FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 20TH, 2019 – 12PM-5PM AT BIENVILLE SQ, MOBILE, AL
This is a Non-Partisan event, focused on education.
Anticipated Keynote Speakers:
350.org, Cherrell Brown, Lead Organizer
Africatown C.H.E.S.S. (Clean, Health, Educated, Safe & Sustainable) Inc., Major Joe Womack
Alabama Coastal Foundation (ACF), Mark Berte, Director
Alabama Rivers Alliance (ARA), Curt Chaffin, Policy Director
Awakening Respect And Compassion For All Sentient Beings (ARC), Tracey Glover, J.D.
Baheth Research & Development Labs (BRDL), Dr. Raoul Richardson
Citizens’ Climate Lobby, Riva Fralick
Climate Action Network (USCAN)
Coalition for the Life Sciences (CLS), Kiani A. Gardner, Ph. D.
Compass Solar Energy, Doug Mardula
Councilman Levon Manzie, City Council District 2, City of Mobile, AL
Dauphin Island Sea Lab, Dr. Kenneth L. Heck, Jr., Senior Marine Scientist III & Chair, Professor, University of South Alabama
Energy Alabama and the Energy and Policy Institute, Daniel Tait
GASP Group Michael Hansen, Executive Director
Gulf Restoration Network > HealthyGulf, Christian Wagley
LaDon Swann, Ph. D., Director, Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant and Sea Grant Aquaculture Liaison
League of Women Voters Mobile, Rose Johnson, Chair
League of Women Voters of Alabama, Barbara Caddell, Chair
Mobile Baykeeper (MBK), Casi Callaway, Executive Director & Cade Kistler, Program Director
Mobile Bay National Estuary Program (Mobile Bay NEP), Christian Miller, Watershed Management Coordinator
Mobile County Board of Health, Bernard H. Eichold II, M.D., Dr.P.H., F.A.C.P., Mobile County Health Officer
Mobile County National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Robert Clopton, President
Mobile Environmental Justice Action Coalition (MEJAC), Ramsey Sprague, President
Natural Awakenings, Meredith Montgomery, editor
Open Table, Reverend Ellen Guice Sims
Rise for Climate, Jobs, and Justice, Mobile Bay, Diego Calderon-Arrieta, Chair
Rise for Climate, Jobs, and Justice, Mobile Bay, David Underhill, Member
Sierra Club, Leslie Fields, Senior Director, Environmental Justice & Healthy Communities
Sierra Club, Michael Brune, National Executive Director
Sierra Club, Stephen Stetson, Beyond Coal and Fossil Fuel Campaign Representative
Sierra Club Alabama Chapter, Carol Adams-Davis
Sierra Club Mobile Bay, Joe Mahoney, Chair
South Coast Engineers (SCE), Dr. Scott Douglass
Southern Environmental Law Center, Sarah Stokes, Senior Attorney
Spring Hill College, Dr. Lesli Bordas, Associate Professor. Organic Chemistry, Environmental Sustainability
Success 4 the Future (S4TF), Reggie Hill
The Organized Seafood Association of Alabama (OSAA), Avery Bates, Vice President
University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), Dr. James B. McClintock, Climate Change Scientist
Union of Concerned Scientists, Adrienne Hollis
University of South Alabama College of Medicine (USA College of Medicine), Eduardo Calderon, M.D.
University of South Alabama (USA) Green Jags, Madeleine Boudreaux, President
University of South Alabama (USA), Dr. Wladimir Wertelecki, M.D., Former Chair of the Department of Medical Genetics and Birth Defects
Valerie Longa, Nature Guide with WildNative Tours, Program Facilitator with Nature Connect
We Matter Eight Mile Community Association, Carletta Davis, J.D.
We’ll have speakers talking on these special topics on climate change: sea level rise, tropical diseases, climate justice, the threat of coal ash, and waterfront properties & insurance rates. Exhibitors will be featuring their organizations and support for common-sense climate change solutions in the Mobile Bay coastal community.
In a non-partisan fashion, we have invited all elected officials in Mobile and Baldwin county, members of the Alabama legislature, and our representatives in the national legislature to answer the following three questions:
- How will you strive to attract clean energy jobs and to ensure that renewable energy technologies become a top priority for Alabama and the Gulf Coast?
A solution to climate change is to switch to clean, renewable energy sources. Renewables account for over 85% of new power added to the world’s energy grids in the last 2 years. Currently, Alabama has disincentives to installing solar because Alabama Power has a punitive fee structure for solar generation.
- What are your plans for preparing coastal Alabama for the impacts of extreme weather events, sea level rise and coastal flooding?
Mobile and Baldwin Counties are projected at high risk for sea level rise in this century, but currently have no plans for adapting and mitigating damages to the ecology, public buildings, homes, businesses, and local infrastructure (port, roads, bridges, tank farms, etc.).
- What will you do to ensure that Alabama Power relocates the toxic coal ash slurry in their Plant Barry 600-acre coal ash pit/pond to a lined containment far from our waterways?
Our back-up drinking water supply and the fragile ecosystem of the Mobile Tensaw delta are at risk from the leaking toxins from the Barry Steam Plant unlined coal ash pond in Mobile County on the Mobile River. Alabama Power is currently proposing to “cap in place” the toxic materials; similar measures in north Alabama and other parts of the country have been ineffective.
EVENT GOALS
Rise for Climate, Jobs, and Justice – Mobile Bay demands that our elected leaders…
- Diversify our energy mix in Mobile Bay in a way that focuses on people, justice, and profits
- Bring renewable energy jobs to Mobile Bay
- Increase opportunities to diversify the energy mix to include more renewables that are handled by our Port
- Provide more opportunities for residents to play a functional role in climate resilience planning
- Ensure economic opportunities and justice for frontline communities and future generations that will face the impacts of climate change the most
MISSION STATEMENT
Rise for Climate, Jobs, and Justice – Mobile Bay is a sister event to the United Nations Climate Action Summit, Saturday September 23rd, 2019. In Mobile, we want to “bring home the real and expected impacts of climate change this community will face.” This event will 1) highlight the local issues all Mobile community members will face as climate change worsens, 2) identify the local barriers to switching from fossil fuels to cleaner renewable energy resources, and 3) begin mass mobilization in Mobile in order to transition into clean energy and reduce the greenhouse gases we cause as a result of our business and money decisions. We believe the biggest ways our Mobile community can adapt to climate change and fight back against it are electing local politicians who promote investment in renewable energy resources and promote stronger and more robust public transit systems.
