Welcome to the September 2024 Climate Action Newsletter
Quote of the Month:
“Hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. It is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency. Hope should shove you out the door, because it will take everything you have to steer the future away from endless war, from the annihilation of the earth’s treasures and the grinding down of the poor and marginal… To hope is to give yourself to the future – and that commitment to the future is what makes the present inhabitable.”
– Rebecca Solnit in “Hope in the Dark”
Action of The Month:
Support our Local Team Fundraisers! Find the team championing climate action in your area and consider a donation. Thank you for any support you can give!
Take action for climate solutions in Colorado
🛑 Help us STOP DRACO PAD by spreading the word about a new proposed wellpad in Weld County, near Boulder, Lafayette, Erie, and more.
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- Share this post on Facebook or Instagram.
- Follow Erie Protectors and Stop Draco Pad, who are local community groups who are working on getting the word out about this plan. Take a look at their suggested action items and follow through on as many as you can.
🎨 Table with us! at Boulder Mural Festival
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- 350 Colorado volunteers, staff, and community members will be out tabling at this cool festival in Boulder this weekend. We could use help from a couple more people to jump in and sign up for a tabling shift to connect with folks at the festival and spread the word about what we do.
- Here’s some more information about the Boulder Mural Festival and here’s the link to sign up for a tabling shift.
- Thanks so much to all of you who have already signed up!
🖥️ Sign up to hear more about the campaign for a Fracking Phase Out in Colorado by 2030 and how to get involved
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- Saturday, September 14th at 12-1pm on Zoom.
- It’s time to protect Colorado’s land, air, and water and make sure we build a stronger economy for the 21st Century. A successful state ballot initiative is our greatest hope to transform Colorado from one of the nation’s largest GHG polluters to a global leader in the transition away from fossil fuels and toward a just, thriving, Renewable Energy future.
- Register here to join us at the Volunteer Welcome Call to learn about what we’re doing and how volunteers can help. You’ll also be able to to get answers to your specific questions during informal breakouts.
- Saturday, September 14th at 12-1pm on Zoom.
Organize & Meet Other Activists:
- 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. Reach out to Melissa (melissa@350colorado.org) if you have questions!
- 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:
Colorado ECMC Approves Dangerous Aurora Reservoir Fracking Plan – What Now?
“Save The Aurora Reservoir, 350 Colorado, and allies will continue to stand side by side in the continued fight. We will invite our members to join in future advocacy and action as the 8 individual well pads within the CAP are considered, and as Arapahoe County works to update their oil & gas regulations that will apply to those well pads.
We encourage all supporters to stay in touch with Save The Aurora Reservoir through the STAR website here and their social media accounts, STAR on Facebook here and STAR on Instagram here. Supporting this tenacious grassroots effort is exactly the kind of meaningful local action Coloradans can take to protect our health, wildlife, water, air, and climate.”
Utility Justice for Pueblo – See Photos + How to Take Action
Together with allies, we marched and delivered a letter to Black Hills Energy in Pueblo addressing their proposed rate hike as well as the plan to replace Pueblo’s decommissioned coal plant with gas or nuclear, neither of which are true climate solutions. Pueblo residents have higher utility bills than most Coloradans, while also bearing more pollution on average from energy production. We do not want to benefit from Pueblo being used as an environmental sacrifice zone! See the photos from our march and letter delivery here.
Environmental groups sue Suncor for Colorado refinery pollution
Read some recent coverage of the Suncor lawsuit from Reuters. “The organizations said in a statement they had documented more than 9,000 instances of alleged Clean Air Act violations by Suncor over a five-year period and the refinery had exceeded federal limits of airborne particulate matter and toxic emissions like benzene and formaldehyde.”
Colorado regulators approve oil and gas drilling plan on state land east of Aurora
A news article with a recent update on the Lowry Ranch CAP near the Aurora Reservoir.
“We are devastated by the Commission’s decision,” Marsha Goldsmith Kamin, STAR’s president, said in a press release. “This is without doubt the wrong decision for the health, safety, and environment of our community.”
Fossil Fuel Funding Is ‘Embedded’ Across Academia. What Does That Mean for Climate Research?
An interesting article by Inside Climate News. “Oil and gas companies have poured funding into campuses for decades. But scientists, journalists and students are only just starting to uncover the true extent of these financial ties—and how potential conflicts of interest in higher education could hinder efforts to combat climate change, the study’s authors say.”
What I Would Have Said as My Friend Defied Citi With Song – Opinion
This summer, activists of many backgrounds have been taking action at Citibank HQ in New York City. One of them was John Mark Rozendaal, a musician, climate activist, and grandfather. He was arrested along with several others while attempting to play Bach’s “Suites for Cello” as a protest against Citibank’s relentless funding of fossil fuels.
“Biologist Sandra Steingraber was invited to speak as climate activist John Mark Rozendaal disobeyed a restraining order to play cello outside CitiBank’s headquarters. However, that speech was never delivered.”
Resources of the month:
It’s a rough month for climate news, so we want to balance that out with some links that you may find helpful in order to stay resourced and encouraged for current and future activism. Taking care of yourself during this time is crucial. Ultimately, each one of us is so needed in this movement.
Please take what resonates and leave what does not.
- Podcasts:
- Nonviolent Direct Action Resources & Trainings
- Video: Climate Activism Without Burnout: Evidence-Based Practices to Improve Well-Being
- Happy Climate – You can make changes in your own life to substantially reduce your carbon footprint while increasing your happiness!
A huge thanks to our September Climate Heroes of the Month; interns Angie, Sadie, and Lily-Ann!
For this month’s Climate Hero of the Month we are honoring the hard work and efforts of Angie, Sadie, and Lily-Ann!
Completing an internship requires commitment, vision, and hard work, and all three of these incredible humans brought just that to their respective internships and bodies of work they focused on.
Read on for more about these three incredible leaders!
Upcoming Events & Actions
- Monday, Sept. 9th, 4-5pm – 350CO Suncor Action Committee Meeting (Zoom) – Sign up
- Friday, Sept. 13th-Sunday, Sept. 15th – Boulder Mural Festival (Webinar) – Sign up
- Saturday, Sept. 14th, 12-1pm – Safe & Healthy Colorado – Volunteer Welcome Call (Zoom) – RSVP and get the link
- Saturday, Sept. 14th, 4:30-6:30pm – Roaring Fork Team: Film Series! – (Carbondale Branch Library)
- Monday, Sept. 16th, 6-7pm – Climate Policy and Regulatory Action Committee meeting (Zoom) – Sign up
- Thursday, Sept. 19th, 6-7pm – Fracking Action Committee Meeting (Zoom) – Sign up
- Thursday, Sept. 19th, 5-8pm – Boulder Team Pint Night (Twisted Pine)
- Friday, Sept. 20th, 11:30-12:30pm – 350CO Defunding Climate Disaster / Fossil Free PERA Call – Sign up
- Saturday, Sept. 21st, 4:30-6:30pm – Roaring Fork Team: Film Series! – (Carbondale Branch Library)
- Monday, Sept. 23rd, 5-8pm – Denver Team: Pint Night for Climate! – (Woods Boss Brewing Company, Denver)
- Sunday, Sept. 22nd, 12-5pm – Northern Colorado Climate Meetup (Loveland) – RSVP here
- Tuesday, Sept. 24th, 5:30-7pm – Policy Committee Social Event – (Brighton) – Please RSVP to Heidi@350Colorado.org
- Tuesday, Sept. 24th, 7-7:30pm – Youth Action Committee meeting for activists age 24 and younger (Zoom) – Sign up
- Saturday, Sept. 28th, 12-2pm – Greeley Clean Air Community Event (Greeley) RSVP here
- Saturday, Sept. 28th, 4:30-6:30pm – Roaring Fork Team: Film Series! – (Carbondale Branch Library)
- Saturday, Sept. 28th, 7-7:30pm – Social Media Engagement Team Session (Zoom) – Sign up
- Sunday, Sept. 29th, 12-2:30pm – Boulder County Team: Apple Picking Social (Longmont) – RSVP 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!