Protect the Clean Power Plan - a mother's story

Today I joined hundreds of people in publicly testifying at an Environmental Protection Agency hearing. The EPA, under the leadership of fossil fuel industry shill Scott Pruitt, is proposing to repeal the Clean Power Plan - without a replacement. As one woman put it, "repealing the CPP without a replacement is like moving out of your house without having a new place to move into." 

I was invited to testify by Moms Clean Air Force - who advised me to tell a personal story about how climate change and air quality affected me. So I shared a story about how Elliot was trapped by the Sonoma fires last fall. Even the former Charles Koch Institute guy seemed moved. Here is my three minute testimony:

Vanessa Warheit testifies at the 2/28/18 EPA Listening Session in San Francisco, on EPA's proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan.

Lisa Hoyos' 12-year old son was the last to speak in the afternoon's session. “I shouldn’t be here," he said, "I should be in school, or studying for my math test. I’m here because I’m afraid of what my future is going to be. The fact that the EPA, who are supposed to protect our environment, are talking about repealing a rule to protect our air - I can’t wrap my brain around it. I want to have a future where I don’t have to worry about this. Where my kids - if I have kids - don’t have to worry about this."

He spoke without notes, looking all three EPA administrators in the eye. He told them about his fears for the future. "When you think about all this testimony later," he concluded, "I want you to remember my face: the face of the future generation.”

12-year old citizen testifying to the EPA on proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan.

Transport Decarbonization Alliance launched at One Planet Summit

Very good news - last week’s One Planet Summit in Paris included the announcement of a new international alliance aimed at decarbonizing transportation globally. 

 “The attention that transport received and the commitments for climate action in transport that were made during the One Planet Summit are unprecedented. After the One Planet Summit, the transport sector is better positioned in climate change mitigation and adaptation than ever before.”

http://www.ppmc-transport.org/transport-at-one-planet-summit-countries-cities-and-non-governmental-actors-actively-support-the-ppmc-transport-decarbonization-alliance/

The EPA: It Isn't Just for Clean Air Anymore

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently taking comments on its proposal to repeal, replace, or modify environmental protections “to alleviate unnecessary regulatory burdens.” The proposal is almost nonsensical in its vagueness, and could apply to any EPA regulations.

The EPA is a public health agency, created by a Republican president to ensure the health and safety of our nation. I urge everyone who breathes air, drinks water, or relies on a stable climate to submit a comment - because your future is at stake. You can find information about how to make a comment, with a link to the comments input page, here: www.indivisibleberkeley.org/epa

This is what I submitted:

I oppose any arbitrary efforts to remove common-sense environmental protections. I support the protection, which the EPA provides in the form of regulations, of human health and the environment that sustains all of us.

EPA regulations are based on sound, peer-reviewed science. They were crafted specifically to protect human beings and the environment we rely on. Any future changes to EPA regulations must therefore address the degree to which regulatory changes would increase adverse outcomes for humans and the environment (e.g., increased 'spare the air' days, increased numbers of cancers and other illnesses, adverse effects on endangered species, etc.). 

I have witnessed, here in my home state of California, the positive changes in air quality that are a direct result of environmental regulation. When I was a kid, there were often days when the air was a filthy brown color. Today, even though my state has doubled in population, the skies are much cleaner. Yet we still have high asthma rates. If anything, we need *more* protections for our air and water! 

Improvements in air and water quality improve not only our health and well-being but also our economy. From 1990 - 2012, pollution in the US decreased dramatically, while our GDP doubled. The EPA conservatively estimates that the regulatory benefits of the Clean Air Act exceed its costs by a ratio of 25 to 1. Where else can you get that kind of return? Any proposed elimination of regulations that protect our air and water must therefore also address the costs of the associated health impacts on workers - and their families - such as increased healthcare costs, days missed from work, and lives lost.

Furthermore, the EPA's Clean Power Plan is the single biggest policy lever currently in place to limit our nation's greenhouse gas emissions. We need stringent regulations on carbon pollution to keep our pledge to the other nations of the world - and to our children - that we are doing everything we can to ensure a livable planet for their future. Right now it is a scientific fact that we are on a collision course with a destabilized climate - something the Department of Defense calls a 'threat multiplier'. We are already feeling the effects of climate change, stronger and faster than scientists originally predicted: the ice caps are melting, the seas are rising, the storms are getting stronger, more wildfires are burning, and the droughts and floods are happening with increasing and depressing regularity. We simply don't have time to yank away regulations, willy-nilly, just so a few companies can make some more money by polluting for free. If we value our children's future, we need to be building a clean energy economy, and we need to be doing it at breakneck speed. In order to do that, we must have a strong EPA that protects our air from carbon pollution and holds polluters accountable.

Lastly, the request for comments does not list or provide reference information to the specific regulations that might be covered by the request. The request should therefore be re-issued with a list of potentially affected regulations, and an extended deadline so that the public can provide properly informed comments.

On a personal note, I am worried about the repeal, replacement, or modification of environmental protections because I am terrified about what kind of world I am leaving to my son. As someone born in the late 60s, I grew up witnessing a country that felt like it was getting better - with the skies getting cleaner, and the future getting brighter. If you want to make America great again, the last thing you should be doing is tearing away at the EPA's protections of our air, our water, and our climate. The EPA is, quite frankly, one of the best things about the USA.

I drink water every day, as does everyone in my family. Every time I turn on my tap, I'm grateful that I live in a country that protects my right to clean, potable water. My family also breathes air, and I am grateful that the government makes sure it's clean and safe. We live in a city near the ocean, whose many services all depend on a stable climate and a stable coastline. If you start ripping out the protections provided by the EPA, all of that is at risk - and as a mother I cannot sit by and watch that happen.

So I am begging you: DON'T REPEAL OR REPLACE ANY EPA REGULATIONS. There are a thousand other better things you can do with your time.

Thank you.

Vanessa Warheit

'Til the Wellheads Run Dry

I've been down with the flu this week - and one day I woke from a nap with the lyrics for a new parody of Don McLean's American Pie running through my head. Elliot and I had recently been watching Weird Al's excellent parody, "The Saga Begins" - but my parody lyrics were directly connected to climate change. And politics.

After a day of writing, and another day or two of tweaking (plus some input from Elliot and a few friends), I debuted the song last night at a friend's karaoke party. It was a big hit, and by the end everyone was singing along with the chorus. So here it is - try it out and see what you think! 

I'm working on making a good recording of it - but in the meantime you can listen to a poorly-recorded version (with cheesy karaoke backup) here.

You can download the lyrics with guitar chords here, and the piano music is available here and here. 

'Til the Wellheads Run Dry
Music by Don McLean, Words by Vanessa Warheit

A long, long time ago, 
something magic happened, 
when James Watt built a steam machine

And with it brought us fossil fuels
to rev up all our power tools
and build a brand new world - it was a dream

But like all dreams, it couldn’t last
The air pollution grew too fast
And now the climate’s changing
It’s time for rearranging

Cause physics doesn’t care at all
The ice keeps melting, while we stall
7 billion on one blue ball
We all will need to try

So bye-bye to the ridiculous lie
That we have to keep on drilling til the wellheads run dry
Cause if we do, we know the planet will fry
And that would be a dumb way to die
Yes that would be a dumb way to die

Well the good news is, we’ve got all we need
The power’s there - but, so’s the greed
We need a revolution soon
Cause the money’s gone to a chosen few
And they don’t think like me & you
‘bout the future, no, that’s not the way of wall street…

But we’ve got a big election soon
Will it save us all, or spell our doom
The choice seems pretty clear…
Feel the Bern, or feed the fear… ooh!

We need a new supreme court justice too
The last one’s gone, it’s really true,
Let’s send up a prayer or two
I think, it’s worth a try. Cause I’m still singing.. 

Bye-bye to the ridiculous lie
That we have to keep on drilling til the wellheads run dry
Cause if we do, we know the planet will fry
And that would be a dumb way to die
Yes that would be a dumb way to die

Now the reasons, well I must have missed ‘em,
For rippin out our life-support systems
‘Cause, that’s not how it needs to be…

We’ve got geothermal and lots of solar
To keep us cosy in the next big polar
vortex - brr - and don’t forget the wind… 

‘Cause we’ve seen how strong that wind can blow,
And storage - yeah, there’s still a ways to go - 
But financing is the key-
Can we end the oil subsidy? ooh -

‘Cause with a methane plume over LA
A melting Arctic and a rising bay
I’m worried my kid might not be OK
Unless, we start to try….
So let’s start singing

Bye-bye to the ridiculous lie
That we have to keep on drilling til the wellheads run dry
Cause if we do, we know the planet will fry
And that would be a dumb way to die
Yes that would be a dumb way to die

From Rio to Paris, they still keep meeting
To discuss the Mauna Loa readings,
400 parts & rising fast….

Fossil fuels have been a blast
But pretty soon, the die will be cast
I’m afraid our... generation... is the last

To take a stand and make things right
To ensure our future’s bright
We know what we need to do
Oh, and I think that you do too

We need more public transit, and high-speed trains,
Electric cars, and safe bike lanes
We could even fly in solar airplanes
But only if we try…
That’s why I’m singing

Bye bye to that ridiculous lie
That says we have to keep on drilling til the wellheads run dry
Cause if we do, we know the planet will fry
And that would be a dumb way to die
Yes that would be a dumb way to die

Oh we are one human race,
On one little planet, alone in space
You’d think that we could find a way…

So bring on tiny houses, and safer streets
Healthy forests, and pastured meats,
And veggie meals, each & every day…

And if you’re waiting for the billionaires
Remember you are the one who cares
And nobody else but you
Can do that thing you do

So bring on your passion, Bring on your dreams
Together, we can do anything
The time is now, the train is leaving
C’mon, we’ve got to try.
And we’re all singing

Bye-by to that ridiculous lie
That says we have to keep on drilling til the wellheads run dry
'Cause if we do, we know the planet will fry
And that would be a dumb way to die
Yes that would be a dumb way to die

I met a girl who had a dream
She saw a future, safe and clean
So I asked her, can you see the way?

Take a look around, she said
All those plans inside your head
Make them real, make them see the light of day.

Go out there and tell your friends
It’s not too late to change the end
You could all stand up now or
never know your power

So folks I hope you’ll follow me
And be the change you want to see
We haven’t got a Planet B
We’ve got to stand and fight.

So bye-by to that ridiculous lie
That says we’ve gotta keep on drilling til the wellheads run dry
'Cause if we do, we know the planet will fry
And that would be a dumb way to die
Yes that would be a dumb way to die

Bye-by to that ridiculous lie
That says we have to keep on drilling til the wellheads run dry
Cause if we do, we know the planet will fry
And that would be a dumb way to die.

Media Lounge Interview

Watch Elliot knock it out of the park in our interview at the Wild & Scenic Film Festival's Media Lounge

An Open Letter to the Silicon Valley Business Times

The past week has held some serious surprises - among them the US Supreme Court's decision to stay enforcement of the Clean Power Plan, and the subsequent death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. But a smaller surprise - at least to me - was an article in the Silicon Valley Business Journal, about how businesses were thrilled about the SCOTUS decision.

Now, maybe I'm just naive - but I find it odd that the main business newspaper of Silicon Valley would be saying stuff like this:

“The National Federation of Independent Business said the rule would result in “substantially higher energy costs” for small businesses as well. The court’s stay “gave small businesses and the states some breathing room until it can decide the matter.”

Funny - I thought businesses were actually pretty pleased with the Clean Power Plan, as it finally gave them some certainty about how the government was going to start dealing our massive and mounting carbon problem. Staying its enforcement just throws the American business environment back into murky waters. Who was this National Federation of Independent Business, anyway?

Turns out - and I know, I shouldn't be surprised, but I am - they're a shill for Koch Industries and their cronies, as were most of the others interviewed for the article. 

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE SILICON VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL

I was surprised to read your Feb. 10, 2016 article on the recent Supreme Court stay against enforcing the EPA’s Clean Power Plan (“Business groups pleased Supreme Court put EPA's power plant rule on hold”). To read the article, it would seem the entire business community is lined up in opposition to the Clean Power Plan. Nothing, however, could be farther from the truth. 

Last July, no less than 365 leading companies and investors sent a public letter of support for the Clean Power Plan - including industry giants such as General Mills, Mars Inc., Nestle, Staples, Unilever and VF Corporation. “Our support is firmly grounded in economic reality,” they wrote - a reality that includes some statistics conspicuously missing from your February article, such as:

• The average price of a commercial PV system dropped nearly 30% from 2012-2015, and continues to fall precipitously
• Electricity generated by large wind farms is now cost-competitive in many places with coal and natural gas
• 60% of Americans support the Clean Power Plan

The article is not only inaccurate, it underestimates (if not outright insults) the American business community. Are we really so short-sighted as to ignore the fact that power plants account for nearly 40 percent of US carbon pollution? Are we really so immoral as to ignore the fact that this pollution contributes to life-threatening illnesses, like childhood asthma, that cost us billions of dollars in healthcare costs and thousands of lives each year?

Experts say the Clean Power Plan is the single biggest step the US has ever taken to reduce carbon emissions and address climate change (and all the problems that come with it). As a small business owner, a mother, and a concerned citizen of Silicon Valley, I am pleased to know that the business community does in fact care about the world we live in, and sees the financial benefits of moving away from the dirty, destructive fuels we no longer need for economic growth. Despite the recent misguided decision by the Supreme Court, I hope you will share with your readers that there are, in fact, many in the business community working hard to ensure a safe and secure future for our children.

Cologne: Multi-Modal Transport

Our next stop was Cologne, to visit my old friend Claudia and her mom. Cologne, too, had gotten a new underground metro since my last visit. Plus a whole lot of other ways to get around.

Elliot loved Cologne - and its protected bike lanes

Subway in Cologne

Signs in the Cologne metro, showing the Cologne "Dom" cathedral overwhelmed by climate chaos. The signs say: "What are you doing for the climate? Riding the bus & train more!"

Europe, part 2: Climate Optimism & the London Transport Museum

Elliot with Malachi Chadwick, Britain's cheeriest climate activist, in the 10:10 offices

One of our many reasons for visiting London was to meet up with Malachi Chadwick, the Director of "Communications and Climate Optimism" for an NGO called 10:10. If you're not familiar with this cheeky band of earth-saving activists, you're in for a treat. Founded as a spin-off from the riveting docu-drama "The Age of Stupid", their tagline is "Climate Change Sucks - Do Something About It." They're all about solutions, and about engaging people through hope and empowerment, rather than fear. They rock.

We had a great time with Malachi, although we were both sad to have so little time and so much to talk about. Still, it's good to know that there are smart people like him working on the same issues, half a world away. And we'll always have the internet...

The London Transport Museum - a mecca for transit enthusiasts.

We also visited the amazing London Transport Museum. Housed in the city's former flower market, the museum is a goldmine for transit junkies, packed with information and media materials, and dozens of the actual vehicles used to transport Londoners over the past 150 years. 

The original omnibus - complete with horse poop!

We were particularly delighted at this display, which engages kids in figuring out how much horse poop was left on the streets of London before the days of internal combustion and electrification. (Answer: 1000 pounds of dung per day!)

What they didn't include was an assessment of how that relates to the amount of CO2 poop generated by car traffic today. I actually ran the calculations (for San Francisco, not for London), and the answers are pretty shocking. Look for those in a future blog post...

The museum did, however, include a plaque with this quotation:

From the London Transport Museum

Flood Wall Street

The day after the Peoples Climate March, I jumped on a Citibike and rode down to Battery Park, hoping to catch a glimpse of my hero, Naomi Klein, at the Flood Wall Street protest.

The carbon bubble makes its way toward Wall Street

I got there too late to hear her - but the event was so fun, and so captivating, and so important, that I decided to stick around. (I drew the line, though, at risking arrest. This didn't seem like the right time or place for that.) I met Tim deChristopher, and got to experience the 'human mic' (a really cool legacy of the Occupy Wall Street movement - enabling large groups of people to hear one person without a microphone.) 

Organizers use the "human mic" technique, developed during the Occupy movement, to prepare protestors for non-violent action at Flood Wall Street - a day of action after the Peoples Climate March, to draw attention to the root economic causes of climate chaos.

Flooding Wall Street

Tim deChristopher and Democracy Now's Amy Goodman at Flood Wall Street

Flood Wall Street protestors peacefully removing the NYPD barriers to allow access

Flood Wall Street protestors commandeer a tourist bus - to the delight of everyone inside the barricades

I'd been wondering when, oh when, we were going to start getting some climate action protest music - and at Flood Wall Street I finally got to hear some! We sang two songs - both of them catchy and spiritual and easy to learn. Here's one of them:

Marching for the Climate... with 400,000 of My Closest Friends

Caffeinated and ready to march!

I don't think I will ever forget September 21, 2014. I hope I never forget the feeling of being there - the feeling of being surrounded by almost half a million people, with love in their hearts, standing up and demanding a new course for humanity. 

Recently, and ever more frequently, I've felt this deep disconnection from the people around me - like I’m surrounded by sleepwalkers, all of us blindly headed for a cliff. Like I'm the only one awake to the danger we're heading toward, and I’m powerless to stop it. It's a kind of waking nightmare. At best, I might be in the company of a few others who feel the same - but sharing a common nightmare is, in some ways, even less reassuring.

But in New York, it was different. 

A fellow-traveler in the Peoples Climate March

My dear friend Sharon's 14-year-old son, Sam, at the Peoples Climate March

NYC Subway car, covered in signs encouraging people to attend the march

Volunteering for the Peoples Climate March at Columbus Circle in Manhattan.

In New York, I was part of a tide of people pushing in the opposite direction - so strong a tide that it was pushing me in the RIGHT direction. (And pushing a lot of other people too.) It's like the whole city - labor unions, families, senior citizens, everyone, even the police - just rose up and said WE HAVE TO CHANGE. When I learned on Monday night that the Rockefeller brothers had decided to divest from fossil fuels, I could feel the world shifting beneath me. I felt like I was at the center of a giant upswell of righteousness, and that maybe, finally, things were going to get better.

Waiting (and waiting and waiting!) with the Interfaith contingent on 58th St. for the march to begin.

People as far as I could see, up and down 6th Avenue

It took some getting used to - to no longer being the crazy 'eco-active' mom on the block, and instead being just one of 400,000 people, all asking for the same thing. And it was strange to be engaged in an issue that is so personal to me, with so many strangers and so far from home. But if I felt solidarity from those strangers around me, I also felt that in a very small way, my being there was a source of strength and encouragement to others. Many times during the day, I would hear someone exclaim with pride and delight “Palo Alto - wow! you came all the way from California! That's so great!” And I was so grateful to be able to say, “Yes, my congregation sent me,” and to show them the photos I was carrying, and to let them know that others back home were marching too.

Ribbons from the Climate Ribbon project

People choosing climate ribbons to take home, Peoples Climate March, NYC

Projects like the Climate Ribbon campaign also showed me that my grief and fear and hope are not mine alone - that we are ALL fighting, and praying, for the better world we know we must build for our children.

Quite possibly my favorite marcher...

I guess that the best thing about being at the march was that it gave me a taste of hope. For the first time, I believe we might actually win this. It’s going to take a lot of love, and a lot of hard work, to achieve any kind of climate safe future. And when I get back to California, I know it's going to feel weird all over again, and I'll go back to being the crazy eco-mom on the block. It's going to be hard, too, to hang on to this hopeful feeling, and to share it with my eco-active friends - who are increasingly terrified by the news coming in every day about the crazy-short amount of time we have to turn things around.

But I'm going to remember - and remind them - that half a million people marched with me through the streets of New York. And together, we can move mountains. 

New York, Here I Come

I'm on board a tiny airplane headed for LA, where I'll be boarding a much bigger (I hope) airplane for New York. I'm going to volunteer for - and represent my UU congregation at - the biggest climate action in history.
It was a tough decision, whether or not to bring Elliot with me - but ultimately I decided that it wasn't worth the money, and the carbon, to bring him along. I can also be more effective on my own as a volunteer - and this way Elliot will get to participate in the Bay Area's bid this weekend to break the Guinness World Record for most EVs in one place. He's particularly excited because he'll get to see Stella there - the world's first family solar car.

For more on my reasons for flying to a climate march, visit my personal blog: http://vmarksthespot.blogspot.com/

Bill McKibben Likes Us! (and the Ethics of Flying to a Climate Rally)

With ten days to go in our Kickstarter campaign - and $5,000 still left to raise - I've started feeling a bit desperate. So I wrote to Bill McKibben this morning about our project, hoping he might help to spread the word. It felt like a vain hope - I mean, I've written to plenty of bloggers and journalists already about this project, and most of them don't respond. Plus, I decided to write to the leader of the climate movement two days after some really, truly bad news about the state of the climate came out, and a few hours after his most recent article in Rolling Stone hit the Internet. Getting any kind of a response seemed highly unlikely at best.

So imagine my joyful disbelief this afternoon, when I saw this tweet:

Yes, this is from THE Bill McKibben. And yes, I did tell him we were thinking of attending the climate rally in NYC.

I wrote him back and thanked him, profusely - but what I didn't ask (I hate to bug the guy, he's so busy trying to save the world) was whether or not he thinks that flying across the country to attend a climate rally - ok, THE climate rally - is actually a responsible use of fossil fuels. I have a feeling he would argue that it is. (Read his article - I think you'll see why.) Especially since we would (of course) offset all that carbon. But still. I'm curious.

What do you think? Is it ethical? Are YOU going to be in New York? Why (or why not)?

Bike to Work Day!

Today was the SF Bay Area Bike to Work Day. Elliot and I got up an hour early, to greet people at the CalTrain station.

Kathy Durham, Palo Alto's Safe Routes to School/Commute coordinator, gives Elliot goodie bags to hand out.

We made a giant poster and handed out flyers - along with free bagels, coffee, and goodie bags. Elliot even dressed up in his professor costume. Crowd funding has made us shameless.

Vanessa and Elliot, in between waves of cycle commuters.

Sven Thesen at 7am, waiting for commuters and chanting "Worse Than Poop!"

Towards 8am, more people started  arriving - including the Mayor and the City Manager.

Elliot & Vanessa with team Bike Palo Alto - including Kathy Durham, Mayor Nancy Shepherd, Chief Transportation Official Jaime Rodriguez, and City Manager Jim Keene.

One cyclist, when he heard about Worse Than Poop!, asked Elliot to sign his flyer.

The lucky recipient of Elliot's very first autograph.

Carbon-free Transportation: Part 1

As a thank-you to our Kickstarter supporters, we're creating a series of videos featuring Professor Elliot looking at alternatives to pooping cars. In each episode, Elliot and his camera-toting mom will visit a different expert to learn about a new form of carbon-free transportation.

Our first episode features Nissan Leaf expert Maddi Hausmann:

Earth Day, here we come...

It's Sunday night, and we launch our Kickstarter campaign on Tuesday. Less than 48 hours to go! I'm nervous, and exhausted. Tonight at dinner, we asked Elliot if he remembered when he first heard about the project and agreed to do it. "I remember you came to pick me up after school, at Kids Club," he said. "And I remember, you said, 'I've got an idea!...'"

The rest, as they say, is history. Or soon will be.

Yikes! We launch in less than 48 hours! (From our first "Professor Elliot" photo shoot, June, 2013) 

As we prepare for the intensity of the campaign, a few people have pointed out to me that not everyone knows what a "Kickstarter campaign" is. So, in a nutshell: it's a way of crowdfunding a project - in this case, by using the Kickstarter web platform.

Crowdfunding is a way of gathering financial support through many individual donors, most of whom donate small amounts. Running a campaign is supposed to be by turns grueling, mortifying, and exhilarating. Missy Laney, of the Sundance Institute, told me it's like having a newborn baby in the house. You spend every waking moment on it - and you don't sleep much. (You can see why I'm feeling nervous!)

In our case, we are also running an "all or nothing" campaign - meaning we won't get a penny unless we raise at least our goal: $21,000. This is the bare minimum it will take to make Worse Than Poop! the film we know it needs to be. In reality, it will take more than this - but $21k will get us far enough to make it happen. And as with all crowdfunded projects, the more people who find out about it, the more likely we are to meet our goal. 

This is why you, dear reader, are so important. You have the power to forward this post to your friends, to like us on FaceBook, to follow us on Twitter, and to tell everyone you know about Worse Than Poop!  Starting on Tuesday, for as little as $5, you can become part of the solution, part of a movement that will change our world for the better, one pooping car at a time. We'll also have many awesome and fun rewards for you - fabulous tokens of our affection that you won't find anywhere else. So stay tuned... and if you haven't already, please take the Poopie Pledge to support us on Tuesday!