Environment Now!
Mission Statement
The Environment Now! committee focuses on the topics of Climate Change and the Green New Deal. We educate ourselves, identify and take appropriate action, and bring educational and activism opportunities to the Huddle. We support and promote environmental causes and values with an emphasis on elections, candidates, and select local actions.
Meeting Logistics
All Huddle members are welcome:
Fourth Thursday of each month
7 - 8:30 PM
Meeting Location Meeting Minutes
No meetings until further notice
Committee Activities
2021 Action Goals:
Tesla Park
Support the legislative efforts of State Senator Steve Glazer and State Assembly member Rebecca Bauer-Kahan to permanently designate Tesla Park, owned by the State of California Parks Department, as a low impact recreation, historic, and natural resources preserve and protect it from damaging off-highway vehicle (OHV) recreational use.
Continue activism from previous years, including:
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Writing letters and signing on to joint letters to state legislative committee members and the governor supporting this cause.
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Collaborating with other local activism groups.
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Showing up in person and virtually at committee meetings as bills make their way through the legislature to voice support of the preservation bills on behalf of the Huddle.
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Education and spreading the word to inspire support of this land within our group and to our networks through social media campaigns.
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Signing petitions aimed at getting the governor's support.
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Participating in EBRPD questionnaires to discourage OHV use in our regional parks.
Environmental Voter Project
Encourage participation in Environmental Voter Project efforts to get out the environmental vote through text and phone banking.
Other
Action items concerning other environmental topics posted on the Huddle forum and/or facebook group.
Climate Resources
Climate Change
16-year-old Swedish girl fighting the government over climate change
High school students' constitutional lawsuit over climate change
The Uninhabitable Earth: A Story of the Future
Book by David Wallace-Wells about the devastating effects of climate change
Instrumental in writing HR 763 Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act
Tools and information for grassroots organizations fighting climate change
Committed to environmental justice and the health and safety of Bay Area communities threatened by climate change and toxic pollution
The Green New Deal
The Green New Deal - House Resolution 109
Text of the Green New Deal resolution on the official Congress.gov website
Lisa Chang's Talk about The Green New Deal
Video recording of the the April 11, 2019 Huddle meeting program. Lisa answers Huddle questions.
Group of young people working to gain Democratic consensus on the Green New Deal
Election-Related
Project to identify inactive environmentalists and turn them into consistent activists and voters.
Watch/Read/Listen
How to Stop Freaking Out and Tackle Climate Change - New York Times opinion
Where Does our Recycling Go? - NPR/Fresh Air. Discussion at meeting on 10/24/2019
Environmental scientist Kate O'Neil, author of Waste, discusses recycling and the global politics of waste.
SOIL 2017 - Winona LaDuke Keynote Address. (41:45 on YouTube) Discussion at meeting 9/26/2019
The Story of Stuff Project - Movies
The Plastics Crisis Is About to Get Worse - Article from The Nation
Built on Sand (Episode 361) by 99% Invisible (Podcast 36 minutes) Discussion at meeting 8/22/2019
Watch: Grand Designs, Season 18, Episode 9, Herefordshire II on Netflix; Focus on repurposed materials for the home.
Read: The Rent Collector by Cameron Wright; about a young family scavenging for recyclables from a dump in Cambodia, a story of hope.