Sample Draft Climate Warning Label for Gas Pumps
You know that you have hit a denialist nerve when Fox News picks up a story.
The 350 Bay Area climate group has had a small dedicated campaign called "Dump The Pump" to put warning labels on gas pump. The purpose, of course, is to remind folks as they
are pumping gas that their carbon pollution is a problem (and also to point the to their city's Climate Action Plan for alternatives). The campaign has been doing preparatory work, legal research and has not been in the public eye. Not any longer.
First, The San Francisco Chronicle runs this blog by David Baker on the 350BA warning label campaign (which gets a hundred denialist troll comments).
Then the CBS local station, KPIX, runs a spot in the 6pm news, and posts this blog entry.
And the story has been picked up by Salon, ThinkProgress -- it has hit the media.
Predictably, it hit a number of knee-jerk denialist blogs -- including the mother lode...
Fox News just posted this blog post:
San Francisco environmentalist group wants global warming warning on gas pumps
This has just elevated the idea of climate warning labels on gas pumps into the mainstream consciousness.
Thank you to all the media who picked up the story, and, especially, Fox News.
More on next steps and activity in other areas below the fold...
The topics is slated to be introduced to the Berkeley City Council soon. SF Councilman Avalos is interested.
A Canadian group, Our Horizon, was independently pursuing the same idea. We have now connected up.
There has been a contact from Florida.
Interested in bringing such labels to your area? Contact Jamie Brooks, the Dump The Pump Campaign Manager through info@350bayarea.org.
Of course, the best thing that could happen is that a city that issues an ordinace requiring such labels get sued. Like the Scopes Monkey Trial, let's have that debate. Bring it on!