At the Silicon Valley People’s Climate Rally on October 14th, Cherie Walkowiak and John Scarboro told the story of Carbon Free Mountain View. Here is an excerpt of their speech:

Cherie: I’m honored to have this chance to speak! The way I see it, greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere are the biggest threat to future generations. As a mother, I feel an intense maternal obligation to leave this planet in a state that can sustain life for my kids and their kids. So I’ve decided to tackle the two biggest sources of carbon pollution: electricity and transportation. I'm happy to say that with the help of some amazing people, we have made some great progress!

John: Like Cherie, I feel we have an obligation to leave a habitable planet for all our kids. We need big organizations and individuals to step up to this challenge quickly and boldly. Fortunately for me – for us -- Cherie had this audacious idea of 100% carbon free electricity for Mountain View by 2020!
C: John and I found a few more fabulously capable folks and founded a group called Carbon Free Mountain View. The group discovered something called Community Choice Energy, which is a way for communities to be in control of where their electricity comes from. This is not a piecemeal, person-by-person approach like switching out our light bulbs. It changes the power source for the whole community!
J: With community choice, communities form a local non-profit to buy greener electricity at competitive rates. You (and your neighbors who may not be as interested as you) get the benefit of less expensive greener energy without having to do anything. If you want to opt up to 100% renewable, you can. If your neighbor wants to stay with the current power company, electricity mix and rates, they can. Everyone gets to choose.
C: We saw this as the best way to reach our goals of reducing Mountain View's carbon footprint from electricity. So we asked the City of Mountain View to establish a community choice energy program. They responded by partnering with Sunnyvale, Cupertino and Santa Clara County to take a good hard look at it.
J: They formed the Silicon Valley Community Choice Energy Partnership, which is on track to be up and providing cleaner electricity by 2017! Other cities in the county are interested, cooperating and may join the Partnership.
C: But it’s not a done deal. City councils and county supervisors still need to hear from community members that you want this too. If you represent a tech company, we especially need you! Businesses account for two thirds of electricity use. The only way Community Choice Energy will succeed is if the tech giants are on board. When CCE comes to town, please support it, and opt up to the 100% green option.

J: We encourage you to take action supporting community choice energy. And above all, take action, get involved!
C: This is life-giving transformational work, for you, your friends, our communities, our society.
J: We need you. All of you. We have so much further to go. This is a turning point. You can make a difference.
C: Together let's take care of the climate, our community and the ecosystem and make this a heaven on earth!

Cherie Walkowiak is a nature lover and an environmentalist. Her mission in life is to do what she can to reduce greenhouse gas emissions locally through her work with Carbon Free Mountain View and Safe Mountain View.
John Scarboro’s mission in life is sustainable, equitable community for everyone. As a father, he finds sustainable community and a habitable planet absolutely vital. He is a professional industrial engineer, working in environmental sustainability for 20 years. He currently works at NASA Ames and serves on the Mountain View Environmental Planning Commission.

Time to take the tabling materials home - by cargo bike.