The information below was submitted to the club by Rita Beving. Thanks, Rita for being passionate about making Dallas a more sustainable city! There are only a few days left until a historic moment happens for Dallas. The first Comprehensive Environmental and Climate Action Plan (CECAP) will be voted on Wed., May 27th at Dallas City Hall. Can you please take a moment today and ask the Mayor and City Council to vote YES for the CECAP so the plan can move forward?
The plan is not perfect. It does fall short of its targeted goals, but the CECAP can be updated as it moves on its 30-year horizon toward its goal of 43% by 2030 and net-zero by 2050. The plan currently has more than 90 actions by which to achieve this overarching goal. Dallas Sierra Club, 350Dallas, Joppa Freedman's Township Association, Texas Trees Foundation, First Unitarian Climate Action Team, Public Citizen Texas, Texas Nature Conservancy, West Dallas 1, North Texas Renewable Energy Group and others feel that we need to move forward NOW with the CECAP plan as there is no time to waste in getting the implementation of this plan started. Though Dallas is now facing up to a $100 million projected sales tax shortfall due to coronavirus, there are grant funds that the City can apply for now if we can get this plan moving forward. Will you help pass the plan with a short note to Council today? People can also sign up to speak as early by calling the City Secretary's office at 214.670.3738 for item #25. The 27th will be a virtual meeting so one will call in to speak to Council. CM Narvaez would appreciate people just saying "they support the plan moving forward" and to "Vote YES" on the plan. In other words, no long speeches are needed. We are trying to get more speakers than the opposition. THANKS for anything you can do to help, Rita Beving, Public Citizen, 214.557.2271
Molly Rooke, Dallas Sierra Club
350.org Dallas, 214.762.3163
David Griggs, SDEC, Dallas Sierra Club, 214.244.5979
Mayor Eric Johnson. eric.johnson@dallascityhall.com. (the Mayor that he sponsored climate legislation the last 3 legislative sessions as a State Rep)
Dist. 1- Chad West chad.west@dallascityhall.com
Dist. 8-Tennell Atkins tennell.atkins@dallascityhall.com Dist. 2- Adam Medrano adam.medrano@dallascityhall.com
Dist. 9- Paula Blackmon paula.blackmon@dallascityhall.com Dist. 3 - Casey Thomas casey.thomas@dallascityhall.com
Dist. 10- Adam McGough adam.mcgough@dallascityhall.com Dist. 4 - Carolyn Arnold District4@dallascityhall.com
Dist. 11- Lee Kleinman lee.kleinman@dallascityhall.com Dist. 5. Jaime Resendez jaime.resendez@dallascityhall.com
Dist. 12- Cara Mendelsohn cara.mendelsohn@dallascityhall.com Dist. 6. Omar Narvaez (Env. chair) omar.narvaez@dallascityhall.com
Dist. 13-Jennifer Gates jennifer.gates@dallascityhall.com Dist. 7 - Adam Balzaldua adam.bazaldua@dallascityhall.com
Dist. 14 - David Blewett david.blewett@dallascityhall.com
---- Sample Letter (please personalize your note with where you live or why it is important to you - feel free to pick a few other points) Dear Mayor and Council Members, I am asking the Council to fully support and adopt the CECAP plan on May 27th. 1. Actions should be started to reverse the effects of climate change now. The CECAP is a living document that will evolve over its 30-year lifecycle. More actions to enhance the plan can be added as the emission inventories are updated every few years. 2. There was environmental money earmarked from the bag fees for the CECAP. Those funds can be used to jumpstart the plan while the City faces any economic shortfalls due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Grant funds are available for the City to apply for right now such as the Clean Fleet program at NCTCOG which can save money on vehicle purchases. 3. There are more grants available that cannot be applied for UNLESS Dallas has a climate plan in place. The City does not want to miss these financial opportunities due to a delay in implementation. 4. Bonding firms such as Moody's, S&P Global, and Fitch have all warned that exposure to climate risk could affect their bond ratings. Moody's bought a climate data analytics firm in July 2019 to evaluate those risks. Bond investors' interests in climate risk tripled between 2018 and 2019. 5. A relationship has been established between climate change and infectious diseases. Though no current relationship has been established between Covid-19 and climate change from the medical community, this epidemic reminds us of the noted relationship between climate and disease. Numerous organizations including the World Health Organization (WHO), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and others have noted in medical journals and their websites of the relationship of increasing infectious disease and climate change. These diseases include West Nile virus, Zika, Lyme disease, cholera, hantavirus, Ebola, SARS, and MERS, amongst others. The time to act on passing the climate plan is now. We appreciate your consideration. Regards, Name/Address