An overflow crowd, including town council members, Debora Fudge, Esther Lemus and Sam Salmon, turned out to learn about the Green New Deal at a Windsor Democratic Club forum Thursday, April 25 at Round Table Pizza.
Doug Nunn, a retired Mendocino high school teacher who recently finished a training program through Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project, presented a Power Point on the global warming crisis.
Since 1800 the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere has risen from 280 parts per millions (ppm) to 405 ppm. Global temperatures have increased 1.5 degrees Farenheit from 1880 to 2018, the fourth hottest year on record. We cannot afford not to act.
In response to the crisis, the Green New Deal calls for a national mobilization to guarantee full employment at living wages through an upgrade and overhaul of infrastructure, transportation, manufacturing and power generation with the goal of 100% clean, renewable, zero-emission power.
Debora Fudge reported that she is working with Pete Gang of Petaluma on countywide Green New Deal resolution. Gang was in the audience.
She mentioned the town council’s recent success in getting the developer of the property between Old Redwood Highway and Merner Drive to agree to build 32 all-electric units. She encouraged people to replace old gas appliances with electric and to sign up for Sonoma Clean Power’s EverGreen program offering 100% of energy from local renewable sources.
In the forum that followed, Mary Mariani of the Windsor Garden Club spoke about the health and ecological benefits of organic gardening. She invited the public to the Windsor Community Garden’s Saturday Work Party on May 11 at 10:30 am.
Justin Wilcox of Sonoma County Refuse and Recovery said that China, the major purchaser of recyclable waste, now insists on lower cross contamination levels. To meet this demand SCRR has gone to dual stream bins.
Les Proteau, co-director of North Bay Trades Introduction Program spoke about their free, 120-hour pre-internship program that prepares participants for five-year apprenticeships in one of 17 building trades leading to lifelong union-wage jobs. Anyone is welcome as long as they are willing to learn and work.
“We don’t just turn them out,” Proteau said. “We make a lifelong commitment to their success.”
The first 40 hours of classes (“boot-camp”), cover basics including workplace safety and math. Subsequent weeks focus on a specific trade. About 50% of participants go on to apprenticeships.
Proteau, rebuilding his Coffey Park home after the Tubbs fire, is having first-hand experience learning about new energy-efficient technologies, most recently a solar-generating window glass that uses the aluminum frame as the conduit.
Nunn reported that the Mendocino Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 to approve a Climate Action Advisory Committee. Sonoma County might consider doing the same.
Fudge said that each jurisdiction is different. But the most important thing is for people to show up at public forums to support programs that promote social justice and combat global warming. Remember, Fudge said, the world is looking to California.
