Conservationist of the Year - Lynda Schneekloth

By David Kowalski
Conservation Committee Member
Adirondack Mountain Club - Niagara Frontier Chapter (ADK-NFC)

The ADK-NFC Conservation Committee honored Lynda Schneekloth with the “Conservationist of the Year” award at the Chapter's Annual Meeting and Picnic on Saturday, June 11, 2016.

Lynda Schneekloth was a founder of the Friends of the Buffalo River, which later became Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper. She continues to serve as a Board member to this day.  She also serves as Advocacy Chair of the Western New York Environmental Alliance, and is Professor Emerita of Architecture and Planning at the University at Buffalo. Lynda recently completed two terms as chairwoman of the Sierra Club Niagara Group. In her various leadership roles, she is frequently sought out by news media to comment on environmental issues.

In 2015, Lynda Schneekloth took the local lead in the global fight against climate change, initially enlisting help of Sierra Club members. It was a seminal year for climate action. In June, Pope Francis published an Encyclical letter addressed to all people about climate change and the injustices it creates. In December, the U.N. International Conference on Climate Change was slated to take place in Paris.

Building on the Pope's powerful messages, and in preparation for the Paris talks, Lynda wanted to raise awareness about the urgency to address global warming pollution and climate change, and the need for a justice-based transition from fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy.

Lynda Schneekloth led the effort to create a Western NY campaign called Rise Up for Climate Justice. What was new and different about the campaign was that it was not targeted exclusively to environmentalists. It was for everyone, since climate affects everybody and everything. The campaign successfully engaged not only environmentalists, but also faith groups, indigenous peoples, students, unions, artists, social/economic justice groups and politicians.

Representatives of all of these diverse groups spoke at, and participated in, a Rally for Climate Justice held in Niagara Square. About 400 people attended the rally. 60 organizations, unions and churches as well as over 2300 people signed a Climate Justice Pledge calling for bold climate action by elected officials and all people.

Lynda wanted to send the pledges to the U.N. Climate Conference in Paris. She arranged to have the names of signatories printed on a continuous paper roll. With the help of a shortened curtain rod, Lynda made and attractive metal scroll. When unwound, the paper was 42 feet long!

So how would the scroll get to Paris, get inside the high-security Climate Conference, and into the hands of someone who mattered? Well, Lynda is a professional planner. At a ceremonial Gathering of 200 people, Lynda presented the scroll to UB Law students who happened to be going to the Paris Climate Conference with their professor. They brought the scroll into the Conference, and somehow connected with the Executive Director of the National Sierra Club. The students told him about the significance of the scroll and the diversity of pledge signers. The Executive Director accepted the scroll and said, "This is how we will win."

Minutes after receiving the scroll from the representatives of Buffalo, the Sierra Club Executive Director was slated to meet with John Kerry, U.S. Secretary of State and top climate conference negotiator, to convey to the U.S. Delegation the hopes of the American people. And because of Lynda's scroll and her leadership, the voices of Western New Yorkers were heard in Paris!

The Paris talks were successful in that over 190 nations agreed that it was time to take action in order cut global warming pollution. The Rise Up for Climate Justice campaign ended in 2015, but much more work needed to be done to fight climate change. The campaign evolved into a coalition, which includes members of the diverse groups cited above. In 2016, Lynda took on the leadership of the new coalition, the Climate Justice Coalition of WNY.

The 2016 Conservationist of the Year Award was presented to Lynda Schneekloth on behalf of the Adirondack Mountain Club - Niagara Frontier Chapter for:

"Conceiving and executing a successful campaign that inspired diverse groups of people to call for action on climate change and for a just transition to renewable energy, and her ongoing leadership of the Climate Justice Coalition of Western New York."

About the Niagara Frontier Chapter of the Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK-NFC): ADK-NFC, with some 1000 local members, subscribes to and supports the mission of The ADK, both in the Adirondack Forest Preserve and in Western New York including Allegany State Park. Components of the mission include conservation, advocacy, recreation, education and stewardship. Join us to support this mission and to share our joy and knowledge of outdoor activities. Visit our website at ADK-NFC.org

Looking Back: Paris, Pope and WNY Rise Up for Climate Justice Campaign

RISE UP FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE CAMPAIGN  

September to December 2015 

By Lynda Schneekloth, 
Sierra Club Niagara Group

December 2015 will be remembered as a significant time for the history of the world and the Earth. Over 190 countries, from the U.S. and China to the small island nations, sat together in U.N. Paris Climate Talks (COP21) to develop an agreement about a global address to the increasingly dangerous climate crisis. The people of Western New York had been preparing for four months for this meeting through the Rise Up for Climate Justice Campaign, sponsoring and attending gatherings, rallies, vigils, films, presentations and a community fast. We knew how important these meetings were and we had sent our message to the world leaders demanding a just and sane agreement. 

This campaign began In August 2015, as the Sierra Club Niagara Group was discussing the shift in the world’s imagination and actions on climate change. Pope Francis had released Laudato Si, On Care for our Common Home and its impact has been felt across the world. And the U.N. Climate Talks (COP21) were already in process with individual nations preparing their “Intended Nationally Determined Contribution” (INDC) that is, how much they would cut the emissions. 

What could we do in Western New York to make people aware of the urgency of immediately addressing climate change? How could we reinforce a conversation in our region about the moral imperative to stop burning fossil fuels and transition to clean energy? How could we manage this energy transformation in a democratic manner? From these questions, the Rise up for Climate Justice Campaign was born. Are you for Climate Justice (RU4CJ)? The Niagara Group made a commitment to spend some of our limited funds to support this effort and developed some aspirational goals for the work we had set for ourselves. 

We set out to raise awareness of the upcoming Paris Climate talks – a specific and time constrained objective. We organized public events for education and urged our elected leaders and institutions to push for ethical action from Washington. We used a “Climate Justice Pledge” to open the conversation and to give people an opportunity to take action about the Paris Climate Talks through collective and individual commitments. The Pledge had three aspects: We call on President Obama and the U.S. to lead the world in cutting greenhouse gas emissions; We call on our state and local leaders to take climate action through a just transition; and we call on each of us to take action on behalf of the Earth and future generations. 

The three months leading up to the Paris talks were intense for members of our Executive Committee and the Climate Justice Coalition that emerged. We used the insights of the NY City People’s Climate March (Sept. 2014) and our own local experience to build a diverse and large coalition. We formed a strong relationship with faith groups and together helped organize the Interfaith Climate Justice Community. The Catholic sisters, Creation Care and Network of Religious Communities were the leaders of this sector and together we began our campaign with a Prayer Vigil on Sept. 1, called by Pope Francis as the “World Day of Prayer for the Creation.” 

We contacted our brothers and sisters in labor and shared conversations about the ways in which this energy transformation was going to impact their working lives. The Western New York Environmental Alliance, a coalition of over 100 environmental groups, stepped up and agreed to use their annual Congress on the topic of Climate Justice. The coalition for social/economic justice groups -- Partnership for the Public Good and Open Buffalo -- worked with us and helped engage their members. And the University at Buffalo Law School played an important role through two seminars, including one in which students and faculty member, Jessica Owley, would actually travel to Paris for the talks. 

One of our initial acts was to contact the City of Buffalo Common Council President, Darius Pridgen. We asked for and received a resolution on Climate Justice unanimously endorsed by all member. Council President Pridgen opened our first rally in front of City Hall in Niagara Square with a fiery talk on the necessity of ‘justice’ in action on climate change. The rally was held on September 24, 2015 in support of Pope Francis’ U.S. visit and his address to Congress. 

Rally in Niagara Square [Click to enlarge] Photo: Nate Schneekloth

Whenever possible, we crafted our events to reinforce state and worldwide climate actions to involve our community in the global climate justice movement. 

Between September 1 and December 19, 2015, seventeen different organizations of the coalition held events focused on climate justice: films, presentations and panel discussion, public hearings, hikes and bike rides, art showings and a “Party for the Climate.” The RU4CJ coalition itself assumed responsibility for four major events: the Rise Up for Climate Justice Rally on September 24 with over 400 people attending; a ‘thunderclap’ on the Oct. 10 Day of Action that reached over 73,000 people; The Gathering, a ritual gathering of over 200 people to speak to our concerns and hopes about the Paris talks held on 11/28 as a part of world actions at the eve of the Climate Talks; and on 12/19, Report from Paris where we met with those from our community who attended the COP21 Paris Climate Talks and heard their words of insight, and yes, hope. 

Being hopeful is not to say the agreement is what we had hoped for; the agreement is not nearly enough as it doesn’t even reach the standards set by the former Kyoto Agreement. In fact, if all of the pledges agreed to by nations in Paris are strictly met, the Earth will still experience catastrophic climate change as it will only limit global warming to 3.5 degrees C (6.3 degrees F) above pre-industrial levels by the year 2100. This level of warming would result in injustice throughout the world, with the most vulnerable the most impacted, and would leave a devastated planet for our descendants. One of the reasons there is no legal binding agreement is because it is known that the U.S. Congress would never sign such an agreement, a great sadness to all of us living in this country. What is hopeful is that all the nations of the Earth did come an agreement about action; they even identified an aspirational goal of 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial levels; they agreed to a review country goals in five years instead of ten, and agreed to annually report action toward their pledge. They have established a framework for action, this is the good news. 

These leaders tried and most of them engaged with a great sense of purpose. We are, after all, the first generation to really understand the catastrophic impacts of global climate change, and we are also, perhaps, the last generation to do something about it. But the negotiators could not step out of their role as heads of state to understand that we, together, share this planet. There will be no winners if we don’t all win. So we, the people, must lead: we must create a massive, global climate justice movement so overwhelming that they cannot help but act. This must be addressed at the international level but must work deeply into cities and regions. This is where most humans live, have the power to take action themselves, and the forum to impact our leaders. Regions like Buffalo Niagara can and should lead the way. 

Computer analysis of the text in the Buffalo News article “UB law students to attend climate conference - Two to present scroll of local pledges in Paris.” Size of the words reflects frequency of citation in the article. [Click Image to enlarge] Image: D. Kowalski

And our Climate Justice Pledge? We gathered over 2000 signatures from our community, 60 organizations, unions and churches, and 20 elected officials. We put these names on a scroll that measured 42’ when opened. The scroll was carried to Paris by UB Law students, presented to Michael Brune, head of the Sierra Club in a small ceremony, and in turn, Brune delivered our pledge to John Kerry, Secretary of State of the United States. Our call to President Obama was taken to the talks and the voices of Western New Yorkers concerned with the necessity of immediate action on climate change and climate justice was heard. 

The Rise Up for Climate Justice Campaign is over, the U.N. Climate Paris Talks are over. But the work is just beginning. Join us as we initiate next steps in our local and regional communities to cut greenhouse gas emissions, to increase ‘carbon negative’ actions, and to ensure that this energy transformation is embedded in a just transition and promotes energy democracy. 

Stay involved – Get involved! 

Link to the Buffalo News article: UB law students to attend climate conference - Two to present scroll of local pledges in Paris

For more information, see: niagarasierraclub.com; RiseUpforClimateJustice; Twitter.com/RU4CJBuffalo 

Funded in part by a grant from the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo and the Sierra Club Niagara Group; Communication Workers of America Int’l; United Auto Workers 9; Buffalo Teachers Federation; Peace Education Fund; Western New York Environmental Alliance. 

With support from The Interfaith Climate Justice Community; Network of Religious Communities; PUSH; Buffalo Zen Dharma Community; Working Families Party; ADK; WNY Peace Center; Western New York Land Conservancy; Partnership for the Public Good, PUSH, Open Buffalo.

FORUM: Taking Climate Action - Future of Western NY

WHEN: TUESDAY, December 8, 5:30pm Networking & more; 6:30pm Panel Discussion

WHERE: Buffalo Museum of Science, 1020 Humbolt Parkway [Map]

The WNY Environmental Alliance’s annual Environmental Congress is a future-oriented forum, exploring innovative solutions for a cleaner and sustainable WNY.

We're bringing together a panel of climate action leaders for a proactive and critical discussion of solutions being offered, their impacts on the WNY community and implications for climate justice. The panel represents a range of perspectives, including environment, science, social justice, local government, faith, labor and business.

Join us on December 8 at 5:30 pm!

There will be networking, refreshments and an exhibition of local projects demonstrating climate innovation. Also view the fantastic Museum of Science second floor exhibits that will be open to our guests.

RSVP HERE to attend

The panel discussion will begin at 6:30 pm  

PANELISTS:
- Business  – Joseph Mendelson, Director, Policy & Electricity Markets and Regulatory Counsel, SolarCity
- Environment – Adrienne Bermingham, Roots & Shoots Program Coordinator, The Jane Goodall Institute
- Social Justice – Anne Petermann, Executive Director, Global Justice Ecology Project
- Public Sector – Brendan Mehaffy, Executive Director, Buffalo Office of Strategic Planning
- Science – Jason Briner, Associate Prof. of Geology, University at Buffalo
- Labor and Economic Justice – Franchelle C. Hart, Executive Director, Open Buffalo
Moderator – Robert Shibley, Dean of the UB School of Architecture and Planning; One Region Forward

RSVP HERE to attend

Check out the Event and Activity on Facebook

EVENT PARTNERS:   
- Rise up for Climate Justice Campaign of WNY: visit their website and Facebook page 
- WNY Sustainable Business Roundtable: visit their website

DECEMBER EVENTS: Rise Up For Climate Justice Campaign of WNY

For Details and Maps to specific events, see the EVENTS listed in the SIDEBAR.

STAY TUNED for additional Events!

COMMUNITY GATHERING: WNY Campaign for Climate Justice

Sending Our Voices to the U.N. Climate Conference in Paris

In preparation for the critical United Nations Climate Conference in Paris, the Rise Up For Climate Justice Campaign of WNY sponsored a public rally at Niagara Square in September calling on our elected officials to act in earnest to curb Climate Change:

• To protect people and all living things on our planet from the worst impacts of climate change, now and into the future, by stoping global warming pollution caused by burning fossil fuels.

• To ensure a just transition for communities and workers impacted by the shift from fossil fuels to clean energy sources.

Photo by Nathan MacFarlane

Now, as the start of U.N. Climate Conference nears, the Rise Up For Climate Justice Campaign will sponsor a Community Gathering to collect our voices and make them heard by U.S. negotiators in Paris.

Supporters have signed a Climate Justice Pledge. A scroll bearing the names of the pledge signers will be revealed at the Community Gathering and ceremoniously passed on to UB law students who will travel to Paris and present it to an official at the U.N. Climate Conference. 

Please Join Us at the Community Gathering! 

Food will be provided along with Music and Ceremony.

Families and children are welcome.

WHEN: Saturday, November 28 at 5:30pm-8:30pm

WHERE: Temple Beth Zion (auditorium), 805 Delaware Ave., Buffalo [Map]

The Community Gathering is Free and Open to the Public.

RSVP HERE

Come show your support for our student representatives as they prepare to leave for Paris to call on U.S. leaders for bold action on climate change for a just and livable future.

The Community Gathering is registered as one of the Global Climate Events at 350.0RG. Show your support for the Global Climate Justice Movement by adding Your Name Here: act.350.org/event/global-climate-march_attend/11869

 

QUESTIONS? Contact niagarasierraclub@gmail.com or embodiedcosmology@gmail.com 

On Nov. 30 through Dec. 11, Rise Up For Climate Justice will sponsor a community-wide vigil for the duration of the U.N. Climate Summit.

WHO ARE WE: The Rise Up For Climate Justice campaign comprises diverse groups of Western New Yorkers including people of different faiths, students, people of color, teachers, indigenous people, labor unions, community activists, environmentalists, artists, performers and local politicians. The campaign is open to all people

Climate Change Theatre Action at Hallwalls - Dec.1

A reading of short plays, poems, and songs on the theme of climate change by some of today's most exciting writers.

WHEN: Tuesday, December 1, 2015 - 7:00pm-8:30pm
WHERE: Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, 341 Delaware Ave., Buffalo

As part of Climate Change Theatre Action and in partnership with Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center and Rise Up for Climate Justice, director Matthew Clinton Sekellick presents a semi-staged reading of 18 short plays, poems and songs by national and international playwrights on the subject of climate change. 

This action is in support of the United Nations 2015 Paris Climate Conference (COP21) taking place November 30-December 13, 2015

Ranging from comedy to drama, this diverse group of texts by some of today’s most exciting playwrights presents a global perspective on issues related to climate change, from community gardens to refugees, climate deniers to drought.

Climate Change Theatre Action is a series of worldwide readings and performances intended to bring awareness to, and foster discussion about, climate change during the months of November and December 2015.

It is part of ArtCOP21, Cultural Programme for Paris Climate 2015.

EVENTS: Rise Up For Climate Justice Campaign of WNY

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More details: tinyurl.com/RU4CJ-Calendar

facebook.com/RiseUpforClimateJustice 

niagarasierraclub.com

Funded in part by grants and donations from the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, 

Communication Workers of America, WNYEA, Peace Education Fund, Sierra Club Niagara Group