A MESSAGE FROM OUR REGIONAL DIRECTOR
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Greetings,
We are pleased to present our seventh edition (December 2020) of the CXC-Maryland Climate Rally e-newsletter. This new electronic newsletter is not only a way for us to keep stakeholders engaged by bringing environmental/climate news, information, related stories from Maryland and around the country to you in a more timely manner, it also gives us an opportunity to “go green.” As we approach the 2021 Legislative Session, you might find our Featured Article of interest, TRANSFORMING PUBLIC WILL INTO POLITICAL POWER. Vincent DeMarco, president of Maryland Citizens’ Health Initiative, shares his six step advocacy process.
I hope you find this edition of the Maryland Climate Rally informative. Thank you for taking the time to read and give us your thoughts! If you haven’t already done so, please sign up to receive the Maryland Climate Rally e-Newsletter (complete form here).
Warm regards,
Wandra Ashley-Williams
Maryland Regional Director
Climate XChange
Wandra@Climate-XChange.org
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New Jersey Ramps Up Offshore Wind: The Board of Public Utilities has “positioned New Jersey to be the first state to fully align its offshore wind transmission goals with its regional grid operator’s planning process.” The move aims to contribute to Governor Phil Murphy’s goal of reaching 7,500 megawatts of offshore wind energy by 2035. READ MORE
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Special Presidential Envoy for Climate: As Biden begins to appoint key members of his administration, former Secretary of State John Kerry will serve as “Climate Czar” and sit on the National Security Council. The move strengthens Biden’s commitment to put climate change at the forefront of his presidency. READ MORE
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Defending Gwich’in Land: As the Trump administration moves to sell off parts of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska for oil and gas development, the Gwich’in people are fighting to oppose it. The land is sacred to the Indigenous community, who rely on the ecosystem for maintaining social and cultural values as well as sustenance. READ MORE
- Post-election, Youth Climate Activists Celebrate, Recuperate, and Organize: Youth climate activists helped propel the Biden campaign to victory. These young activists favored former VP Joe Biden by a wide margin. Bernie Sanders was actually the ideal candidate for climate activists, but once the contest was between Biden and Trump, it was clear who the environmental candidate was. READ MORE
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FEATURED ARTICLE
TRANSFORMING PUBLIC WILL INTO POLITICAL POWER | By: Vincent DeMarco
Working closely with key coalition partners like the NAACP, AARP, unions, health providers and faith organizations, we at the Maryland Health Care For All! Coalition have convinced the Maryland General Assembly to enact significant public health measures over the past twenty years, including enacting tobacco and alcohol tax increases to reduce teen smoking and underage drinking and expand health care and creating the first in the nation Prescription Drug Affordability Board. We have accomplished this using a six step advocacy process that you can learn more about here and by reading The DeMarco Factor, Transforming Public Will Into Political Power by Michael Pertschuk. I will describe here the basics of how these six steps work.
First Step: We worked with top experts from institutions such as the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to come up with evidence-based solutions to key public health issues such as high drug costs and teen smoking. We also worked with the experts to put together reports which showed how our proposed solutions would help Marylanders.
Second Step: We commissioned polling and focus groups using OpinionWorks, a top Maryland pollster, to test public support for our proposal and to help hone our message for the public and policy makers. In the polls, we always asked questions to determine whether voters would switch their allegiance to support candidates who were in favor of our proposal.
Third Step: We built powerful coalitions in support of our proposals, including hundreds of faith, community, labor, business and health care groups from across Maryland. We reached out to these groups using a one page Resolution which lays out the problem we are addressing and how our proposal would alleviate the problem. It is very important that advocates take the time necessary to reach out to key organizations through whatever processes they have to take positions on public policies. And, think about the "WOW" factor to make sure to recruit organizations as supporters whose endorsement would impress key policy makers.
Fourth Step: Throughout this process, we used the media to the hilt to reach out to Marylanders across the state. We maximize earned, paid and social media. To get the earned media we need, we emphasize strong messages such as "Alcohol Taxes Save Lives" and "Drugs Don't Work If People Can't Afford Them" and we recruit strong messengers such as top faith leaders and people with moving stories to tell. Social media is of course very important and our twitter and Facebook posts are up to date and well done.
Fifth Step: We make our issue a top election issue. We take the Resolution which all the organizations endorsed and turn that into a Resolution that candidates for Governor and General Assembly endorse. Following that, with the help of our coalition partners, we convince the candidates to endorse our proposal. We then do all we can to let the public know which candidates have endorsed our proposal, without ever endorsing any individual candidate for office.
Sixth Step: After completing steps one through five, we are then ready to make our case at the hearing, continue our grassroots mobilization and continue to use the media to the fullest to get our proposal enacted during the legislative session. It is important of course to make sure that we have lead sponsors who are strong and committed to our cause. We are then ready to win as we have so many times in the past.
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Fossil Fuels Are The New Tobacco: The city of Cambridge, MA, passed an ordinance requiring gas pumps to have warning labels containing the dangers of fossil fuel consumption on human and environmental health. It’s the first city to do it and labels could be out as early as the end of December. READ MORE
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Science Is The Way Forward: “By definition, science seeks to avoid bias, remain independent, refute falsehoods, and seek answers based on evidence, reason, and consensus. America needs the calming influence of fact-based scientific reasoning. Our future depends on it.” READ MORE
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Major Oil and Gas Companies Join Program to Cut Methane Emissions: Last week, 62 different fossil fuel companies signed onto an agreement, led by the U.N., to improve monitoring and reducing methane. Methane, a greenhouse gas, remains in the atmosphere for a shorter period of time than carbon dioxide, but is far more potent as planet-warming pollution. READ MORE
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Majority of the MPCA advisory group submitted resignations to protest the agency's Line 3 decision: Twelve out of 17 members of an environmental justice advisory group to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency resigned to protest the agency’s approval of a key water quality permit for the contentious Line 3 oil pipeline replacement project, which would hurt the Ojibwe Nation’s livelihood of wild rice. READ MORE
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Lawmakers and Advocates Call For More Ambitious Climate Action: A new report from the Maryland Commission on Climate Change outlines the need to increase emissions reduction goals. The Commission’s report recommends a 50% reduction in emissions by 2030 and achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045, upping the ante from the state’s previous goal of 40% reduction by 2030. READ MORE
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Coastal Farmers Grapple With Loss: As climate change drives sea-level rise off the coast of Maryland, farmers struggle with increased soil salinity, invasive plant species, and failing crops. READ MORE
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OPINION: “Board of Public Works Should Reject Controversial Pipeline Proposals” | Susan Olsen, chair of the Sierra Club Lower Eastern Shore Group, pens an op-ed in opposition to the Del-Mar Pipeline and Chesapeake Utilities Project Pipeline, which is set to be voted on Wednesday, December 2nd. READ MORE
- For the Chesapeake Bay watershed, a new app can reveal where land is helping — or hurting — water quality: A new interactive application can help land managers know where to apply resources and where more conservation is required. READ MORE
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- Cooler Earth Podcast | “A world in which no one is disposable” — On the final episode for season four of Climate XChange’s podcast, we talk to two youth climate activists from Miami, Gabi Rodriguez and John Paul Mejia, who are also hosts of their own podcast titled House on Fire. We spoke with the activists about all things climate activism and a radical imagination for a better future. LISTEN HERE
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We Need to Improve Climate Communications: The future livability of our planet and the systems of civilization were quite literally on the ballot this year. And yet, the Biden-Harris ticket only won by slim margins. So, is there something about the way we talk about climate threats and stakes that we are still not getting quite right? READ MORE
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How to Better Tackle Climate Change: In an op-ed from John Kerry, he writes, “One of the most significant ways that we can address climate change is through carbon pricing. This marks the clearest signal yet to influence economic behavior.” READ MORE
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Medical Students Push For Climate Curriculum: Around the world, medical students are demanding courses that account for the future in which they’ll be practicing in —a future that is influenced by the climate crisis. “Younger populations are among the biggest advocates for action against climate change,” says Kerri Thom, an infectious disease physician at the University of Maryland. READ MORE
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Engage, Connect, Protect: Empowering Diverse Youth as Environmental Leaders
By: Angelou Ezeilo and Nick Chiles
“While concern about the state of our land, air, and water continues to grow, there is widespread belief that environmental issues are primarily of interest to wealthy white communities. Engage, Connect, Protect explodes this myth, revealing the deep and abiding interest that African American, Latino, and Native American communities – many of whom live in degraded and polluted parts of the country – have in our collective environment.” LEARN MORE
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Acknowledgements:
Author: Wandra Ashley-Williams
Senior Editor: Wandra Ashley-Williams
Layout & Editors: Petra Smeltzer, Christian Morris, Maria Virginia Olano, Ava Gallo
Graphic Design: Amanda Griffiths
Featured Image: Miguel Bruna via Unsplash
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