Category: Blog

By Mike Tidwell

I used to be a globe-hopping environmental activist. I went to climate change conferences in Montreal and Copenhagen. I travelled regionally, too, to Richmond and Annapolis, to harangue legislators. The travel made me part of the pollution problem, of course. But I bought “carbon offsets” to compensate, saving Amazon rainforests. 

Now, like you, I’m quarantined. On the 50^th anniversary of Earth Month, I occupy a roughly 10-square-block universe around my house. Yet I’ve discovered four new activities that give me the power to act locally – and I mean inside my house and neighborhood – while keeping global climate change at the center of my activist life. 

So cue the drum roll. Here’s a summary of four cool activities I’m taking this Earth Month, followed by more details below. 1) I’m saving hundreds of local trees with my bare hands; 2) I’m writing hundreds of letters to out-of-state swing voters; 3) I’m riding a bike to protest Big Oil companies; and 4) – perhaps most important – I’m laughing a lot. I seek out laughter more than ever. My comedian friend Robert Mac reminds me that jokes can go viral too and that laughter is contagious. So we’re organizing the first-ever zoom comedy show to celebrate Earth Month and support a local food bank. Buy tickets here.

Now, in more depth, here are the four things that keep me sane and busy – and that might help you too: 

EARTH MONTH ACTION #1: Saving hundreds of trees in my neighborhood – Every day I keep at least one tree, and sometimes as many as ten, from falling to the ground, decomposing, and making global warming worse.

It began with the biggest tree in my neighborhood, about 10 blocks from my house. That tree is at least 150 years old, a tulip poplar. I first noticed it from atop a high-rise office building where I live in Takoma Park, MD. The tree hovered in the distance, twice as tall as the rest of the urban canopy in my neighborhood, which overlaps Maryland and Washington, DC. It’s a magical tree, a giant at least 90 feet tall. 

I set off one recent morning to see the tree up close. I take more walks in this world of social distancing. When I arrived at the corner of 6^th and Butternut Streets, NW, I was both amazed and horrified. The tree’s trunk – 14 feet in circumference – was supporting a vast network of titanic branches shading much of the block. 

But then I noticed the tragedy. The tree was being strangled to death. Half of its massive, godlike body was covered in, and choking from, English Ivy. 

Multiple studies show that rising CO2 levels worldwide act as a “super fertilizer” to noxious weeds and vines like English Ivy and wisteria. But it took a viral pandemic to get me walking more and seeing the mass death these vines are bringing to my own neighborhood – and yours. 

A few days later, my son Sasha and I needed only about 20 minutes to save the 150-year-old tree. With the permission of the homeowner (friendly but ivy “blind”) we used garden clippers and a simple pruning saw to remove a thick matt of ivy vines at the base of the tree, thus dooming the climbing vines above us. Twenty minutes to save a tree that’s been growing for one and a half centuries!!

Now I’m obsessed with saving trees from ivy. I hand out this educational flier at every house I see on my morning walks where trees are being choked. I estimate there are at least one thousand – one THOUSAND – trees dying from noxious weeds within ten blocks for my house, each of which can be rescued within a few minutes. My goal, this Earth Month, is to personally save 100 of them and to recruit my neighbors to save the rest. 

That’s a total of 1000 tons of carbon dioxide sequestered over the lifetime of those trees, by the way – a ton per tree. My 100 trees alone offset my personal carbon footprint for about 10 years! I know we need to plant trees by the billions worldwide to help fight climate change. But we’ve got to save what we already have too. Won’t you join me during your own pandemic morning walks? Learn more here and here.

EARTH MONTH ACTION #2: Writing letters to potential voters in swing-state Pennsylvania – So this one’s a no-brainer. A nonprofit called Vote Forward allows you to personally write voters in several key states and encourage them to vote. Vote Forward targets folks in Democrat-leaning districts who historically have not voted. The process is super simple. You sign up. They send you as many letters as you want to write, with the voter’s name and address already displayed. You hand write your encouraging letter. Then you sit on the letters until October and mail them in. I’m in the process of writing 100 letters now to residents of Pennsylvania. Will you join me? You can also pick other target swing states like North Carolina and Texas.

EARTH MONTH ACTION #3: Riding a bike to draw attention to oily banks and dirty companies – Okay, for this one I’ve got to leave my neighborhood to get political. On April 30^th, my friends at #ShutdownDC are planning a safe and creative bicycle action as part of their “Earth Day to May Day” series of activities. We’ll be keeping our distance, riding in pairs or solo, as we swing by the offices of some of the world’s worst climate criminals in Washington, DC. Sign up for more information on the bike ride here. If you just want to take in the activities by zoom, sign up here. 

EARTH MONTH ACTION #4: Laughing and laughing. The first-ever CCAN comedy show to raise money for a local food bank — Now, more than ever, we need the medicine of laughter as we save Mother Earth. Every day, I find myself going out of my way to try to find humor in the world and share it with others. That’s why the Chesapeake Climate Action Network is so excited to sponsor DC-area comic Robert Mac and his hilarious show “Comedy Night for Earth Day.” It’s a one-hour Zoom comedy special that will premiere on Thursday, April 30th, 8 pm. Tickets are just $10. Proceeds go to the Capital Area Food Bank.

Robert Mac has a skill for bringing humor even to the topic of climate change, with laugh-out-loud results. Did you know, for example, that by switching to the metric system we can reduce future global warming in the U.S. from 7 degrees to 2 degrees? Overnight! Mac has been a grand prize winner of Comedy Central’s Laugh Riots and has been featured at the prestigious Just for Laughs festival in Montreal — among other honors. He is one of the best “environmental comics” in the nation. You can check out some of his “50 Ways” tips here. For every $10 ticket sale we donate, the Capital Area Food Bank will be able to feed 25 people in this time of need. So RSVP now and tell all your friends. CCAN is proud to host this first-ever online comic show devoted to climate humor and virus justice.

EARTH MONTH WRAP UP: So there you have it. Four ways to keep you busy fighting climate change super close to home during a global pandemic. And here’s a PS: On April 24^th at noon ET, CCAN is also hosting a cool hour-long program of music, yoga, and activism via zoom as part of the Earth Day Live event streaming worldwide. Sign up for our program here. Learn more about Earth Day Live here. 

In the meantime, stay safe, stay sane, stay active, and laugh whenever you can. 

Cross-posted from CCAN Action Fund with permission and recompense.

As the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continues to unfold, we at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and CCAN Action Fund are working hard to adjust our plans to continue fighting global warming. We know now, more than ever, how important it is to prevent a massive crisis before it arrives. 

So here’s what we’re doing to take care of ourselves and the planet:

First, the health of our staff and surrounding communities is our main priority. We all have the responsibility to carry out “social distancing” as much as possible to reduce the spread of COVID-19. To that end, we are requiring staff to work from home if possible for the next several weeks at least, and we are suspending all CCAN planned in-person events during this time. 

Second, we are shifting our focus to digital campaigns. How can we make large-scale systemic change happen in a world of “social distancing”? Here’s how: by getting “closer” on social media. Deepening our investments in social media will be a key part of our near-term organizing even as we continue to reach out to legislators through the conventional means of email and phone calls. We’ll be in touch soon with more on all that. But here are some things you can do right now: 

• Sign this petition urging your US Senators to pass a coronavirus relief package. 
• Follow our main organization, CCAN, on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram for your daily dose of inspiration, reliable information, and activism. For regular updates on our legislative campaigns, please follow our sister organization, CCAN Action Fund, on Facebook and Twitter. 

Third, we want to make sure YOU are taking care of yourself in these trying times. We’ve included a list of resources at the bottom of this email with advice about social distancing, mental health resources, and more. 

And finally, let’s remember why we fight: We love and care about our neighbors and we want to ensure a basic quality of life for all. Climate change will not only impact the way disease spreads, it will impact every sector of society. So rest assured that we will not stop fighting the fossil fuel polluters. We will not back down. We will keep pushing to bring smart and clean energy policies to our region and nationwide. 

We know that navigating COVID-19 together will be challenging, but we also strongly believe in the power of the people. The need for progressive movements is apparent now more than ever. We are proud to be a part of this movement.  

Below are additional resources that might help you navigate COVID-19:

• The World Health Organization has advice for the public here.
• Resources for COVID-19 – A list of crowd sourced links covering a variety of COVID-19 preparedness materials, including information, tips for handwashing and social distancing, tips for how to help yourself and others, prioritize your mental health as well as physical, and how to organize in this environment.
• How canceled events and self-quarantines save lives, in one chart – Why it’s necessary to practice social distancing to protect those most vulnerable and prevent a strain on our healthcare system.
• Transformative Spaces: Demands from Grassroots Organizers Concerning COVID-19 – Written by Kelly Hayes, this is a list of demands for dealing with the crisis. Kelly is a queer Native writer, organizer and movement photographer. 
• Treating Yellow Peril: Resources to Address Coronavirus Racism  – A resource written by Associate Professor of History and Asian American Studies Jason Oliver Chang from the University of Connecticut.
• Resources from adrienne maree brown – Links to the author’s books and podcasts that are relevant: “here are some resources that might help you think about where to be, how to be, and how to see the possibilities even in this moment, how to move towards life.”
• Toolkit: Plan Now to Adapt to Coronavirus Safety – A resource created by David Solnit.
• Finding Steady Ground – A resource to remind us about behaviors to keep us grounded amidst turbulent times.

Paolo is the Central Virginia Organizer at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. Here’s his story.

Tell us a little bit about yourself! 

I was born in the Philippines, but Richmond has helped me to become the person I am today. I learned at a young age what it meant to be poor in America and how racial and socioeconomic disparities affected the lives of youth in my neighborhood. Growing up in America, I constantly hear about the disastrous effects of climate change miles across the ocean in my home country, the Philippines. I hear about the fear of typhoons coming for my friends and family back at home. At a young age, I learned and realized the systemic privileges that I had based on being Asian, the color of my skin, my immigration status, and the privilege I hold by living in America. 

What impacts of climate change currently hit home to you?

Growing up in the Philippines, I didn’t really know what the word “climate change” meant back then, all I knew was that sometimes I would wake up and go downstairs to see my home completely flooded. And for my family that was normal. It was reality we faced on a daily basis. Whenever I see flooded communities broadcasted on the news I am always taken back to my childhood home in the Philippines. 

What has inspired you most working with CCAN? 

CCAN is an organization that understands that the climate crisis is a human issue. It’s exciting to be a part of an organization that acknowledges the layers of injustice and systemic racism that have led us to this point. The work CCAN has done to advocate and empower frontline communities to be hit first and the worst by climate change has inspired me to keep pushing in our environmental movement. We continue to grow to be a more diverse and powerful voice. 

What have you contributed to bringing about a clean energy revolution that you are most proud of? 

When I was little I remember growing up in an old house over at the east end of Richmond. There were times where the energy bills trumped the rent cost, times where we would have no heat in the winter. By sharing my story to people, I am able to help bring to light the energy burden issue in Virginia that needs to be taken into account in the clean energy revolution. 

What do you hope to see happen in terms of climate in the next year?

I hope that the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative Bill will pass in Virginia with many of the equity measures still in place to protect frontline communities impacted by climate change. 

What do you like to do when you’re not working on climate change?

I love to cook with my friends, collect recipes from everyone I meet, and play with my Goldendoodle, Kai. 

Who would you high five?

Saul Alinsky, the father of community organizing. I recommend you read his book “Rules for Radicals.”

Tell us a little bit about yourself!

I grew up on Long Island, New York as the son of two public school teachers. My father, in addition to teaching English, also served on our town’s water board. Public service was an important value in our home and I went to college with the aspiration of making public policy a career.

While attending the University of Maryland, I was appointed by then-Gov. Martin O’Malley to serve as student member of the University System of Maryland Board of Regents. I then worked for Del. Heather Mizeur’s 2014 gubernatorial campaign, and moved to Tennessee for a statewide ballot initiative campaign protecting the right to abortion in the state constitution.

In 2015, I started working for the Maryland State Education Association—the state’s teachers union—where we stopped funding cuts and school privatization efforts by Gov. Larry Hogan, reduced standardized testing, and secured the largest statewide increase in teacher pay since before the Great Recession. I also spent three months on leave from the union to work on Ben Jealous’ 2018 gubernatorial campaign.

What woke you up to the climate crisis?

There’s always been a steady drip of understanding that it was a problem: my dad calling me into our living room to watch Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth, Hurricane Sandy, a good friend’s wedding nearly postponed due to wildfires in Oregon. But my issue area had always been education policy and I knew others were working in the climate space. Then I saw the headlines late last year about 12 years left to cut emissions in half. I guess I needed a deadline to really pay attention.

I heard about David Wallace-Well’s Uninhabitable Earth and bought one copy for myself and one copy for my dad. It totally changed my understanding of the scale and urgency of the climate crisis. It was no longer just another piece of the progressive movement—I now knew it was going to be the defining issue of the 21^st Century. The one that creates the context for all others.

Public education will always be one of the few most important responsibilities of our society, no matter what moment in human history. But climate is important in this exact moment in human history. So I made the leap.

What impacts of climate change currently hit home to you?

I have been really fortunate that climate change has not directly or significantly harmed any of my friends or family. My sister lives in Los Angeles, which feels like it’s surrounded by fire every year now. My parents now split their time between living near coastlines on Long Island, New York and South Florida, both very susceptible to hurricanes. But we haven’t been displaced from our homes, subjected to air or water pollution, forced to leave our communities, lost food sources we rely on, or seen our careers and our way of life disappear. So many others have already endured these extreme negative consequences of our collective inaction and it’s just getting started.

What brought you to CCAN?

Once I decided I wanted to work full-time on changing climate policy, I looked for a place where I could have the most immediate impact. In the U.S., the most ambitious climate policy is being passed at the state level and no one works state climate policy harder than CCAN. There are so many advocacy organizations that exist in Maryland just to preserve their own access to powerful legislators, waiting in line until they’re told it’s okay to act. CCAN is different. Under Mike Tidwell’s leadership, CCAN has gotten big things done well ahead of the usual Annapolis schedule. With ten years left to make wide-sweeping and complicated changes to the way our economy, transportation system, and buildings work, CCAN’s culture of urgency is paramount.   

What has inspired you most working with CCAN?

Without a doubt, I’m most inspired by how dedicated my colleagues are to going about our work in an inclusive way. As vital as urgency is to our work—it doesn’t matter how quickly we move if we’re leaving people behind along the way. The minute I came to work at CCAN, I walked into a culture of respect that has been built by both an eagerness and the hard work needed to understand the full extent of the change we’re working to create. How are we investing in frontline and disadvantaged communities? How are we moving from an exploitative economy to a worker-led economy? How do we build a movement that is led by those who have historically been shut out of decision-making? These questions dominate our work just as much as reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

What do you hope to see happen in terms of climate in the next year?

There’s now a growing consensus in our country that not only is climate change real, but we also have just a short period of time to do something about it. There’s less of a consensus on what that “something” is — what is our unifying vision of how to address climate change? It will require system change in so many of our worlds: how we get from point A to B, the heating and cooling of the buildings we live and work in, the food we eat, and so much else we take for granted in our everyday lives. It’s entirely daunting. What would a comprehensive climate action even look like? 

I hope come November of 2020, the vision for necessary and comprehensive climate action becomes more clear and a movement starts to form behind it. I think states can play a large role in that important policy development and I hope Maryland can be a leader.   

What do you like to do when you’re not working on climate change?

I love hiking and kayaking, and usually plan my vacations around getting outside and surrounding myself with natural beauty. I go to Shenandoah National Park a handful of times every year and have gone to Denali National Park and Acadia National Park recently. I’m hoping to add more national parks to the list soon.

I also sing and write lyrics in a post-rock band called If Only the Trees (the name isn’t climate-related!).  

Who would you high five?

I’ve been thinking a lot about Saul Alinsky, one of America’s great leaders in grassroots organizing in the 20th Century, since I started this job. He has this one quote that keeps coming back to me: “Together we may find some of what we’re looking for—laughter, beauty, love, and the chance to create.” To me, it really sums up why we bother fighting for a better version of our world. 

But if I had to pick just one person, it would be David Wallace-Wells, a writer for the New Yorker and author of Uninhabitable Earth. I’ve never read anything more persuasive and important than his book, and I owe him for opening my eyes and pushing me to want to do this work.

Lauren Landis is CCAN’s Hampton Roads Organizer. Here’s her story.

Tell us a little bit about yourself!

I was born in Virginia but grew up in Texas! I moved to Hampton Roads to attend William & Mary and then lived in the area after graduating with my Bachelor’s Degree in Government. I’ve worked for education, healthcare, and hunger relief nonprofits in Hampton Roads, Richmond, and Raleigh, North Carolina and am passionate about advocating for basic human rights. This led me to the mother of all basic rights, the right to a safe and healthy environment!

What woke you up to the climate crisis? 

Focusing on hunger relief while I worked for the Food Bank of CENC started me on the personal journey to learn more about climate change. The agricultural ties to food banking really highlight how closely climate change and food scarcity are linked. I began to learn and research about the impact of climate change on food production around the world. 

What impacts of climate change currently hit home to you? 

As a resident of Hampton Roads, the impacts of climate change are always on my mind. Our coastal cities are endangered by sea rise and many residents will soon be in the flood path unless drastic actions are taken. In addition, I see daily evidence of the fossil fuel industry in our region when the coal train cars drive across the street from my home or when I pass the mountains of coal in Norfolk. 

What brought you to CCAN? 

I was looking for local ways to contribute to climate justice and CCAN is a great actor in the area. I was drawn to CCAN’s policy focus and activism to protect my region.  

What has inspired you most working with CCAN?

CCAN has a saying of, “no permanent friends, no permanent enemies.” I think this mindset is particularly inspiring given our highly bipartisan political culture. I love CCAN’s flexibility to push for change using all tools and appealing to all individuals who might be able to help. 

What have you contributed to bringing about a clean energy revolution that you are most proud of?

I am most proud of the small role I played in getting people to attend the local events held for the September global climate strike movement. I think this moment was pivotal in showing the public support for climate justice and it was awesome to recruit others and represent CCAN’s call for clean energy. 

What do you hope to see happen in terms of climate in the next year?

I hope to see progress on Virginia’s path to joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) as I think it would be a big advancement towards a cleaner future. I also hope to keep meeting Hampton Roads residents who are curious or passionate about creating a cleaner, more sustainable culture in our region. 

What do you like to do when you’re not working on climate change?

Most of my free time is spent with my family taking walks around our community! I also like to spend time reading, learning to bake, and sleeping as much as I possibly can :).

Who would you high five?

I would high five Mary Robinson! Her book, Climate Justice, was one of the first books that I read to learn more grassroots stories of individuals around the world affected by climate change. By simply relaying the stories of these frontline communities, she inspired me to seek out an organizer role. Mary Robinson has also established a Climate Justice Foundation (after her chapters as the Prime Minister of Ireland and UN Commissioner on Human Rights) and her career is a great example to me that it’s never too late to join the fight.