We’re emailing Bellingham staff and elected officials to find out their plans to catch up on climate action. Email addresses and a suggested script below. JOIN US!
Addresses for copy/paste:
ecjohnston@cob.org, rlacroix@cob.org, savidana@cob.org, cfogelsong@cob.org, smfleetwood@cob.org, hestone@cob.org, gknutson@cob.org, dchammill@cob.org, pvargas@cob.org, mlilliquist@cob.org, hahuthman@cob.org, laanderson@cob.org
Suggested Script
Dear City of Bellingham,
The Bellingham Climate Action Task Force finished its recommendations for Bellingham City in December 2019, and these recommendations enjoyed broad public support. https://cob.org/wp-content/uploads/Climate-Task-Force-FINAL-Report-12_2_19.pdf
While I understand COVID-19, homelessness, racial justice and economic recovery have been at the top of the City’s agenda, it’s time to catch up on addressing climate change.
I would like to know what your plans are for some of the recommendations from the Climate Action Task Force including:
- Measure B1 which requires energy efficiency requirements be met at point of sale. When will this be brought to council?
- Measure B5 which recommends all new buildings must use only electric systems and appliances immediately. Eighteen months later there is still not an ordinance to this effect. When and how will this be implemented?
- Measure T1 which recommends banning the internal combustion engine by 2034. This could start as a small section of the city and expand. Who is working on this?
- Measure T10 which urges the city to prioritize physical bike lane separation. What are the plans for this?
Are there other recommendations that you are prioritizing? What has been done to implement them?
There are many more recommendations in the CATF report, these are simply four I have not yet seen action on and I would like to see more. These bold and concrete actions will have substantial climate impacts while improving the liveability of our city. I understand that these actions are not politically easy, but they are necessary and need your leadership.
Addressing climate change will require standing up to special interests, ignoring fossil fuel industry propaganda and truly caring for the earth and its inhabitants. I understand the City has been working on the problems brought up in 2020, but it is no longer acceptable for climate action to wait.
Our community needs real-time access to the status of these critical projects, and timelines for major phases and completion. The city’s current update (https://cob.org/services/environment/climate/emissions-reduction-measures) is not even dated, and lacks basic details such as the expected emission reductions from each measure. Additionally, the update includes terms such as “ongoing” and “incomplete” which provide no tangible idea of where this is on the track for completion. Please respond with detailed updates on the status of each of these actions, and on how the city plans to dramatically accelerate progress on the Climate Action Task Force recommendations.
Bellingham resident {your name here}
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