Calling on Washington State Kossacks to put some adrenaline into the mix. It's time.
Time for a carbon tax reality check: There are only two carbon pricing policies on the table in Washington State. One of them is Governor Inslee's climate bill in Olympia. The other is CarbonWA's "relief pitcher" carbon tax ballot measure, Initiative to the Legislature #732.
The most important thing we can do as progressives for either one of them is to contribute our strength and our voice to the Carbon Washington campaign.
But don't take my word for it. Read what Rep Joe Fitzgibbon, the Chair of the Washington State Environmental Committee and a former guest last year at our Seattle & Puget Sound Kos meet up, recently said:
... administration officials, House representatives and even representation from the GOP Senate caucus have been meeting almost daily to discuss the possibility of reviving Inslee’s dormant proposal. It would require Washington’s 80 to 90 biggest polluters to pay for the right to produce specific amounts of carbon emissions, which scientists have linked to global warming.
...legislators have looked at signature gathering by the group Carbon Washington to put Initiative 732 on the 2016 ballot. I-732 would install a $25-per-ton tax on carbon emissions beginning July 1, 2017.
The prospect of a blunt initiative rather than a more nuanced bill has prompted legislators to huddle about Inslee’s carbon emissions tax proposal, said Fitzgibbon.
CarbonWA is starting to light a fire under our legislature. I think we should help add fuel to that fire - a lot of fuel. Personally, I'd like to see both
CarbonWA's initiative and Governor Inslee's cap and trade proposal succeed, but regardless I want to see the temperature continue to be increased on this issue! The time is now!
How can we help? Well, first and foremost we can contribute to their efforts.
Check out the heartwarming crowdfunding video.
Already they've raised over $5,000 in small donations (75 so far, none greater than $500). We can help by donating $22 in honor of Earth Day, or $150 to get a t-shirt, or $250 to get a t-shirt and a signed copy of Yoram Bauman's Cartoon Climate Change book.
Follow below the orange hairpiece to find out about other ways to help. Thanks!
We can help by collecting signatures.
Their office is already filling up with many thousands of signatures, but they could use all the help they can get to reach their targets for April and beyond!
There are trainings and kickoffs coming up all over the state (Lopez Island, Olympia, and Spokane on Saturday April 25, Port Townsend on T April 28, Bainbridge on W April 29, Vancouver on Saturday May 2, Bellevue on Monday May 4, Federal Way on Sunday May 31, etc.) plus lots of great events coming up, including the Procession of the Species in Olympia this coming Saturday afternoon, the Seattle Sounders game against Portland this Sunday at 6:30pm, and Nobel laureate and carbon tax fan Joseph Stiglitz at a sold-out Town Hall on April 28. (To get involved, email michelle@carbonwa.org for Olympia and laurel@carbonwa.org for the Seattle events).
We can help by reading and sharing these new articles in Sightline and Real Change.
Kristin Eberhard at Sightline didn't mince any words about the Carbon Washington proposal: "Win."
"A steady and predictably rising price on pollution could usher in an orderly transition to clean energy for free for most households, with the added bonus of improving Washington’s woefully regressive tax code. Win."
And Alex Lenferna and Yoram Bauman have an op-ed ("Carbon Washington’s climate ballot measure will boost social justice") in the new issue of Real Change: go buy an issue from your local vendor or
read it online.
We can help by getting inspired by CarbonWa's Tales from the Trails
Ian writes: "I came to the training at Bellevue Public Library on Sunday – it was awesome! It was really fun, inspiring and effective. I have 32 signatures already: I mailed my first sheet to PO Box 85565, Seattle [98145-1565] tonight. I collected mainly from PCC and Trader Joe in Issaquah, but also a couple of colleagues, my wife, and one random guy outside the library."
Ben writes: "I'm finding that collecting signatures for the initiative is easier than I expected. Most people willing to stop and chat agree to sign or take note of the CarbonWA website and agree to take a closer look. I have collected signatures at Green Lake and in Eastsound on Orcas Island. To date I have about 230 signatures. I have used a hook like "Would you care to sign an initiative to reduce the state sales tax in favor of a carbon pollution tax?" Usually a minute or so of explanation is required to explain the proposal. A lot of people are concerned about how regressive our tax system is and like to hear that the initiative funds a state supplement to the federal earned income tax credit."
Note:
The information in this post, although not technically cross posted, was written using information obtained from this article written by Yoram Bauman, one of the Executive Directors of CarbonWA.
Yoram is a PhD environmental economist (and "stand-up economist") who co-authored the 1998 book Tax Shift with Sightline's Alan Durning. I plan to pursue having Yoram as a guest speaker in the near future and I personally feel this is an excellent opportunity for Seattle & Puget Sound Kos to make a difference. Signature gathering pledges can be made here.
The first diary I ever posted on Daily Kos was entitled "Time is Wasting". Let's not let this opportunity to make a difference slip away through our hourglass of time.
Related articles on this same issue:
Competing WA cap-and-trade ballot initiative? A modest proposal to stop the insanity
WA State enviro nonprofits seek to kill citizen climate initiative
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