Dear DC37 Brothers and Sisters,
The DC37 Climate Justice Committee IS RESCHEDULED FOR NEXT TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2023, AT 6:00 PM, due to tomorrow being Election Day. Please vote.
(The Climate Committee usually meets on the first Tuesday of every month.) This meeting will be via Zoom and Telephone.
A Climate Resolution was recently passed by the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) calling on President Biden to declare a Climate Emergency in the United States, and for the greater involvement of the Union and its members in taking climate action. This has included the creation of a UFT Climate Justice Committee!
Please take a look at this UFT Resolution as it could well be the basis of a Climate Resolution for DC37 and AFSCME to also call upon President Biden to declare a Climate Emergency in the face of the growing climate crisis. The growing intensity of hurricanes, tornados, and storms and the growing droughts and sea levels are impacting people all over the world including here in NYC. As stated in last Friday’s NY Times, we will now reach 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) of global warming by the end of this decade and we will reach 2.0 degrees C (3.6 Fahrenheit) by 2050. This is the number that the United Nations and 98% of scientists desperately want to avoid to stop global warming from going over “the tipping point” and spiraling out of control. There is still time to act and President Biden declaring a Climate Emergency would allow the Administration to take much stronger actions in the face of this existential threat. We as Union members can help make this happen.
The draft agenda for the DC37 Climate Justice Committee meeting on Tuesday, November 14th, is:
1) A discussion of the UFT Resolution and how it might be modified
2) How the modified Resolution might be used in creating a Climate Caucus within AFSCME
3) Hosting a walking tour of the East Side Coastal Resiliency project on the east side of Manhattan
4) Involvement in a Green Healthy Schools campaign to address ventilation, flooding and clean energy in NYC public schools
5) Other Issues of interest
6) Next Meeting – the First Tuesday of the month – December 5th
Please join us next Tuesday, November 14th at 6:00 PM via Zoom and Telephone.
In Solidarity,
Jon Forster
Co-Chair,
DC37 Climate Justice Committee
