This summer’s heat waves are a painful reminder that the climate crisis is taking a toll on our state – and disproportionately impacting frontline communities.
Combine this extreme weather with the fact that Governor Hochul successfully weakened New York’s climate law, and you get a lot of big emotions reverberating. So many of us feel fearful and discouraged.
But we are not alone, and our actions this session made a difference. We need to keep going, and we’ll have actions for you to take this fall to build people power for the midterms.
Even among the setbacks, we did have some wins this session that are worth celebrating, thanks to the determination of climate activists across the state. Here’s what we accomplished:
- The state budget included funds for accelerating distributed solar development, an important part of the ASAP Act (Accelerate Solar for Affordable Power, S6570/A8758).
- The SUNNY Act (Solar Up Now NY, S8512A/A9111A) for plug-in solar passed in the legislature, bringing it closer to becoming law.
- The state added $1 billion to the Sustainable Futures fund.
Dayenu was in the fight to win these advances and to protect the state’s landmark climate law, the CLCPA. Together, we:
- Organized a letter signed by over 1,100 Jewish New Yorkers asking Governor Hochul to comply with the climate law and advance renewables not fossil fuels (in collaboration with RAC NY, JCAN NYC, and Adamah NY). Then, we met with her staff to further emphasize the message.
- Brought 10 people to Albany on March 25 to rally with 500 others from all over the state to protect the climate law.
- Organized a letter from nearly 100 clergy to protect the CLCPA, which was delivered on Earth Day (in collaboration with GreenFaith).
- Sent nearly 300 messages to legislators to protect the climate law and advance strong climate legislation.
In addition, we strengthened our organizing networks and the New York Jewish climate movement overall
In March, Dayenu joined the Jewish contingent at No Kings marches in Manhattan (with over 200 Jewish activists).
In April, 50 people participated in the New York City Jewish Climate Summit, hosted by Dayenu, JCAN, RAC NY, and Adamah at Temple Shaaray Tefila. Rabbi Jennie Rosenn spoke on the panel and Abby Bresler led a speed-networking activity.
This summer, we must celebrate the wins, mourn the losses, and prepare to be ready to take action again in the fall. It will be all hands on deck ahead of the crucial midterm elections, as we are launching our signature Chutzpah campaign to get out the climate vote.