Want to help put San Antonio on the path to COVID-19 relief and Energy Justice? Here’s a few critical steps you can take.
This newsletter was written and distributed by the Lone Star Chapter's San Antonio Organizer, Greg Harman.
1. GET THE VOTE
More than the Trump-Biden match-up is headed to the ballot.
After years of resisting calls to get off of coal power, our City-owned utility, CPS Energy may also be headed to a public referendum. Driven by members of the local environmental justice community, a new initiative petition would place the question of utility control on the May 2021 ballot. If successful, it would make City Council the new board of trustees, require our last two coal units to shut down by 2030, and require progressive rate structures to protect those most vulnerable to high bills and the impact of climate shocks.
There's just under two months to raise 20,000 signatures to get this done. So volunteers are being sought to help circulate the petition and work the polls starting this coming weekend. Email DeeDee Belmares at dbelmares@citizen.org to get involved. Raise a fuss: #RecallCPSEnergy
2. PUSH CRITICAL REFORMS NOW
Demand Energy Justice lead the COVID-19/Climate Recovery Plan
While efforts targeting the governance of CPS continue to gather steam (and signatures), our communities continue to suffer the health and economic hardship of COVID-19. While City leaders struggle to develop a recovery plan, it seems like they are looking everywhere for inspiration but the City's two-years-in-development Climate Action and Adaptation Plan.
OPEN LETTER: "On Energy Justice and a San Antonio COVID-19 Recovery" (PDF)
Today, 23 local community organizations issued an open letter to our Mayor, City Council, and the CPS Board of Trustees outlining five critical reforms needed to protect our communities from the colliding crises of institutional racism, COVID-19, and the climate crisis. This plan aspires to help keep people in their homes, their lights on, with safe jobs to work and cleaner air to breathe.
It begins:
San Antonio is one of the fastest growing cities in the United States and celebrates a rich cultural heritage and diverse population. We are also one of the most economically and racially segregated large cities in the country. The impact of COVID-19 has only further laid bare glaring income and health disparities between white residents and people of color -- disparities that have complicated justice-based pandemic recovery efforts. We have long known that Northside residents of certain ZIP Codes live decades longer than some on the Southside(1), for instance, and therefore should have predicted that Latinx residents would die at disproportionately higher numbers with the onset of COVID-19. A raft of factors are behind these grim inequities: exposure to air pollution from fossil-fueled car and truck traffic; lack of access to greenspace and healthy food; redlining and racist development patterns and policing; rising temperatures driven by the engines of climate change and dirty power plants; and zoning that permits industrial operations near schools and neighborhoods.
These Demands Include:
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End the Policy of Utility Disconnections for Most Vulnerable Families
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Elevate FlexSTEP as an Essential Element of a Just COVID-19 Recovery
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No Rate Increases Until Our Utility Rate Structure is Fair
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Develop Community-Driven Resource Planning
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Shut Down the Spruce Coal Plant by 2030
Signatories run the gamut from the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments to the Society of Native Nations, from the Texas Organizing Project to the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance, and many more.
Help our Mayor and Council get the message. Review our letter and then let them know you expect a justice-based recovery be built upon the promise of energy and climate justice.
WRITE MAYOR RON NIRENBERG AND CITY COUNCIL!
(Not sure which district you live in? Check here.)
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3. SHARE YOUR SONGS
For you musicians/poets/creatives out there.
Grow this movement by finding your happy place (seriously, an actual natural spot in Greater San Antonio that gives you joy) and record your music, your poetry, your artwork, your words, your hopes and prayers for the future. You can livestream anytime with the hashtag #climateactionsatx. Or make a recording (up to 3 minutes) and email me at greg.harman@sierraclub.org.
DETAILS: "A Musical Call Out for Climate Justice" (PDF)
We will be sharing these offerings during a community forum later in the month recognizing the one-year anniversary of the CAAP that will be dedicated to building a world of justice and common care. For updates, message me or follow most any of our community partners on Facebook (say, Sierra Club, Deceleration.News, Southwest Workers Union, Climate Action SA).
Here is the Artist's Invite in PDF and PNG. Please share widely!
(Climate action playlist, anyone?)
For the Earth and All Her Families,
Greg Harman