Vendor 2018 Carbon Pricing Awareness Raffle - THREE Teslas!

[PeterK]

Great progress over the past week. The marketing sponsorships finally launched on Friday and over the weekend on several sites including Teslarati, Rich Rebuilds, and Clean Technica. The results? Cumulative sales went from under 1100 to over 1400 by midday yesterday, and continue at a strong pace. The speedometer is up and running on the raffle site, at the bottom of the home page (which has been updated with a Halloween theme, by the way:
3rd Carbon Pricing Raffle: Win a Tesla. Make a Difference.

On a state basis, Texas moved up into the 80+ ticket sales category, and Washington, Oregon, Colorado and Pennsylvania into the 40-80 ticket group. Arizona, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio, Tennessee and North Carolina are now in the 20-40 group. And we sold a ticket in South Dakota, leaving only North Dakota without any sales.

And I'm pleased to report that one participant bought 20 tickets! If anyone wants to singlehandedly change their state from gray to yellow, please go for it!

Thank you all for your support - please spread the word!
Peter

 

[PeterK]

Very late, I'll give a quick update from last Wednesday. At the time we were up to just over 1600 tickets sold, but we've made continued progress since then - I'll try to update again after tomorrow's call (I missed last week's).

Still no sales in North Dakota - I don't know anyone there or I would personally reach out to get at least one ticket sold! Elsewhere things are relatively unchanged - the only state changing status is Georgia, which moved up into the 40-79 tickets sold category.

On Sunday I attended a gathering of some members of the Facebook group Tesla Owners Northeast (formerly New England), and distributed some of the large bumper stickers that Alan and I ordered for ours and others' cars. They are a bit tricky to put on without wrinkles or air bubbles, but peel off smoothly leaving no trace afterwards - I had larger ones of the same material on my X last year for three months and they peeled right off. Last week @ModelS1079 put one on his car, and shared a photo on Facebook. Thanks, Jim!

More to come after tomorrow - thank you for spreading the word!

 

[PeterK]

On Sunday I attended a gathering of some members of the Facebook group Tesla Owners Northeast (formerly New England), and distributed some of the large bumper stickers that Alan and I ordered for ours and others' cars. They are a bit tricky to put on without wrinkles or air bubbles, but peel off smoothly leaving no trace afterwards - I had larger ones of the same material on my X last year for three months and they peeled right off. Last week @ModelS1079 put one on his car, and shared a photo on Facebook. Thanks, Jim!

View attachment 350311

If anyone is interested/willing to put one of these easily removable stickers on the bumper of their Tesla(s), please PM me and I'll figure out a way to get one to you! Thanks,
Peter

 

[PeterK]

We had our Week 8 checkpoint yesterday, and more progress to report. We are now halfway through the raffle's duration, and at 1755 tickets sold as of yesterday morning, a little less than halfway to our 4000 ticket sales limit. We will have more marketing and sponsorship posts in the coming weeks, but appreciate any unique ideas. In particular, we have the Tesla-related sites pretty well covered, but have a harder time targeting audiences interested in sustainability and carbon pricing - it doesn't have the natural draw that Tesla does. We're exploring some alternatives but are always interested in different perspectives and ideas - thanks in advance!`1

Going to the map, we got our first ticket sale in North Dakota so halfway through have covered all 50 states plus DC - much earlier than last year! And we have two more green states, with 80 or more ticket sales - Florida and Maryland. And Illinois (home state of last year's winner) turned blue with sales of over 40 tickets to date.

On the Carbon Pricing front, while many of the election results will have a positive impact on the environment and sustainability, Washington State's ballot initiative 1631 was soundly defeated 56%-44%, no doubt thanks to $30 million of spending against it, mostly from out-of-state fossil fuel interests including BP, Phillips 66 and Koch Industries: Big Oil Kills Carbon Initiative in Washington State – Rolling Stone

Ballot initiatives are challenging, especially on a complicated issue like carbon pricing with potential direct impacts on voters' wallets. In fact, Climate XChange's founders initially considered a Massachusetts ballot initiative but were counseled against doing so because of the inherent challenges. And if a ballot initiative fails, it is far more difficult to convince legislators to pass something because "the people have spoken".

This just means that there is more need for Climate XChange's efforts to help pass carbon pricing legislation in MA and other states. Please buy a ticket - or another if you've already bought one, they make great gifts! And please if you can, share a link to carbonraffle.org on your social media to let your friends know about the raffle.

Together we can make a difference - as the saying goes, light some candles rather than curse the darkness. Thanks for your support!
Peter

 

[wdolson]

Living here in Washington, I-1631 had some big flaws which is probably why it failed. Some very outspoken people about manmade climate change came out against this initiative. One was UW Meteorology professor Cliff Mass:
A climatologist's argument against I-1631's carbon fee

The three state-wide initiatives on the ballot all seemed like good ideas, but there were problems with all of them. Reading 1631 and the no grocery tax they both seemed like astro-turf initiatives written by special interests for other purposes. 1631 made exceptions for the state's biggest carbon producers and there was a no tax on groceries initiative that looked innocuous, but state law does not allow taxes on groceries anyway. It appears to have been written by the soda industry to preempt any attempt to levy soft drink taxes.

I haven't actually been able to find who wrote the initiative for the carbon tax.

Sometimes these things look OK on the surface, but when you dig down they are more trap laws than good ideas.

 

[nwdiver]

Living here in Washington, I-1631 had some big flaws which is probably why it failed. Some very outspoken people about manmade climate change came out against this initiative. One was UW Meteorology professor Cliff Mass:
A climatologist's argument against I-1631's carbon fee

The three state-wide initiatives on the ballot all seemed like good ideas, but there were problems with all of them. Reading 1631 and the no grocery tax they both seemed like astro-turf initiatives written by special interests for other purposes. 1631 made exceptions for the state's biggest carbon producers and there was a no tax on groceries initiative that looked innocuous, but state law does not allow taxes on groceries anyway. It appears to have been written by the soda industry to preempt any attempt to levy soft drink taxes.

I haven't actually been able to find who wrote the initiative for the carbon tax.

Sometimes these things look OK on the surface, but when you dig down they are more trap laws than good ideas.

AKA... allowing a mythical perfect solution to halt a good one....

 

[PeterK]

Living here in Washington, I-1631 had some big flaws which is probably why it failed. Some very outspoken people about manmade climate change came out against this initiative. One was UW Meteorology professor Cliff Mass:
A climatologist's argument against I-1631's carbon fee

The three state-wide initiatives on the ballot all seemed like good ideas, but there were problems with all of them. Reading 1631 and the no grocery tax they both seemed like astro-turf initiatives written by special interests for other purposes. 1631 made exceptions for the state's biggest carbon producers and there was a no tax on groceries initiative that looked innocuous, but state law does not allow taxes on groceries anyway. It appears to have been written by the soda industry to preempt any attempt to levy soft drink taxes.

I haven't actually been able to find who wrote the initiative for the carbon tax.

Sometimes these things look OK on the surface, but when you dig down they are more trap laws than good ideas.

Thanks for sharing this. I don't know anything about the other initiatives, and agree that the grocery tax one sounds fishy, but I do know that unfortunately many environmentalists are subject to letting the perfect get in the way of the good. Two years ago, Washington failed to pass a carbon pricing initiative that rebated all of the money collected, which was criticized for not taking advantage of the revenues to invest in sustainable infrastructure, thereby getting a double impact. Two big factions in favor of carbon pricing were effectively at war with each other, and many voted against it. So this year they went the other direction, putting all of the revenues towards environmental programs, thereby drawing objections from the other side.

Here in MA, we've had two different bills, one of which rebates 100% of the funds collected, and the other retains a portion for investment but rebates the majority - the rebates being intended to keep it from becoming regressive and punishing those who can least afford it. Of late, the latter bill with some investment has more support.

I also take issue with Professor Mass (the climatologist cited in the article) on two other points. He says the bill as written couldn't serve as a model for the rest of the country - so what? The objective is to pass it in Washington, and other states can either follow or take a different tack based on their local conditions. The key is to get things started - the sooner we see adoption in one or more states, the sooner others will follow. And he takes issue with it being priced too low, but you have to start somewhere, and an appropriately high tax would be a non-starter for many if not most voters.

Overall, the article reads to me like Professor Mass is annoyed that he wasn't asked by the supporting coalition for his input, and per the comment above, that he is allowing a perfect solution to halt a good one.

 

[wdolson]

The Washington initiative would have probably caused a fair amount of hardship on consumers going forward. The taxes went up every year with no cap. Reading it, it looked like a trap law to me. If it passed, the ills of it would have been used by opponents of other measures in other states to point out that carbon taxes don't work.

It could have been a case of winning one battle, but losing the war.

 

[PeterK]

The Washington initiative would have probably caused a fair amount of hardship on consumers going forward. The taxes went up every year with no cap. Reading it, it looked like a trap law to me. If it passed, the ills of it would have been used by opponents of other measures in other states to point out that carbon taxes don't work.

It could have been a case of winning one battle, but losing the war.

I don’t know the details about how it avoids being regressive, but I do know that the cap was the state hitting its carbon emissions reduction targets, which makes sense to me. And it’s interesting that you think the price would go too high, because in your link Professor Mass said the initiative would be ineffective because the price was too low.

Here’s Climate XChange’s Executive Director’s take on it : Washington votes no on carbon fee, but here’s what we can learn from it

 

[PeterK]

Another week has flown by. We are a week past halfway, but not quite halfway through ticket sales at 1859 as of this morning. As we come into the gift-giving and charitable donation season, we will be running marketing campaigns on these themes around Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday.

CPAR raffle tickets make a great gift - I wish I were allowed to buy and give them, but can't due to my affiliation, unfortunately. As one of our staff put it: "Giving is good - Winning is better!" It's both - a charitable donation with a chance of winning. So buy a ticket! 3rd Carbon Pricing Raffle: Win a Tesla. Make a Difference.

More progress at the state level this past week. New York now has over 80 tickets sold, making it green. No new blues, but New Hampshire joined the yellow group with at least 20 tickets.

Thanks to all buyers and promoters for your support. Please spread the word and share raffle links!
Peter

 

[PeterK]

Two weeks have gone by, and I'm starting to panic a bit. We have under five weeks left, and 1860 tickets remaining to sell out all 4000. So the good news is that we've covered the prize pool and our limited other marketing/advertising, web/technical infrastructure and other costs, but this is a fundraiser and we have a lot of plans for 2019, so we need to sell out or at least come close.

We had a few very slow weeks there, fortunately since the weekend sales seem to be picking up measurably. Still not where I want them to be, but it's a real improvement.

Virginia joins the ranks of 80+ ticket sales, Arizona moves up to 40 or more tickets, and Connecticut gets to 20 or more. Thanks to all those who contributed to these sales, whether directly through a purchase or indirectly by spreading the word!

For those of you in New Mexico, still a fewer than 20 ticket state, Climate XChange just released a study in response to the New Mexico State Senate's request for studies on how a carbon fee could be implemented in the state, and its effects: Recommendations for New Mexico Carbon Pollution Pricing Policy

And we have a new article on the Carbon impact of your gifts, in line with the season: The Carbon Footprint Of Your Gifts - Climate-XChange. But remember that a CXC raffle ticket makes a great low-carbon gift, with a bonus!

I'm sure you're all aware of the administration report on climate change that was quietly released on Black Friday: Fourth National Climate Assessment: Executive Summary

But did you know the administration released a SECOND climate change report that same day, by the US Geological Survey? https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2018/5131/sir20185131.pdf

It finds that the extraction and burning of fossil fuels from Federal lands made up nearly one quarter of the US's carbon emissions from 2005-2014. The good news? Carbon emissions from Federal lands declined during the ten-year period, as production shifted from coal to natural gas. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...hed-on-black-friday/5bfc3aea1b326b60d128002d/

I hope all of that gives you more than enough reasons to buy another ticket for yourself or a friend, or share a link to the raffle on your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or via a broadcast email. Thanks in advance.
Peter

3rd Carbon Pricing Raffle: Win a Tesla. Make a Difference.

 

[hurrrrz]

It's gotten pretty quiet here. Where are y'all at with the raffle?

 

[Polly Wog]

From the website, it appears that just under 1400 tickets remain to be sold.

 

[hurrrrz]

1400 tickets in 2 weeks? that could be tough? Then again, better odds for ticket holders, I suppose.

 

[PeterK]

Sorry, I've been busy with work and trying to sell tickets elsewhere. Given the lack of responses on this thread I kind of felt like I was talking to myself, so reprioritized my time. We do indeed have around 1300 tickets remaining with less than two weeks to go. Please buy more, and spread the word on your social media networks. I'll post another full update shortly.
Peter

 

[Don TLR]

Going to have to pick one up as an Xmas present to myself..

 

[PeterK]

So with less than two weeks to go, we're at about 2700 tickets sold out of 4000.

Washington state, Colorado and New Jersey all join the 80+ ticket sales group - great to see 10 of 51 (including DC) hit that level. And there are another 10 states at the 40+ ticket sales level, with Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio, North Carolina all moving up. And in turn, New Mexico, Missouri, Indiana and South Carolina moved up to replace them at the 20+ tickets level, leaving only 25 states that sold fewer than 20 tickets. Great to see how widespread this support is - a combination of increased recognition of Tesla and of carbon pricing.

And we're beginning to see more widespread efforts - even a carbon pricing bill introduced in the US Congress! But perhaps the biggest recent move forward is the Transportation Climate Initiative announced by 7 East Coast states and DC, based in part on our coalition's efforts: Press Release on Governor Baker’s TCI Announcement – 12.18.2018

We'll do better than last year, but to really make a difference we need to kick it up a level. Thank you all for buying tickets. Please consider buying more (our top two buyers have 20 and 16 tickets, and we have several who bought 8!), and please share the raffle site link (carbonraffle.org), or any of our articles or reports you like on the CXC site (www.climate-xchange.org) on social media. While this is our big fundraiser, we call it the Carbon Pricing Awareness Raffle for a reason - because our number one objective is to raise awareness of carbon pricing and its potential benefits, to move the dialogue forward to action.

Thank you!
Peter

 

[PeterK]

Going to have to pick one up as an Xmas present to myself..

Yes please - thank you!

 

[PeterK]

Quick update - we sold just shy of 100 tickets today! Thank you again and please keep spreading the word. If we could maintain that pace we would sell out all 4000! Not likely but let’s keep shooting for the moon!

 

[PeterK]

73 tickets on Friday! Please keep spreading the word - thanks!