Fracking near schools Action Alert, use your tax refund to support nonprofits, what we are listening to, and more!
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Action Alert: Support Bella Romero Academy
Friday, March 13, noon to 1:00 p.m.
If you are in the Greeley area, please join 350 Colorado at the Protect Our Children Press Conference and Rally at Bella Romero Academy. 350 Colorado just released a report that the school has experienced unhealthy levels of benzene on numerous occasions since a fracking operation was placed 1200 feet from the school.
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A new Colorado state initiative called
ReFUND CO
allows people who receive a state tax refund to donate all or a portion of it to their favorite nonprofit. To donate to Clean Energy Action, find the Donate to a Colorado Nonprofit Fund line on your state tax return or tax software, enter our name, and registration number,
20113017008. Thanks, as always, for your support!
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Colorado Working to
Meet Its Climate Goals
In 2019, the Colorado legislature set some strong goals for reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, including 26 percent below 2005 levels by 2025, 50 percent by 2030, and 90 percent by 2050.
Now the Air Quality Contol Commission (AQCC), housed in the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), is working to
implement these goals
.
Clean Energy Action joined a broad coalition of climate groups to advocate for bold action by the AQCC on February 20, 2020 and reminded the AQCC that we are “Out of Time” to address the climate crisis. In addition, the AQCC was reminded that non-renewable fuels like oil and natural gas
do not renew
, so even if we weren't concerned about the climate crisis, we must work to move our state and country beyond these fuels.
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Legislative Update
The Colorado State Legislature is in session and CEA is following several energy, environment, and climate-related bills. Of the bills currently calendared, CEA supports the following:
- SB20-055 Incentivize Development Recycling End Markets
- In Committee
- HB20-1155 Higher Efficiency New Construction Residence
- Passed House and Senate, Sent to the Governor
- HB20-1162 Prohibit Food Establishments's Use of Polystyrene
- In Committee
- HB20-1059 Valuation of Energy Storage Equipment
- In Committee
- HB20-1163 Management of Single-use Products
- In Committee
- HB20-1064 PUC Study of Community Choice Energy
- In Committee
D
escriptions of these bills and hearing dates can be seen
HERE
.
The following bills have been recently introduced:
- SB20-167 Electric Motor Vehicle Manufacturer and Dealer
- HB20-1325 Low-emission Vehicle Managed Lane Access
- SB20-190 Boost Renewable Energy Transmission Investment
A list of all energy, environment, and climate-related bills introduced to date can be found
HERE
.
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An Unplanned Air Quality Experiment Due to COVID-19
As China tries to contain the spread of COVID-19, highway traffic and the industrial economy has slowed to a crawl in some parts of the country -
and the sky is clearing up because of it
.
According to data collected by NASA satellites that track air pollution, nitrogen dioxide (NO2) emissions have dropped dramatically over the past several weeks over Beijing and Shanghai.
According to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air
, NO2 emissions dropped 40% below levels of pollution from February 2019. The precipitous fall in air pollution has been sharper than the gradual reduction that was observed after the 2008 financial crisis. This data is corroborated by the experience of some Shanghai residents who report that the winter sky has been bluer than anytime they can remember.
In addition to a reduction in specific air pollutants that resulted from the forced shutdown of highways and factories, China’s overall greenhouse gas emissions have plummeted as well, dropping by up to 25% during February. Although the period of time that this was measured over is relatively small - just a few weeks - given that China is currently the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter the sharp decline in emissions is significant. These data underscore the degree to which economic activity and greenhouse gas emissions are still intimately tied together. Further, it is clear that our global economy has a long way to go to ‘decouple’ economic prosperity and environmental degradation.
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Boulder COVID-19 News
For the first time in 72 years, the annual Conference on World Affairs has been cancelled (April 6-10) due to COVID-19 precautions. For more information please visit
CWA's website.
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CEA in Print
CEA Executive Director, Conor May's Letter to the Editor of the Boulder Daily Camera--March 4, 2020 (Excerpt)
I was reminded that most Coloradans are still relying on 70% fossil fuels for their electricity. Seventy percent, in 2019. Grid operators, economists, policy-makers: everyone agrees that it is not only possible to shift a big slice of this to renewables, but it would actually be cheaper to do so. Nonetheless, Xcel and other utilities continue to leave cheap wind and solar bids on the table.
We are crawling when we need to be sprinting, and by all accounts can at the very least be jogging. We spend a lot of time debating about the last 15% of fossil fuels on the grid. Let’s start with the next 15% and then the 15 after that. The future of the planet depends on it.
The full letter can be seen by scrolling down at
this link
.
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What We Are Listening To
Hunter Lovins Presentation
In February, the Boulder County chapter of the Colorado Renewable Energy Society hosted Hunter Lovins, who "explores why it is highly likely that solar and storage will provide at least half of world power by 2030". You can see a video of this presentation
HERE
.
NPR Environment and Energy Collaborative Series
Since November of last year, NPR has been airing two- to five-minute segments in an Environment and Energy Collaborative series. See these collected stories
HERE
.
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Meet CEA Board Member
Carolyn Williams-Orlando
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Dr. Carolyn Williams-Orlando PhD (Dr. Willow) is a humanistic and transpersonal psychologist who is interested in promoting healthy and caring relationships between people and with planet earth. She is soon to be leaving Boulder, home of 23 years, to join Hale Lea Family Medicine and Hawaii Center for Children and Families on the beautiful island of Kauai. She specializes in mind body medicines and the clinical therapeutic applications of yoga, meditation and spirituality. Her new book, “
A Superhero’s Guide to Self-Compassion & Empathy,
” is now available on
Amazon
.
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Connect with CEA on social media
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