350 Bay Area Action is pleased to endorse Ross Bernet for Berkeley City Council’s District 1, rank #1. 

Ross’ climate plan starts with how Berkeley grows and moves. He wants denser infill housing that relieves the pressure to develop open space, cuts the energy needed to heat and cool homes, and lets people live closer to jobs, transit, and daily needs. As he notes, California’s largest source of emissions is transportation — so Ross wants to reduce vehicle miles traveled by making it safe and easy to get around on foot, bike, or public transit, including building out safe-street infrastructure for Berkeley’s most vulnerable road users.

On energy, Ross wants Berkeley to be one of the easiest cities in California to electrify a home. Today, he says, installers tell him it’s not. He’d move to have heat-pump and solar permitting be over the counter, end new fossil-fuel infrastructure, phase gas out of new construction, and continue pushing for a legally durable version of Berkeley’s original all-electric building ordinance — the pioneering rule the courts struck down.

Ross is a longtime environmentalist and climate-action advocate in the daytime and in his free time. With a Master’s of Environmental Management, Ecosystem and Conservation Management from Yale, and a passion for trees, he has been involved in tree planting in Haiti, forest conservation and reforestation projects for Microsoft’s carbon-removal program and for One Tree Planted, and serves on the Sierra Club’s Northern Alameda County Group’s Executive Committee.

Campaign website: https://www.rossforberkeley.com/ 

Volunteer some time: https://www.rossforberkeley.com/get-involve