Help Create a Solarpunk Future
Southwest Pennsylvania Policymakers
In an era of dystopian forecasts and feelings of fear & hopelessness, we call on our policymakers and elected leaders to prioritize and invest in a hopeful, community-led, sustainable future. We can bring about the future we need by living by Solarpunk ideals, creating green jobs, building a climate-resilient city, and ending the fossil fuel era now.
To:
Southwest Pennsylvania Policymakers
From:
[Your Name]
I support a Solarpunk Future. I support policies that contribute to green jobs development, help green businesses grow, and encourage workforce education on sustainable careers.
We are calling on our elected officials and policy leaders to invest in renewable energy, green infrastructure, and community resilience. We need you to help us make a vibrant, livable future our reality.
Governments and institutions should invest in a green and just recovery prioritizing investment in sustainable, climate-resilient industries and infrastructure. There are existing funds available through the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that we ask our leaders to utilize to invest into our communities.
Plans and investments for green infrastructure and renewables need to address the root causes of economic inequality by providing direct and equitable access to green jobs and equal employment opportunities in the low carbon transition; increasing equitable participation in the labor force through training and upskilling, especially for currently marginalized groups; and developing and providing better employment conditions for workers.
Fund low carbon, climate-resilient urban infrastructure (such as building retrofits, renewable energy and sustainable transport), fundamental public services (such as mass transit, water and food), as well as people-centered urban planning and nature-based solutions. Invest in renewable energy and building retrofit programs to create thousands of jobs, help residents save on energy bills, and protect people’s wellbeing and safety with better, more energy-efficient and healthier homes and offices.
Choose real solutions, not false promises from the fossil fuel and plastics industry.
Don’t jump on the oil & gas bandwagon of blue hydrogen, pyrolysis, and carbon capture and sequestration, all of which are unproven technologies that divide our attention and resources. The hydrogen development proposed for our region will not stimulate major job growth, and will lead to dangerous pipelines & methane gas infrastructure. A better way to create jobs for oil, gas, and coal workers would be reclaiming abandoned coal mines and oil and gas wells. In Pennsylvania alone, we have 350,000 documented orphaned wells, many of which leak dangerous, climate-warming methane. Reclaiming these could create tens of thousands of family-sustaining jobs across Appalachia each year. End all public investments in fossil fuels.
We want opportunities to participate in solarpunk projects for our communities such as:
-Community Renewables (solar, wind)
-Community Green Spaces (gardens, parks)
-Community Support (green jobs, mutual aid, disaster relief)
-Community Resilience (culture & arts, rain gardens, composting, adaptive building reuse)
We call on you to join us in envisioning a Solarpunk Future and enact policies that make that future a reality.