The League of Women Voters of New Castle County (LWVNCC) President Richard Johnson's message for February 2023 is included below...

In 1970 I oversaw the first Earth Day on my college campus. Back then there was no EPA, no Clean Air Act, and no Clean Water Act. There were no legal or regulatory mechanisms to protect our environment. In response to a massive oil spill off the coast of Southern California in 1969, Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson initiated the idea of the first annual Earth Day on April 22, 1970. Soliciting support from Democratic and Republican leaders, Earth Day was conceived as a “national teach-in” to bring public awareness to the threat of global air and water pollution. What began as a grass-roots movement, with twenty million Americans participating, is now recognized as the launch of the environmental movement and observed in nearly 200 countries around the world.

Fifty-three years after this first event every state is looking to reduce the production of Green House Gases (GHG). Delaware is committed to cutting its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 26 percent by 2025. One of the key drivers for reducing GHG is Transportation. Delaware is in the process of adopting California’s Zero Emission Vehicle regulation, which mandates and incentivizes sales of many more electric vehicles and stops allowing the sales of new gas-powered vehicles after 2035. Between now and 2050, Delaware estimates that by converting to electric vehicles GHG reduction is estimated to be 184,500 metric tons of Carbon Dioxide equivalents.

Delaware is not the only state considering this move; in addition to California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Washington have made the commitment. The state goal is 17,000 electric vehicle sales per year by 2030. This seems like a reasonable goal, especially when all of the vehicle manufacturing companies are gearing up to provide electric vehicles and the Federal Government has set aside $ 5 billion for the National Electric Vehicle Initiative (NEVI) so that we will be able to easily charge our vehicles just like we currently do as we fill up at the gas station. There is an additional $ 5 billion committed over the next five years to electrify our school bus fleet. The momentum is headed toward electrification for our future. Electric vehicle will be our future rolling storage for the grid and will be able to power our houses in the case of disasters or power outages.

So on this Earth Day I encourage you to go out and do one of the following;

• Plant trees or a pollinator garden.
• Reduce your plastic consumption.
• Participate in advocacy.
• Make sustainable fashion choices.
• Plan your own event.

Don’t forget to ride or drive one of the new electric vehicles with a friend or at a dealership so you can experience what it is really like to drive an electric vehicle.

-- Dick Johnson