Welcome to the April 2024 Climate Action Newsletter 🌎📢

Quote of the Month

“When our air is too polluted to breathe, when our water is too contaminated to drink, when our soil can’t grow food, and the climate too unstable to sustain life, what will we tell our children? We did it for the money. We couldn’t find the courage to take the actions we knew were necessary. The time for bold climate action is now.”

– Moshe Kornfeld of Colorado Jewish Climate Action, testifying for SB-159

Action of The Month:

Sign up for a Phase Out Fracking online rally on April 16th at 6pm to get involved with next steps as we work together for clean air and water as well as our children’s futures. Later is too late, so let’s come together and do all that we can!

Take action for climate solutions in Colorado

📱 Share:

Thank the Senate sponsors of SB-159: Share this post on Instagram or Facebook thanking Senator Jaquez Lewis and Senator Priola for their leadership and courage in sponsoring a first-of-its-kind bill to address climate and air pollution under enormous opposition forces from the oil and gas industry.
Help Spread the Word on 160+ Proposed Fracking Wells Around + Under the Aurora Reservoir: Share this post on Instagram or Facebook about a community townhall coming up on Saturday, April 13th. Let’s show support for this Aurora community who is organizing against this massive drilling project next to their homes and underneath their water supply. Can you make it to this townhall? RSVP here if so!

Organize In Person or Online

Table with us at the Environmental Justice Resource Fair this Saturday: Black Parents United Foundation’s EJ Resource Fair is happening this weekend, and if you’d like to take on a shift, we’d love your help tabling! Here is the signup sheet.
Join the Tabling & Outreach Crew: We’re so excited to get you connected to this new team! Tabling and Outreach are important and essential tools for organizing – we recruit new volunteers with diverse backgrounds, gather signatures for sign on letters and petitions, and build support for all of our campaigns and committees! Please fill out this form so can get an idea of your background and skillset to table, and reach out to Melissa (melissa@350colorado.org) if you have questions!
Cumulative Impacts Rulemaking: The ECMC has vacated all deadlines for the cumulative impacts rulemaking – stay tuned! We are following updates on this closely and will keep you informed.
Join one of our committees or local teams! To get involved, check out this committee list or sign up for a local team near you! See our calendar for all upcoming committee meetings. No matter your experience level with climate activism or organizing, we’d love to meet you and work together. Local teams include Boulder, Colorado Springs, Denver, Northern Colorado, and Roaring Fork.

Recent news

Climate Activism for Beginners (7 Ways to Get Started)

350CO volunteer and writer Monterey Buchanan gives us 7 ways to jump in and get started with climate action, even if you’re new to the movement! “We’ve all seen the stories of the catastrophic effects of climate change, how they will get worse if nothing is done, and even the damaging mental health effects of living in a warming world. So what is a would-be climate activist to do? If you’re looking to turn a new leaf this spring, read on for ways to start turning your climate anxiety into action.”

2024 Earth Week Events from All Around Colorado

Need something to do for Earth Day or Earth week? We’re putting together this list of events happening all around the state! If you know of a community event that should be added to this list, please reply with the information. We’ll be posting on socials about this list as we keep it and you updated about what’s going on for Earth Week!

Suncor scores another three years to leak unlimited amounts of forever chemicals into a major Colorado water system

“In recent years, Suncor has had to shut down its plant because it violated the permitted levels of benzene it pumps into Sand Creek five times. At one point it pumped 80% more Benzene into Sand Creek than legally allowed. KGNU’s Alexis Kenyon spoke with Ian Coghill, an attorney at Earthjustice. He says that while he and other advocates are glad the state has put limits on the close to 50 billion dollar oil refinery, the permit does not go far enough.”

Art & Activism: RedLine Contemporary Art Center, Denver

Art & Activism as explored by our volunteer and community member, Susan Heske. This month she got the chance to speak with a nonprofit arts organization here in Denver, focused on supporting emerging artists for social change, including climate activism. ““We believe that social change (big and small) is possible when artists engage in and with local communities around a social issue.”

The attitude-behavior gap on climate action: How can it be bridged?

“In this analysis, 30% of Americans said they “definitely would” do at least one of four political actions to address climate change – over 100 million people who are very willing to engage.” Six main takeaways from this analysis for getting people to take action on climate are: Ask people directly to get involved, make it easy and show people how to do it, provide options and describe their benefits, strengthen perceptions of collective efficacy by highlighting success stories, encourage talking about climate change and provide guidance, and amplify pro-climate social norms and diverse public voices.

So – do you agree? What has been the most helpful, in your experience, when encouraging others to get involved in climate action?

A huge thanks to our April Climate Hero of the Month – Randy Willard!

Meet Randy!

Randy first got in touch with 350 Colorado’s Beyond Oil and Gas Coordinator, Bobbie Mooney, in April of 2023 due to Randy’s concern about oil and gas fracking proposed for his area of Southeast Aurora. Randy’s strong sense of justice, sarcastic wit, and warmth shone immediately.

He was fired up and ticked off about the massive and dangerous proposal to drill over 160 oil and gas fracked wells under his neighborhood and the precious Aurora Reservoir. Bobbie soon got Randy connected to others in his community organizing with Save The Aurora Reservoir (STAR), and Randy jumped into the grassroots movement to protect his neighborhood with both feet!

“The destruction of our beautiful, pristine state is appalling and I am doing everything I can to prevent the largest permitted project in Colorado history.” – Randy

Upcoming Events & Actions

Saturday, April 13th, 10am-12pm – Save The Aurora Reservoir Community Townhall (Aurora) – RSVP here
Saturday, April 13th, 11am-3pm – Environmental Justice Resource Fair hosted by Black Parents United Foundation, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and Groundwork Denver (Aurora) – RSVP
Tuesday, April 16th, 6:00-7:30pm – Phase Out Fracking Online Rally + Gathering (Zoom) – Sign up here
Friday, April 19th, 11am – Talking to Your Friends About The Climate Importance of Finances: A Webinar (Virtual) – Sign up here
Friday, April 19th, 4:00-7:30pm – DPS Climate Summit (Denver) – Sign up here
Saturday, April 20th, 10am-4pm – Pueblo Earth Day Celebration “Let’s Choose Renewables Now!” (Pueblo) – RSVP
Saturday, April 20th, 11am-5pm – Ft. Collins Earth Day (Ft. Collins) – Get more info
Saturday, April 20th, 10am-3pm – Longmont Earth Day Celebration (Longmont) – Get details
Saturday, April 20th, 1:00-2:30pm – Kids Upcycled Art Workshop (Windsor) – Sign up
Saturday, April 20th, 5-7pm – Fracking the System Film Screening (Ft. Collins) – RSVP here
Sunday, April 21st, 11am-2:30pm – Save the Aurora Reservoir Canvass & Picnic (Aurora) – RSVP
Sunday, April 21st, 12-3pm – Spring Cleaning: Earth Day-Themed Park Cleanup (Denver) – Sign up here
Monday, April 22nd, 10am-1:30pm – Cultivando: Our Health > Cheap Gasoline | Nuestra Salud > Gasolina Barata (Denver) – RSVP
Monday, April 22nd, 7-9pm – Fracking the System Film Screening (Greeley) – Get tickets
Wednesday, April 24th, 12-1:30pm – Earth Justice Day Film Screening: The Vow From Hiroshima hosted by The Joanna Macy Center for Resilience and Regeneration (Boulder) – Get tickets here
Thursday, April 25th, 6:30-9pm – Fracking the System Film Screening (Boulder) – Sign up
Thursday, April 25th, 4-6pm – Creating a Regenerative Future: A Happy Hour to Support Earth Day & Action (Denver) – Get tickets
Friday, April 26th, 6:30-9pm – Fracking the System Film Screening (Breckenridge) – Get tickets
Friday, April 28th, 3-9pm – Live From Planet Earth Earth Day Event + Concert (Boulder) – Sign up here

Please view our full calendar to join local team meetings, committee conference calls & more!

P.S. Please support crucial climate action work in Colorado – become a monthly sustaining donor at $10 or more per month!