2/17/2024 0 Comments Ithaca voice climate protestWednesday’s rally saw Ithacans from all walks of life including voices from local high schoolers, college students and community members, bringing together multiple generations of activists. “As much as I hate it, my future is dependent on the changes big corporations are willing to make… if corporations aren’t willing to change the way they function to support us, it is our job to take control of our future and speak up,” said Edin Lewis, an organizer with Our Climate. The resolution commits the government to enforcing liberal policies addressing climate change and inequality including taking steps to ensure the climate stays “below 1.5 degrees celsius of global warming” and overhaul the power sector, “in order to move the country, by not later than 2035, to carbon pollution-free electricity that passes an environmental justice screen to prevent concentrating pollution in Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities”ĭespite this ask, most of the rally Wednesday focused on demanding that corporations, which contribute more to climate change than the government or private citizens, commit to change. The bill is estimated to create and sustain 150,000 jobs over the next decade.Īlong with demands for the passage of CCIA, the local organizations rallying Wednesday urged members of Congress to sign on to the “ THRIVE Agenda ,” a resolution which asks the Federal Government to “implement an agenda to Transform, Heal, and Renew by Investing in a Vibrant Economy.” The press release goes on to explain that the CCIA will fund large-scale projects like offshore wind, energy rebates for the bottom 60 percent of households by income, tenant-owned solar in frontline communities, public transit, housing and schools as well as labor training that will help transition fossil fuel-dependent workers and communities. According to the event’s press release these solutions “would quickly and equitably draw down New York’s emissions while building a stronger, more just economy for all.” The money would be invested back into green jobs, frontline communities and a renewable economy for New York State. takes an important, and necessary, step towards change by reinvesting funds back into these frontline communities.” …We need a policy that begins to combat the systemic racism and classism that underlies the climate crisis. She continued, “Fossil fuel companies have been damaging communities for decades, and they need to be held financially responsible for the harm that they have caused. “At its core, the climate crisis is a social justice issue, and we need legislation that treats it as such,” said Siobhan Hull, event coordinator and member of Climate Justice Cornell and Sunrise Ithaca. The CCIA is meant to build upon the legislation by funding the mandates stated in the CLCPA. NY Renews Coalition was also the group behind the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), a Senate Bill passed in 2019 mandating New York state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85 percent by 2050 with net-zero emissions in all sectors of the economy and invest in environmental justice in disadvantaged communities. Based on this trajectory, the CCIA “would raise around $15 billion per year over the first 10 years.” The fee will begin at $55 per ton of greenhouse gas emissions and will increase year after year. According to NY Renews, the fee would mostly be paid by companies that import fossil fuels into New York state. The CCIA senate bill looks to raise $15 billion a year from “corporate polluters” by making fossil fuel companies pay a fee on greenhouse gases and co-pollutants. Government officials joined citizens at other rallies in Albany, Buffalo, Westchester, Long Island and New York City. The rally was one of many across the state of New York as part of a statewide Climate, Jobs and Justice Action week organized by the NY Renews Coalition, a group of over 200 environmental, justice, faith, labor and community groups who fight for climate justice. Local organizations Climate Justice Cornell (CJC), Sunrise Ithaca, the Ithaca Democratic Socialists of America (IDSA), Our Climate and Tompkins Mothers Out Front (TMOF) were all present. –– Almost 40 local climate activists joined Assemblymember Anna Kelles outside her East Court Street office in a rally for the proposed corporate emissions tax bill, the Climate and Community Investment Act (CCIA), on Wednesday.
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