Got Green opposes Initiative-732 and other market mechanisms to address climate change. We need Climate Justice, not False Solutions!

Got Green stands together with over 60 racial justice organizations in Front and Centered to demand justice for communities of color, workers, and those hit hardest by climate change and environmental racism.

Climate Justice requires at least two actions: (1) identifying communities where the cumulative impacts of pollution, lack of income/wealth, and racial discrimination stack up and (2) targeting those communities for investment.  

Carbon Washington’s Initiative-732 fails on both these accounts. Rather than advancing equity in the clean energy economy, I-732 stops at a rebate and reinforces the status quo of economic and racial injustice in our society. 

Analysis from the Department of Revenue estimates that I-732 will cause a $797 million shortfall in the next four years. Washington already struggles to fund basic services and education- we can’t risk losing those resources for our communities! 

Got Green is part of the environmental justice movement that rejects cap and trade, revenue neutrality, and other market-based false solutions, because it leads to concentrated pollution and economic burdens in communities of color.

What do we support?  

* We support learning from the victories in California, a charge led by California Environmental Justice Alliance (CEJA) for policies that radically address the disproportionate burden of pollution and climate change in communities of color. This includes policies that set ambitious emission targets by 2030 incorporating multi-sector actions in clean energy, transportation, and agriculture (SB-32), prioritize direct emissions reductions from large polluters in EJ communities (AB-197), and require cities and counties to have EJ goals and policies in their general land-use plans to prevent displacement (SB-1000).

* We support the policy proposal of Alliance for Jobs and Clean Energy, which adopts science-based standards for carbon emission reduction and reinvests the proceeds in clean energy and energy conservation, clean air and water, and the workers, businesses, and communities most impacted by this transition and by climate change.

In the words of Desmond Tutu, ‘Those who stay neutral in the face of injustice are on the side of the oppressor.’

Don’t stay neutral. We urge you to vote No on I-732.  Our communities and our planet deserve better.

For more information about why I-732’s a false promise for climate justice, check out Front and Centered blog series and the Don’t Be Neutral website. You can see coverage in Fusion, King 5, KNKX, The Columbian, and Vox.