Photo Petition: DEFEND RGGI

We need to stop Governor Youngkin’s unlawful attacks on the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative

Governor Youngkin wants to undo our climate progress and take Virginia backwards. We understand that the Air Pollution Control Board this summer plans to declare an emergency administrative repeal and withdraw Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, also known as RGGI. This would be an unlawful action. You can’t overturn a law by administrative repeal.

RGGI is an important and successful, bipartisan, multi-state program that cuts planet-warming emissions from power plants and generates funding to adapt to the climate impacts that are already hitting our communities. Since our state joined RGGI last year, the program has generated over $300 million to help communities with flood preparedness and low income Virginians with energy efficiency.

How can we help?

FACS is asking individuals and faith communities to participate in a photo petition asking Governor Youngkin to stop his unlawful actions to pull Virginia out of the successful, bipartisan Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. We are asking him to take more serious climate action, given the urgency and gravity of the climate crisis.

Individuals

• Create a homemade sign expressing your support to defend RGGI. Get creative! If you have pets, plants, or kids, get them involved somehow in your artwork and/or selfie. Take a photo of yourself / your family holding your sign. Sample slogans:
  • We are praying for YOU, Governor Youngkin! #DefendRGGI 
  • Please stop attacking RGGI!  (see https://www.governor.virginia.gov/newsroom/news-releases/2022/july/name-937231-en.html)
  • Be bold on climate! #DefendRGGI
  • Our home is worth protecting.
  • Solving the climate crisis = loving our neighbor. 
  • Caring for creation means we must #ActOnClimate
  • I/We love [favorite wildlife]. #ActOnClimate
  • It’s getting too hot! #ActOnClimate 
  • Virginia can lead on RGGI
  • Tell us your good ideas for slogans so we can share them!
  • Any slogan that speaks to your faith and why we should defend RGGI
• Post your photo on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, etc.)
  • Use the hashtags #DefendRGGI #ActOnClimate and #CodeRedForHumanity and tag FACS @FaithForClimate @VCNVAorg (this is the Virginia Conservation Network)
  • Tag Governor Youngkin @GovernorVA, your state senators and delegates, your local paper

Organizations & Communities

• Share this with your members via an email, e-bulletin, social media, etc. 
• Organize a safe space for creating signs (e.g., outdoors, distanced, masked) and invite people to come, bring supplies, and create signs/take selfies. 
  • If you end up taking a group photo, ensure you have permission from everyone in the photo to post it online and include their images in your photo petition.
• Post your photo on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, etc.). 
  • Use the hashtags #ActOnClimate and #CodeRedForHumanity and tag @FaithForClimate.
  • Tag Governor Youngkin @GovernorVA, your state senators and delegates, your local paper

What is Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions’ (FACS’) stance on climate change?

Climate change is the urgent moral challenge of our time. FACS recognizes that the data compiled by international and national scientific organizations demonstrates that climate change is real, and we are causing it. These reports also point to things that we can do to reverse the crisis. As dire as the reports may sound, we can take tangible steps to minimize devastation the inevitable climate impacts will bring. Our faith traditions encourage us to love our neighbors and care for the environment. The time to act is now.

After the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group 1 report was released earlier in August, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that it was “a code red for humanity.” We’re grateful for Virginia’s commitment to help solve the climate crisis. We need a “Code Red” response. The last thing we should be doing now is pulling out of the successful Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative!