Fight Voter
Disenfranchisement
Through
Reclaim Our Vote
Lest we forget in the midst of this endless pandemic, climate change remains the number one existential threat to all living beings on this planet . We cannot afford for a minute to lose sight of the urgent need to mobilize all of our available resources to combat it.
The most urgent and important thing for climate activists to do about climate change now is elect a President and Congress who are committed to effective, large scale climate action! Obviously, our personal votes are important; but that is not enough because of large scale efforts to disenfranchise people who might vote for progressive candidates, especially minority groups and economically disadvantaged people. Voter suppression is happening at an alarming rate across the U.S.
Many climate activists are now engaged in organized efforts to counter voter suppression wherever it is happening, especially in states where there are large minority populations. People get removed, without their knowledge, from voting rolls; can’t get mail-in ballots; discover that polling places near them have been closed; or find that their mailed-in ballots have arrived late.
Reclaim Our Vote is a program designed to counter voter suppression and make sure that everyone can vote. Volunteers, working with NAACP or other progressive partners, send postcards or text messages, or make phone calls to people who need guidance about how to make sure they can vote.
Postcard packets are currently available through the social action program of First Parish Church. Write to Leslie Fisher to get postcards; and do it asap since these will not be effective after October 10.and phone calls will still be effective after that date. Click onto the Reclaim Our Vote website for information.
Mothers Out Front, locally, statewide, and nationally, is working on these issues and providing valuable group support and training for volunteers who will work with them. To find out what they can offer, you write to laura.davis@mothersoutfront.org.
Fight to Get
Climate Issues
into the
Presidential Debates!
We are about to have another round of presidential debates; and climate change is, once again, not included in the list of issues to be debated. Given that it is the #1 existential issue of our times and that the whole West Coast is burning, omission from the debates is just not acceptable! ConcordCAN requests that you sign an online petition demanding that it be included.
Climate Events
Get Virtual
ConcordCAN’s Home Page has been, in pre-pandemic times, an Events Page. Currently, however, the COVID-19 pandemic has left us without many in-person events. Most significant events are virtual events, brought to us via Zoom.
Perhaps, given some time, ConcordCAN’s traditional events will be virtual events; so stay tuned. We will let you know when we are set up to bring you the Sustainable Concord Coffee using Zoom.
For now, we can only applaud the virtual events that have been planned and organized by other organizations. In September, the most notable events were sponsored by the Town of Concord Sustainability Dept. and the Concord Free Public Library in celebration of the nationwide Climate Preparedness Week sponsored and planned by CREW.
One of the virtual events that week in Concord was a presentation from Climate Reality Project mentors, Keith Bergman and Harriet Shugarman. To view the talk on YouTube: click here. Shugarman was to be the featured speaker for the Climate Solutions Speaker Series last spring; and her topic is a really interesting one for parents who are struggling with what to tell their kids about the really frightening climate future that we know cannot be full avoided. Read a review of her book on our Features page.
Concord
DropOff Day
Saturday,
October 17
133 Keyes Rd
Concord Public Works and ReUsIt.org will be holding DropOff Day on Saturday October 17. Unfortunately due to COVID, there won’t be a SwapOff event. The DropOff is a wonderful community event, attended by hundreds of people every year during which over 25 types of items are collected for recycling or reuse, and other items for which we can’t find a useful alternative are collected for disposal. Volunteering to help with DropOff day is a fun way to help the community; see where you can help with a 2 hour shift or longer by visiting ReUsIt.org.
This year, residents who want to bring items to the DropOff will need to pre-register, with a limit of 20 vehicles per 15-minute time interval. That will accommodate about half as many vehicles over the course of the day. For further details, please check the Concord Public Works website shortly before the event
Electric Vehicles
Roundtable
Online Event :
Tuesday. October 20,
5:30 PM
Register at
There are now many choices for electric vehicles which are becoming more affordable with longer driving range every year. Besides being fun to drive, EVs cost about half what a high mileage gas car per mile and have lower maintenance costs, so this should be your next car. Concord’s Municipal Light Plant and Sustainability division is holding this online event for you to find out about the different EVs and answer your questions.
Get a free Electric Car Insider magazine when you sign up for this upcoming online event! Go to ConcordDrivesElectric.org to register for Electric Car Insights: Your Local Dealership Roundtable, a free online event on Tues 10/20/20 @ 5:30pm. Local dealer staff will Introduce their vehicles and take your questions. Info on state and local incentives will also be provided. A recorded replay with live Q&A provided by Concord EV specialists will take place on Sat 10/24/20 at 10am.