Dear Honorable—and Awesome—City Council Members,
I often get a chance to feel puffed up and proud when, in various climate
change mitigation efforts and group conversations, I hear that Menlo Park
has been and is a leader in reducing emissions! Im deeply grateful to you
and to your predecessors for your insightful and bold efforts to show other
cities, counties and states what we can do right now to mitigate the worst
damage from global warming.
God, we need your kind of leadership! An epidemic of it. The news of
extreme weather events and horrific damage around the globe is overwhelming
and in our faces!
I take a 40,000-foot view when considering how measure H1 on tonights
agenda fits into our nations challenge to face this existential crisis
(especially since the US is historically the worst polluting nation). We
all know that global warming is the most gargantuan and frightening issue
humanity has ever faced. Polls reveal that two thirds of US citizens are
now "concerned" about it (but most are still grossly uninformed or
misinformed). With the monumental damage Trump has done to environmental
progress at the federal level, its now clear that crucial action at the
local and state level is what will keep this mitigation movement going.
What we do in Menlo Park matters more than ever.
H1 is a perfect example of the carbon-reduction leadership Menlo Park
continually demonstrates and the kind of local action that is critical now.
When you make these changes to existing regulations, you protect our
residents today and our children and grandchildren years from now.
I applaud and thank Menlo Park City Staff for their detailed proposal,
analysis and insight. They were hired to lead our community, and theyre
doing a superb job.
I suggest that you, too, continue to provide excellent, BOLD leadership by
approving agenda item H1 fully and including all staff recommendations.
Im not a data analyst, but am curious about the significance of the survey
results that staff shared in their report. Can a response of that small
size be statistically significant? Dont respondents who feel negatively
about an issue put more energy into venting through a survey? Could you
please have a data or survey analyst consider that and suggest a more
effective way to get a broader response from a larger segment of
residents?
Thank you for considering on agenda item H1.
In grateful support of who you are and what you do...
Cheryl Schaff
953 Cotton Street
*Cheryl Schaff*
*Peninsula Clean Energy Community Advisory Committee*
*350 Silicon Valley Menlo Park Team*
*Climate Reality Project Leader, Bay Area*
*650.533.0307*
*"Were not fighting for a merely livable planet. Were fighting for a
riotous, wild, gorgeous, miraculous, life-cradling planet thats home to a
society that works for everyone." Peter Kalmus, climate scientist*
