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You Can Make A Difference -- Strike for the Planet week 100 [1]

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

Date: 2023-10-09  

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. You can push your local politicians to act. It will make a difference!

This is the letter for week 100 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 of the topics for all the strike letters, see this story. Meanwhile…

STRIKE FOR THE PLANET

You can make a difference.

I know you can act quickly when you understand the need.1 But with climate change, you just don’t seem to get the message: if you don’t act now — quickly, and in accordance with the science — San Francisco dies.2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Why do I strike at SF City Hall? It’s just local government.

Anytime anyone asks, I tell them the same things:

The impact cities have on climate change is huge, bigger than we are accounting for. 7

Unlike with state and federal elected officials, city and county officials (even in SF) are easy to contact and might even listen. Additionally, you are in our neighborhoods 8 and SF is geographically small.

and SF is geographically small. Unlike with state and fed elected officials, our city and county officials are cheap. 9 Sure millionaires and billionaires can buy you, but the price is so low (because the rich think the stakes are low at the local level) that your actual constituents still have a fighting chance at access and, possibly, influence.

Sure millionaires and billionaires can buy you, but the price is so low (because the rich think the stakes are low at the local level) that your actual constituents still have a fighting chance at access and, possibly, influence. The only change that really accomplishes anything happens at the local level. And through local changes, SF has managed to change the U.S. 10 and the world. 11 We have to do so again, now.

and the world. We have to do so again, now. Because if we don’t make the vital local changes now, SF will fail, and it will do so under your watch.12, 13, 14 So whether or not you want it, as long as you have your job you have both a responsibility and a vested interest in the city surviving.

Your decisions make a difference

You make measurable, immediate differences in our day-to-day lives all the time. From garbage to access, roads to wildlife, water quality to noise, local government is where the decisions that effect us the most are made.

Unfortunately, your decisions more often make a difference for the worse

It’s stunning how often you deliberately choose to act against the science and against the City’s best interests for minor, short-term political gain, or to appease donors or “higher” political interests, or due to ignorance.15 Lately it feels like every time you have to make a real decision on climate change, and not just do a policy wand wave, you fail. Need examples? Here are a few:

The Twin Peaks gas station . 16 It’s easy to make decisions when you don’t actually have to deal with people and jobs, isn’t it? So even though it’s clear this gas station needs to go, you do nothing.

. It’s easy to make decisions when you don’t actually have to deal with people and jobs, isn’t it? So even though it’s clear this gas station needs to go, you do nothing. The SkyWheel . 17, 18 Here the forces for fun and accusations of NIMBYism outweighed the very real pollution and damage being produced, and eliminated the thinking of possible solutions such as requiring real mitigation. This is how we fun ourselves to death, one “small” choice after another.

. Here the forces for fun and accusations of NIMBYism outweighed the very real pollution and damage being produced, and eliminated the thinking of possible solutions such as requiring real mitigation. This is how we fun ourselves to death, one “small” choice after another. Lighting . 19 Even though the science is clear, you keep adding more light to the night, in every neighborhood and in parks and over the bay. There’s always a “good” reason, and it’s only a “little bit” more light. Death by a thousand cuts is still death, though, and we’re well past a thousand cuts. 20

. Even though the science is clear, you keep adding more light to the night, in every neighborhood and in parks and over the bay. There’s always a “good” reason, and it’s only a “little bit” more light. Death by a thousand cuts is still death, though, and we’re well past a thousand cuts. JFK Drive . 21 It’s hard for families on bikes to ride from the southeast part of SF to Golden Gate Park. The solution to this problem isn’t to allow cars back onto JFK Drive. The solution is to figure out how to give access without cars. How can we do that? How about making cross-city biking safe and easy? How about making bike-friendly transit from southeast SF to the rest of the city a priority? How about making McLaren Park more family-friendly? How about finally connecting the parks up so that we have a continual greenbelt that anyone can access? The route from McLaren Park to City College is treacherous and from City College to Stern Grove isn’t much better; there’s really no direct access at all from McLaren Park to Glen Canyon Park. How about actually caring about the cyclists and pedestrians injured and killed by cars? If we fight inequity by destroying something good instead of making that good available to all, we lose both the battle and the war.

. It’s hard for families on bikes to ride from the southeast part of SF to Golden Gate Park. The solution to this problem isn’t to allow cars back onto JFK Drive. The solution is to figure out how to give access without cars. How can we do that? How about making cross-city biking safe and easy? How about making bike-friendly transit from southeast SF to the rest of the city a priority? How about making McLaren Park more family-friendly? How about finally connecting the parks up so that we have a continual greenbelt that anyone can access? The route from McLaren Park to City College is treacherous and from City College to Stern Grove isn’t much better; there’s really no direct access at all from McLaren Park to Glen Canyon Park. How about actually caring about the cyclists and pedestrians injured and killed by cars? If we fight inequity by destroying something good instead of making that good available to all, we lose both the battle and the war. Natural Gas. The ban is a good start, but it is still too little and being done very late in the game. Meanwhile, what about propane outdoor heating (now all over the place due to outdoor dining)?

The ban is a good start, but it is still too little and being done very late in the game. Meanwhile, what about propane outdoor heating (now all over the place due to outdoor dining)? Water . Hetch Hetchy, blackwater recycling, waste — we’re in a megadrought and SF is siding with big ag corporations against the northern CA hydrosphere 22 while not taking needed and obvious actions locally.

. Hetch Hetchy, blackwater recycling, waste — we’re in a megadrought and SF is siding with big ag corporations against the northern CA hydrosphere while not taking needed and obvious actions locally. Construction . We have a surplus of office space (and we have had surplus for a long time) 23 , the weight of these buildings is sinking the land 24 (and it’s already going underwater due to sea level rise), and yet you’re proceeding with building more towers. 25 How is this not the definition of insanity?

. We have a surplus of office space (and we have had surplus for a long time) , the weight of these buildings is sinking the land (and it’s already going underwater due to sea level rise), and yet you’re proceeding with building more towers. How is this not the definition of insanity? The Urban Forest. It’s much too small and too thoroughly non-native. Yet apparently anyone can remove mature trees just because.26

And there’s so much more! You talk a good talk but you not only don’t walk the walk, you take two steps backwards for every step forwards.27, 28

Choosing to do the right thing is better in multiple ways

As in the rest of the world, climate change hurts the poor and disenfranchised in SF the worst.29 Fighting climate change by doing what is needed for and with the poor and disenfranchised of SF helps everyone.30

So please, at long last, act

SF can make the right choices, but will you?31 Acting saves money and lives. You’ve taken oaths to act for the good of SF. You are bound by the Precautionary Principle. So act already. Because the costs of climate change are huge.32, 33, 34, 35, 36

Your not acting is harming the most vulnerable people in SF.

It’s now or never; damage is already being done and it’s only going to get worse. Act!37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46 You have to fight for the people of SF now while accomplishing anything is still possible! Only a fool devotes their attention to glittering fantasies while blithely walking off a cliff. Your actions make a difference; isn’t it time you started acting for our good?

FOOTNOTES

1. Dominic Fracassa. “SF Mayor London Breed declares state of emergency over coronavirus”. San Francisco Chronicle. 26 February 2020. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/SF-mayor-London-Breed-declares-state-of-emergency-15083811.php .

2. Greta Thunberg. “Greta Thunberg dismisses ‘empty words’ in new climate crisis appeal-video”. The Guardian. 10 December 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/video/2020/dec/10/greta-thunberg-dismisses-empty-words-in-new-climate-crisis-appeal-video .

3. Allegra Kirkland and Nexus Media. “What Climate Change Will Do to Three Major American Cities by 2100”. Teen Vogue. 7 October 2019. https://www.teenvogue.com/story/climate-change-timeline-st-louis-san-francisco-houston .

4. Michael Martin. “Climate change threatens our health”. San Francisco Chronicle. 27 January 2021. https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Climate-change-threatens-our-health-15900692.php .

5. Michelle Robertson. “These swaths of San Francisco could be underwater in just 70 years, extreme models suggest”. SFGate. 8 February 2019. https://www.sfgate.com/science/article/climate-change-sea-level-rise-models-underwater-13595207.php#photo-16887841 .

6. Anne Mulkern. “Climate Change May Transform California’s Bay Area”. Scientific American. 3 November 2011. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/climate-change-may-transform/ .

7. Lauren Favre. “Cities Are Underestimating Their Carbon Footprint”. U.S. News & World Report. 17 June 2019. https://www.usnews.com/news/cities/articles/2019-06-17/report-cities-are-underestimating-their-impact-on-climate-change .

8. Ari Barak. “Residents testify Supervisor Ed Jew wasn’t living in Sunset neighborhood home”. FogCity Journal. 27 July 2007. http://www.fogcityjournal.com/news_in_brief/bcn_ed_jew_preliminary_hearing_070727.shtml .

9. Nora Mishanec. “Millionaire contractor in S.F. City Hall bribery scandal sentenced to a year in prison”. San Francisco Chronicle. 11 February 2021. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Millionaire-contractor-in-S-F-City-Hall-bribery-15944872.php . A gate? $40,000? You’re almost within reach of the common person.

10. Joe Vazquez and Molly McCrea. “City of Pride: San Francisco Led Nation With Decades of LGBT Progress”. KPIX. 1 June 2020. https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/06/01/pride-week-san-francisco-city-lgbt-firsts/ .

11. Yerina Mugica, Andrea Spacht Collins, and Alice Henly. “Food to the Rescue: San Francisco Composting”. NRDC. 24 October 2017. https://www.nrdc.org/resources/san-francisco-composting .

12. Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac. “What the World Will Look Like in 2050 If We Don’t Cut Carbon Emissions in Half”. Time. 22 April 2020. https://time.com/5824295/climate-change-future-possibilities/ .

13. Arthur Neslen. “By 2030, We Will Pass The Point Where We Can’t Stop Runaway Climate Change”. Huffpost. 3 May 2019. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/runaway-climate-change-2030-report_n_5b8ecba3e4b0162f4727a09f .

14. Justin Worland. “Climate Change Could Wreck the Global Economy”. Time. 22 October 2015. https://time.com/4082328/climate-change-economic-impact/ . This isn’t new information. There’s no excuse for not knowing this.

15. Doug P. “OUCH! Comedian @GoRemy roasts Gavin Newsom (and other politicians’) shutdown hypocrisy in under 90 seconds”. Twitchy. 16 January 2021. https://twitchy.com/dougp-3137/2021/01/16/ouch-comedian-goremy-roasts-gavin-newsom-and-other-politicians-shutdown-hypocrisy-in-under-90-seconds/ . Watch the video — it’s worth the 1.5 minutes.

16. Phillip Kobernick and Erik Shilts. “Twin Peaks gas station is a test of our ability to make real decisions for climate change”. San Francisco Examiner. 4 October 2020. https://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/twin-peaks-gas-station-is-a-test-of-our-ability-to-make-real-decisions-for-climate-change/ .

17. Tim Redmond. “Supes call for investigation of Ferris Wheel money”. 48hills. 23 February 2021. https://48hills.org/2021/02/supes-call-for-investigation-of-ferris-wheel-money/ .

18. Joshua Sabatini. “Opposition forces postponement of vote on SkyStar Wheel”. San Francisco Examiner. 17 February 2021. https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/opposition-forces-postponement-of-vote-on-skystar-wheel/ .

19. Tim Schauenberg. “Light pollution: The dangers of bright skies at night”. DW. 14 January 2021. https://www.dw.com/en/light-pollution-the-dangers-of-bright-skies-at-night/a-56209536 . And the multiple prior strike letters on this topic.

20. Lauren Aratani. “Buildings are killing up to 1bn birds a year in US, scientists estimate”. The Guardian. 7 April 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/07/how-many-birds-killed-by-skyscrapers-american-cities-report .

21. Mallory Moench. “Will cars return to S.F.’s Golden Gate Park? Some supes say to keep it car-free is ‘segregationist’”. San Francisco Chronicle. 23 March 2021. https://www.sfchronicle.com/local-politics/article/Will-cars-come-back-to-Golden-Gate-Park-Some-16048206.php .

22. Kurtia Alexander. “San Francisco sues state over potentially drastic water reductions”. San Francisco Chronicle. 10 January 2019. https://www.sfchronicle.com/science/article/San-Francisco-sues-state-over-potentially-drastic-13524356.php .

23. Matt Levin. “The big empty: San Francisco is sitting on millions of square feet of vacant office space”. Marketplace. 17 March 2021. https://www.marketplace.org/2021/03/17/san-francisco-millions-square-feet-vacant-office-space/ .

24. The Editors. “San Francisco Is Sinking Under Its Own Weight, and Other News”. Surface. 22 February 2021. https://www.surfacemag.com/articles/san-francisco-sinking-other-news/ .

25. Roland Li. “S.F. approves $1 billion Transbay tower, construction planned despite Salesforce’s canceled lease”. San Francisco Chronicle. 16 March 2021. https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/S-F-approves-1-billion-Transbay-tower-16031209.php .

26. Robyn Purchia. “SF needs plan to protect trees and one agency in charge”. San Francisco Examiner. 17 March 2021. https://www.sfexaminer.com/news-columnists/sf-needs-plan-to-protect-trees-and-one-agency-in-charge/.

27. Christopher Dolan and Cristina Garcia. “Cyclist Deaths Remain High During COVID-19”. SF Weekly. 6 March 2021. https://www.sfweekly.com/news/sidebar/cyclist-deaths-remain-high-during-covid-19/.

28. Ellen Wald. “San Francisco Can Ban New Natural Gas Because It Destroyed The Hetch Hetchy Valley”. Forbes. 11 November 2020. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ellenrwald/2020/11/11/san-francisco-can-ban-new-natural-gas-because-it-destroyed-the-hetch-hetchy-valley/?sh=bbcb2ae34a9a.

29. Jill Cowan. “What Rising Seas Mean for San Francisco”. The New York Times. 19 February 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/19/us/climate-change-san-francisco.html.

30. Renee Cho. “Why Climate Change is an Environmental Justice Issue”. State of the Planet/Earth Institute/Columbia University. 22 September 2020. https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2020/09/22/climate-change-environmental-justice/.

31. Richard Procter. “San Francisco Knows How to Stop Global Warming — Will It?” SF Weekly. 11 September 2019. https://www.sfweekly.com/news/san-francisco-climate-change-emissions/.

32. Harper’s Index. March 2021. https://harpers.org/archive/2021/03/ .

33. Harper’s Index. March 2021. https://harpers.org/archive/2021/03/ .

34. Dana Nuccitelli. “New report finds costs of climate change impacts often underestimated”. Yale Climate Connections. 18 November 2019. https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2019/11/new-report-finds-costs-of-climate-change-impacts-often-underestimated/ .

35. Rebecca Hersher and Nathan Rott. “What Are The Costs Of Climate Change?” NPR. 16 September 2020. https://www.npr.org/2020/09/16/913693655/what-are-the-costs-of-climate-change.

36. Samantha Fields. “Insurance increasingly unaffordable as climate change brings more disasters”. Marketplace. 31 August 2020. https://www.marketplace.org/2020/08/31/insurance-increasingly-unaffordable-as-climate-change-brings-more-disasters/ .

37. 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 .

38. 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 .

39. 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 .

40. 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/ .

41. 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 .

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

43. 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/ .

44. Kristen Callihan. “Earth’s Currently Ongoing Sixth Mass Extinction Is Worse Than We Thought”. OutwardOn. 7 August 2017. https://www.outwardon.com/article/earths-currently-ongoing-sixth-mass-extinction-event-is-worse-than-we-thought/ .

45. Lauren Frayer. “Scores Are Feared Dead In India After Himalayan Glacier Breaks Away”. NPR. 7 February 2021. https://www.npr.org/2021/02/07/965046888/scores-are-feared-dead-in-india-after-himalayan-glacier-breaks-away . It’s now looking like it was a landslide which makes the situation worse.

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