Pennsylvania elected officials show leadership on climate issues

In the past month, Pennsylvania’s federal elected officials have stepped up and made major announcements in support of climate action to compliment Pope Francis’ “courageous” call to action on environmental degradation.

Senator Casey Supports the CPP: 

On September 18, Sen. Bob Casey publicly pledged his support for the Clean Power Plan (CPP) at an interfaith climate event in suburban Philadelphia. Sen. Casey joined the majority of Pennsylvania’s voters that support the CPP as a much-needed action to address a major contributor to climate change – carbon pollution from existing power plants. The CPP is an essential first step toward mitigating climate change and improving air quality.        

As the third largest carbon emitting state, Pennsylvania has an important role to play. The rule is designed to give states the opportunity to craft customized Implementation Plans, which will spark investment in clean, renewable energy along with energy efficiency measures - creating good-paying jobs and saving people money on their electric bills.

Below is an excerpt from Sen. Casey’s updated constituent letter on the CPP, which summarizes his reasons for supporting this critical climate action: 

Climate Change is already affecting much of the Nation, including Pennsylvania, and it is imperative for us to develop sensible policies to stave off more dramatic consequences over the next century. I strongly believe that we have a duty to preserve the environment not just so we can have clean air to breathe and clean water to drink, but because this world is in our care for our children and our children's children. Although addressing climate change represents a significant challenge for the Nation and the world, Pennsylvania has the necessary natural and intellectual resources to minimize and mitigate these impacts while moving us towards energy independence and creating jobs across the Commonwealth. I am confident that Pennsylvania can rise to the challenge and for that reason I support the Clean Power Plan. 

If you haven’t already, don’t forget to extend your thanks to Senator Casey for standing up for Pennsylvanians now and in the future with his support of the Clean Power Plan.

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http://1.usa.gov/1NGePCG

Three PA Congressmen Support Republican Climate Change Resolution in U.S. House: 

Led by U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson of New York, eleven Republican members of the House pledged their support to a resolution affirming that climate change is real, that human activity contributes to climate change, and that action is needed. Pennsylvania is well-represented among the group with U.S. Reps.Patrick Meehan, Michael Fitzpatrick, and Ryan Costello all signing on as co-sponsors. 

While the resolution stops short of endorsing any specific action, this is an important statement from a coalition of Republicans that climate action is needed. In particular, the resolution highlights a few key bipartisan areas of agreement on climate action including the need to be good environmental and economic stewards, while also recognizing the pressing threats posed by climate change including risks to wildlife, natural places, human health and safety, national security, and vulnerable populations. Full text of the resolution may be found here. 

Katie Bartolotta is southeastern Pennsylvania outreach coordinator for PennFuture and is based in Philadelphia. She tweets @KatieBartolotta.  

You're Invited: I Will #ActOnClimate Philadelphia Rally

On Friday, August 16, join local and national leaders to answer President Obama's call to act on climate change. Last year was the hottest on record — the worst drought in generations covered more than half the country; record wildfires swept across western states; and Super Storm Sandy devastated communities in the east. The costs of inaction on climate change are increasing. That's why we need as many people as possible to stand with the president to protect our air, our environment, and our future.

When: Friday, August 16, 2013 at 11 a.m.
Where: The People's Plaza, Independence Mall, 5th and Market Streets, Philadelphia

Confirmed speakers:

• Kenyatta Johnson, Philadelphia City Councilman 
• State Rep. Greg Vitali
• State Rep. Jordan Harris
• Katherine Gajewski, City of Philadelphia's Director of Sustainability 
• John Johnson, President, Transport Workers Union Local #234   
• Ryan Boyer, Business Manager, Laborers' District Council Philadelphia 

You don't wanna miss it!
If you think you can attend, you can RSVP to Andrew Sharp.

Philly is out front on climate planning

This week, Daze caught up with Mayor Nutter's sustainability maven, Katherine Gajewski. 

As Director of Sustainability for Philadelphia, she oversees the mayor's ambitious Greenworks agenda. We sat down with Katherine to talk about the city's new climate preparedness plan and how cities are leading the charge on climate change. 

Andrew: We’re fighting climate change, but it’s already here in many ways. What is the city doing from a planning perspective to deal with more frequent climate events?

Katherine: We’re certainly seeing evidence of the kinds of extreme weather events that we believe we are going to see more of – heavy rains and flooding, an increasing number of high heat days over 90, more severe storms on a far more regular basis. We made a commitment in our 2012 Greenworks report to embark on a comprehensive climate planning process, which we've kicked off. We've established an interdepartmental working group that is coming together on a regular basis to start identifying what the needs and challenges are within departments. For instance, what are the things that we know -- and then trying to identify the gaps where don’t we have certainty? What data sets do we need to to better prepare departments for risks that might face their operations and programs? Over the course of this year, we’re going to be working together to put together a climate preparedness plan with the goal of releasing it towards the end of 2013 or in early 2014.

Andrew: A quarter of our city lives in poverty and we have many vulnerable residents and populations. How do you take that into account when planning?

Katherine: We’re really challenging ourselves and this is where I think some interesting and important work can come out of Philadelphia. People think about climate preparedness and tend to think of the hard infrastructure, but we also need to emphasize just as much the social networks and the people part of this. The Health Department is at the table thinking about some of the public health impacts. Whether it is protecting residents in vulnerable neighborhoods or even thinking down to the level of what the changes might be in vector control services if we experience increased heat and moisture. Are we going to see an increase in mosquitoes and other insects and nuisances that pose a public health challenge? Considering the impacts we believe climate change will have on residents is going to be an essential part of what we do.

Andrew: I know you were recently at the White House talking about climate change. Cities are leading the way on climate planning out of necessity. Is this a coordinated effort to bring climate to the forefront?

Katherine: Cities are very much coordinating on this; there are a number of us who are working on climate plans. There is a real understanding that there are limited resources; we don’t want to recreate wheels. We’re also thinking about where the overlap in needs and asks might be – so that if we all see a regulation at the federal level that’s a barrier to the work we’re trying to do on the ground, it’s much more impactful to have ten cities go talk to HUD, for example, than have a lot of one-offs. We are trying to figure out as cities where it makes sense to speak with a collective voice and how we can work together to advance shared objectives.

Andrew: Public policy-wise, how do we make sure that that this plan, and Greenworks more broadly, has longevity?

Katherine:We need to show the value to residents. Certainly as it relates to climate, we need to do a really good job of talking to residents about why this is something that is impacting their lives and communities and why it is something we need their continued engagement and support on. Having advocacy and neighborhood groups help to be part of that education and outreach process is essential. Creating this value proposition is something that we have been trying to do throughout the Greenworks implementation process. At the end of the day, sustainability planning is just about smart and efficient government. My hope is that we have some good phase one experience in Philadelphia to demonstrate how this can work well; that the Greenworks experience and soon the integrated climate planning experience is going to prove itself as valuable. And that there are going to be folks who want to take it on and continue to move it forward.