A letter from the Academy team on the clean energy progress we’ve made this year:
Dear Friends,
It is with great pleasure at this time of year that we write to you and fill you in on the impact that the World Business Academy has created over the past 12 months. Our focus has been in two major areas that affect the central coast of California and ultimately, the world.
First, our nuclear initiative is working to educate the public on the dangers of nuclear energy and continues to pursue closing the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power plant as soon as possible! This has been a major push for our team, and informing the public on the impacts of nuclear power plants on public health and safety has been an essential part of this work. Towards this end, we completed a 12-minute documentary film highlighting the dangers of nuclear power which can be viewed here: https://worldbusiness.org/video-beyond-nuclear-energy/. In addition to educating the public, we have been fighting for the immediate closure of Diablo Canyon using peer-reviewed health studies that show the significant and long-lasting cancer risks to citizens living downwind of the Stronium-90 plume emitted through normal operations. Our lawsuit against the California Lands Commission and PG&E went to trial in Los Angeles on July 11, where the judge stuck to the pre-typed opinion she had completed before hearing our arguments. The politics of the case being so intense, we were prepared for this outcome, and we filed an Appeal Brief on October 23[1]. We are prepared to pursue the appeal to its logical conclusion, as we believe that this case can enshrine the future environmental quality rights for all Californians in addition to inspiring others to fight the remaining 99 nuclear power plants around the country that emit cancer causing agents into our air and our environment.
Our second focus has been clean energy – with two major wins that came as a bit of a shock, even to our own staff. The Academy has been advocating against the construction of new gas-fired “peaker” plants that the fossil fuel industry and the utility companies continue to try and ram down our throats, despite the clear and present danger from climate chaos. Clean alternatives to these plants exist, and we will continue to advocate for them. Our filings with the Public Utilities Commission and our collaboration with other renewable energy advocates STOPPED the Puente gas power plant in Oxnard and the Ellwood plant in Santa Barbara County.[2]
This year, we helped to organize The People’s Climate Rally on April 29 with our partners in Santa Barbara who work for a green planet, and had the honor of being a part of the Women and the Environment Conference in Santa Barbara. We also made our voices heard in support of the historic moment when the Santa Barbara City Council committed to 100% renewable energy by 2020!
An additional victory came with our advocacy for the upgrade of the city of Santa Barbara’s lighting infrastructure – the city-owned streetlights will be upgraded to LEDs as a result of citizen activism and a renewed focus on sustainable energy by our city leaders. The Academy has been fighting this battle behind the scenes for the past two years, and our commitment to speak out and find ways to help make this world a cleaner, healthier place for all to live continues to fuel our passion and work.
Our annual awards Gala honoring one of our long-time fellows, Dr. Deepak Chopra and the 30-year publisher of the Santa Barbara Independent Newspaper, Marianne Partridge was a great success. We are grateful for all the support of the community and our sponsors, but above all we are grateful to people like you who choose to stay connected and work for a better world for all living beings.
Our final event for 2017 was the United Nations Associations Peace Prize, which was bestowed upon Rinaldo Brutoco for his lifetime of work in the area of peacemaking at a local, national and global level. He spoke at length on the issue through the lens of the environment, focusing on the importance of combatting climate change to strengthen all nations. It was a rousing call to action.
In the last months of this challenging year, we find ourselves in gratitude for all we have accomplished with your help. We also need your help to accomplish more in the coming year; with the exit from the Paris Climate Accords to the disengagement of EPA with Scott Pruitt at the helm, it is our responsibility as American citizens to stand up and protect our beautiful country and our global civilization. Please join us in this collaborative effort by supporting us with a generous donation today. We need your help, now more than ever before
Thank you for your continued support,
Rinaldo Brutoco Judi Weisbart Matt Renner
President & Founder V.P. Community Relations Executive Director
[1] Our press release about the appeal is available here:
https://worldbusiness.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Diablo-Canyon-Lawsuit-PR.pdf
Our filing is available here: https://worldbusiness.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Nuclear-Brief-Filed-Oct-23.pdf
[2] Read our press release on victories at Puente and Ellwood here: https://worldbusiness.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Oxnard-Puente-Plant-Ruling-PR-FINAL-10-10-172.pdf
