Climate Action Alliance of the Valley

Things going on we want you to know about!

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The Shenandoah Valley Black Heritage Project is installing solar panels on the roof of their building located at 425 Hill Street in Harrisonburg. A collaboration of Shenandoah Valley community organizations is seeking to support and amplify their mission to learn, share, and illuminate the rich African American history and culture of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Donate HERE. Or HERE.

More about this project from Eric Gorton at Harrisonburg’s The Citizen HERE.

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Cathy Strickler of Climate Action Alliance of the Valley recently presented Shamika Hayes, Director of the Simms Preteen Center of the Boys and Girls Club, with copies of Our World Out of Balance by Andrea Minoglio and Climate Action: What Happened and What We Can Do by Seymour Simon. She has been raising money to purchase dozens of copies of these books and getting them into the hands of local youth.

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The 50 by 25 campaign is calling for the City to take action on climate change, increase renewable energy, and make home energy costs affordable through energy efficiency programs. It has succeeded in seeing through the unanimous passage of “Resolution in Favor of Harrisonburg’s Transition to Renewable Energy by 2035” by Harrisonburg City Council on November 10, 2020. More here from WHSV.

Learn about the effort here. Sign the petition here.

Tom Benevento has an opinion piece in the February 28, 2020, edition of the Daily News-Record about the importance of this effort. Tom discusses the campaign in an episode of the James Madison Center for Civic Engagement’s podcast Democracy Matters on October 16 here. See him talk about the passage of the resolution with Bob Corso on WHSV’s 1 on 1 on November 13, 2020, here.

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At their June 16, 2020, meeting, the steering committee of the Climate Action Alliance of the Valley voted unanimously in favor of supporting Black Lives Matter with this resolution:

Resolved that the Climate Action Alliance of the Valley stands in support of Black Lives Matter, that we support a redirection of tax dollars away from policies that enable police brutality, and toward policies that meet community needs and link environmental and social justice.

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by Les Grady, Environmental Engineer, retired

Driven mainly by carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, Earth’s climate is changing.

• Evidence from diverse sources confirms climate change.
  • The current warming is unprecedented within the span of human civilization.
  • Oceans are warming.
  • Glaciers are melting.
  • Sea level is rising.
  • The Arctic ice cap is shrinking, the ice is thinning, and its nature is changing.
  • Weather is getting more extreme.
  • Ecosystems are changing more rapidly.
• Evidence for the role of CO₂ as the main cause of climate change is unequivocal.
  • Earth’s temperature is stabilized and regulated by the greenhouse effect.
  • The major greenhouse gases (GHGs) are CO₂ and water vapor.
  • Water vapor is responsible for 50% of the greenhouse effect, but its life in the atmosphere is short because it condenses as rain and snow. CO₂ is directly responsible for 20% of the greenhouse effect, but its indirect effect is much larger. Because it does not condense, it stays in the atmosphere for a very long time, thereby regulating Earth’s temperature.  It is Earth’s thermostat.
  • The level of CO₂ in the atmosphere is increasing because of the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas).
  • Earth’s temperature is directly proportional to the amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere.
  • Satellites show a reduction in outgoing (i.e., cooling) radiation leaving Earth at the wave-lengths associated with CO₂ and other GHGs.
  • Land-based sensors show an increase in incoming (i.e., warming) radiation from CO₂ and other GHGs consistent with their increased concentration in the atmosphere.
  • Satellite measurements of top of atmosphere radiation confirm that GHGs are responsible for Earth’s observed warming.

We must stop releasing CO₂ to stabilize Earth’s climate.

Compost your kitchen scraps at the downtown community Compost Drop-off bins! Drop-offs can be made anytime year round at the bins’ permanent spot on the edge of the gravel parking lot at S. Liberty and Warren Streets within sight of the Turner Pavilion and Municipal Building. See images below.

Drop off compostables here at your convenience.

Anyone is welcome to drop off kitchen scraps to these 65-gallon Black Bear Composting bins at anytime. Your compostables can be dumped directly from another container or placed in a paper bag, paper box (remove any plastic tape and/or plastic labels) or BPI-certified compostable “plastic” bag.

Compostable bags to line containers, for ease of collecting your scraps, are available at the bins site.