NYRenews has prepared this toolkit for writing Climate Justice Letters to NYS Leaders. Use it for individuals and also groups. If you have questions, please contact xaver@nyrenews.org .
Thank you so much for taking the time to send letters on the intersection of faith and climate justice to our governor and legislative leaders here in NYS. Handwritten letters are an incredibly powerful tool for raising the importance of an issue as they demonstrate commitment. This toolkit will provide you with all you need-- what you’re writing about, where to send the letters, and examples/templates.
Contents
● How-to: process and addresses
● Examples
● Background (why you’re writing this!)
How to: process and addresses
Process: Once you have gathered all together, make sure that everyone has three pieces of paper and three envelopes, one for each of the recipients below. Then, it’s easy! Address each envelope and then draw from the examples below (or just copy them) to write three letters calling for climate justice funding in New York State’s 2022 budget. These are the three key decision makers, so every letter counts! Then, stamp and mail your letters and fill out a form to let us know how many letters you wrote!
Governor Hochul
The Honorable Kathy Hochul
Governor of New York State
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224
Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins’ District Office Address:
Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins
28 Wells Avenue,
Building #3 5th Floor
Yonkers, NY 10701
Speaker of the Assembly Carl Heastie’s District Office Address:
Speaker Carl Heastie
1446 East Gun Hill Road
Bronx, NY 10469
Examples
Template Letter
Dear _____ I am writing to you as a {Your faith} and as a New Yorker to urge you to pass the Climate and Community Investment Act (CCIA), and in doing so, make it possible to meet the climate goals set in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA).
Paragraph about why climate justice matters to you in your faith.
Paragraph about the need to act now.
As a {Your faith} and as a New Yorker, I ask that you use your power to pass the Climate and Community Investment Act (CCIA) and invest in our communities in this year’s budget. With hope and determination, Sign your name.
Jewish Letter Example
Dear _____ I am writing to you as a Jew and as a New Yorker to urge you to pass the Climate and Community Investment Act (CCIA), and in doing so, make it possible to meet the climate goals set in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA).
Historically, New York Jews have fought alongside others to enact change to create a society in which all can thrive, championing issues from immigration to civil rights to poverty. Deeply rooted in our Jewish tradition and faith, we have lived by the precept of Rabbi Hillel: "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?”
We are being called again, as Jews, to take action, this time to assume our rightful place given to us in Chapter 2 of Genesis as stewards of this land, to protect and keep the land and world that God created. Tropical Storm Ida made it abundantly clear that here in New York, climate change is not some future problem that we can deal with down the line. It is a matter of life and death, right here, right now. The future of our society and our species and mother earth herself hang in the balance.
We are also being summoned as Jews, during these challenging times, to see ourselves and our futures and our children’s futures as intricately connected to and tied up with the future of our fellow New Yorkers, that we are one community and all God’s children. The climate crisis is deepening racial, gender, and socioeconomic injustices. When we fight for climate justice, we fight against disparities in health, education, transportation, housing, and more. When we fight for climate justice, we fight for each other and for the future of all of our fellow New Yorkers. As a Jew and as a New Yorker, I ask that you use your power to pass the Climate and Community Investment Act (CCIA) and invest in our communities in this year’s budget. With hope and determination,
Protestant Letter Example
We write out of Christian concern for the earth and all whose lives the earth sustains, and as citizens of New York, to urge you to include funding for climate justice via the Climate and Community Investment Act (CCIA) in your budget for 2022.
The urgency of the climate crisis is now beyond question. The most recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change makes it crystal clear that unless we take drastic and immediate action, global temperatures will rise beyond the point at which catastrophic consequences become inevitable and irreversible. Imagine much of lower Manhattan submerged by the rising sea, and ever more frequent storms as intense and destructive as Hurricane Sandy. As many citizens of the Rockaway Peninsula can attest, the impact of Sandy and other extreme weather events fall disproportionately on the poor and on communities of color.
Our faith enjoins us to care for the earth ("God put the human being in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it": Gen 2.15). We believe that we cannot love God with all our heart if we do not love our neighbors as ourselves, and especially the marginalized and vulnerable ("Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me": Mt 25.40). So we cannot sit silently by while the earth God has entrusted to our care, and those Christ particularly calls us to care for, are put at mortal risk by the greed of a few and the indifference of many.
When faced with the enormity of the climate crisis, many ask "What difference can a single person make?" Recent events in Congress show that one or two individuals who put corporate interests ahead of the public good can do a great deal to block meaningful action on climate change. Conversely, a public-spirited leader with their hand on the levers of power can make a great positive difference. Your power to put forth a state budget gives you tremendous leverage. The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) has already put New York on the forefront of the struggle for a sustainable future, but it desperately needs at least $15 billion/year to succeed. The CCIA will keep us on the forefront by taxing corporate polluters and investing in frontline communities, renewable energy, good green jobs and a just transition to a carbon neutral economy. We pray that you will use your budgetary power in the public interest, with a heart for God's Creation and all God's creatures. You can make a difference. Put the CCIA into the governor's budget.
Background; The bill itself, The Climate and Community Investment Act (CCIA):
For some background, the Climate and Community Investment Act (CCIA) was initially drafted by the NY Renews coalition, as a result of numerous conversations with communities throughout New York State including base-building groups, environmental justice organizations, labor unions, faith communities, and progressive policy organizations. The core of the CCIA is to make polluters pay for the toxic pollutants and greenhouse gases they emit into our air. It would raise up to $10 billion per year that would be invested directly into our communities.
This money would fund:
● Green jobs and infrastructure: Building utility-scale wind turbines and solar panels, making our buildings more efficient, updating our electric grid, expanding public transit upstate, and more.
● Community Just Transition Fund: Direct grants to community orgs to support community-led energy planning, reduce local emissions, and increase resiliency. 75% of funds go to marginalized communities.
● NY Energy Rebate Fund: Direct assistance to low and moderate income families to reduce the burden of energy costs. Families are automatically opted in.
● Impacted Worker Fund: Cash and job training to impacted workers, funds to replace lost tax revenue for municipalities and school districts, expanding economic development programs.
Furthermore, at least 40% of these funds will go to frontline communities — low income communities and communities of color most impacted by pollution and climate change. As a result, this is the most progressive spending plan on climate in the United States. Other key components that separate it from other climate policy is its co-pollutant penalty and good green jobs.
Co-pollutant penalty
● The CCIA does not just put a penalty on greenhouse gases — it also levies a fee on co-pollutants the noxious byproducts of burning fossil fuels.
● Co-pollutants might not contribute to climate change, but they cause asthma, lung and heart disease, and other health problems, particularly in marginalized communities.
● The CCIA charges corporate polluters for co-pollutants, bringing cleaner air and better health to frontline communities.
Good, green jobs
● Research shows that the CCIA would create and sustain 150,000 jobs over the first decade of its existence.
● These jobs will pay family-sustaining wages (at least $60,000 per year on average for individuals without any college education, and at least $70,000 per year on average for individuals with an Associate’s degree.)
● All state supported programs will pay union prevailing wages, and utilize apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs. Programs must hit targets for utilizing Minority and Women Owned Business Enterprises and hiring local workers. In short, the CCIA is the people’s plan to fund a Just Transition.