Page Potter

I am already involved in lobbying Congress to pass a national carbon fee and dividend bill to reduce carbon emissions, but since there's only so much I can do there and since action on climate is needed across the board and on every front, and individual actions add up, I decided to join the Drawdown Ecochallenge to see what else I could do as an individual. Over the past two weeks I've learned about peatlands as important carbon sinks. The southeastern Atlantic coast, including eastern North Carolina, is home to many acres of peatlands - marsh, bog and pocosin - that in the past were ditched and drained for agriculture. The North Carolina Nature Conservancy, along with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, are working to restore the natural flow of water in around 20,000 hectares of peatland pocosin in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge and the Angola Bay Gamelands. One hectare of natural peatland pocosin removes the equivalent of 0.8 passenger vehicle emissions per year, while drained pocosin ADDS the equivalent of FIVE (5) passenger vehicles per year!!! I The restoration work also involves replanting Atlantic white cedars, native to the area. In addition to helping with climate change, restoring these landscapes restores important wildlife habitat and aids in flood control and prevention of wildfires during droughts. I learned that I can contribute to this restoration effort by a donation to the NC Nature Conservancy designated to "NC Peatlands." I decided to make an ongoing regular donation roughly equal to my monthly carbon footprint.  In addition to helping with climate change, restoring these landscapes restores important wildlife habitat. (To donate contact Genevieve Joseph, [email protected], or send a check to the Nature Conservancy with "NC Peatlands" in the memo line to Genevieve Joseph, The Nature Conservancy NC, 334 Blackwell Street Suite 300, Durham NC 27701.)

Tuesday evening 4/22/21 I joined 30 other UUs from across North Carolina in an Zoom Action Hour organized by UU Forward Together and GreenFaith in which we learned about Duke Energy's climate-killing proposed IRP (Integrated Resource Plan) and wrote email statements to the NC Utilities Commission urging them to reject the plan. It was great to recognize other ERUUFians on the Zoom, including Bev Wedda and my Chalice Circle friend, Janet Maran, and to know that the NCUC staff would have an email inbox full of messages objecting to Duke's IRP on Wednesday morning! Appreciation to Denise Frizzell and others on the Earth Justice Team for making me aware of the dangers of Duke's plans and how we can oppose it. Go team!