In the West another hot summer is coming. There will be wildfires with resulting air pollution. Our reservoirs are low. Across the country there are heat waves, floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes. Around the world sea levels are rising. Climate change is upon us. But we cannot give up. Scientists say that we have less than ten years to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that drive rapidly rising global temperatures. We need to eliminate the use of fossil fuels and to transition to renewable forms of energy.

We have choices. Local decisions that we make through our city governments and public services will have a huge impact on whether we succeed or fail in this transition. Public utilities make decisions on how to “source” electricity; they must justify those decisions to their communities through their city councils.

Join us for League@Nite via Zoom on April 21 at 7:00 p.m. to hear three representatives of public utilities address “The Path to 100 Percent Renewable Energy: Opportunities and Obstacles”:

• Nancy Sutley, Chief Sustainability Officer, Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (LADWP), and former Chair of the United States Council on Environmental Quality (2019–2014), who earned her MA in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School
• Rachel Huang, Director of Energy Strategy, Research & Development, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, who earned her BS in chemical engineering from Cornell University and her MA from Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies
• Robert Castro, Power Systems Resources Manager at Pasadena Water & Power, formerly Professional Engineer, Electrical Engineering at LADWP (1988–2021).

The League of Women Voters U.S. has developed a Climate Action framework called “Ten Actions that Local Governments Can Take to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions.” Action #1 on that list is “Terminate fossil fuel purchase contracts and for new contracts, renewable energy only.” This action comes first because almost every other action depends on it. Electric vehicles and building electrification are important, but if the electric power supply from public utilities is generated from coal or gas, we are still using fossil fuels. As of 2020, energy in Pasadena was still heavily dependent on coal (39.6 percent) and gas (9.8 percent).

Nancy Sutley                         Rachel Huang                           Robert Castro

Cities around the country are taking action to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Join us at League@Nite via Zoom to learn more about what can be done. The event is free. Bring your questions, and register here.

—Cynthia Cannady, Natural Resources Committee