Faces of the Campaign is an ongoing series featuring our key organizers and stakeholders involved in “Put A Price On It, D.C.” Our coalition of 70 organizations is comprised of racial justice activists, union workers, health advocates, moms, dads, kids, retirees, and business-owners alike. Barbara Briggs is a volunteer for the campaign. Here’s her story.
What is your name and what do you do?
My name is Barbara Briggs. After over 20 years running campaigns focused on international labor rights (child labor and sweatshop abuses in factories making clothing and consumer goods for the U.S. market) I am in the process of a professional shift, to work on climate issues. I am supposedly “taking a break” for the first time in my 
adult life, but busier than ever working on efforts to transition our society away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy sources.
What woke you up to the climate crisis?
I’ve always cared deeply about the environment, but the issue of climate change took on screaming urgency for me after I moved to Pittsburgh late in 2008. Western PA was in the middle of a huge resurgence of gas and oil extraction made possible by fracking. I started meeting people who could no longer use the water in their wells, whose kids were sick, whose livestock was dying.
I went to an opening of Josh Fox’s documentary Gaslands, really not knowing what to expect, and 2,000 people showed up! Many weekends we would go to a family place in the Allegheny National Forest and the destruction was horrible: bulldozed roads and gas pads all over the forest, silted streams, the smell of gas everywhere. It really drove home the damage that the fossil fuel industry is doing, on the ground in communities and natural areas all over the country, and contributing to global warming.
Why does the campaign to put a price on carbon in DC and rebate the revenue matter to you?
The campaign to put a price on carbon in DC is winnable, concrete and would allow us to make a substantive contribution toward moving our society away from fossil fuels. Something we must do and quickly, to prevent catastrophic climate disruption.
We are already losing species at a record rate. What we do now can save species, ecosystems, arable land, and communities that will otherwise be lost to sea-level rise. Economists tell us that pricing carbon is the most efficient way to accelerate the urgently needed transition away from fossil fuels and many business leaders agree. Meanwhile, using a substantial proportion of the funds to provide a rebate to citizens will help assure that this does not turn into a regressive tax that (once again) leaves low income and working families bearing the cost of change.
How is this campaign different from other environmental campaigns you’ve experienced in the past?
The Put a Price On It campaign is unique in that it is very concrete, local and winnable, yet would have significant environmental and economic impacts. We are pushing for real change, in a major U.S. city that also just happens to be the nation’s capital.
How has climate change impacted your own community?
I grew up in New England and my family is still there, mostly in Massachusetts. Winter is not normal or predictable anymore. It is warm when it should be consistently cold. Then in April this year we got hit with four major storms. The spring bulbs don’t know what to do. The trees don’t know what to do either. Fruit blossoms become frozen and collecting maple sap for syrup is impossible some springs. There’s more and more tree loss, due to stress and weird weather. Tree diseases, and human diseases like West Nile virus and Lyme disease, are becoming much more prevalent–moving up from the south and without good, hard freezes to kill them off.
What was your favorite moment in this campaign?
My favorite moment? I think that would have to be jumping into the Potomac River in January. Finally succeeding in cleaning up the spreadsheet to organize our outreach to the neighborhood ANCs–that would be a close second, but it took longer.
Tell me about a time you’ve witnessed community power.
I think we are witnessing growing community power right now, in the Put a Price On It campaign. We–a growing number of volunteers and coalition members–are raising public debate about climate change and taking responsibility into our own hands, right here in our own city. We are taking that discussion to every ward, every neighborhood, every local elected official. It’s too broad to see all at once. Often the specific events seem small. But taken all together, it is a remarkable display of growing community power.
What was your biggest accomplishment on this campaign?
I think my biggest accomplishment to date would have to be the climate event I organized at Friends Meeting of Washington to build support for the Put a Price on It campaign. The room was full. The panel, including Camila Thorndike, was really powerful. The discussion was really energized: People didn’t want to stop. And we ended up getting a lot of volunteers.
Best place to get breakfast in DC?
Best place in DC to get breakfast?: Definitely The Diner on 18th Street, open 24-7. I’ve had my bacon and eggs and coffee there at the crack of dawn, before heading to CCAN’s Polar plunge, and late at night after long ANC meetings.
What can we do? A carbon fee and dividend will both effectively lower carbon emissions and give residents relief from our ongoing crisis of displacement by gentrification. Making polluters pay will push the city towards clean energy, but it’ll also put money in the pocketsof residents working to keep up with surging rents.
How can one measure it? The past practice of the Council under the current Chair is to
I have supported the DC Carbon Fee Rebate proposal because it is an opportunity to promote environmental, economic and racial justice at the same time. In the absence of federal action on global climate change, states and cities should step in to make a difference. The proposal to put a fee-per-ton on carbon and rebating the proceeds to residents is supported by prominent economists, both liberal and conservative, and environmental experts, as a market-driven way to reduce carbon consumption by encouraging energy conservation and use of renewable energy sources. The Carbon Fee Rebate proposal would rebate the proceeds of the carbon fee to DC residents on a per-capita basis. Analysis shows that for the vast majority of lower income families, the rebate will be larger than their increased energy costs. This means the proposal not only ensures that families with low incomes are not burdened by a carbon fee, but in fact will provide an income boost to these families and reduce income inequality. This proposal is an important way to promote environmental and economic justice at the same time.
I support the proposal that a fee be imposed per ton of carbon emissions to incentivize use of renewable energy sources. In that regard, I was the author of legislation that established a renewable energy portfolio standard for electric generation — that was our first effort at promoting renewables (which are carbon free). I have given advice to the advocates for the carbon bill on how I think they can get a carbon tax adopted as law.
I fully support the Climate and Community Reinvestment Act. The proposal requires fossil fuel companies doing business in the District to pay a fee for every ton of carbon dioxide they put into the atmosphere. The policy would then rebate the overwhelming share of the collected revenue to D.C. households and small businesses such as those in Ward 1. As the Ward 1 Council member, one of the things I would look for in any legislation is how it impacts and benefits residents and businesses in my community. I am impressed by the thoughtfulness of the Climate and Community Reinvestment Act. What is compelling to me is that Ward 1 businesses such as Cork and Pleasant Pops are behind this bill – great local businesses with engaged owners who understand what it takes to thrive in D.C. while serving as a community partner.
I support this proposal and have been eagerly awaiting a draft bill to which I will proudly add my name. I’ve been talking with advocates about this idea for the past several years and I’m eager to moving it forward. I served as the chair of the Local Government Advisory Committee to the Chesapeake Bay Council as well as chair of the Metro Washington Air Quality board to COG. I do this work because climate change is already impacting our world and we have a responsibility to do all we can to impact the behavior of our residents to help protect our environment.
I support the Carbon Fee and Rebate proposal.
I am definitely in support of carbon fee rebates. For the last five years, I have been a student at the Harvard University Extension School working towards a masters in Sustainability and Environmental Management. I understand, probably better than anyone currently serving on the Council, that we must take dramatic and comprehensive action to reduce greenhouse gases or we are going to literally cook the planet. Some years ago, an organization was formed taking the name 350.org. The name was chosen based of studies that indicated that the maximum safe level of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere would be 350 parts per million (ppm). In a few short years, we passed right through that level. Today, in February 2018, it is estimated that we have reached a CO2 level of 408 ppm. What does that mean in terms of climate change? Think about this: Globally, seventeen of the eighteen hottest years on record have occurred in this century, those years being 2001 through 2017. The other hottest year on record was 1998.
I was one of the earliest supporters of the Put A Price On It campaign to place a fee on carbon producers, which would also provide a rebate to vulnerable residents. This campaign is part of creating a more sustainable DC. In addition to this effort, I authored the legislation creating the District’s first Climate Change and Resiliency Commission; I led the fight to have the District’s retirement and pension funds divest from carbon and fossil fuel investment holdings; I wrote several bills to expand opportunities for solar installation; and I led the effort to name 2018 as the Year of the Anacostia River to celebrate and bring attention to the river on the eastern half of our city.
I support this proposal. I am very familiar with policies related to carbon taxes and rebates, having worked on Capitol Hill during the congressional debate of similar federal policy almost a decade ago. Policies that incentivize a shift to green energy and reduce our city’s emissions are becoming increasingly important, and policies that incentivize change by investing funds in our own communities are the optimal way to produce these results. It is also important that we pursue clean energy policy without unduly burdening low income residents who cannot afford to upgrade their homes or modify their energy source with efficiency in mind. To that end, as fees on distribution companies are increased and those costs are passed onto consumers, I would seek to revisit the percentage of carbon rebates going to our low-income residents, currently set at 15 percent. This policy is estimated to increase residential power bills by an average of $9/ month, and while that should be offset by rebates, it is an increase that could be debilitating for families who struggle to pay their bills on a month-to-month basis. We need to make sure the rebate system is designed in such a way that we are proactively insulating low-income residents from price spikes they cannot afford, particularly since they may experience these financial pressures prior to receiving rebates. I would also revise the eligibility requirements for low-income residents. I am not comfortable with requiring residents to have a photo ID or driver’s license in order to be eligible for rebates, since these requirements would inherently exclude the most vulnerable populations in our city who will depend on access to these rebates most. Presumptive eligibility would protect low-income residents from being excluded from this rebate program.
In principle, I support putting a price on carbon emissions, and privatizing that cost to encourage the use of greener energy sources and to generally lower our collective energy consumption. This is important not only because it is good for the environment, but because it makes the District the kind of ethical place where people will want to live and raise a family as the Earth’s environmental crisis reaches a critical point.
The Carbon Fee Rebate proposal is a brilliant way to ensure that we are good stewards of our environment and that’s both cost effective and practical. My father has been an environmental scientist focused on our water-ways for the past 30 years. We are sufferers of a large carbon footprint because of our high proportion of out of town commuters. I would take it a step further and seek ways to tax vehicle commuters from Maryland and Virginia for their carbon impacts on our city.
I support market driven solutions to deal with rising environmental concerns. The proposed rebate incentivizes more sustainable options while relieving economic pressure on thousands of residents who are struggling to make ends meet.
I support and campaigned for it. Down the road we should look-into using a percentage of the money to create a public utility system run on 100 percent clean energy. Putting a fee on the carbon is good, but we must now look to transitioning to a new system.