There’s no time to waste

Jun 2, 2019

As the Trump administration and most congressional and state Republicans continue the ostrich approach to addressing the global climate crisis — their proverbial head in the hole as the Midwest is under water, much of the West is still a cinder and places like Texas, Florida and especially Puerto Rico continue to rebuild from total devastation — local action on the climate crisis has grown more and more important.

At Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action, we have been dedicated for nearly four years to educating on, leading activism on and coalition-building around addressing the climate crisis. We happily work with Republicans (like those few advocating for carbon taxation and other climate solutions) and anyone else to take on this crisis, but time is short and we have no time to waste. The science is settled and the argument is over … the time for action is now.

Examples of what Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action has done include, but are not limited to, the following: We have joined with the organization Solar United Neighbors of both West Virginia and Ohio to help folks join the Mid-Ohio Valley Solar Co-Op in both Wood and Washington counties and the surrounding areas and we are working with Solar United Neighbors of Ohio again at this time to help folks join the Appalachian Solar and EV (Electric Vehicle) Co-Op, again on both sides of the Ohio River; We have awarded cash prizes for a climate change public service announcements contest to area high schools and colleges, wherein the first prize was won by contestants at Ohio Valley University for running a TV and radio spot; We have provided a scholarship for a solar installer licensing course held at the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Marietta; We have worked with West Virginians for Energy Freedom to stop the sale of the Pleasants Power Station from First Energy’s Ohio subsidiary to its West Virginia subsidiary, saving Mon Power and Potomac Edison ratepayers in West Virginia thousands of dollars; and we have an excellent program in Wood County and surrounding county schools on both sides of the river where we have reached between 3,000 and 4,000 middle and high school students, including some private school students, with presentations on the climate crisis and the urgency involved.

We can’t let willful ignorance and/or greed destroy our ability to safely inhabit this planet. If you want to understand where we are and how close we came in the past to avoiding our current fate, I recommend three books: “The Uninhabitable Earth” by David Wallace-Wells; “Falter” by Bill McKibben; and “Losing Earth” by Nathaniel Rich. All are available at the Parkersburg and Wood County Public Library. Join with us and Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action today and help us not only save the grandchildren, but save ourselves!

Eric Engle

Parkersburg

PARKERSBURG, West Virginia – Alex Cole, a community organizer for the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC), will present “The Proposed Appalachian Storage Hub and What it Means for the Ohio River Valley” at the June 20 Third Thursday meeting of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action at 7:00 p.m. at the First Christian Church, 1400 Washington Ave., Parkersburg, WV.  MOVCA’s Third Thursday programs are open to the public and free of charge; anyone interested is welcome to attend.

Cole’s grassroots organizing work with Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition is now focused on stopping the proposed Appalachian Storage Hub/Petrochemical Complex proposed for the region.

“Our state and federal governments are already talking about this boom in chemical and plastic production not only as a savior for the faltering fracking industry but also as a godsend for our economic development,” Cole says.  “But even while the politicians talk about it, I find that most people don’t know what the Appalachian Storage Hub is.  My primary goal is to present the proposed infrastructure laying it all out from Pittsburgh to Catlettsburg. I hope that a better understanding will inspire outrage and we can work together and fight this thing every step of the way and not just when it pops up directly in our backyards.”

Cole has a BS in Environmental Geography and a BA in United States History from Ohio University. He describes himself as a born naturalist; his mother is an artist and landscape painter, and his father is a landscaper and horticulturalist. His first exposure to OVEC was in 1995, when he was just six years old. He still remembers the scratch-and-sniff sticker his family received in the mail during OVEC’s successful campaign to stop the paper mill in Apple Grove, only ten miles from his family’s hilltop farm in Pliny, WV. Cole now lives off-grid on that hilltop farm next to Westvaco Company property that would have been clear cut if the pulp mill had been built.

Cole was previously employed as an extension agent with WV State University.  He also volunteered with OVEC’s water quality monitoring project, gathering baseline data from streams impacted by the Mountaineer Express Pipeline. He is also leading OVEC’s Innovation Valley Project, which promotes sustainable living and community-driven sustainable economic development in the Ohio and Kanawha River Valleys. His background as a naturalist, extension agent, off-grid farmer, landscaper, and permaculturalist provides a wealth of experience for this work.

To learn more about OVEC and Cole’s work, contact https://ohvec.org/about-ovec/ or alex@ohvec.org

#####

Mid-Ohio Valley Climate  Action  focuses on raising awareness of the solid science establishing the danger of the climate crisis and the urgency of dealing with it. MOVCA is affiliated with 350.org and Citizens’ Climate Lobby and is a Science Booster Club for the National Center for Science Education. The not-for-profit volunteer group also collaborates with other environmental groups on campaigns and events in the Mid-Ohio Valley.  https://main.movclimateaction.org.