Marin Chapter of Citizens' Climate Lobby

"Action is the Antidote to Despair" - Joan Baez

The Marin Chapter of  Citizens’ Climate Lobby supports all effective and socially just efforts to draw down COemissions and reverse climate change. Our strongest advocacy is for a national, annually escalating carbon fee and dividend. This policy will help enable and accelerate the development of renewable carbon-free technologies. The Marin Chapter meets each month (currently on-line) to discuss the economics of carbon fee and dividend and the current political climate for legislation. Our chapter president is Peter Joseph and our Steering Committee includes knowledgeable journalists,  economists, energy professionals, community organizers, and others from Marin County.

An Overview of Carbon Fee and Dividend:

  1. Place a steadily rising fee on the carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution from fossil fuels:
  • Collect carbon fees (taxes) from the fossil fuel industry for the extraction and import of oil, gas, coal.
  • Start the fee at $15/metric ton of CO2- equivalent emissions of fossil fuels, escalating by $10/metric ton each year.
  1. Return 100% of the net fees directly to households as a monthly dividend:
  • About two-thirds of Americans will receive more in dividends than they will pay in higher prices caused the portion of the fee that the fossil fuel companies elect to pass along.
  • The monthly household dividend will inject billions into the economy, protect family budgets, free households to make independent choices about their energy usage, spur innovation, and build aggregate demand for low-carbon products at the consumer level.
    1. Impose a border carbon adjustment (BCA) on commodity imports from countries that lack a meaningful carbon price. This levels the playing field between the US and trading partners:
    • The BCA will (1) discourage US businesses from relocating where they can emit more CO2 and (2) motivate other countries to adopt similar carbon pricing policies.
    1. An Important Bill in Congress:
    • HR2307 is the “Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act”.
    • This bill will impose a fee on carbon extraction and give the revenue back to U.S. Citizens.
    • HR 2307 currently has 95 Congressional Cosponsors and counting.
    • Including our own Jared Huffman.

    Twitter feed is not available at the moment.

    Upcoming Events:

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    NO Local Chapter Meeting in June!

    Instead, attend this:

    The Monthly National Call on June 10th at 10:00am.

    Each month, Citizens’ Climate Lobby supporters gather locally for a monthly meeting where we educate ourselves by listening to a guest speaker.

    May Monthly Meeting w/Bill McKibben, Author, Educator, Activist, founder of Third Act

    This month’s speaker will be Bill McKibben, Author, Educator, Activist, founder of Third Act:

    To have any shot at building the clean energy economy needed to turn back climate change, we will have to overcome the inflexive resistance to development of the projects and resources that will facilitate that transition.

    Perhaps the most trusted person to deliver that message to environmentalists is climate champion Bill McKibben, and that’s exactly what he did in a recent piece for Mother Jones. He joins this month’s national call days before our volunteers go to lobby on Capitol Hill. Bill is an author, educator, and environmentalist, who helped found 350.org, the first global grassroots climate campaign, and he recently helped found Third Act, a progressive organizing movement for people over the age of 60.

    The Zoom link for the National Call: http://cclusa.org/meeting

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    The Fairfax Festival “EcoFest”, 2023
    Saturday June 10 AND Sunday June 11, 2023, 12:00 Noon – 3:00pm

    As we do every year, Marin CCL will be tabling at the Fairfax Festival’s “Ecofest”. Members are welcome to join us tabling or drop by any time after the 10:00 Saturday parade!

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    San Geronimo July 4th Parade, BBQ and Flea Market
     

    This annual event takes place at Dickson Ranch in Woodacre. We will be tabling after the parade that begins at 12 Noon.

    This is sponsored by the San Geronimo Valley Lions Club.

    The 2023 Climate Lobbying Reboot
    CCL’s June Conference
    June 10-13, 2023 | Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington, DC
    Register here
    We’re back on Capitol Hill

    It’s a new Congress, and we’ll welcome them with the biggest single day of climate lobbying since 2019. CCL’s conference includes everything you’ll need to power up your climate advocacy – inspiration, best practices and information. This year, you’ll get to put everything you learn to use when you meet with members of Congress on Capitol Hill and talk to them about climate change.

    Add a Saturday Seminar

    Go deeper in these pre-conference sessions. Choose from three workshop options: ConnectEffect, En-ROADS, and Diversifying Your Chapter. If you plan to attend, be sure to add this ticket for $25 to your conference registration. Find more details at cclusa.org/juneconference

    For more information, visit the June Conference & Lobby Day website, or email conference.inbox@citizensclimate.org

    Not going to Washington DC?

    You can Live Stream the conference!  It’s free and you can get the details and register here.

    You can see the conference agenda including session titles, times, descriptions, and speakers on the conference website: cclusa.org/program. On each day of the conference, the specific Zoom connection information will be available on the website. “Join via Zoom” buttons will appear next to each session that will be streamed.

     

    About Citizens’ Climate Lobby in a Short 2 Minute Video:

    White Papers and Articles that can help you better understand Carbon Fee and Dividend:

    Written testimony to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee following its March 23, 2022 hearing on Promoting American Energy Security by Facilitating Investments and Innovation in Climate Solutions.

    “Prosperous Sweden, which first introduced carbon taxes in 1990, today emits only a third as much carbon dioxide per dollar of gross domestic product as the United States.”

    “Three pending climate bills would achieve Biden’s bold climate targets, satisfy budget reconciliation criteria, and meet the all-important political criterion of achieving public support.”

    “While a steadily rising fee on fossil fuel pollution helps deliver swift and meaningful environmental justice, the dividend delivers a remarkable measure of economic justice.”

    “Here’s a way to manage both fossil fuel lobbying power and the economic impact of a rapid reduction in fossil fuel use: get the fossil fuel companies to PAY individuals to stop using their products.”

    (Click Here for an archive of White Papers and other published articles and letters.)

    Locally Published Newspaper Opinions and Letters:

    • Marin IJ Voice (Jonathan Marshall and Ray Welsh)

    PG&E’s electricity rate reform is needed to move forward)
    May 6, 2023

    • S.F. Chronicle Opinion (Ray Welsh)

    How Newsom’s $400 California gas rebate idea can be scaled up to fight climate change April 23, 2022

    Who Supports Carbon Fee and Dividend in Marin?

    Marin organizations who have endorsed HR 2307, the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act currently in Congress:

    • Marin Board of Supervisors
    • College of Marin Board of Trustees
    • Canal Alliance
    • MCE (Marin Clean Energy)
    • SolarCraft
    • Turning Green 
    • Indivisible Marin
    • Mike’s Bikes
    • Marin County Bicycle Coalition
    • Good Earth Natural Foods
    • KW Botanicals
    • Jayli
    • EcoRing
    • Crook Beales Design
    • Simple Solar
     
    The fee and dividend policy is in several bills, including the House Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, now with over 90 co-sponsors, including our Representative Jared Huffman and:
    • 42 members of the Progressive Caucus
    • 14 members of the Congressional Black Caucus
    • 13 members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus
    • 29 members of the Congressional Asian American Caucus

    Support for this legislation continues to grow.

    Take Action Right Now:

    Join CCL Today

    Join Citizens’ Climate Lobby to stay up-to-date on events and information regarding climate action. This is also a great way to connect with the community.

    If you are you a new member or you want to get more involved…
    • You can also sign up for an information session and learn more about Citizens’ Climate Lobby and how you can make a difference – it covers the basics about our approach and our preferred solution. Get your questions answered live!
    • If you want to become more involved LOCALLY here in Marintake this brief questionnaire that can provide areas where you can contribute and make of difference:

    Write to Congress

    Contact Senator Dianne Feinstein here

    Contact Senator Alex Padilla here

    Contact our Representative Jared Huffman here

    Learn about the Energy Innovation and Climate Dividend Act and what you can do TODAY to support this important House bill.