As you wrap up your holiday shopping this year, consider thinking of the planet as you shop. With one of the most unprecedented years coming to a close, the pandemic is a reminder of the fragile ecosystem we all live in. As the climate continues to deteriorate, the number of infectious diseases will rise. Even though carbon emissions have decreased with stay-at-home orders and lockdowns around the world, most of those emissions will return to pre-pandemic levels when economies are fully opened up again.
Many Americans tend to be in the giving spirit around the holidays, so here are five organizations to donate to or buy from this holiday season.
CCAA is an obvious choice as we continue to make strides in getting local leaders to take climate change seriously, which you can read about below. As many of you have read in previous newsletters, the Carbon Challenge is an important part of CCAA’s work and is something we plan to revamp in the new year.
The Onondaga Earth Corps is another local organization that is climate-driven. OEC helps local youth create sustainable communities. They give young people a chance to complete service learning projects and also train them for work in environmental fields.
The Finger Lakes Climate Fund is another great way to put your donation money to good use. The website provides a way to offset your carbon emissions. Whether it’s through air travel, car travel, or the energy used in your home, the website will calculate how much carbon you emit and how much it will cost to offset those emissions. Much of the donation funds will initially go to low and moderate-income households who want to make their homes energy-efficient and reduce their carbon footprint. Donating to the Finger Lakes Climate Fund helps your fellow community members and helps reduce emissions in your area. If you choose to donate to the Finger Lakes Climate Fund, be sure to choose Team CNY so that your funds can be donated to Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Onondaga, and Oswego counties.
Some national organizations, like the Sunrise Movement and the Sierra Club, have local chapters in the CNY area. The Sunrise CNY hub is the local chapter of the Sunrise Movement. The group is composed primarily of young people who seek to stop climate change and make the world a better place for people everywhere. The Sierra Club is another organization that seeks to protect the environment. This year they have a special promotion where, if you donate by December 31st, they will match every dollar donated up to $350,000.
Tentree and Patagonia are two clothing brands that have firm commitments to the environment. Tentree, as the name says, plants 10 trees for every purchase you make and also makes their clothing from sustainable materials, while Patagonia donates 1% of their sales to protecting the environment. Both companies have a wide range of clothing that could make a perfect holiday gift to loved ones.
If you do end up donating, one tip would be to use Ecosia while researching any organization. Ecosia is a search engine that uses the profits generated from your searches to plant trees. They also place labels on some organizations to indicate whether they are planet friendly or whether they support fossil fuel usage.
As the year draws to a close, here are a few updates on the important work CCAA is currently doing.
TCI
CCAA is part of a statewide coalition to urge Governor Andrew Cuomo to endorse the Transportation Climate Initiative (TCI). The initiative is a collaboration between 11 Eastern States and the District of Columbia. Created by New Yorkers for Clean Power, TCI seeks to create a renewable energy economy that relies on clean transportation. Transportation currently accounts for about 40% of New York’s carbon emissions, so TCI would be a big step in the right direction. The group sent out a petition with a 10,000-signature goal that many of you may have already signed. Although the deadline has passed for signatures, you may still sign up here for updates on TCI. New Yorkers for Clean Power hope that Cuomo will sign a Memorandum of Understanding by the end of next week.
CCIA
As a follow up to the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) from 2019, the Climate and Community Investment Act (CCIA) lays out how to fund the CLCPA. There are no laws to enforce the terms agreed upon in the CLCPA, so CCIA works to ensure that all the hard work in passing CLCPA does not go to waste. CCIA is a plan to secure funding for the ambitious goals laid out in the CLCPA. It will do this by raising $7 billion from corporate polluters and reinvest that money into local communities to create a renewable energy economy. CCAA signed onto both CLCPA and CCIA with a group called NY Renews. You can find out more about CCIA here.
Carbon Challenge
CCAA is rebooting our Carbon Challenge for 2021! You may have read the various profiles of members who took on the challenge this year, so be sure to check that out to get a feel for what it entails. As the year draws to a close, now is the perfect time to calculate your carbon footprint and maybe make a New Year’s Resolution to reduce your emissions. You can do all that and more right here with the CNY Carbon Challenge.
With this being my last newsletter for CCAA, I just wanted to thank everyone for reading these newsletters for the past six months. I appreciate the support, and I am grateful to CCAA for giving me this opportunity when the pandemic took away so many internship opportunities for college students everywhere. Next month, I’ll be studying sustainable development in Copenhagen, Denmark. Studying abroad is an experience I’ve always wanted, and to learn about climate change in one of the most eco-friendly cities in the world is very exciting. I wish everyone at CCAA the best of luck. You all do important work and I’m glad I had the chance to work with you all this year.
Sincerely,
Gaurav Shetty
NEWSLETTER COMMITTEE
Editors: Jane Woodman and Gavin Landless Publisher: Gaurav Shetty Chair: Peter Wirth
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
If you are interested in working on the issue of climate change, please contact us at cc.awareness.action@gmail.com or call at 315-308-0846. Don’t worry about your skill level. We are all learning. We need people who can:
CCAA holds its monthly meetings on the second Tuesday of every month. If you’d like to learn more feel free to email cc.awareness.action@gmail.com.
For an even more comprehensive list of events pertaining to sustainability and climate change, contact Diane Brandli with GreeningUSA to subscribe to the GreeningUSA listserve or to publicize an event you are organizing. dbdesigninteriors@verizon.net
ABOUT CCAA
Climate Change Awareness & Action (CCAA) was formed for the purpose of educating others and actively working towards reversing the anthropogenic climate disruption that threatens the earth.
It is imperative that we increase awareness and spur action on climate change:
to support fair and just public policies and legislation
to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
to support regenerative agriculture and conservation
CCAA seeks to create a community of people working together in CNY to bring about the changes we need to avoid an environmental crisis.
