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How To Stop Climate Change: InvestigateWest & “Decarbonizing Cascadia”

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How To Stop Climate Change: InvestigateWest & “Decarbonizing Cascadia”

January 11
18:21 2021

Seattle, WA – News nonprofit InvestigateWest today announced a new yearlong story series for 2021 detailing actionable steps to stop climate change in Washington, Oregon and British Columbia. “Getting to Zero: Decarbonizing Cascadia” investigates the political and economic barriers to effective, equitable climate action across the Cascadian region.

The world is chaotic, but we can’t afford to lose focus on climate change. We must decarbonize.

Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia, also known as Cascadia, are failing to decarbonize and reduce carbon dioxide emissions, despite being a collective “green” region. Why? We have technology to change, so what’s stopping us? Do solutions to climate change exist?

The answer is YES. “This is the most important story of our lifetimes,” says Robert McClure, InvestigateWest executive editor.

This series is created by the entire InvestigateWest (INVW) team, with Executive Editor Robert McClure and Peter Fairley, INVW’s senior editor for energy and climate, at the editorial helm. The series is also produced in partnership with Grist, Crosscut, The Tyee, South Seattle Emerald, Jefferson Public Radio and The Evergrey.

“Halting climate change is critical for all of us, and so we are telling this story together,” says Allison Augustyn, InvestigateWest Executive Director. “InvestigateWest and our media partners are working closely with communities to provide information valuable to readers.”

Over the course of the year, the series will feature innovative storytelling, including visually-driven stories, animation, and a theater production, among other features, and fulfills InvestigateWest’s mission of local nonprofit journalism focused on environment, government accountability, and public health.

For more information about InvestigateWest or this initiative, please call the Newsroom/Robert McClure at (206) 718-0340 or Allison Augustyn (206) 383-5936 or visit www.INVW.org.

Key takeaways:

• Despite becoming international leaders in the fight against climate change (in part by setting some of North America’s first mandates to reduce greenhouse gas emissions), Cascadian states and provinces have since failed to meaningfully curb CO2 emissions.
   – Between 2012 and 2017 emissions in Washington, Oregon and British Columbia increased by 6%, a new analysis by InvestigateWest reveals, while California and Germany decreased theirs.

• Obstacles to decreasing emissions include political opposition and growing populations/economies.
   – In British Columbia, the carbon tax was framed by politicians as a “job-killing tax.”
   – Transportation — increasing with growing regional populations — plays a significant role in emissions increases.

• Youth activists are key players in the fight to decarbonize, especially those who have filed lawsuits against governments around the world.
   – Our Children’s Trust is an Oregon-based organization that has made legal filings to restrict fossil fuels on behalf of youths in almost every state.

• Technological solutions to this problem exist right now, right here in Cascadia. They just need to be deployed.

About InvestigateWest

Serving the Pacific Northwest since 2009, InvestigateWest is a journalism nonprofit that engages Pacific Northwest residents in critical social issues through our investigative and explanatory journalism. We focus on changemaking reporting that covers environment, government and corporate accountability, and public health.

Media Contact
Company Name: InvestigateWest
Contact Person: Allison Augustyn
Email: Send Email
City: Seattle
State: Washington
Country: United States
Website: www.invw.org

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