While doing our best to stay safe, and keep others safe, time indoors has become anything but a novelty. For the lucky among us, worry and boredom reign supreme. Distractions are key, and thankfully we have another one —Earth Day! A time to focus on this blue marble we call home, and a time to ensure we can keep calling it home.
Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL), a grassroots organization finding solutions to the climate crisis, is hosting a virtual event on April 25 to celebrate Earth Day’s 50th anniversary. Participants will hear from speakers such as Dr. Katharine Hayhoe; a world-renowned climate scientist, evangelical Christian and host of the podcast “Global Weirding.” They will also learn about actions everyone can take from home to help now.
The event will end with a choice of groups focused on: CCL’s approach to advocacy, a panel of CCL volunteers, organizing during the pandemic, and preparing for climate discussions.
This group has been pursuing a more sustainable future for 13 years, with more than 450 local chapters. CCL volunteers do this by promoting the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, a bipartisan bill before Congress. Our own representative U.S. Congressman Derek Kilmer has signed on to the bill as a co-sponsor.
The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act seeks to give everyone the power to make more sustainable choices in their day-to-day lives.
It does this by putting a reasonable fee on fossil fuels and then giving all that money back in an equal dividend to consumers. People would receive this money at the beginning of the month — allowing them to have more flexibility and more incentive to spend in a way that benefits them and the future of the planet. This act will put the power of change in everyone’s hands.
To register for the virtual event, visit www.eventbrite.com/e/ uniting-from-home- registration-101119077884
Charlotte Larson Freeman is an activist, volunteer with Citizens’ Climate Lobby, and graduate from Bainbridge High School in the Class of 2019. She will continue her studies and interest in sustainability and politics at Western Washington University this fall.
