Hello carbon tax friends: If you’re in Seattle please come to our Finish Line Party on F Dec 11, info and RSVP here and/or on Facebook. And no matter where you are check out this quote from Syndey Brownstone’s terrific post “Washington State Is One Step Closer Toward a Revenue-Neutral Carbon Tax” from The Stranger‘s blog last week: “Yesterday, the same day that Carbon Washington announced that it had gathered 330,000 signatures to put a revenue-neutral carbon tax on the 2016 ballot, [Tesla’s] Elon Musk gave a speech at the Sorbonne in Paris advocating for revenue-neutral carbon taxes.“ Now, I know what you’re thinking: that’s just a coincidence! Maybe so… but fortune favors the brave. Or, to quote the Blues Brothers, a movie we also referenced on this blog five years ago, maybe we’re on a mission from God. ?
Signature update
We’re at 339,375 signatures and counting (up from 333,370 last week), so please turn in or mail in every single signature you have as we push towards our stretch goal of 350,000! Our mailing address is PO Box 85565, Seattle WA 98145-1565, or if you want to visit the office in person we’re at 1914 N 34th St, Suite 407, near Gas Works Park in Seattle, office phone 206-632-1805. (We can use some help around the office in the weeks ahead, so if you have a few hours to spare then come on by or email [email protected] to set something up.) PS. We will be doing our final signature turn-in at Secretary of State’s office in Olympia on W Dec 30, so that’s our drop-dead no-kidding-around final deadline… and email me if you’re interested in joining the turn-in.
And a reminder from our post about Resting, Reaching out, and wRapping up: the point of our stretch goal is to build up our cushion in order to make sure we get the 246,372 valid signatures we need. So if you can continue to help please do—if you have a personal stretch goal (like joining the 250 Club, see below) or if you want to have fun with us gathering signatures when the new Star Wars movie opens on Dec 18 (see in particular the dates and locations in the Seattle calendar here)—but we’re not going to turn the screws on you if you need to rest and recharge the batteries for the next phase of the campaign.
250 Club updates
Congratulations to our new members of the 250 Club (and please contact us if you don’t already have your CarbonWA t-shirt!): Martha Bishop with Climate Action Bainbridge; Bob Hallahan on Whidbey Island, Kay Keeler on San Juan Island, Morgane Arriola at UW Seattle, and Lindsey Klemp, Margaret Moore, Trevor Partington and Mike Ruby in Seattle. They join previous 250 Club members Heidi Cody in Vancouver; Judy Kaplan on Whidbey Island; Gretchen Allison on San Juan Island; Cindy Jayne and Dick Stockment in Port Townsend; Barb Zimmer from Climate Action Bainbridge; three supporters in Yakima (Peter Dufault, Chuck Foster, and Eleanor Hungate); six supporters from east King County (David Chapin, Bob Ellis, France Giddings, Eric Hanson, Marilyn Mayers, and Court Olson); six supporters from Olympia (Tom Holtz, Jennifer Miller, Carole Richmond, Susan Sunshine, Frank Turner, and Jack Zeigler); four supporters from Bellingham (Amy Nielson, Rosa Rice-Pelepko, David Scheer, and Joe Wiederhold), and 22 people in Seattle (Julia Bent, Kyle Conyers, Chris Covert-Bowlds, John C., Alex Dolk, Keith Ervin, Bruce Flory, Polly Freeman, Savannah Kinzer, Sean Kraft, Raphael Ladmer-Price, Galen LaPlante, Alex Lenferna, Rob Marsh, Scott McClay, Phil Mitchell, Todd Mitchell, Nancy Penrose, Mishu Pham-Whipple, Bill Roach, Phil Singer, and Ed Watcher). Update for Jan: Amity Kramer in Seattle.
Double congratulations to folks who have hit 500 signatures: Ed Chadd in Port Angeles, Gary Piazzon on Whidbey Island, Scott Finley on San Juan Island, Frank Gremse from Climate Action Bainbridge, and Megan Conaway, Robin Briggs, Tim Newcomb, and Fritz Wollett in Seattle. They join Larry Lowther in Ellensburg; Chom Greacen from Lopez Island; Betty Hauser in Olympia; three supporters from east King County (Chris Diehl, Laura Rivendell, and staffer Jason Puracal); three members from Climate Action Bainbridge (Bruce Bonifaci, Omie Kerr, and Alex Mezentsev); seven supporters from Bellingham (Andy Day, David Gary, Ben Larson, Anna Paulson, Kayta Tourtillot, John Whitmer, and Andew Zvilna); and five supporters in Seattle (Ron Lindsey, John Lombard, JL, Anne Shields, and campaign co-director Duncan Clauson). Update for Jan: Joe Wiederhold and David Scheer from Bellingham.
Quadruple congratulations to Mary Clare Kersten from Climate Action Bainbridge and Alan Ness in Seattle for passing 1,000+ signatures. They join Louise Stonington from east King County; Ande Finley from Lopez Island; Thad Curtz and Penny Purkerson in Olympia; Dave Hopkinson and staffers David Jackman and Rheanna Johnston in Bellingham; five supporters from Climate Action Bainbridge (Brian Anderson, Herb Hethcote, Cheryl Hunter, Gerlind Jenkner, and Erika Shriner); and a mess of Seattle folks (David Foutch, Bob Jeffers-Schroeder, Mike Massa, Ben Pfeiffer, Julia Robinson, Aaron Tam at UW Seattle, yours truly, campaign co-director Kyle Murphy, and Seattle staffers Ben Silesky and Laurel Wolf). And extra bonus congratulations for folks with 2000+ signatures (Cheryl Hunter, Julia Robinson, and campaign co-director Kyle Murphy, joining Ben Pfeiffer and Gerlind Jenkner), folks with 3000+ signatures (staffers Ben Silesky and Laurel Wolf), and Bob Jeffers-Schroeder with over 4000! Update for Jan: John Whitmer and Ben Larson from Bellingham.
Revenue neutrality update
As noted last month: “we’ve been working hard to update our fiscal estimates for I-732. We plan to post some updated spreadsheets in the weeks ahead, but for now we are delighted to report that our current analysis is that I-732 will (as intended) be very close to revenue-neutral.” So: For those of you who want to dive into spreadsheets, those updated spreadsheets supporting our current analysis can be found here. Enjoy ?
Readings
The Guardian chimes in on Elon Musk, as does Fortune: “Elon Musk: Only a Carbon Tax Will Accelerate the World’s Exit from Fossil Fuels”. (As if that’s not enough, this transcript shows that he argues for a revenue-neutral carbon tax! And so does former Energy Secretary and Nobel prizewinning physicist Steve Chu, who has previously said nice things about I-732 and now tells EE News that he targets $60 a ton by 2030.) News about I-732 likely qualifying for the ballot comes from KUOW and the Spokane Spokesman-Review and the Oregonian. (See also “Washington State Pushing For Strongest Carbon Tax In The World” in CleanTechnica, and CarbonWA is also making waves in Montana and also got a plug in an article in The Atlantic: “The Ideas That World Leaders Won’t Be Discussing in Paris”.) The BC government has a new Climate Leadership Team report suggesting next steps for BC; see here and here. (Also, more on Alberta’s carbon tax proposal here and here, plus a pro/con on revenue-neutrality: pro, con.) The NYT has an op-ed on “The Tough Realities of the Paris Climate Talks”. And the WSJ reports that “More than eight in ten chief executives want international leaders to provide a clear roadmap and timeline on future carbon pricing mechanisms at United Nations climate negotiations in Paris next month, according to a survey of 75 chief executives by UN Global Compact and Accenture Strategy this week.” The BBC has “Six graphics that explain climate change”. Gawker reports that Bernie Sanders Is the First Candidate to Support a Carbon Tax. On the other side of the political spectrum, Arnold Schwarzenneger has “I don’t give a **** if we agree about climate change”. And Baba Brinkman has some great content (you can judge the rapping for yourself) in his “Rap guide to climate chaos”.
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