RECENT NEWS

WV Groups Support the Inflation Reduction Act as a Good First Step

The WV Climate Alliance has come together to release a joint statement in support of the Inflation Reduction Act as a “Good First Step”. Passage by the House puts this historic legislation on president Biden’s desk for his signature. This legislation will now begin to move our nation forward in addressing our ever escalating Climate Crisis. 

While the Climate Alliance is hopeful about this historic step forward in climate policy, much more is needed to be done. We will continue advocating for the advancement of climate solutions that focus on our three pillars of reform: climate justice for communities that have borne the brunt of our current fossil-fuel economy; a true transition for coal miners and other fossil fuel workers likely to be impacted by the transition to a low-carbon economy; and a significant reduction in greenhouse gasses in accordance with the findings of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. | READ ON

WV v. EPA: SCOTUS Limits EPA Authority to Mitigate Climate Change & Pollution

Today the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to roll back the authority of EPA to set carbon pollution standards from power plants under Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act.

“The Supreme Court’s decision is a setback for EPA’s authority to reduce pollution and protect public health,” said Angie Rosser, executive director of the West Virginia Rivers Coalition and a founding member of the West Virginia Climate Alliance. “We’re concerned how this ruling may increase the burden for West Virginia communities already bearing the brunt of environmental harms, as well as stifle progress in curbing emissions to avoid the worst impacts of global warming.” | READ ON

World’s Climate Scientists Lay Out a Path to Mitigate the Effects of Climate Change

A new report released April 4, 2022 by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) “is a clarion call for Congressional action” to address the climate crisis, according to Perry Bryant, one of the founders of the West Virginia Climate Alliance.

The report states that limiting global warming to avoid the worst impacts of climate change requires rapid and immediate reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, said Angie Rosser, Executive Director of the West Virginia Rivers Coalition, a founding member of the climate alliance.

“This IPCC report from the world’s climate scientists should provide the motivation for Senator Joe Manchin, other Congressional leaders, and the Biden Administration to prioritize reaching an agreement on comprehensive solutions to climate change,” Rosser said. | READ ON

VIDEO: Experience the 2021 Halloween Rally for Climate Action in Charleston WV

Experience the Halloween Rally for Climate Action, sponsored by the WV Climate Alliance, which took place Oct. 30, 2021, on the plaza of the Robert C. Byrd Federal Courthouse Building in downtown Charleston. WV. The rally's messaging was directed at WV Sen. Joe Manchin, urging him to stand behind climate legislation and funding proposed by the Biden Administration. "The age of fossil fuels is coming to an end," renowned climatologist Michael E. Mann told the rally in virtual address. "It's still time for us to make the right choices so that we don't mortgage this planet. But we have to act now! This is a moment of consequences when it comes to the climate crisis. And we have to rise to that moment. We have to meet that moment, with meaningful action.

DIRECT YOUTUBE LINK: https://youtu.be/r6Cm_1xJ99Y
TRANSCRIPT OF VIDEO: Click here

VIDEO: Michael E. Mann remarks to 2021 Halloween Rally for Climate Action in Charleston WV

Here are remarks by iconic climatologist and geophysicist Dr. Michael E. Mann, on navigating the climate crisis as part of a virtual address to an Oct. 30, 2021 Halloween Rally for Climate Action in downtown Charleston WV, sponsored by the West Virginia Climate Alliance. Mann is Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science at Penn State and director of the Penn State Earth System Science Center.
YOUTUBE SHARE LINK: youtu.be/Ik8Nwy-fUmo

VIDEO: In Pursuit of Climate Justice and Climate Action

Raging climate-related wildfires. Torrential flooding. Disastrous droughts. Hazardous wastes. Headlines are full of the 1,001 ways the climate crisis can harm you, your family and the place you live. Yet communities of color and low-income families have long suffered from being on the front lines of such dangers. ‘Fairness’ and ‘justice’ are two words now central to climate change activism. They speak to the need to look out for front-line communities, whose health and well-being are often most at-risk from environmental disasters and climate change hazards. This video of the West Virginia Climate Alliance features a profile of this important subject, featuring interviews with longtime West Virginia environmental activist Pam Nixon, who chairs the Charleston branch of the Environmental and Climate Justice Committee of the NAACP; Angie Rosser, director of the WV Rivers Coalition; and Rev. Ron English, president of the Charleston WV branch of the NAACP.
YOUTUBE SHARE LINK: https://youtu.be/MUrYkOJTtEA

WEBINAR: Grow informed and inspired by viewing “Climate, Jobs and Justice”

We had more than 100 people tune into our illuminating, informative, and inspiring “Climate, Jobs and Justice” public forum on Aug. 24, 2021, with speakers that included Collin O’Mara, President of the National Wildlife Federation, and many others. Above is a video of the entire one hour-and-a-half webinar. It is a great antidote to climate despair and inaction. We encourage you to share the link.
YOUTUBE LINK: youtu.be/-m54X7PVsC0

TOOLS: Use Call4Climate to easily contact senators on the climate crisis

Call4Climate was launched last month by Leah Stokes, an energy researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara, along with Duncan Meisel and Jamie Henn, co-founders of the Clean Creatives campaign.

“There are so many people out there who are freaked out about the climate crisis right now,” said Henn. “They’re seeing wildfires, heatwaves, flooding, and wondering what they can do about it. We wanted to provide a simple, direct way that anyone in the country could make a difference.”

To that end, the three created a dial-in number — (202)-318-1885 if you want to put it on your speed dial — that people can use to easily hit up their senators. Once you call the number, a voice asks you to punch in your zip code. When you do, it reminds you to make four demands for a bold climate bill. Those demands include a Clean Electricity Standard that puts the country on a path to 100% clean power by 2035, ensuring 40% of green funding goes to frontline communities, ending fossil fuel subsidies, and creating a Civilian Climate Corps. Those demands are explained in detail on Call4Climate’s website, which also has a script if you’re not ready to adlib the demands. Then, it patches you through to your senators’ office lines so you can bring them the message yourself.

READ ON: It’s Never Been Easier to Call Your Senators and Demand Climate Action

FACES: Cheyenne Carter, WV Climate Alliance Social Media Coordinator

One Climate Alliance goal moving forward is to put a face on folks doing climate change work in West Virginia. Here is an introduction to the new Social Media Coordinator for the Alliance.

Greetings beautiful humans. I’m honored to be introducing myself as the Social Media Coordinator of West Virginia Climate Alliance. During my childhood, the mountain momma state played a big part in helping me gain awareness of all the precious intricacies the Earth provides. Eventually, I flew the nest and ventured out to study Environmental Studies. In my exploration, I had the honor of helping the City of Ithaca adopt a local Green New Deal with the national Sunrise Movement. During my college years I had the fortune to live many adventurous tales that nourished the respect I have for all things natural. Some of these experiences included rafting the Grand Canyon; being a biological surveyor in the Chihuahuan Desert; studying biodiversity in Belize; learning survival skills and herbal medicine; raft-guiding the Colorado River; and becoming an educator for the New York State Parks Recreation & Historic Preservation.

After I had my degree under my belt, I recognized where my heart longed to be, in my home among the hills. In later years, as I was visiting the farm that raised me in WV, I realized that the pollinators were becoming fewer and the creeks started to dry up. In some way or another, it felt like a “Silent Spring.” It is a passion and honor to be a part of the efforts to save our planet for more generations to come, especially right here in West Virginia. 

 When I’m not working for WV Climate Alliance I can be found working on my new business BeeLoved Yoga and Photography, playing music, and relishing in the beauty of the outdoors.

REPORT: Energy efficiency — not natural gas — offers a better life for West Virginians

We hear a lot about big legislation and dramatic shifts in energy infrastructure to tackle climate change before it tackles us. These are crucial. Yet something as straightforward as energy efficiency is also “the low-hanging fruit” of things we can do. For West Virginia communities skittish about how they get to a clean energy future, the efficient use of energy they use now can mean a better quality of life and more work, according to the Ohio River Valley Institute.

“When you do energy efficiency — not just in homes, but in businesses, workplaces, schools and other public buildings — you are also contributing to an improved quality of life,” said Sean O’Leary, lead author of the two reports released July 21, 2021.  “Energy efficiency work on heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and doors and windows tends to be labor-intensive. For each dollar that goes into them, they generate about three to four times as many jobs as a dollar spent or earned in natural gas.”

Making our homes, businesses and public buildings energy efficient also means work for local workers and contractors, he said. “When you spend money with them, the money stays in the local economy. They hire local workers, and it has a multiplier effect.”

READ ON: Advocates say energy efficiency — not gas — offers Appalachia best economic prospects

NEWS: Exxon’s public face on climate gets a reality check

In advertising campaigns, Exxon has presented itself as a part of the solution to, rather than a cause of, climate change. But a Greenpeace sting of the energy giant paints a different picture of Exxon’s behind-the-scenes efforts. In a secret recording, a company spokesman says the company targeted a number of influential senators with the aim of scaling back the climate provisions in President Biden’s sweeping infrastructure bill by scrapping the tax increases that would pay for it. | READ ON

INTERVIEW: West Virginians need a seat at the table on how to address the climate crisis

Angie Rosser, director of the WV Rivers Coalition was featured in an April 26, 2021 TALKLINE interview with Hoppy Kercheval. How does awareness of the climate crisis work for West Virginia, one of the most fossil fuel-centric states in America, asks Kerchival? Rosser responds: “The science tells us we need to act immediately. The decline of the coal industry has been in front of us for some time. Now, with the new administration and their commitment, it's never been more important for West Virginia to be at the center of these discussions around energy transitions and what that means for our people and what it means for jobs and our economic future. Yes, the science tells us we need to act immediately, act aggressively, to mitigate the worst effects of climate change. But we can’t do that without considering the people dimension, the human dimension, And that’s where were going to have lean heavily on Sen. Manchin, Sen. Capito, all of our leaders from the local governments on up, to make sure that we have a seat at the table at these conversations.”

WATCH THE INTERVIEW: Angie Rosser on ‘Talkline’

Founded in 2020, the WEST VIRGINIA CLIMATE ALLIANCE is a broad-based coalition of almost 20 environmental organizations, faith-based, civil rights and civic organizations, and other groups with a focus on climate change. Members of the Alliance work together to provide science-based education on climate change to West Virginia citizens and policymakers.

READ ON: More on Alliance members and goals

VIDEO: ‘CLIMATE COMMON SENSE: Follow the science to a safer future’

The work of the West Virginia Climate Alliance focuses on three main pillars: climate justice; a true transition; and greenhouse gas reductions in accord with the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In this 10-minute mini-documentary, "CLIMATE COMMON SENSE," Climate Alliance co-founders Perry Bryant and Angie Rosser (director of the WV Rivers Coalition), along with WV House of Delegates member Evan Hansen speak of the fundamental importance of taking action on the climate crisis rooted in the climate science laid out by the global scientists who make up the UN’s IPCC. Using imagery from around West Virginia and beyond, this video underscores what is at stake if we do not take decisive action, locally, nationally, and globally on the onrushing climate crisis. 

TO SHARE FROM YOUTUBE: youtu.be/IUb2_iKAbb0
FOR MORE ON THE THREE PILLARS: About the WV Climate Alliance.
NOTE: This video is a production of AMP Media/WestVirginiaVille.com video.

VIDEO: Why care about climate change anyway?

Why should anyone care about the climate crisis? People from across West Virginia active in groups addressing climate change tackle that question, in light of their own lives, families, and communities.

DOWNLOAD: “A Citizen’s Guide to Climate Change”

Released in January 2021, the 14-page “A Citizen’s Guide to Climate Change,” produced by the WV Climate Alliance, is written by West Virginians for West Virginians. The Guide explains the science behind climate change; details its key impacts in West Virginia such as flooding; and provides common-sense potential solutions to this global problem. Read the guide below or download it to your desktop.