1 Lehny Corbin
From: Caitlin Bracken
Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2022 9:15 AM
To: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; Rita Xavier; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] Subject:
Mayor's Council Public Comments- Caitlin Bracken
Honorable Mayors and Councilmembers,
My name is Caitlin Bracken, I’m a local rising junior in college majoring in environmental policy and am an independent consultant for the Contra Costa County Climate Leaders Program, also known as 4CL. I spoke at the Mayor's Council last Thursday about the importance of climate action and I wanted to follow-up and share my comments in written form.
Three days ago, I joined most Americans in donning my red white and blue. Yet throughout the day, I had moments where I felt wholly unpatriotic. I’m incredibly saddened for the hundreds of victims of mass shootings this past weekend, struggling to come to terms with the Roe v. Wade decision, and appalled by the decision to gut the EPA’s ability to control power plant emissions. And unfortunately, I have little hope for nation-wide action right now given the Supreme Court’s recent actions combined with the intense ideological polarization in our country.
We will therefore rely more on state and local actions. The National League of Cities actually just took a position on the EPA ruling, and many individual mayors have come out with strong responses as well. See more information here.
I therefore appeal to all of you, with over 1 million constituents in contra costa county, you are in prime position to institute the necessary change. As disheartened as I am by the Supreme Court’s Ruling, it also means that we can shift the fight on environmental policy to states and to cities. The United States may fall short of our international pledges, but in all honesty, that doesn’t matter to me. Because I am terrified for our future. All I want to see is action, and it’s not going to come from Washington.
I am terrified for our future.
I therefore urge each and every one of you to declare a climate emergency in your cities and declare your commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to prioritize climate policies, to halt the development of new fossil fuel infrastructure, and to pledge to protect those populations most vulnerable from climate change induced issues.
In a similar vein, I asked that you all adopt and uphold the commitments of the Paris Agreement. We do not know what the future of United States federal policy looks like, but we do have control over our own actions.
I also wanted to briefly address water regulations given that it was on this evening’s agenda. Water is the most critical source of life and I was heavily alarmed by the statistics about droughts. We must conserve our water and keep it safe and clean.
Above all, I ask that you recognize the pivotal moment in time that we are in and take advantage of the power that you hold as our elected leaders of contra costa county to understand the cruciality of protecting the environment and future of our planet for myself and other future generations. We don’t have any time to wait.
2 Thank you for your time and all you do for our communities.