April 28th, 2014
Dear
Fellow Sierran
Here's what's in this week's edition of CoolCATs Weekly:
1) Reliving the Gubernatorial Forum
2) Help Overturn Citizens United (Tues/Wed Hearings)
3) Lobby Day Wednesday
4) Climate Bill Rally on Saturday
5) Vernal Pool Outing, Too
6) James Kennedy's Quest for a Bikeable City
2) Help Overturn Citizens United (Tues/Wed Hearings)
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In order to effectively address climate change and other pressing environmental concerns, we need to reduce the influence of polluters on politicians. To diminish the power of people like the Koch brothers, it's necessary to get the money out of politics as much as possible. The key will be to redefine political spending so it is not deemed free speech and to define corporate entities so they are not deemed people; overturning the findings of the Supreme Court in Citizens United v FEC. We can start in RI by amending our own Constitution to say so. We can start on Tuesday and Wednesday when the WE THE PEOPLE bill will be heard, first in House Judiciary and then in the Senate. Please come and invite your friends.
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3) Lobby Day Wednesday
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Also on Wednesday before the We The People hearing, ECRI will be holding its annual environmental lobby day at 2:30pm, where we will be having speakers to discuss our priority bills, then taking that information to the floor of the House and Senate to educate our lawmakers. Let's make some noise. JOIN and INVITE YOUR FRIENDS!
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4) Climate Bill Rally Saturday
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Speaking of getting attention for ECRI priority legislation, we'll have an extra chance on Saturday when a rally is being organized in support of the the Resilient RI Act. It will be held at the Statehouse at noon. We need a big crowd. Please come out and make a difference and don't forget to ask your friends to come, too.
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5) Vernal Pools Outing, Too
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If the Statehouse isn't really your thing, we're also conducting our annual vernal pools outing on Saturday at the Great Swamp. If you want to carpool down from the office, people will be meeting in the office parking lot at 8:30am to get to the Great Swamp Management Area's parking lot for 9:30am. Let us know you're coming on Facebook.
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6) James Kennedy's Quest for a Bikeable City
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In other news, newly elected RI Sierra Club executive committee member James Kennedy is on a crusade to make Providence into the bike friendliest city in the US. It's a campaign that will take some time (we've got a lot of catching up to do with cities like Portland, OR). Nevertheless, you can start right now by reading about what James wants in the Providence Journal (front page!) and then by taking the poll on the page to advocate for protected bike lanes in Providence. Thanks.
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Thank you for signing up for Cool CATs Weekly. You can make your community "Cool" by advocating for renewable power, green buildings and transportation choices. Visit the Cool Cities website for resources and toolkits.
Sincerely,
Abel Collins
The Sierra Club Rhode Island Chapter
42 Rice St.
Providence, RI 02907
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Check Out Our
RI Primer on
Climate Change
Tell Lawmakers to Support the Resilient RI Act
Tell Lawmakers to Expand Distributed Generation
SIGN the Fossil Free RI Petition to Governor Chafee and Treasurer Raimondo
Sign the Corporations Aren't People Petition
Sign the Fossil Free RI Petition to Divest URI, RIC, and CCRI
Tell Lawmakers to Restore the Renewable Energy Tax Credit
Click on the Calendar tab above to learn when and where our next executive, outings, development, communications, conservation, and political committee meetings will be held.
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