Citizens Climate Lobby of Bakersfield

Kudos to Ruth for this thoughtful letter in today’s Fresno Bee. GOP MUST RETHINK VIEWS “CA’s Kevin McCarthy must take action on climate change,” (fresnobee.com, Oct. 8) Young people are demanding action on climate change. I hope that conservative leaders will recognize the importance of the youth vote and promote policies that help combat climate change. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, “the most significant climate legislation in U.S. history,” passed the Senate with no Republican votes. However, its generous tax credits have spurred private investment in solar and wind energy, and many of its clean energy projects are benefitting states whose senators voted against the act. Perhaps with pressure from young voters, those conservative senators are now rethinking their stance on climate change and what to do about it. https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article280456009.html

Fresno readers split on whether McCarthy deserved to be ousted as speaker | Opinion “McCarthy did what was right by keeping the government open and paid for it with his post.” | Letters to the editor

Fresno readers split on whether McCarthy deserved to be ousted as speaker | Opinion “McCarthy did what was right by keeping the government open and paid for it with his post.” | Letters to the editor

Kudos to CJ (CCL Fresno) for jumping on this week’s headlines and linking them to climate change. He did a nice job of keeping the tone respectful, presenting useful information, and suggesting a reasonable course of action for the deposed House speaker.

The rest of us can respond with letters to the editor (LTE’s) of our own, or by posting a comment at the bottom of the LTE page (it may take a moment to appear): https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article280214224.html

MCCARTHY’S INACTION

“Kevin McCarthy goes down in infamy as the first deposed House speaker. He earned it | Opinion,” (fresnobee.com, Oct. 4) Recently, 150 members of the Sunrise Movement occupied Kevin McCarthy’s office. This coincided with a battle over the federal budget, and ended when McCarthy reached across the aisle for Democratic support. These two events provide McCarthy a vision of his possible climate futures: either he abides by the will of the American people, or protects oil interests and finds his life disrupted. This is not a threat. Rather, it’s a dose of reality. Inaction threatens the lives and livelihoods of all Americans. Given that statistics say most Americans want action on climate change, this inaction is also fundamentally undemocratic. McCarthy could choose to work with the climate organizations who’ve reached out to him. He’ll have to take action on climate if he wants to have a peaceful future in politics.

C.J. Wilson

Kevin McCarthy will have to take climate action if he wants a future in politics | Opinion “Either McCarthy abides by the will of the American people, or protects oil interests and finds his life disrupted.” | Letters to the editor

Congratulations to Scott for getting his letter published in The Bakersfield Californian. He did a great job of emphasizing Valadao's bipartisanship.

Thankful for Valadao's focus on sustainability

The Citizens Climate Lobby Bakersfield chapter would like to express our gratitude to Rep. David Valadao for his dedication to bipartisanship in various policy areas for the good of his CA-22 constituents and the well-being of the earth.

In particular, we applaud his recent decision to join the congressional Climate Solutions Caucus, which is composed of 29 Republican and 29 Democrat representatives who are working to address climate change and protect the economic prosperity of the USA.

While we are waiting to see what the Caucus can accomplish, Valadao has already taken steps of bipartisan climate action by co-authoring the Converting Our Water Sustainably Act to support dairy/livestock manure management (reduce methane air pollution) and the Rural Energy in America Program Modernization Act to make it easier for individuals to achieve renewable energy and energy efficiency.

CCL supports the aforementioned, and also clean energy permitting reform, carbon pricing fee and dividend, healthy forests initiatives (like the Save our Sequoias) and building electrification and efficiency.

Let us work together for a sustainable future.

Letter to the editor: Thankful for Valadao's focus on sustainability The Citizens Climate Lobby Bakersfield chapter would like to express our gratitude to Rep. David Valadao for his dedication to bipartisanship in various policy areas for the good of his

Congratulations to Don Gaede for having his letter published in the Bakersfield Californian. The timing couldn't be better!

https://www.bakersfield.com/opinion/letters-to-editor/letter-to-the-editor-a-healthy-climate-for-our-children/article_9351a1d0-8d36-11ed-9e6b-479b76db2192.html

After years of drought in California, I was dubious when I first read the study published by the California Department of Water Resources that said catastrophic flooding in California is becoming much more likely as our planet heats up due to buildup of atmospheric carbon dioxide.

In 1861-1862, incessant rains transformed the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys into a vast inland sea, and inundated the now densely populated areas of Los Angeles and Orange counties. The study pointed out that because a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, and because precipitation in the Sierras will tend to be in the form of rain instead of snow, the risk of such a once-in-a-millennium flood will greatly increase if climate change is not addressed. The “bomb cyclones” we’ve recently experienced may be the first sign of more extreme events to come.

The good news is that effective climate solutions are available — but the bad news is that the political will to implement them is often lacking. I encourage folks to join groups such as Citizens’ Climate Lobby, where your voice will be amplified as we work to preserve a healthy, stable climate for our children and grandchildren.

— Don Gaede, San Luis Obispo

Letter to the editor: A healthy climate for our children After years of drought in California, I was dubious when I first read the study published by the California Department of Water Resources that said catastrophic flooding in California is

CHAPTER MEETING ON WEDNESDAY
December 14th at 7:30pm on Zoom:
https://www.google.com/url?q=https://zoom.us/j/5328291069&sa=D&source=calendar&usd=2&usg=AOvVaw1AzBU8SyOcyjYJsbfi34nW
Come meet others in our community who are concerned about climate change, and learn about CCL's new priorities.

Register for FREE online CCL climate conference, this Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 3 & 4

The CCL December Climate Conference Going bigger and bolder in the fight for a livable planet

Congratulations to Anna, who's op ed was published in today's Fresno Bee. Anna is active in both the Fresno and Bakersfield chapters of CCL.

Here’s wisdom of a 14-year-old Valley girl on encouraging climate change reductions

By Anna Villavicencio
November 26, 2022 5:30 AM

As a 14 year old, I am told that, “change starts with you.” In health class, we’re taught that if you’re healthy, you influence your family’s health. Then your family can influence your friends’ and neighbors’ health for the better. Most kids don’t pay attention during class — I agree it is boring. But there’s one thing I’ve learned from sitting through the long hours that is actually true! As Americans, we each have different changes we want to make. This can make it hard to influence others. But when something matters to all Americans, the “change” can be made easier. And most Americans can agree on wanting better lives, a stronger economy and American success. Many of these things are mostly controlled by the government and other worldwide events. However, we can still see their effects and care about them. We can actually influence some of them.

One example of worldwide change is the European Union’s (EU) carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM). This is targeted to start in 2023. What it will do is make other countries who are exporting to the EU have to pay a tariff. This tariff will be determined by the amount of carbon emitted in the making of the product. The more carbon emitted in the production of exports, the more money American businesses are going to have to pay Europe. Since the US already has cleaner manufacturing than other countries like China and India, we’ll be paying less than them. We’ll also be doing well because companies will want to move here, encouraging economic growth. But there is a way for America to have more success.

If we imposed our own CBAM, we would be level with the EU. China and others would have to pay us for their exports to us. There is also another big way our country would benefit. With other countries incentivized to emit less carbon, there would be a cleaner world with less pollution. This would save American lives, and help slow climate change. This is just one example of legislation that could be passed, and it’s legislation that can have bipartisan support. Enforcing a CBAM is consistent with conservative values — it’s not growing the government or creating more regulations. Instead, we would be helping create a cleaner Earth while holding other countries accountable. While this will create positive changes throughout the world by lowering greenhouse gasses, the change starts locally. When ordinary citizens want change, they can influence their policy-makers.

This spring, Three Rivers Union School District passed a climate resolution. This document stresses the importance of taking actions to help the Earth that aren’t politically aligned. It points out that rising carbon emissions contribute to California’s diminishing snowpack, which affects California’s agricultural economy. But it also acknowledges that there are many solutions. When elected officials hear from their communities, they are likely to care about those issues. In fact, my congressman, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, recently introduced a new bipartisan bill dedicated to saving sequoia trees. My boring health class was right: you can influence the world. Starting with your friends and neighbors, and even the government. Whether you’re lobbying through an organization like Citizens’ Climate Lobby or talking to your community, you can be a catalyst to help America succeed.

https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/readers-opinion/article269117587.html?

Here’s wisdom of a 14-year-old Valley girl on encouraging climate change reductions Commentary by a Woodlake High School student for The Fresno Bee.

This forum will be live-streamed on the Tahoe Truckee Media website on Dec. 7: http://ttctv.org/
The CCL Truckee chapter is a co-sponsor.

Congratulations to Anna for having her letter published in The Bakersfield Californian.

Letter to the editor: Make a carbon border adjustment In a recent letter to the editor, doubt was expressed about the current state of the world warming. Yes, the Earth's climate has been changing for a long time, going