The PNW: Call to Action (climate)

On Thursday 12 January, 350Seattle led a civic engagement discussion at the Prospect Congregational United Church of Christ in Capitol Hill, Seattle, that was focused on fostering and organizing civic action on climate change issues. The first hour consisted of an overview of the debate surrounding climate change in Washington and covered the relevant parties and legislation. In the second hour, the audience organized itself by neighborhoods and legislative districts to discuss the steps that could be taken to ensure that citizens’ climate concerns would be heard in state government. It was not a theoretical discussion. Instead, the organizers encouraged people to sign in and identify their preferred way of getting involved, be it attending events, helping with logistics, or writing letters to government representatives.

The overview stressed the importance of getting involved. According to the speakers, an upcoming race for the state senate seat in Redmond, Washington, could flip the senate from Republican to Democrat. However, the speakers were quick to point out that the Democrats do not share a uniform, monolithic approach to climate concerns. The speakers then went on to discuss the basics of competing carbon tax proposals, the reasoning behind the push for “350 parts per million”, and the purpose of civic action teams (CAT)s.

Notes: I learned about this event through The Stranger. Having made a late career change into photojournalism, I rely heavily on The Stranger for its calendar of PNW events. I am also relatively new to Seattle and had to do additional research on the senate spot in Redmond. I believe that is related to the death of Senator Andy Hill. I was sorry to read about his death. If I have gotten any of the details related to that issue incorrect, the errors are mine.