As many of you know, at the June general meeting we said that it was likely we were going to unendorse I-732. We then held three discussion groups, so that we could hear from more of you. After that, we in the Hub (made up primarily of our workgroup facilitators) met again, and decided to go through with the unendorsement; we announced it at the meeting last Wednesday, and on Friday, we asked CarbonWA to remove our name and logo from the list of endorsers.
We feel strongly that we had to do this. Our reason, above all, is that we want to support our allies in people-of-color-led climate justice groups that represent those on the frontlines of climate change. These groups, as represented by Front & Centered, are strongly opposed to this particular ballot measure.
We know that some of our supporters are strongly in favor of it, though, and have worked hard for it, which is why we held the discussion groups; we wanted to let you know about our history with it and why we’ve changed our minds, and also to hear from you about your hopes going forward. In the groups, we heard from some people that they wanted to learn more about the history that informed our decision; here are some links about that process. We also have a page with links about WA carbon pricing more broadly.
This was not an easy process for us, and was under discussion for a long time. Most of all, we hope that the divisiveness that has marked this fight subsides. We respect the work and passion of those who have fought to bring carbon pricing to Washington State this year–those who gathered signatures for I-732 did a great service to the climate movement by engaging people in discussions about climate change and the role of carbon pricing in solving it. Whether I-732 succeeds or fails, we hope that we can all work together to make sure that we unite behind ambitious and equitable carbon pricing as soon as possible.
