Climate Action Alliance of the Valley

Things going on we want you to know about!

---

Join Virginia Conservation Network and partners to ensure a strong conservation voice is heard during the legislative session. Thursday, January 21 starting at 8 AM. Register here.

This year’s lobby day will cover:

• Tackling climate pollution from transportation;
• Securing funding for our natural resources in order to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, protect our parks and natural landscapes & enhance our environmental agencies;
• Increasing utility accountability while meeting our clean energy goals;
• Improving environmental justice in the Commonwealth,
• And more!

Find VCN’s 2021 Common Agenda here. It represents the policy agenda of more than 130 organizations across the Commonwealth. This book provides an in-depth analysis of the conservation issues facing Virginia and provides practical, state-level policy solutions to keep us moving in the right direction.

---

Virginia’s Green New Deal: A Conversation with Delegate Sam Rasoul

Tuesday, January 26 | 7PM | on Zoom

The Green New Deal is important Virginia Legislation that can transform our economy around the environment and workers. Join VA Delegate Sam Rasoul to learn what the Green New Deal means for Virginians, and to ask any questions you have.

Free. Register HERE.

Hosted by the Shenandoah Group of the Sierra Club and the Climate Action Alliance of the Valley. More about the Virginia Green New Deal HERE. More about Sam HERE and HERE.

---

“‘Beyond the Vampire Squid’ is a story about power in Virginia – who has it and who does not. This story affects every Virginian, and every Virginian has a chance to write a new ending — one that shifts the power from utility monopolies like Dominion Energy to everyday people seeking to power their lives with affordable clean energy. Join the movement for energy reform at cleanvirginia.org.” Watch it on YouTube here.

---

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.

---

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.

---

Check out all the solar installations counted so far in Harrisonburg for the 2019 Harrisonburg Solar Census. If you have solar, be counted!

---

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.
  • Atmospheric temperature reconstructions show that 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.
  • Although East Antarctic ice is increasing, West Antarctic ice is decreasing much faster.
  • Weather is getting more extreme.
  • Ecosystems are changing more rapidly.
• Evidence for the role of CO₂ as the main cause of climate change is very strong.
  • 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 influencing the water vapor content and 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).
  • 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.

We must release less ­­each year 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.