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Environmental justice activists announced the NY Renews coalition’s new campaign — The Climate, Jobs and Justice Package — at a conference in downtown Syracuse Wednesday.

Representatives from the Alliance for a Green Economy, Climate Change Awareness & Action and other organizations announced the campaign. Amber Ruther, the organizing director of Alliance for a Green Economy, outlined the organization’s three main initiatives — funding and implementing legislation, creating environmentally friendly union jobs while building accessible renewable energy infrastructure and holding the rich, specifically fossil fuel companies, financially responsible for the transition to renewable energy.

According to a press release, NY Renews is raising awareness about the state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), which aims to reduce New York’s carbon footprint.

“Climate, Jobs and Justice’s mission isn’t solely about reducing emissions, but also about ensuring that every New Yorker is thriving, warm, housed, healthy and has a good, family-sustaining career,” Ruther said.

In addition to funding and implementing the CLCPA, Ruther said the package will ease the transition to other important pieces of state legislation, including the Gas Transition and Affordable Energy Act and the Build Public Renewables Act.

Ruther added it’s important that this legislation has the support of public officials. Though New York State Senator Rachel May was unable to attend this conference, Eric van der Vort, May’s legislative director, spoke on her behalf.

New York state voters passed the Clean Water, Clean Air and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act on Nov. 8, which will create local jobs and support actions to “preserve, enhance and restore” the natural resources of the state, according to the Environmental Defense Fund. Van der Vort said May recognized that its passing shows the importance New Yorkers place on climate action.

Yvonne Chu, the president of local organization Climate Change Awareness & Action, said much of central New York’s unique features are at risk due to climate change.

“We’re here because we did not take strong enough action in the past to do something about climate change,” Chu said.

But the Climate, Jobs and Justice Package is an opportunity to create a sustainable future, she said. The package will ensure that public agencies are prepared to implement the CLCPA in a “fast, effective and just” way.

Ruther said that the climate crisis disproportionately affects communities of color, and inequality and justice regarding the climate crisis go hand-in-hand. She added that solutions that don’t put these communities at the forefront are not solutions. Those closest to the effects of the problems are closest to the solutions, she said.

Heather Deans, who represented the Syracuse University and SUNY ESF chapters of the New York Public Interest Research Group, said there must be more accountability on the part of the fossil fuel industry. Deans explained that the industry damages the environment, yet the cost of fixing its damages falls on the American people rather than the companies themselves.

Deans said the net income for oil and natural gas producers is expected to double over the next year to $4 trillion, according to the International Energy Agency. She called on Gov. Kathy Hochul to include the Climate Change Superfund Act in the executive budget, which would force firms most responsible for greenhouse gas emissions to pay $30 billion over the next 10 years.

Each speaker emphasized that the package and other climate justice legislation is coming at a critical time in the climate crisis. Deans said New York is in jeopardy of not meeting its 2030 climate benchmarks, which include the state reaching 70% renewable energy.

“We only have eight years left to meet the 2030 emission reduction targets of the CLCPA and stave off the worst of the climate crisis to maintain a livable planet,” Ruther said. “I fear that our legislators in Albany are moving at a snail’s pace.”

Published on November 17, 2022 at 2:08 am

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