500 signatures reached
To: San Francisco Board of Supervisors
San Francisco Supervisors: Don't Skip Funding for Climate
San Francisco declared a climate emergency in 2019 and approved a detailed, ambitious Climate Action Plan (CAP) at the end of 2021. To have any hope of successfully implementing it and meeting our climate goals, we need to start now.
Shockingly, when Mayor Breed released her budget for the upcoming fiscal year, she allocated none of the money that the Department of the Environment (SFE) requested for staff and programs to begin the work outlined in the CAP. It's difficult to call this anything but climate denial.
After another dry winter and with fire season looming, San Franciscans know that inaction is not an option. With the mayor ignoring the climate crisis, we desperately need the Board of Supervisors to lead on climate by funding SFE's requested budget and additional initiatives outlined in the CAP.
Why is this important?
Anybody who woke up in San Francisco under the orange sky on September 9, 2020 knows that climate change is undeniably upon us. But if we start now, there are still many things we can do to turn the tide and avoid the worst impacts. In our city that means rapidly switching our homes and vehicles off of fossil fuels and moving to cleaner, safer, electric alternatives powered by renewable energy; expanding transit; strengthening our ecosystems; and protecting and empowering the communities that will face the worst impacts.
San Franciscans are ready to step up and do our part, but we need support and help from our city's leadership. The Department of the Environment (SFE) has outlined an $11 million budget over the next years to begin tackling the biggest sources of the city's carbon emissions, doing so in a way that focuses on justice and equity for the most vulnerable communities. Community groups are calling for additional funds for clean electrification pilots, incentives for eliminating fossil fuels in homes and transportation, and better clarity and protection from the hazards of sea level rise in Hunters Point and other contaminated areas. Additionally, planting trees to capture carbon and provide protection against extreme heat -- a key element of the CAP -- would be especially cost-effective in a city that lags most others in the extent of its tree canopy.
Climate change won't wait for politics as usual to play itself out -- the longer we wait, the harder it gets to avoid the increasingly threatening consequences of a hotter planet. The Board of Supervisors will be reviewing the proposed budget in the month of June. We demand that they recognize the scale of the crisis by fully funding SFE's $11 million budget request and additional CAP priorities.