Statewide Mobilization “Day of Action” in Sacramento Urges Policymakers to Consider Cap and Trade Alternatives

Hundreds of California residents arrived in Sacramento by the busload and vanload to pack the California Air Resources Board (CARB) at 8:30am, Wednesday, August 24 in a “Day of Action” as the Air Resources Board considered its direction in implementing California’s landmark global warming legislation.

The campaign behind the mobilization, Communities Rising for Real Solutions (CoRReSol), opposes CARB’s cap and trade framework to curb California’s greenhouse gas emissions and supports alternative measures that are more effective and would address local pollution sources, along with carbon emissions.

The Day of Action for Climate Solutions for a Healthy California includes:

Noon news conference outside Cal EPA (10th & I Streets) to outline alternative approaches to cap and trade more effective in curbing greenhouse gas emissions.  Mayor Gayle McLaughlin of Richmond is a featured speaker, along with environmental leaders.    A Rally diagonally across the street at Cesar Chavez Park. (Visuals included a hot air balloon and a large banner in the shape of the state of California unfurled from a nearby building.

Communities Rising for Real Solutions (also known by its Spanish acronym CoRReSol) emphasizes that it supports AB 32 and is calling on the Board to consider climate change measures that would curb greenhouse gas emissions and address local sources of pollution.

The campaign criticizes cap and trade as ineffective in curbing greenhouse gas levels. “Greenhouse gas emissions actually increased the first three years after the European Union enacted cap and trade,”said Alicia Rivera, a community organizer from Wilmington, CA, near the Port of Los Angeles. “California is at a crossroads–we can either continue down the road of cap and trade or go in the direction of clean, renewable energy, increased efficiency and the development of California’s green economy.”

Communities Rising for Real Solutions is a joint campaign by two veteran California environmental justice organizations, Communities for a Better Environment (CBE), and the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment. CBE won a legal victory earlier this year when a superior court judge ruled that CARB’s plan for implementing climate change legislation had too narrow a focus on cap and trade.