{"id":4657,"date":"2013-11-21T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-11-21T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/?p=4657"},"modified":"2013-11-21T22:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-11-21T22:00:00","slug":"help-dc-divest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/usa\/help-dc-divest\/","title":{"rendered":"Help DC Divest!"},"content":{"rendered":"

This blog was written by Elise Shulman, organizer with DC Divest.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hello from DC Divest, organizing in Washington, DC, the heart of America\u2019s political system. Okay, you\u00a0might question whether Capitol Hill has much of a heartbeat right now — but there’s plenty of local action\u00a0in the District, especially around climate change concerns.<\/p>\n

Recently, the DC Council passed the Community Solar renewables act, expanding access to clean solar\u00a0power and its savings to renters, condos, non-profits, and low-income households that can’t install solar\u00a0on their own. And\u00a0advocates are pushing legislation to remove incentives for companies to burn \u201cblack liquor,\u201d a carbon-packed byproduct of paper manufacturing.<\/p>\n

\"DCDivestTeam\"<\/a>And with a little luck and a lot of public support, in a few months, the Council of the District of\u00a0Columbia could vote for legislation that would require the city to take investments in fossil fuel\u00a0companies out of its portfolios.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In September, some forward-thinking members of the Council introduced the Fossil Fuel Divestment Act\u00a0of 2013 as the result of hard work of DC Divest and other engaged District citizens concerned about the\u00a0need for more and faster action on climate change.<\/p>\n

Why did we take up 350\u2019s call for divestment? Because Washington, DC currently invests in some of the\u00a0largest polluting companies on the planet. What\u2019s worse, DC is the richest city in the nation — yet one in\u00a0five District residents lives in poverty, a cohort especially vulnerable to devastating storms (like Haiyan\u00a0and Sandy), sea-level rise, and heat waves. The good news is that we can organize and demand that our\u00a0government do something about it right now.<\/p>\n

We have gotten this far only through the support of our community. For example, in September, District\u00a0religious groups, advocacy organizations, students with university divestment campaigns, and concerned\u00a0residents all pitched in — gathering petition signatures, tabling at events, and offering their expertise —\u00a0to create an amazing Draw the Line event which drew 140 attendees as well as national and international\u00a0press.<\/p>\n

Building on this success, we see the upcoming hearing on DC\u2019s proposed Fossil Fuel Divestment Act\u00a0as pivotal. By getting the nation\u2019s capital to take action on climate change, we hope to inspire other\u00a0advocates to create change where they live and show America\u2019s leaders on Capitol Hill how much work\u00a0they have to do to\u00a0transition away from a dirty, unjust energy system and to a fair clean-energy economy.<\/p>\n

We need your help to make the DC Council\u2019s November 26th\u00a0win for the global climate action movement.<\/strong><\/p>\n

HOW TO GET INVOLVED:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Come to the hearing and bring your friends.\u00a0Every voice matters.<\/p>\n

2. Testify in support of the Fossil Fuel Divestment Act.\u00a0DC Divest can help you prepare a three-minute testimonial. Contact us at dcdivest@gmail.com.<\/p>\n

3. Contact your ward Councilmember and At-Large Members.\u00a0See our Call for Action cheat sheet with contact info and sample phone & tweet scripts.<\/p>\n

Divesting the nation\u2019s capital broadcasts a powerful message to the rest of the country that we will not\u00a0tolerate the destruction of our planet. Join us in making this goal a reality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This blog was written by Elise Shulman, organizer with DC Divest. Hello from DC Divest, organizing in Washington, DC, the…<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":4658,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/usa\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}