work to get it for you. The information isn’t the problem.

4. You need to start acting to protect SF. How?

There are a few possibilities here, and a large number of solutions. First, let’s look at some possibilities for why you don’t act.

1. You don’t act because acting would mean you know the science is true, and that’s terrifying. It’s so much easier to pretend that if you just keep on keeping on it’ll all work out inside some kind of “normal” parameters.

2. Or you say you would like to act but there’s no way we can afford to act now and, besides, there are more pressing short-term issues that have to be taken care of first before you can act on the big stuff.

So how can we solve those problems and get you to work saving us?

You need to deeply understand that the science is real. Visit one place you loved and look at it now in detail to understand what’s changed and what’s gone. Talk to scientists in person (if you can’t find a scientist to talk to, listen to a few of them here at “Climate scientists reveal their fears for the future” at “Striking for Climate: Why did scientists take to the street?” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jly0t5P0CUQ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dmXwpMvmUw and watch “Dear Future Generations: Sorry” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRLJscAlk1M ). Understand, finally, once and for all that normal is what is killing us. Capitalism as practiced currently is colonialism on steroids and it seeks only profit for the select few at the cost of the planet. Understand there are ALWAYS ways to get around not having enough money, including just starting with what you’ve got. Start small, and then keep going, keep acting, and make your action continuous. Small grows to big if you keep working at it. There are always immediate issues that seem like they have to be dealt with now, but they are all LESS IMPORTANT than trying to keep the planet livable. Focus on now and eliminate distractions: what do we have to start now, what do we have to start next month, what do we have to have accomplished by 2025 and what do we do now to get there? There are timelines for this, including timelines for SF to do this. Read them and start acting. Don’t reinvent the wheel — we have SFEnvironment and the Dept of Resilience and Capital Planning — USE THEM! Find the people who are already doing the work in their communities or who have the traditional knowledge of how this land works and deputize them! Co-opt the businesses that are responsive, responsible, and dedicated to life and not money, support them, and then use them to influence others. Be willing to cut our losses, because we’re going to have a lot of them and grief can drag us down to inaction if we let it. Plan and prepare. And in making plans, open up and make everyone — not just the retired, wealthy, educated, entitled, organized micro-communities and robber barons that dominate and buy the discourse currently, not just those with the money to buy access and sway — make everyone have a say and voice in what happens. Enfranchise the most disenfranchised because they have the most to lose and the most to offer in terms of solutions. Organize communities so no one is left out. Don’t do things that increase pollution and environmental injustice; instead, always act in ways that decrease them. That means developing positive goals we all work toward (Vision Zero is a good, limited example). Define SF’s Green New Deal and let’s start lurching in that direction NOW!

You only need 25% of people to change a culture.18 66% of Americans are worried about climate change.19 85% of San Franciscans know that climate change is happening.20 We have the numbers; you have to act.

Need help picking goals? As a reminder, we need:

Countywide blackwater recycling;

An SF native urban forest with green pathways for plants and animals throughout the city;

Immediate all electric and clean energy transportation that is free for those most in need;

A majority of roads permanently closed to car traffic, and a city-wide 20 mph speed limit;

Elimination of all single-use plastics in SF and aggressive movement toward eliminating all plastics that are not reusable, locally recyclable, and biologically safe;

All local, carbon-neutral or carbon-negative energy — eliminating all methane heating and cooking and assisting in transitioning from fireplace-to-electric heating; and

A resilient and self-sufficient SF.

So there’s, at most, 23 weeks left in which to start the necessary big actions if we’re going to survive.21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 In a little over a year, we have lost 10 years in which to act. Because there is NO time left, you must act now.

FOOTNOTES

1. Matt Simon. “How a ‘Heat Dome’ Forms — and Why This One Is So Perilous”. Mother Jones. 20 July 2020. https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2020/07/how-a-heat-dome-forms-and-why-this-one-is-so-perilous/ .

2. Xingying Huang, Daniel L. Swain, and Alex D. Hall. “Future precipitation increase from very high resolution ensemble downscaling of extreme atmospheric river storms in California”. Science Advances Vol 6, No. 29. 15 July 2020. https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/29/eaba1323 .

3. Kristina Marusic. “Babies born near natural gas flaring are 50 percent more likely to be premature: Study”. The Daily Climate. 15 July 2020. https://www.dailyclimate.org/fracking-preterm-births--2646412309.html .

4. Lynne Peeples. “More bad news for BPA: Novel analysis adds to evidence of chemical’s health effects”. Environmental Health News. 16 July 2020. https://www.ehn.org/bpa-effects-on-human-health-2646417888.html .

5. Bob Henson. “Baked by midsummer sun, Arctic sea ice could face worst losses on record”. Yale Climate Connections. 20 July 2020. https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/07/baked-by-midsummer-sun-arctic-sea-ice-could-face-worst-losses-on-record/ .

6. Stephen Gibbs. “Destruction of Amazon forest quickens under Bolsonaro”. The Times. 18 July 2020. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/destruction-of-amazon-forest-quickens-under-bolsonaro-60kj585tw .

7. Chris Brown. “As permafrost thaws under intense heat, Russia’s Siberia burns — again”. CBC News. 12 July 2020. https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/siberia-burning-climate-change-russia-1.5645428 .

8. Doyle Rice. “Climate change may push polar bears to the brink of extinction within 100 years, study says”. USA Today. 21 July 2020. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/07/21/climate-change-polar-bears-extinction-study/5478109002/ .

9. Claudia Geib. “North Atlantic right whales now officially ‘one step from extinction’”. The Guardian. 16 July 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/16/north-atlantic-right-whales-critically-endangered-one-step-from-extinction .

10. Jack Guy. “The world methane emissions are at a record high, and burping cows are driving the rise”. CNN. 15 July 2020. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/15/world/methane-emissions-record-scli-intl-scn/index.html .

11. Michael Barba. “Sunset supervisor wants to keep Great Highway car free during crisis”. The Examiner. 8 April 2020. https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/sunset-supervisor-wants-to-keep-great-highway-car-free-during-crisis/ .

12. Amy Graff. “San Francisco finally closes JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park to traffic”. SFGate. 27 April 2020. https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/San-Francisco-Slow-Streets-JFK-Drive-closed-15229565.php .

13. Teresa Hammerl. “After weeks of delays, Fell Street bike lane construction now underway”. Hoodline. 21 July 2020. https://hoodline.com/2020/07/after-weeks-of-delays-fell-street-bike-lane-construction-now-underway .

14. Dustin Gardiner. “SF to lift ban on reusable shopping bags amid complaints about waste”. San Francisco Chronicle. 26 June 2020. https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/San-Francisco-to-lift-ban-on-reusable-shopping-15367571.php .

15. David Sjostedt. “Ficus trees on 24th Street to be removed after lengthy community fight”. Examiner. 17 July 2020. https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/ficus-trees-on-24th-street-to-be-removed-after-lengthy-community-fight/ . Also see Strike Letter for Week 27 specifically on trees native to the bay area, and the SFGate article on Red Maple, one of the two trees that will take the place of the ficus being taken down (especially about the weak branch and trunk strength — see https://homeguides.sfgate.com/pros-cons-red-maple-trees-72127.html ).

16. Daniel Herriges. “Will San Francisco’s Caltrain Be the Pandemics Next Casualty?” Strong Towns. 20 July 2020. https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2020/7/20/will-san-franciscos-caltrain-be-the-pandemics-next-casualty .

17. Rachel Swan. “Caltrain derailed: Advocates predict shutdown would mean disaster for Bay Area”. San Francisco Chronicle. 15 July 2020. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Caltrain-derailed-Advocates-predict-shutdown-15411557.php .

18. Katherine Wei. “How Many People Do You Need to Change the Culture?” Sierra. 7 June 2018. https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/how-change-peoples-minds-25-percent-tipping-point .

19. Rebecca Klar. “Survey finds 66 percent worried about climate change even amid coronavirus”. The Hill. 19 May 2020. https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/498465-survey-finds-66-percent-worried-about-climate-change-even-amid .

20. Drew Costley. “Study: SF has highest percentage of people who think global warming is happening”. SFGate. 12 August 2018. https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/San-Francisco-climate-change-belief-Yale-UCSB-13149115.php .

21. Matt McGrath. “Climate change: 12 years to save the planet? Make that 18 months”. BBC News. 24 July 2019. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-48964736 .

22. Heather Smith. “Climate Change: Even Worse Than We Thought”. Sierra. 8 October 2018. https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/climate-change-even-worse-we-thought-ipcc-report .

23. Michael Grose and Julie Arblaster. “Just how hot will it get this century? It’s worse than we thought”. Phys Org. 18 May 2020. https://phys.org/news/2020-05-hot-century-worse-thought.html .

24. Amelia Urry. “The scientist who first warned of climate change says it’s much worse than we thought”. Grist. 22 March 2016. https://grist.org/science/the-scientist-who-first-warned-of-climate-change-says-its-much-worse-than-we-thought/ .

25. Rafi Letzter. “Today’s Climate Change Is Worse Than Anything Earth Has Experienced in the Past 2,000 Years”. Live Science. 25 July 2019. https://www.livescience.com/66027-climate-change-different.html .

26. John D. Sutter. “Vanishing”. CNN. Accessed 30 June 2020. https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2016/12/specials/vanishing/ .

27. Peter Castagno. “Biodiversity Loss Worst in Human History — 1 Million Animal Species Risk Extinction”. Citizen Truth. 6 May 2019. https://citizentruth.org/biodiversity-loss-worst-in-human-history-1-million-animal-species-risk-extinction/ .

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