Category Archives: All

Contains all blog posts to this site that aren’t on static pages

Hot Off the Wire — 7/10/2020

The Climate Impacts Group (CIG) at the University of Washington is hiring an
entry-level Research Scientist.
You can learn more about the position here . . .

Flu Virus Resources

Why kids should be in the classroom this fall
— and how to keep them safe there
How should schools reopen?
Pediatricians offer these guidelines
To save American jobs, we must bring virus to ‘screeching halt’
How doctors are innovating to treat COVID-19
What doctors know about lingering symptoms from coronavirus
Scuba gear, coffee makers inspire inventors in design challenge for a cheaper ventilator

How to Stop the Next Pandemic: U.N. Report
— DemocracyNow!

Opinion

Letter — Supports Jim Waddell’s position on lower Snake River dams
— Peninsula Daily News

Anti-Racist Tools for your consideration

Diversify the all-white Port Angeles
Public Safety Advisory Board
Take the next step! Sign the Petition

The Port Angeles Racial Justice Collective on Facebook

Life, Liberty, and The Pursuit of Happiness;
A Short List of People in America Who Were Not Freed in 1776
By Arleen Jenson

Racism Is Killing the Planet
The ideology of white supremacy leads the way toward disposable people
and a disposable natural world
By Hop Hopkins | Jun 8 2020 — Sierra Club Magazine

White people own 98% of rural land. Young Black farmers want to reclaim their share. — Grist

Across America, Activists Work at the Confluence of LGBTQ Rights and Climate Justice — Inside Climate News

Making Sure ‘Normal’ Is Never the Same Again
By Claire Elise Thompson | June 30, 2020 — Moyers on Democracy
5 environmental justice leaders from across the country share their thoughts on how to address racial injustice, climate change and COVID-19

8 Must-Reads by Women Who Take on White Supremacy and Patriarchal Power
These authors pull no punches in tackling head-on the topics of race, gender, and justice — Yes Magazine

Oprah Winfrey leads a conversation
speaking directly about systematic racism

Part 1

Part 2

Solutions

REI’s Opt to Act Weekly Calendar / Checklist

Week 33: Repair an item instead of purchasing a new one
Take part: July 12–18, 2020

Climate Leaders Live! series

Clean and Safe Buildings through Electrification on Aug 13, 2020 @ 10 AM PDT Register here
The Big Issue: Transforming Transportation on Sept 10, 2020 @ 10 AM PDT Register here

How do you deal with 9 million tons of suffocating seaweed? — The Guardian

Regional Actions

You are invited to the
Washington
Clean Air & Climate Caucus!
— Climate Solutions

Language access program registration for your group — 350.org

National Actions

Thursday, July 16, 2020 | 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM PDT

Youth4Climate Summer Camp (Virtual)

Session II: July 27 – August 21, 2020

Send a message to P&G top executives. Charmin gets an “F” for sustainability.

We’re a Nerdy Movement Study Group – 12-week online program

Local/Regional News

Weekly Announcements

National/International News

Learn about the Citizen’s Assembly in detail in upcoming webinars
Learn about the CITIZEN’s ASSEMBLY ON CLIMATE – what Washington can accomplish through deliberative democracy
MONDAY, JULY 13^th – 10-11 AM | https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89272139818

Press Release from Reclaim Finance
BNP Paribas commits to no longer finance companies with no strategy to exit the coal power sector
— BankTrack

What’s Up with Banking and Climate

The Latest News

Another Reason to Cut Down on Plastics

Also this week:
Face masks for the environmentally conscious

How Wildfires Make Covid More Dangerous

The fracked gas Atlantic Coast Pipeline project is dead — Sierra Club

Supreme Court Won’t Block Ruling to Halt Work on Keystone XL Pipeline
— The New York Times

Standing Rock Elder Hails Order to Shut Down DAPL
— DemocracyNow! interview

Supreme Court reinstates fast-track pipeline permitting except for Keystone XL — The Hill

Some new climate models are projecting extreme warming.
Are they correct?
— Yale Climate Connections

Why Is the South Pole Warming So Quickly? It’s Complicated
Much of the warming is linked to natural climate cycles happening thousands of miles away in the tropics — E&E News

How COVID-19 Creates Food Waste Mountains That Threaten the Environment — EcoWatch

Pipelines are becoming a pipe dream — Grist

Climate in Politics

League of Women Voters
Clallam PUD District 2 Candidate Forum – July 16 at 6:00pm
Zoom link to Forum

2020 Election Strategy Survey — 350 Action Team

Inspiration

Category:
Burning Worlds

*Nan Bray is an oceanographer and climate scientist*
*who has farmed superfine merinos near Oatlands since 2000*

This is a series I’m writing on climate change for our local monthly newspaper. I wanted to go back to the basics of the science behind climate change.

Life, Liberty, and The Pursuit of Happiness;

A Short List of People in America Who Were Not Freed in 1776

By Arleen Jenson
(“Jenson,” They/Them)
Farm Manager and Co-Owner, SisterLand Farms

Independence Day celebrates the signing of the Declaration of Independence in particular, but has become a holiday celebrating American freedom in general; complete with patriotic merchandise, eating outdoors, the wearing of nationalist symbols, and fireworks displays.

What often goes unmentioned during the holiday is: Very few Americans were free on July 4th, 1776. Many more are—even now—still fighting for the most basic freedoms we claim to cherish: The freedom to vote, to live healthy lives, and to pursue happiness.

The Indigenous American: Referred to as “savages” in our Declaration, native inhabitants of America (and their families) were denied their autonomy, voices, lands, resources, and prosperity. Fifty years after July 4th, 1776, the Indian Removal Act forcibly pushed eastern tribes into unknown federal territory; robbing them of ancestral lands, farms, and wealth—all so that their collective land could be resettled by white land owners. It has not been returned. Tens of thousands died during what is now considered a completely American act of genocide. Moreover, the racist treatment of the Indigenous American continues today; with many living without access to the wealth, legal freedoms, or reparations they are owed.

Black Americans: Frederick Douglass was once asked to speak on the 4th of July, and chose to speak on exactly this—that the celebration was not inclusive of Black America; that the struggle for independence was one being fought against the same sort of person who authored and signed the Declaration itself. It would take nearly 100 years for slavery to be abolished, and over 200 years for every state to ratify the 13th Amendment. Black communities have the least access to voting stations in the US, and 1 out of 13 Black adults are denied the right to vote due to disenfranchisement. Today, a Black adult is five times more likely to be incarcerated than a white adult—and incarcerated peoples have almost no independence at all; often working in the American textile and agriculture industry while captive—for around $.33/hour. This begs the question: Did slavery end, or just adapt?

The Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated: Despite the fact that federal and state laws can change and evolve (not to mention cultural and moral shifts,) the imprisoned population serving time for non-violent crimes is staggering; with America having the highest rate of incarcerated citizens in the world. Over 6 million Americans are not allowed to vote because of a felony on their record; robbing us of valuable insight into our own system of criminal justice. Moreover, the American prison system radically impacts the health and wellness of even liberated prisoners; with the likelihood of death-after-release spiking just weeks after leaving prison.

Minority Americans: America maintained racist immigration laws long after the Declaration, limiting the number of incoming migrant families if they were non-white; an idea that has recently resurfaced. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, America built and filled concentration camps to intern Japanese American families against their will. After the September 11th attacks, Sikh Americans bore the brunt of a wave of domestic terrorism by white citizens. During the COVID-19 epidemic, Asian Americans are—again—the subject of harassment and abuse. Despite changes made to abhorrent naturalization laws in the 1960s, subtler laws exist today that cap the influx of migrants from countries like Mexico. Once legally within the US, minority citizens are still often the victims of hate crimes, assault, discriminatory policing, and racist hiring practices.

Women: No woman in America was allowed to vote until 1890—over 100 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence—and voting was not a federally granted right to women until 1920. Women received the right to equal pay in 1963, and to education access in 1972. In 2020, women earn about 82% of what a man earns doing the same work. 90% of adult rape victims are women, with 94% of those reporting detrimental PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).

And more: Because who is truly free when so many of our peers, our coworkers, and our loved ones are not? How limited is our view and vision of America if so many Americans are kept forcibly on the outskirts of freedom?

If we’re not fighting for the independence we claim to love, what are we celebrating?

Greta Thunberg: Humanity has not yet failed

Sommar & Vinter i P1 | Jun 20 – 75 min.

Spotify URL – https://open.spotify.com/episode/7E2Wz3C5XwtEw3Pi96tLQA?si=gOHyk4gOSMGxKcgdaoc4lg

Episode Description

Climate activist Greta Thunberg urges world leaders to do more. Doing our best is no longer good enough. We must now do the seemingly impossible, Thunberg says in the Swedish Radio show Summer on P1 where she takes us along her trip to the front lines of the climate crisis.

We don’t accept these odds. That was Greta Thunberg’s principal message while speaking before the General Assembly of the United Nations last year. It referred to the remaining CO2-budget of humanity.

Continue reading →

Hot Off the Wire — 7/3/2020

The Climate Impacts Group (CIG) at the University of Washington is hiring an
entry-level Research Scientist.
You can learn more about the position here . . .

Flu Virus Resources

Quarantine bubbles – when done right – limit coronavirus risk and help fight loneliness — PBS News Hour

Opinion

Making a Planet Worth Saving | By Bill McKibben | June 9, 2020 — New Yorker

Anti-Racist Tools for your consideration

You Want a Confederate Monument?
My Body Is a Confederate Monument
By Caroline Randall Williams | June 26, 2020
Ms. Williams is a poet

white supremacy culture — Dismantling Racism

DemocracyNow! Examines Our National Reckoning

“What to the Slave Is the 4th of July?”: James Earl Jones Reads Frederick Douglass’s Historic Speech

Angela Davis on Abolition, Calls to Defund Police, Toppled Racist Statues & Voting in 2020 Election

“America’s Moment of Reckoning”: Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor & Cornel West on Uprising Against Racism

The Untold History of Mount Rushmore: A KKK Sympathizer Built Monument on Sacred Lakota Land

What are gender pronouns?
Let’s talk gender: A guide for using pronouns
Justice Ameer Gaines | Daily Kos Staff

Solutions

REI’s Opt to Act Weekly Calendar / Checklist

Save money and energy.
Switch to LED light bulbs in one room
Take part: July 5–11, 2020

Climate Leaders Live! series

Carbon Pricing 101 on July 9, 2020 @ 10 AM PDT Register here
Clean and Safe Buildings through Electrification on Aug 13, 2020 @ 10 AM PDT Register here
The Big Issue: Transforming Transportation on Sept 10, 2020 @ 10 AM PDT Register here

The Hopeful Work of Turning Appalachia’s Mountaintop Coal Mines Into Farms
–Yes Magazine

What to Say When People Say “It’s Impossible”
10 smart conversation starters to address some standard defenses of the status quo.
— Yes Magazine

West Coast Gears Up For Electric Big Rigs — OPB
Electric semis are starting to hit the highways along Interstate 5

What Kelp Forests Can Do for the Climate
Cultivating algae empowers coastal communities while storing CO2 deep underwater.

Regional Actions

A vision toward an equitable, just, and healthy future for all

You are invited to the Washington Clean Air & Climate Caucus! — Climate Solutions

New Blog: Caring for Washington’s Agricultural Workers
— Washington Environmental Council

Organize a FridaysforFuture shoe strike in your community

OCA Signs Letter to Big Oil:
Protect the Arctic Refuge

National Actions

The AfrikaVuka Caravan Webinars
join us live online every two weeks as we connect with frontline groups exposing the fossil fuel and finance industry’s role in accelerating the climate crisis

2nd annual Climate Policy Summer Camp
From July 23 to 26, Our Climate will host virtual workshops, networking events, creative actions, state based breakout groups, and even a dance party in support of the Movement for Black Lives.

Youth4Climate Summer Camp (Virtual)

Session I: June 29 – July 24, 2020
Session II: July 27 – August 21, 2020

Stop the Money Pipeline Webinars — 350.org

Communities are sounding the alarm that some of the oldest and biggest trees in Canada are slated to be logged this summer — Stand.earth

Are fashion companies keeping their renewable energy promises? — Stand.earth

Thank AG Ellison for his leadership on holding Big Polluters liable
— Corporate Accountablilty

SIERRA CLUB PRESENTS HD SCREENING AND DISCUSSION
THE CONDOR & THE EAGLE – GROUND ZERO FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE
Tuesday, July 7th – 4 pm PT | SLIDING-SCALE TICKETS HERE

Local/Regional News

Justice for Black, Brown and Indigenous Lives: A message of solidarity from RAVEN

Weekly Announcements

In case you missed it –
Sightline Online: What coronavirus means for Northwest fossil fuel projects
— 53 minutes on YouTube

National/International News

The Supreme Court of Canada has declined to hear the Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish and Coldwater case against Trans Mountain — Sierra Club

#CancelCanadaDay

Rally and March at Vancouver Art Gallery July First
We will not celebrate the ongoing genocide within Canada
against Indigenous people.

Drawdown 2020 – (in case you missed it)
Urgent Federal Climate Bills and Strategy Webinar — Watch on YouTube
Register now for the follow-up call: July 15th, Noon

Learn about the Citizen’s Assembly in detail in upcoming webinars
Learn about the CITIZEN’s ASSEMBLY ON CLIMATE – what Washington can accomplish through deliberative democracy
THURSDAY, JULY 9th – 10-11 AM | https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85911537594
and
MONDAY, JULY 13^th – 10-11 AM | https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89272139818

What’s Up with Banking and Climate

The Latest News

Greta Thunberg: Humanity has not yet failed
Summer on P1 Sweden — Spotify

Climate activist Greta Thunberg urges world leaders to do more. Doing our best is no longer good enough.

Another Reason to Cut Down on Plastics

Also this week:
Face masks for the environmentally conscious

Climate in Politics

The time for climate action is now
Join the fight against the greatest threat to our future — climate change.
— NRDC Action Fund

League of Women Voters
Clallam PUD District 2 Candidate Forum – July 16 at 6:00pm
Zoom link to Forum

2020 Election Strategy Survey — 350 Action Team

Inspiration

This is a series I’m writing on climate change for our local monthly newspaper. I wanted to go back to the basics of the science behind climate change.

Category:
Burning Worlds

OCA Signs Letter to Big Oil: Protect the Arctic Refuge

OCA joins other groups to encourage the big oil companies of Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Hilcorp, and BP to not pursue fossil fuel development in one of our most majestic public lands in the nation – the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Read the letter here . . .

Drilling in the Arctic Refuge is risky and unnecessary – it violates the human rights of Indigenous peoples, will exacerbate climate change in an area that’s already ground-zero for climate impacts and will cause irreversible destruction to a precious landscape. 70 percent of voters in the United States oppose drilling in the Arctic Refuge. The case for protecting the Arctic Refuge is so clear that five of the six largest US domestic banks have announced they will not fund any efforts to drill in the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge, which is sacred to the Gwich’in people.

Despite the COVID-19 crisis, which is endangering our health and economy, the administration continues to push forward with destroying majestic places. Drilling in a place as remote and pristine as the Arctic Refuge isn’t cheap, and by joining this letter, you have an opportunity to encourage oil and gas companies to publicly affirm that they will not drill in the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge.

Hot Off the Wire — 6/26/2020

Flu Virus Resources

It Doesn’t Look Like the Protests Are Causing a COVID-19 Spike
What does that mean for other outdoor activities?

Opinion

Justice Denied — Grist
Opinion: If you care about the planet, you must dismantle white supremacy
By Tamara Toles O’Laughlin on Jun 15, 2020

The Myth of Economic Sacrifice
We can afford to act on climate now.
By Sarah Lazarovic — Yes Magazine

Solutions

REI’s Opt to Act Weekly Calendar / Checklist

Week 31: Become water wise in your home through mindful showering and dishwashing.
Take part: June 28–July 4, 2020

Vegetarianism:
Tapping Into the Meatless Revolution
— Visual Capitalist

Regional Actions

Take action now: Demand that the Trump administration protects people and public health — Washington Environmental Council

Send a public comment to the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission and ask for rules that protect low-income folks in Washington? — Sierra Club

National Actions

The Senate Democrats’ Special Committee on the Climate Crisis is asking for your input **by this Friday**

The East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) is set to be the longest heated crude oil pipeline in the world — BankTrack

Do not finance the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline! — 350.org

Make DC the 51st state, and deliver climate justice for all — 198 Methods

Tell Congress: No polluter handouts during the pandemic – support the ReWIND Act! — NRDC

Indigenous communities across the Ecuadorian Amazon are sheltering in place to avoid the spread of COVID-19, while also facing the largest oil spill in the last 15 years. They are now witnessing their homes, drinking water, and food sources being destroyed.

Local/Regional News

Join Meaningful Movies Port Townsend and our special guest filmmaker Shane Anderson

Online via Zoom
Monday, July 13, at 6:30 PM

If you missed the webinar, you can watch the video here

Weekly Announcements

National/International News

After declaring a Climate Emergency in November, Ann Arbor, Michigan has drafted a $1 billion groundbreaking climate plan to get to carbon neutrality by 2030
— Michigan Live

How to Get Off Fossil Fuels Quickly—and Fairly — Yes Magazine

Arctic records its hottest temperature ever, 100.4° F.
As ‘Godzilla’ Sahara Dust Plumes Expected to Impact Areas Hit Hard by COVID-19 — CBS News

Historic Saharan dust plume that could turn skies milky will move into the US — CNN Weather

Scientists Alarmed About Siberia’s Record Breaking Winter and Spring Temperatures — Time Magazine

An aerial view of the city of Norilsk in Russia’s arctic region on June 6, 2020.
Kirill Kukhmar/TASS—Getty Images

What’s Up with Banking and Climate

The Latest News

How a Ruling on Gay and Transgender Rights
May Help the Climate

Also this week, how to help reinvent your workplace

Inspiration

This is a series I’m writing on climate change for our local monthly newspaper. I wanted to go back to the basics of the science behind climate change.

Category:
Burning Worlds

INTERVIEW WITH POET SUSAN BARBA

In Solidarity with All Our Relations

The senseless, violent deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and many other Black, Brown, and Indigenous people of this country are merely the most recent, visible examples of systemic inequality and racial injustice in our country. These deaths and the depth of inequality they represent work against our mission to seek a safe, prosperous, sustainable future for us all. Organizations, including our own, working against climate change have an obligation to unequivocally condemn racism in all its forms and to work towards an equitable, livable future for all.

We need real, lasting change to stop acts of racism and violence against communities of color, as well as the unjust burden of climate change on poor and front-line communities. We stand in solidarity with all marginalized and oppressed members of our community in calling for accountability and justice for all, and we commit to engaging in critical self-reflection and active listening and dialogue with marginalized communities to learn how we can be part of the solution.

OCA Stands Opposed to the Keystone XL Pipeline

In solidarity with Indigenous communities, farmers and ranchers along the route, OCA is sending our protest banner to the Governors of Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska demanding they stop all pre-construction activity.

Background:

The movement against the Keystone XL Pipeline has successfully stopped the Trump Administration and TC Energy, aka TransCanada, from building this climate-destroying tar sands pipeline for years. But right now, amidst COVID-19, TC Energy is moving forward with plans to break ground on construction. While so many of us are sacrificing so much to protect our communities, TC Energy is planning to bring thousands of workers near Indigenous communities and rural towns that are already vulnerable to the spread of the coronavirus with little access to healthcare facilities. Such blatant disregard for public health and safety is sadly to be expected from a company who would build such a life-destroying pipeline in the first place. We must act now and come together to demand TC Energy halt any construction.

‘Cancel KXL’ petition

Promise to Protect

Hot Off the Wire — 6/19/2020

Flu Virus Resources

When Will Life Return to Normal?

–Visual Capitalist

The Growth of COVID-19 in the U.S., Organized by State Peak Date

How U.S. Consumers are Spending Differently During COVID-19

Visualizing the Occupations with the Highest COVID-19 Risk

Opinion

There Is No Climate Justice Without Racial Justice — Yes! Magazine

Can India chart a low-carbon future? The world might depend on it. — Yes!

It’s Time for a Black New Deal — Yes! Magazine

Solutions

REI’s Opt to Act Weekly Calendar / Checklist

Week 30: Check your tire pressure to ensure optimal gas mileage
Take part: June 21–27, 2020

**Run on Less** 2017 & 2019 Report — Rocky Mt. Institute

“What Wales is doing today, the world will do tomorrow.”—Nikhil Seth, UN Assistant Secretary General

The story of how one small nation responded to global climate issues by radically rethinking public policy for future generations

See a digital review copy of this new book at NetGalley

How can we achieve climate justice today? — Climate Alliance

Regional Actions

Washington Conservation Voters

Join Sightline for an online Q&A:
What coronavirus means for Northwest fossil fuel projects
Wednesday, June 24th, 2020Time | 10:00 – 11:00 am PT

National Actions

Climate Reality Leadership Corps: Global Training,
taking place over nine days from July 18-26, 2020
Register here for the training

Join the Poor People’s Campaign for the Mass Poor People’s Assembly and Moral March on Washington Digital Justice Gathering
Broadcast on June 20, 2020 at 7 AM PT & 3 PM PT and on
June 21 at 3 PM PT — 350.org

Click here to find an action near you this Juneteenth weekend. There are both in person and virtual actions you can join.
— Stop the Money Pipeline

We are at a crucial point in history for racial justice. There are no neutral actors here: Silence itself is a dangerous act.

Help protect the uncontacted peoples of the Amazon from COVID! — Stand.earth

Sign the petition: Tell Congress to stop Bill Barr and the Trump administration from spying on our internet browser and search history without a warrant!

Hold Big Polluters liable and make them pay

Local/Regional News

*Unceded Territories*, a painting by artist Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun. Image from Museum of Anthropology in University of British Columbia in British Columbia, Canada.

Indigenous Artists Use Technology to Tell Stories About Their Ancestral Lands

These five art projects explore the impacts of climate change using VR and other mediums — Yes! Magazine

Weekly Announcements

National/International News

Climate Change Tied to Pregnancy Risks,
Affecting Black Mothers Most

Women exposed to high temperatures or air pollution are more likely to have premature, underweight or stillborn babies, a look at 32 million U.S. births found.
–The New York Times

Celebrating Juneteenth
Museum’s Founding Director Lonnie Bunch III leads a tour through the Slavery and Freedom exhibition, Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture:
Freedom Calling: Interactive Tour with Founding Director Lonnie Bunch III

Chevron Is a Champion of Environmental Racism
— Amazon Watch

Can India chart a low-carbon future? The world might depend on it.
— The Washington Post

What’s Up with Banking and Climate

The Latest News

The environmental justice wake-up call
Also
So. Much. Cardboard.

Inspiration

This is a series I’m writing on climate change for our local monthly newspaper. I wanted to go back to the basics of the science behind climate change.

Category:
Burning Worlds

How can we achieve climate justice today?

From urban cities to rural towns, people are coming together in outrage to demonstrate that #BlackLivesMatter and call for the end of white supremacy culture and systematic racism. This is not a new struggle or fight. This is a response to centuries of oppression that has torn apart Black communities through slavery, police brutality, incarceration, economic disenfranchisement, redlining, wage theft, and environmental racism.

As an intersectional climate coalition, we know that we cannot achieve climate justice without racial and economic justice. We also recognize that we cannot fight the climate crisis without being anti-racist. Our society’s solutions must actively work to replace the current racist system with one that is just, equitable, and explicitly repairs past injustice.

Ways to take anti-racist action:

Over the last week, our coalition has found these articles helpful to understand the intersections of race and the climate crisis. We hope you will too:
- We Need You to Fight for Us to Breathe . By April Sims in The Stand
- I’m a Black Climate Expert. Racism Derails our Efforts to Save the Planet . By Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson in The Washington Post
- Black Environmentalists Talk About Climate and Anti-Racism . By Somini Sengupta, featuring Sam Grant, Robert D. Bullard, and Heather McGhee, in the The New York Times.
- Why Racial Justice is Climate Justice. By Claire Elise Thompson, featuring Adrien Salazar, Kerene Tayloe, Julian Brave NoiseCat, Mariah Gladstone, and Alvaro S. Sanchez, in Grist
- The climate crisis is racist. The answer is anti-racism. By Erik Holthaus, in The Correspondent

Learn about and support Black-led organizations at the forefront of this work

Donate what you can to the following bailout funds and organizations that are leading this work
- Black Visions Collective – A Black, trans and queer-led organization committed to dismantling systems of oppression and violence, and shifting public narrative to create transformative, long-term change
- Reclaim the Block – Minnesota coalition that advocates for and invests in community-led safety initatives in Minneapolis neighborhoods.
- Black Lives Matter Seattle Freedom Fund – The funds collected will go to the immediate release of people protesting the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Manuel Ellis in Seattle/King County.

We uplift the lifelong work of Black, Brown and Indigenous-led organizations calling for racial justice and the transformation of our neighborhoods into places where everyone can be safe, healthy, and can thrive. We remain committed to confronting and undoing structural racism, uplifting the voices and decision-making power of communities of color, black, and indigenous communities, and pushing for solutions that invest our communities most impacted by structural racism, pollution, and the climate crisis.

In Solidarity,

Lauren Breynaert

Coalition Director, Climate Alliance for Jobs and Clean Energy

Hot Off the Wire — 6/12/2020

Opinion

A Novel Approach to Climate Action at the State Level
By Cindy Jayne

An Expose of the Environmental Movement

It’s Time For a Black New Deal
Chris Winters | June 8, 2020

Solutions

REI’s Opt to Act Weekly Calendar / Checklist

Week 29: Add a book about an environmental issue to your summer reading list
Take part: June 14–20, 2020

Regional Actions

Statewide action called by Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County
— Climate Solutions

OCA Endorses The Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty
An initiative to phase-out fossil fuels and fast-track solutions

Climate change, like nuclear weapons, is a major global threat.
Bold and immediate action is needed to address the climate emergency.

The Planet Project podcast
Climate 2020 Podcasts

National Actions

Please join us on Wednesday, June 17 for a forum hosted by Chris Novaton of Sierra Club, in conversation with Sierra Club staff and partners about the intersectionality between the environmental and racial justice movements, and the mutual aid work happening to support Black communities. Join us and learn how you can help.

Today is World Oceans Day – Stand.earth

Local/Regional News

350 PNW Conversations call Last Monday — 350.org
What are our next steps?

Weekly Announcements

National/International News

The U’wa Community’s Nonviolent Resistance to COVID-19 and Attacks in Colombia — Amazon Watch

Launched:
Lawsuit Against Trump for Endangered Species

Beaver Lake Cree stand strong as Canada and Alberta attempt to derail tarsands legal challenge — briarpatch Magazine

Updates on Climate and Racial Justice

How Greta Thunberg Transformed Existential Dread Into a Movement — The New Yorker
By Emily Witt April 6, 2020

After a time, Greta Thunberg and her family decided that freaking out was the only rational response, not only to climate change but to modern life.

Stop the Money Pipeline supports the demand to defund the police

How to Avoid Mediocre Leadership in Trying Times — Visual Capitalist

On Spotify

On Blubrry

What’s Up with Banking and Climate

The Latest News

Mountains of medical waste

Masks found on a beach in Hong Kong in May. Environmentalists say they’ve been washing up in increasing quantities. Anthony Wallace/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

What’s Wrong with Financial Equity?

The Wealth Inequality Problem in One Chart

The Global Inequality Gap, and How It’s Changed Over 200 Years

The Racial Wealth Gap in America: Asset Types Held by Race

Inspiration

This is a series I’m writing on climate change for our local monthly newspaper. I wanted to go back to the basics of the science behind climate change.

Category:
Burning Worlds

Stop the Money Pipeline supports the demand to defund the police

For years, the Movement for Black Lives has demanded investments in the education, health and safety of Black communities, instead of in institutions that criminalize, cage and harm Black people.

Stop the Money Pipeline supports the demand to defund the police, and invest instead in Black communities.

Cities across the United States spend a mind-boggling portion of their budgets on policing. In many cities one in three tax-payer dollars is spent on policing. Minneapolis policing accounts for 35.8% of the city budget; in Oakland it’s over 40%. In some cities, like LA, police account for half of the city budget.

When we talk about defunding the police, the question isn’t just if we should be funding the police at the current levels. The question is also about what we as a city, county, state and nation should be spending our money on.

Few documents say more about who we are than our budgets. Budgets are a concrete expression of our values and our priorities. Every dollar we spend funding the police is a dollar not spent on mental health programs, social workers, rehabilitation programs, community empowerment programs, education, the arts, and local Green New Deal programs.

These are the same types of questions that calls for divesting from fossil fuels are concerned with — it’s not only what shouldn’t we do, it’s also what we could do instead. That’s why Stop the Money Pipeline strongly supports the call to defund the police. Here are 3 things you can do right now to support the call to defund police: Sign this Black Lives Matter petition demanding the defunding of police Sign up for updates at Defending Black Lives Donate to the Movement for Black Lives. If you’ve been inspired by the wave of uprisings sweeping the world and want to keep the momentum for defunding the police moving, the next step is signing up to join Six Nineteen, a series of actions across the country starting June 19th and continuing throughout Juneteenth weekend.

Want to learn more about defunding the police? You can read more at the Movement for Black Lives and Black Lives Matter, as well as in these pieces in Newsweek, The New York Times, The Nation, The Atlantic, and Rolling Stone.

Want to learn more about the connection between defunding the police and climate justice? Mary Annaïse Heglar published a piece this morning about why “We Don’t Have To Halt Climate Action To Fight Racism.” Ayana Elizabeth Johnson explains how racism derails our efforts to save the planet. Here is a piece in Common Dreams that Stop the Money Pipeline ran on why climate activists should support the demand to defund the police. Finally, here is a great resource from one of our partners, 350.org: What we must do to dismantle white supremacy.

There are already a string of initial wins during the uprisings: The Minneapolis school board is terminating contracts with the police. LA is cutting up to $150 million from the LAPD budget and investing that money in communities of color instead. A majority of the Minneapolis City Council has pledged to disband the Minneapolis Police Department and replace it with a new model of public safety. In Atlanta, county commissioners have denied a proposal for a $23 million expansion of Fulton County jail in Atlanta. Confederate statues have come down in at least 7 cities, and as the antiracist uprising goes global, statues of slave traders in the UK are going the same way.

Climate justice is about far more than reducing emissions. It is about building a fairer and more just world. It’s about following the leadership of those that are most impacted by injustice. At Stop the Money Pipeline, we believe that can start by getting behind the demand to defund the police.

Climate justice is also about accountability ― and we need to take some accountability. In our last email, we perpetuated a behavior that upholds white supremacy and harms people of color: We misspelled Ahmaud Arbery’s name. We apologize and deeply regret this mistake. We recognize that misspellings and mispronunciations are common microaggressions, often perpetuated by white people, that harm Black people, Indigenous people, and People of Color. As we all continue to learn the hard work of dismantling white supremacy in ourselves and in our broader society, we would like to share this article about how misspelling and mispronouncing the names of People of Color is a harmful act that upholds white supremacy.

We’ll have more soon — especially about next weekend’s Juneteenth actions.

Stop the Money Pipeline

OCA Endorses the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty

THE FOSSIL FUEL
NON-PROLIFERATION TREATY

An initiative to phase-out fossil fuels and fast-track solutions

Climate change, like nuclear weapons, is a major global threat.

Bold and immediate action is needed to address the climate emergency.

The main cause of the climate emergency is fossil fuels.
Coal, oil and gas are responsible for almost 80% of all carbon dioxide emissions
since the industrial revolution.

Phasing-out fossil fuel production,
and fast-tracking progress towards safer and more cost-effective solutions,
will require unprecedented international cooperation in three main areas.

What are our next steps toward BLM?

How about that amazing special edition 350 PNW Conversations call on Monday?!

We had 22 folks from 12 local groups across our region gather together to reflect, listen, and engage in conversation around the powerful recent message “In Defense of Black Lives” from Black leadership at 350.org to all of us organizing for climate justice at local groups in the US. Thank you to everyone who showed up to share in this conversation together with empathy, insight, and care.

I encourage each of you to watch the webinar message so that you, too, can engage in this ongoing conversation about what it looks like at the local group level to respond in a good way to Black leadership within our organization.

Meeting Notes + Slides w/Resources

Three key reflections are worth sharing here:

The importance of following Black leadership at this moment in our support of the movement for Black lives, including at the local, regional, and national levels.
Our key role as local group organizers in educating our groups and our bases to help our communities make strong connections between climate justice and racial justice, and to provide ongoing support and education around topics that may feel challenging to some, such as defunding the police or conversations around “looting”.
We have broad regional alignment and shared values around showing up as climate organizers right now in support of Black lives in a good way.

You can find fantastic notes from the call above, (thank you to Emily from 350 Spokane for stepping in as note taker while I have limited hand function!!) and I’m also going to pull all of our resources together right here for folks to make it that much easier to engage with this ongoing conversation.

Resources for Next Steps

“What we must do to dismantle white supremacy” (article) – Rell Brown and Natalia Cardona of 350.org
- This article contains many powerful resources for each of us as we engage in this work, including how to respond to the phrase “riots never solve anything”, and resources for deepening your anti-racist work for white people and parents
Defending Black Lives (new short video) featuring Dominique Thomas, 350.org Mid-Atlantic Regional Organizer
- A video share pack to help you share it as widely as possible with your own members and broader community.
In Defense of Black Lives (video)
- Toolkit for Amplifying asks from “In Defense of Black Lives” to your membership and base
- Ally Pledge “In Defense of Black Lives” to sign and share with others at your local group and in your community.
- Bail Funds: https://bit.ly/350bailfunds (all donations go directly to bail funds)
- Here’s a piece by Bill McKibben in the New Yorker that links to the webinar and provides additional context.
Racial Justice – Climate Justice Arts Toolkit from David Solnit
The Movement for Black Lives (350.org has aligned with this org)
- M4bl week of Action (ideas + options for organizers to engage)
- Making Meaning of This Moment webinar (essential for understanding this movement)
Why caring about the climate crisis means supporting the demand to defund the police. (article) – Alec Connon, 350 Seattle, Stop The Money Pipeline
A FAQ on Building a Police-Free Future from the Black Visions Collective that can be useful to share with friends/ family new to thinking about defunding and abolishing police.

Updates on Climate and Racial Justice

Crowds of protestors have taken to the streets in major cities and towns of all sizes in the United States and around the world, decrying the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade and many others, and to demand an end to police violence against black people. Last week the Movement for Black Lives held a week of action demanding defunding the police, investing in community-led efforts to reclaim the future, additional COVID-19 relief, an end to the war against Black people, and protection for protestors. Read an explanation of those demands here and here.

As you are able, consider showing up to support publicly announced demonstrations in your community, or support the cause using resources like this one from Sunrise Movement, or this “Beyond the Streets” guide.

More than 230 climate and environment groups, including The Climate Mobilization, signed on to a letter of support for the week of action from the Movement for Black Lives.

This month’s protests have shined a light on the failures of many environmental organizations to support racial justice, as well as the connections between racism and environmental injustice.

We are keenly aware that the emergency-speed Climate Mobilization we need in order to restore a safe climate and end the sixth mass extinction of species cannot happen unless systemic racism and racialized violence are stopped. Here is a climate scientist’s take on the connection between racial justice and the Climate Emergency, and an explanation of why reallocating police funding to community programs is good climate policy.

Climate Emergency Movement
Congratulations to Elgin, IL, which passed a declaration of Climate Emergency on May 24. Total worldwide declarations have reached 1508 within 29 countries. There are 96 declarations of Climate Emergency in the United States, across 24 states.

May of 2020 was the hottest May on record, with 2020 on track to be one of the top 10 hottest years in history.

COVID-19 and stimulus funding propping up fossil fuel
According to new research by Bloomberg Energy Finance, $509 billion worth of stimulus funding worldwide is going to prop up the fossil fuel economy with no climate-related conditions. $18.5 billion is going directly to high-carbon industries with decarbonization requirements attached, while only $12.3 billion worldwide is going to supporting low-carbon industries like renewable energy.

In an article in The Guardian, Diplomat and climate leader Christiana Figueras recently discussed the potential to use the COVID-19 bailouts to spur the transition to a low carbon future.

In solidarity,
The Climate Mobilization team

An Expose of the Environmental Movement

It is empowering to see how many people in Washington state are taking time in this moment to stand up for racial justice. Many of you have reached out to ask how the environmental community can show up right now and what our role is in the fight against institutional racism. At WCV, we believe showing up requires accountability to ourselves and each other. And that starts with knowing the history of the environmental movement, and how it often ignored and was outright harmful to Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities.

The largest environmental organizations in the US, including WCV, have historically been, and largely continue to be, led and funded by white environmentalists. White-led organizations advocated for issues in white communities, where environmental benefits were felt by and centered on them. The environmental movement has and often continues to perpetuate ideas of white dominant culture and institutional racism, leading to a mainstream movement that has sought to preserve the natural world exclusively with white communities in mind. But that does not need to be our future. To be clear, Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities have always cared about and celebrated our environment. But these same communities also bear the largest burden of toxic pollution and environmental degradation.

Census data and science tell us that, more than income or geography, race is still the number one indicator of whether a person will live near contaminated air, water, and soil. Washington is no stranger to these disparities. People living in South Seattle’s much more racially diverse neighborhoods of South Park, Georgetown, and Beacon Hill have a life expectancy that is eight years less than their whiter and wealthier neighbors in North Seattle. That is significantly linked to these neighborhoods’ proximity to large industrial polluters and highways that contaminate the air and water [1].

In the lower Yakima Valley, farm workers and local communities have been exposed to inordinately high risks from pesticides and chemical groundwater contamination [2]. This area, home to Washington’s largest Latino population, has experienced grave health impacts from overexposure to chemicals and has even seen anomalies like “blue baby syndrome” [3] that are linked to nitrates in drinking water.

Because Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities have been excluded or marginalized from the conversation and by failing to help dismantle the racist systems around us, today’s historically and currently white-led organizations will continue upholding these systems, perpetuating environmental injustices. We can, and must, do better.

The exploitative mindset that underlies white supremacy and continues to harm Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities, is the same one driving depletion for profit, reckless drilling for fossil fuels, and irresponsible pollution of our waters. White supremacy champions dominion over nature, positions people as apart from the ecosystems we live in, divides us into groups with competing priorities, and leads to the disproportionate harm and death of Black, Brown, and Indigenous people and people of color.

As we work to address our biggest environmental crises, our solutions must confront white supremacy and institutional racism. This means the policies we advocate must:

Work toward dismantling structural inequities,
Raise and act in solidarity with partners that represent communities of color in policy and decision-making,
And work with those communities most impacted to find solutions that provide an alternative to an economy built on extractive and unsustainable activities.

Without these principles, we cannot achieve our mission of protecting, restoring, and sustaining Washington’s environment for all. We are so proud to have you with us in this work. And we will continue to grow together to be better partners and allies in the fight for racial justice.

Over the last week our staff found these stories helpful to understand the intersections of race and the environment. We hope you’ll read these pieces with us:

I’m a Black Climate Expert. Racism Derails our Efforts to Save the Planet. By Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson in The Washington Post.
Black Environmentalists Talk About Climate and Anti-Racism. By Somini Sengupta, featuring Sam Grant, Robert D. Bullard, and Heather McGhee, in the The New York Times.
Why Racial Justice is Climate Justice. By Claire Elise Thompson, featuring Adrien Salazar, Kerene Tayloe, Julian Brave NoiseCat, Mariah Gladstone, and Alvaro S. Sanchez, in Grist.
We Need You to Fight for Us to Breathe. By April Sims in The Stand.

Thank you for all you do,

Washington Conservation Voters

Sources
[1] KOMO “Study: Duwamish residents have short life expectancy”
[2] Farmworker Justice “Exposed and Ignored: How pesticides are endangering our nation’s farmworkers”
[3] Yakima Herald “Crusade for clean water in the Lower Valley”

Large-size Cardboard Resource

I have two boxes once used to ship aluminum fencing.

Four or more large pieces, as large as 4 feet x 6 feet are available for:

Signs
Posters
Table-top backgrounds
Score them to accordion-fold

Paint them for impact,
cut them into shapes.

Use your imagination

Thursday, June 11, 2020

I will update availability as the cardboard is dispensed.

Arrange to get as much as you need:

Michael Clemens
iMichael14@Yahoo.com

A Novel Approach to Climate Action at the State Level

By Cindy Jayne

An effort is afoot to bring an ancient Athenian democratic process to Washington State – a Citizen’s Assembly, where a representative group of randomly chosen Washington State residents would come together to make recommendations on how the state could address climate change.

Citizen Assemblies have been happening all across the world to address a variety of issues, and they have been successful in making progress on challenging issues such as climate change. For example, they were used by our British Columbia neighbors to craft a new electoral process.

In Washington State, a “Climate Assembly” would be an independently run, non-partisan direct democracy process that would bring together roughly 100 residents of Washington, selected by lottery, who demographically mirror the state in age, race, education, and other demographic indicators. Over the course of several weekends, the Assembly members would come together online to develop connections, learn from science and policy experts, deliberate on paths forward, and most importantly recommend policies to lawmakers. The recommendations would be provided to our State Legislators to inform climate law and policy.

Because of the inclusive nature of Citizen’s Assemblies, the participants would reflect all Washington residents as well as elevate the voices of under-heard constituents, bringing together the diversity of viewpoints on climate in the state.

A group of volunteers from Climate Assembly Washington have begun talking with Washington State legislators about this, and support is building. State Representatives Jake Fey (D-27), Joe Fitzgibbon (D-34), Zack Hudgins (D-11), Steve Kirby (D-29), and Cindy Ryu Nam (D-32) have called for a Citizen’s Assembly on Climate to be held online over the summer in Washington State.

This could be the first Climate Assembly to be held in the USA (discussions are also under way in New York State). Similar Assemblies are concluding online now in France and the UK, and reflect a long history of deliberative democracy methods used to raise the level of discourse on divisive and challenging issues. The Legislators are eager for any method that supplements their work and raises the voices of under heard constituents. Representative Steve Kirby says, “The Washington Climate Assembly is a great idea for bringing a diverse group of people safely together, to learn, collaborate, and make a difference for all of us in the midst of a crisis. I look forward to seeing their recommendations.”

Want to learn more? Go to https://www.climateassembly.us to learn more about Citizen’s Assemblies on Climate, and consider sharing your views on this deliberative democracy method with your legislators.

Cindy Jayne leads the Local 20/20 Climate Preparedness Action Group and is a member of the Local 20/20 Steering Council.

Hot Off the Wire — 6/05/2020

On Social Justice

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the N.B.A.’s all-time leading scorer, is the author of 16 books.

“Yes, protests often are used as an excuse for some to take advantage, just as when fans celebrating a hometown sports team championship burn cars and destroy storefronts. I don’t want to see stores looted or even buildings burn. But African Americans have been living in a burning building for many years, choking on the smoke as the flames burn closer and closer. Racism in America is like dust in the air. It seems invisible — even if you’re choking on it — until you let the sun in. Then you see it’s everywhere. As long as we keep shining that light, we have a chance of cleaning it wherever it lands. But we have to stay vigilant, because it’s always still in the air.

“So, maybe the black community’s main concern right now isn’t whether protesters are standing three or six feet apart or whether a few desperate souls steal some T-shirts or even set a police station on fire, but whether their sons, husbands, brothers and fathers will be murdered by cops or wannabe cops just for going on a walk, a jog, a drive. Or whether being black means sheltering at home for the rest of their lives because the racism virus infecting the country is more deadly than COVID-19.”

Los Angeles Times and the Bleacher Report

To my fellow elderly protestors — DemocracyNow! video
Watch from minute 7:21

Welcome to Buffalo, NY

Prosecutor: 2 Buffalo police charged with assault in shoving — PBS

Will you join us this Thursday to learn what actions you can take individually and collectively to defend the lives of Black people and work to dismantle systemic racism? — 350.org

Contact Congress TODAY to stop police departments from buying weapons of war

Flu Virus Resources

Experiment shows human speech generates droplets that linger in the air for more than 8 minutes — Washington Post

What’s the Risk of Catching Coronavirus From a Surface?
Touching contaminated objects and then infecting ourselves with the germs is not typically how the virus spreads. But it can happen. — New York Times

Trump Death Clock: Creator Eugene Jarecki Says “Reckless Mishandling” of COVID-19 Must Be Quantified — DemocracyNow! interview

The essential coronavirus FAQ — PBS

Opinion

The climate crisis is racist.
The answer is anti-racism
–The Correspondent.com

Commentary: Citizens assembly would seek consensus on climate — HeraldNet
State legislators want to call on residents to gather,
learn and craft solutions to climate change.

Stacey Abrams:
I Know Voting Feels Inadequate Right Now
Just hear me out
— New York Times

What a difference nine days make

Solutions

REI’s Opt to Act Weekly Calendar / Checklist

Week 28: Find a way to do without one item on your shopping list.
Take part: June 7–13, 2020

How to Feed Ourselves in a Time of Climate Crisis
Here are 13 of the best ideas for a just and sustainable food system,
from saving seeds to curbing food waste. — Yes! Magazine

How Fast is Your Broadband? Take the test & see…
Clallam County is in the midst of a Broadband Feasibility Study along with our Team Partners – the Cities of Forks, Port Angeles and Sequim, the Port of Port Angeles, the Clallam County Public Utility District and the North Olympic Development Council. In order to succeed, we need to be able to document current internet speeds from every part the county.
We are focusing on ways to enhance and expand broadband access to the Internet throughout Clallam County. An important part of this study is use of the State Broadband Speed Test. You can help shape the future of broadband in Clallam County by participating. The documented results will be a vital component of the planning and feasibility study.
Please encourage others to participate. The more residents and businesses that participate in the speed test, the more accurate the results. Please take the speed test today!
Link to Speed Test: wabroadband.speedtestcustom.com

Regional Actions

Election 2020 Webinar:
Evergreen Future Grassroots Action
June 10 6:00 PM – 7:15 PM

Public · Hosted by Washington Conservation Voters
Evergreen Future Platform website

In Defense of Black Lives:
Solidarity and Amplification Toolkit for 350.org Local Groups

Raven Trust needs our help with the Trans Mountain Pipeline suit

Clean Tech in a COVID World and

What we must do to dismantle white supremacy
There is no just recovery for climate, without addressing the systemic extraction, harm and violence towards Black communities.

Jordan Cove LNG Terminal
Our legal team has what it takes to stop this project–we have defeated it twice before!

Contact the UTC today and tell them to strengthen the 100% clean electricity law
— Washington Conservation Voters

Interfaith Earth Care Coalition Meeting | Tues. June 9, 4-5 pm
Join Zoom Meeting – https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88462550106
Meeting ID: 884 6255 0106
One tap mobile
+12532158782,,88462550106# US (Tacoma)
+13462487799,,88462550106# US (Houston)

National Actions

Take Action: Stop Amazon from helping cops spy on protesters
— Fight for the Future

Organizer Bill McKibben, leader, activist, scientist will speak online | June 6
A Crisis Inside a Crisis:
What Covid Might Teach Us About Dealing With Climate

Tell Liberty Mutual CEO David Long that the time to dump Fox is NOW
— Greenpeace

Local/Regional News

For more information contact the North Olympic Peninsula Broadband Leader, Krestine Reed, at PNBVoices@gmail.com

Dana Lyons Concert | Sunday, June 14, 2020 at 4:00 PM – 4:30 PM PDT

Weekly Announcements

National/International News

Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences
of the United States of America

Research Article
Vertebrates on the brink as indicators of biological annihilation
and the sixth mass extinction
—————-
Mass Extinctions Are Accelerating, Scientists Report — Seattle Times
The Extinction Crisis Is Accelerating — HuffPost
Earth’s carbon dioxide levels hit record high,
despite coronavirus-related emissions drop — Washington Post

Racism is an inescapable reality in the United States
Science is not immune

World health leaders urge green recovery from coronavirus crisis
Open letter to G20 leaders says addressing climate breakdown key to global revival — The Guardian

Growing Climate Solutions Act set to be introduced in U.S. Senate
— Indiana U.S. Senator Mike Braun

Humans Are Only As Bad As The Systems We Build — NY Public Radio
This is a segment from our June 5, 2020 program, No Justice, No Peace

Stop the Money Pipeline fully supports the demands from the Movement for Black Lives and #BlackLivesMatter

What’s Up with Banking and Climate

The Latest News

Black Environmentalists Talk About Climate
and Anti-Racism
It’s impossible to live sustainably
without tackling inequality, activists say.

Monday June 8th – World Oceans Day – we’re organizing the first-ever international online rally to demand an end to cruise ship pollution
— Stand.earth

Inspiration

How I’m Trying to Not Be Miserable About the Planet
A weeklyish commentary about climateish stuff, and how to keep it together in a world gone mad.

David Frum Rethinks Conservatism
by Joe Klein | New York Times
TRUMPOCALYPSE
Restoring American Democracy
By David Frum

This is a series I’m writing on climate change for our local monthly newspaper. I wanted to go back to the basics of the science behind climate change.

Category:
Burning Worlds

Stop the Money Pipeline supports minority protests

June 5, 2020 medical worker Breonna Taylor should have been celebrating her twenty-seventh birthday. But on March 13th, police used a battering ram to enter her apartment and murdered her in her bed, shooting her eight times.

Anyone who has read about the cold-blooded murder of Breonna Taylor or watched the footage of a white police officer murdering George Floyd or Ahmaud Arbaury being hunted by white supremacisists should understand the fury that is erupting across this country at the systemic devaluation of Black lives. But we need to do much more than simply understand it. We need to figure out what we can actually do to help dismantle white supremacy.

This starts by following the leadership of the Black community, and supporting their demands for change. That is why Stop the Money Pipeline fully supports the demands from the Movement for Black Lives and #BlackLivesMatter.

Climate justice is about far more than reducing emissions. It is about building a fairer and more just world. It’s about following the leadership of those that are most impacted by injustice. And right now, those of us in the climate movement have an opportunity to do just that by showing up in every way we can for Black Lives. That’s why we are getting fully behind the demands coming from the Movement for Black Lives.

We support the demand to defund the police. Just as we need to stop the flow of money from Wall Street to the fossil fuel industry, we need to stop the flow of money from governments to heavily militarized police forces that kill over 1,000 people a year, and are guilty of systemic racism and the terrorizing of Black communities. Please join #BlackLivesMatter in supporting the demand to defund the police by signing this petition. You can learn more about why we need to defund the police here and here and here and here.

We support investments in Black communities. Black communities have been systemically underfunded, redlined, and cut off from so many of the advantages afforded white communities. We need to support reinvestment in Black communities and in Black-led community groups. We can do that by demanding investment in Black communities, and by donating our own money to Black-led community groups and organizations:

We support an end to the war on Black people. The Movement for Black Lives demands for an end to the mass incarceration, killing and criminalization of Black people. Young Black men are twenty-one times more likely to be killed by police than their white counterparts. Black people are five times more likely to be incarcerated than white people. This must end.

We support the demand for reparations. We support the demand for reparations to Black communities and we support reparations and land repatriation to Indigenous Nations. The government and corporations responsible for centuries of harm inflicted on Black communities and Native nations must seek to atone for the harm they have done. That means reparations. That means land repatriation.

We support the demand for economic justice. We must radically rework our economy, our tax system and support the right for all workers to organize. We support the reinstatement of the Glass-Steagall Act to break-up the big banks power, and we support the development of community banks and credit unions.

We support the demand for Black community control. We support participatory budgeting at the local, state and national level. We support an end to the privatization of education, and giving political power to local communities.

We support the demand for Black political power and Black self-determination. We need to end corporate money in politics, and publicly finance elections. We must end the criminalization of Black political activity, and free all political prisoners. We need to protect and increase investments in those institutions that support Black political power and self-determination, such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and Black media, cultural, political and social institutions.

These are the demands that are coming from the Movement for Black Lives and from Black Lives Matter. Stop the Money Pipeline, as a coalition committed to challenging the power of the fossil fuel industry and Wall Street, fully supports these demands. Right now, we are discussing internally about how we can do more to amplify and support the leadership of Black-led organizations to turn these demands in reality. We hope that you will do all that you can in service to Black leadership too.

We also hope that you will commit to following, amplifying and supporting the Movement for Black Lives on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

And we hope that you will commit to doing all you can to follow Black leadership in your local communities, supporting their demands in ways that are welcomed, collaborative and respectful.

Stop the Money Pipeline

Science is Not Immune to to Racism

The protests that are sweeping the country are a direct response to the fact that racism is an inescapable reality in the United States. That these protests are happening right now, in the midst of a pandemic that places the protesters at risk from congregating, speaks to how deep the injustice is, and how urgent the need for change. The legacy of white supremacy continues to harm those of us who are Black, Indigenous, Latinx, or members of other racially marginalized groups.

And despite having a veneer of objectivity and impartiality, science is not immune.

Science is a powerful tool for solving problems and making people’s lives better. But it has been used to do harm and obstruct progress as well.

Most people have heard of the infamous example of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. In this 40-year study, Black men with syphilis were left untreated, without their informed consent and despite the availability of effective therapies, so that researchers could study the progress of the disease. This is but one example of how science has been used to justify white, European conquest for centuries and continues to this day.

Today’s protests aren’t just about the nine minutes that ex-Officer Chauvin had his knee on George Floyd’s neck ultimately leading to his death. They are about the thousands of other unarmed Black men, women, and children who have been needlessly killed by police or others with impunity. They’re about the 40 years of treating hundreds of Black men as guinea pigs in the name of science. And they’re about the 400-year old legacy of slavery and inequality in this country, which manifests itself in institutional and systemic racism in all aspects of modern life from access to housing, health care, food, economic opportunity, and beyond.

As an organization that works for a healthy planet and a safer world, we must address the reality that health and safety are enjoyed unequally across racial lines in our country. Ending these inequities must be an integral part of our mission and our daily work. And a commitment to facing facts means we must be willing to talk about racism explicitly, listen to those who’ve been hurt by it, take counsel from and show up as allies for those who are leading the fight against it, and confront it both in the world we seek to change and in our own institution, assumptions, and actions.

We stand in solidarity with the protesters and urge our supporters to do the same. We also recognize the additional risks protesters are incurring in the midst of a pandemic, and we strongly encourage all to protect their own health and the health of their loved ones at home by maintaining a safe distance from one another and wearing masks and gloves at all times, so that this important act of protest does not result in more sickness and death from the virus.

If you haven’t already, seek out and support local organizers and organizations in your community who are doing critical work on racial equity, environmental justice, voting access, and more. Not sure where to start? Here are some groups that can be a launching point:

As an organization, we are also continuously working to advance our own internal racial equity as an integral part of working to achieve our mission. We acknowledge that our progress is slow and that we have more work to do, even within our own organization. Below are some resources that some of our staff have found useful.

You can also explore how bias plays out in your own life, as it does with all of us, by taking this test on implicit bias designed by a cross-disciplinary group of researchers.

If you identify as white and haven’t yet explored issues of privilege, we suggest the podcast series Seeing White from the Center on Documentary Studies at Duke University, or watch this video series on systemic racism from our colleagues at Race Forward.

Sincerely,

Katy Love
Online Engagement Manager
Union of Concerned Scientists

Hot Off the Wire — 5/28/2020

Breaking News!

$170K grant will facilitate climate planning
on the North Olympic Peninsula

Flu Virus Resources

HURRICANE SEASON IN A PANDEMIC

For many regions facing an active 2020 hurricane season, COVID-19 has created the potential for a double disaster. As state and local governments draft emergency plans, uncertainty lingers.
— The Atlantic

Solutions

REI’s Opt to Act Weekly Calendar / Checklist

Week 27: Volunteer for a trail cleanup to celebrate National Trails Day.
Take part: May 31–June 6, 2020

Redox flow batteries store renewable energy in liquid solutions when it’s abundant and release electricity when needed. (USC Graphic/K Selnick)

New flow battery could help unleash renewable energy

USC scientists may have solved the storage problem that has long slowed the spread of renewables. — USC News

Join me on Thursday, May 28, for our next Saving Life on Earth discussion about our work to shift the way we eat toward Earth-friendly diets

Tierra Curry
Senior Scientist
Center for Biological Diversity

Regional Actions

National Actions

Will you join us in starting a global conversation about the relationship between COVID-19 and the climate crisis?
Take the Pledge

YOU’RE INVITED: Join us on June 8th – World Oceans Day – for the first-ever international online rally against cruise ship pollution — Stand.earth

On Thursday, May 28th at 4 pm PDT, join a lively and deep discussion about the Tar Sands Trial. Learn about the pending appeal hearing — June 4, 2020

Tell the Senate to pass the Heroes Act — 350Action

Local/Regional News

Four area Tribes are “still in” for climate action

High wildfire severity risk seen in young plantation forests — Oregon State University

Weekly Announcements

National/International News

“Stay Alive, Stay at Home, Organize”: Rev. Barber Sets June 20 for Poor People’s Digital March on DC — DemocracyNow! interview
June 2020 – Mass Poor People’s Assembly & Moral March on Washington
The Poor People’s Campaign – A National Call for Moral Revival

U.S. Representatives push for millions of restoration and resilience jobs — ConservationNWAdmin / May 20, 2020 / Legislation
Washington’s seven Democratic U.S. Representatives were among 79 Members of Congress who submitted a letter today to House leadership in support of funding for conservation projects that also provide good jobs.

What’s Up with Banking and Climate

The Latest News

Vandana Shiva: Everything I Need to Know I Learned in the Forest

We need to value nature’s biodiversity, clean water, and seeds. For this, nature is the best teacher. — Yes! Magazine

Climate Change burns its way up the pop charts

Both conservatives and liberals want a green energy future, but for different reasons — The Conversation

Inspiration

This is a series I’m writing on climate change for our local monthly newspaper. I wanted to go back to the basics of the science behind climate change.

Category:
Burning Worlds

INTERVIEW WITH ARTIST
COLIN FOORD
with
Amy Brady
of Burning Worlds

4 area Tribes are “still in” for climate action

The Jamestown, Hoh, Quinault, and Suquamish Tribes are among 12 Tribes nationwide that have signed on to the We Are Still In declaration, a coalition of cities, states, tribes, businesses, universities, healthcare organizations, and faith groups who strongly oppose the US withdrawal from Paris and are not going to take a retreat from the global response to the climate crisis lying down. Kudos! (But where are the Cities and Counties and businesses?)

The Affiliated Tribes of the Pacific Northwest (ATNI) have had a Climate Change Project since 2014 and will host a virtual National Tribal Climate Leadership Summit in October.

$170K grant will facilitate climate planning on the NOP

Once again, partnerships pay off: The Puget Sound Partnership, along with its local stakeholders’ group known as the Strait Ecosystem Recovery Network, have awarded $170,000 to the North Olympic Development Council (a local coalition of governments, businesses, NGOs, and citizens) to develop multi-benefit local climate action plans that integrate with local governmental comprehensive and shoreline master plans, as well as other local recovery plans. This project builds upon a previous grant project that developed the Climate Change Preparedness Plan for the North Olympic Peninsula. Olympic Climate Action assisted with the application and will assist in the implementation as well, just as we did with the Climate Preparedness Plan.

Hot Off the Wire — 5/23/2020

Flu Virus Resources

Will you take the COVID/Climate
Video Challenge?
Join us in starting a global conversation about the relationship between COVID-19 and the climate crisis

Opinion

Health of People, Health of Planet and Our Responsibility
Climate Change, Air Pollution and Health

by Wael K. Al-Delaimy, Veerabhadran Ramanathan, Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo

Available for free download as PDF or EPUB file at:
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-31125-4

Solutions

REI’s Opt to Act Weekly Calendar / Checklist

Week 26: Ditch the chemicals. Warm water, vinegar and elbow grease make a great household cleaner.
Take part: May 24–30, 2020

The Interfaith Earth Care Coalition

It’s estimated that reducing food waste by 50%, Washington would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 1.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of 345,000 passenger vehicles taken of roads and more than 184,000 gallons of gas never burned.
https://ecology.wa.gov/Waste-Toxics/Reducing-recycling-waste/Organic-materials/Food-waste-prevention/Food-waste-plan

Home composting can help. It can make us mindful of what goes in and out of your refrigerator, making us better stewards of the food we buy and consume.
Mitigation: Does home composting create CO2? Some. (All decomposing organic matter does). But much less than sending food to the landfill where it gets buried and produces methane. And less than the production and transportation of commercial fertilizers.

Boxes, Buckets and Barrels, oh my! There are myriad ways to create a composter, from a simple heap to ingenious containers, no cost and low cost: https://www.diyncrafts.com/33618/home/gardening/35-cheap-easy-diy-compost-bins-can-build-weekend

Mind Your Green and Browns: Creating the right blend of carbon and nitrogen rich materials, along with oxygen and water, will get your compost “percolating”. https://www.wideopeneats.com/inclusive-guide-home-composting/
Interfaith Earth Care Coalition

Social Community is a virtual live series focused on discussions, hangouts, and webinars led by youth leaders and adult allies across the country

Change Everything is a podcast by people who are freaking out about climate, racism, and inequality… and thinking through solutions as big as the crises we face

Regional Actions

Understanding Energy with Dam Sense — DamSense.org
Thursday, May 28, 2020 at 5:00 – 6:15p.m.
Space is limited, so please register https://buytickets.at/damsense/374621
Presentation: 40 minutes | Q&A: 30 minutes

The Audubon Washingotn Advocacy Manual and a complete series of webinars

National Actions

Leadership Webinar on National Climate Bills | 350.org
URGENT: FEDERAL CLIMATE BILLS & STRATEGY
Date & Time: Wed. July 1, 2020. Noon-1:30 pm.
Zoom Register. FB Event.

Sierra Forum | The Sierra Club
Watch the Video of the M a y Forum

Local/Regional News

Weekly Announcements

Special Edition: Even More reasons to Grow Your Own Food

National/International News

6th Annual #AntiChevron Day

@Chevron deliberately dumped 16 billion gallons of toxic oil waste into the Ecuadorian Amazon, lost a $9.5 billion lawsuit yet refuses to pay to clean it up!

What’s Up with Banking and Climate

The Latest News

Your ZIP Code and Your Life Expectancy

Also this week, what electricity demand reveals about the pandemic

Inspiration

This is a series I’m writing on climate change for our local monthly newspaper. I wanted to go back to the basics of the science behind climate change.

Category:
Burning Worlds

350 Leadership Webinar – July 1, 2020

URGENT: FEDERAL CLIMATE BILLS & STRATEGY
Date & Time: Wed. July 1, 2020. Noon-1:30 pm.
Zoom Register. FB Event.

TOPICS:
★ Federal Climate Bills: What’s Good & What’s Missing?
★ Movement Action for National Legislation.
★ Organizing for Power: A “Climate Bill Package”?

PRESENTERS:
★ Todd Fernandez, Executive & Legislative Director, Climate Crisis Policy
★ Jake Davis, Senior Policy Director, Family Farm Action
★ Etelle Higonnet, Senior Campaign Director, Mighty Earth
★ Delia Ridge Creamer, Junior Oceans Campaigner, Center for Biological Diversity
★ Andres Jimenez, Senior Director of Government Affairs, Citizens Climate Lobby
★ Karenna Gore, Director, Center for Earth Ethics
★ Michael Gerrard, Director, Columbia Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
★ Chad Frischmann, Vice President & Research Director, Project Drawdown
★ Others TBA

CO-HOSTS:
★ Climate Crisis Policy
★ Columbia University Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
★ Columbia University Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education & Policy, Program in Nutrition
★ Center for Earth Ethics
★ Family Farm Action
★ Drawdown New York City
★ 350NYC
★ Action Corps NYC
★ The Climate Reality Project NYC
★ Mighty Earth
★ Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economic Community
★ Sierra Club New York City Group
★ Others TBA & Welcome!

FEDERAL CLIMATE BILLS:For Discussion Only, April 2020
1. Agriculture Resilience Act
2. The Climate Stewardship Act
3. The Food & Agribusiness Merger Moratorium Act
4. American Innovation & Manufacturing Act
5. The Break Free from Plastics Pollution Act
6. The Climate Leadership and Environmental Action for Our Nation’s Future Act
7. The American Energy Innovation Act
8. The Ban Fracking Act
9. The Carbon Action Rebate Act
10. The Farm System Reform Act

MATERIALS:
1. Detailed Summary of Bills.
2. Project Drawdown: 100 Solutions
3. The Climate Crisis Policy Digest.
4. Sabin Center for Climate Change Law model law initiative.

PLEASE NOTE: Participation or co-hosting is not an endorsement of any legislation.

IS CARBON TAX A “SILVER BULLET”? YES!

By Climate Reality leader William Tucker – 5/5/2020

Maybe not gold, but definitely silver!

We frequently hear those climate activists who are skeptical of carbon fee and dividend legislation (see, e.g., The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, H.R. 763) dismiss it as not a “silver bullet.” What is meant by this seemingly pejorative comment I’m not entirely sure, but clearly carbon fee is a necessary and urgent measure in reducing carbon emissions quickly. It may not be the only legislative initiative we undertake, but what is not sufficiently understood and appreciated among climate activists is that carbon fee has been shown by economists to be the single most effective step we can take to dramatically lower emissions. It may not be a “gold” bullet, capable of achieving 100% of the necessary reductions (net zero by 2050 or sooner), but it surely qualifies as a “silver” one, getting us most of the way there all by itself. No other legislative proposal comes close.

Continue reading →

Hot Off the Wire — 5/16/2020

Flu Virus Resources

Opinion

Why I oppose “Planet of the Humans” | Patrick Mazza
It’s undermining our main chance to avert climate catastrophe

Planet of Half Truths – Michael Moore’s attack on renewables unmoored
By their nature, documentary films are supposed to expose mistruths – this one often amplifies them — Corporate Knights

What Planet of the Humans got Right, Wrong, and Missed — Energy Justice Network

Solutions

REI’s Opt to Act Weekly Calendar / Checklist

Week 25: Use public transportation, carpool, bike or walk
to one event this week
Take part: May 17–23, 2020

Regional Actions

Experience and Share your Puget Sound: Express through words, art, and activity
Thursday, May 14, at 12 p.m.

A Conversation about the Jordan Cove LNG Pipeline and Road Construction at Mount St. Helens
Thursday, May 14 at 11:00am Pacific Time
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88910756166

Sustainable Northwest Presents NEPA 101: Introducing PNW Forest Collaborative Workshop Webinar Series
Friday, May 15 at 10:00am Pacific Time

Join Washington Conservation Voters’ Evergreen Future campaign
and sign on to the Pledge!

**Urge your Attorney General to sue against the Trump administration immediately**

National Actions

COVID19, The Climate Emergency, And The Battle For Our Future
Wednesday May 13 | 5:00 p.m. PT– Climate Mobilization

Secretive special interests are trying to strip away your solar rights

Local/Regional News

Weekly Announcements

Watch all 2018-2019 ASES webinars on our YouTube channel and past 2020 webinars on the ASES GoToChannel

National/International News

Trump’s EPA loses & science wins
A federal court ruled that the agency must stop barring independent scientists from serving on its advisory committees

Naomi Klein:
Healthcare Industry Sees “Potential Bonanza” of Profits in COVID-19 Crisis

Screen New Deal: Naomi Klein on How Companies Like Google Plan to Profit in High-Tech COVID Dystopia

DemocracyNow! interviews

“On Fire captures the burning urgency of the climate crisis, as well as the fiery energy of a rising political movement demanding a catalytic Green New Deal.” — Simon & Schuster

Screen New Deal — The Intercept
Under cover of mass death, Andrew Cuomo calls in the billionaires to build a High-Tech Dystopia

What’s Up with Banking and Climate

Tracking the environmental rules reversed under Trump

64 rollbacks completed
34 rollbacks in process

Inspiration

10 Books Climate Activists Are Reading Now
— Yes! Magazine

This is a series I’m writing on climate change for our local monthly newspaper. I wanted to go back to the basics of the science behind climate change.

Category:
Burning Worlds

Hot Off the Wire — 5/08/2020

OMG! look at that honeybee swarm!

Flu Virus Resources

For young people, two defining events: COVID-19 and climate change
An unforeseen pairing of catastrophes will inform how Generation Z navigates the world as adults, and what sort of future they create. — National Geographic

Youth Climate Activists Are Writing a Just Recovery Curriculum — Yes Magazine

How Climate Change Is Contributing to Skyrocketing Rates of Infectious Disease
A catastrophic loss in biodiversity, reckless destruction of wildland and warming temperatures have allowed disease to explode. Ignoring the connection between climate change and pandemics would be “dangerous delusion,” one scientist said. — ProPublica

Hunger Pandemic: The COVID-19 Effect on Global Food Insecurity — Visual Capitalist

How contact tracing can help the U.S. get control over coronavirus — PBS News

Opinion

The “new approach” for our leaders | Jim Waddell

Trump Imperils the Planet – The New York Times
Endangered species, climate change —
the administration is taking the country, and the world, backward.

Burning wood is not a solution to climate change — The Hill

Pandemic as prologue — High Country News
A failure of imagination has stymied our outbreak response, but that’s just the beginning.

Solutions

REI’s Opt to Act Weekly Calendar / Checklist

Week 24: Plant something native and green this week
Take part: May 10–16, 2020

Model Laws for Deep Decarbonization in the United States
— Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

Regional Actions

Clallam County PUD will have a Board of Commissioners Meeting
this Monday, May 11 at 1:30p.m.
Please attend the virtual meeting on Monday.
PUD is a Public, not a Privatized Utility District. Citizen-ratepayers must call in or login and be counted. See details at https://clallampud.net/commission-meetings/

Climate Leaders Live: Building a Clean Energy Future Together
Tune in on Tuesday May 19, 11:00 am – 12:00 pm.

Documentary Screening
& Discussion | Jim Waddell

Thu May 14, 2020 6:30 – 8:00 p.m.
Online, Zoom

National Actions

Climate Crisis Policy and Columbia University are partnering to present a discussion of 9 active federal climate bills | Wed. July 1, 2020. Noon-1:30 pm
Zoom Register Facebook Event

Sierra Forum: Defund Climate Destruction | Wednesday, May 13 at Noon PT

Will you join our mass call next Thursday, May 14 – Organize to Win in 2020
to get up to date on Keystone XL and be part of the next chapter in this campaign? – 350.org

Be one of the 2,000 people we need today to tell Bank of America: No drilling in the Arctic Refuge — League of Conservation Voters

“In this time of multiple crises, we are invisible, yet again. But they’re planning to open up our territories the second this is over. And we won’t let that happen.”

Local/Regional News

Washington Conservation Voters releases the Legislative Scorecard

Some experts warn that CLT might not be the climate-change weapon that advocates are claiming — Investigate West

Cross-laminated timber panels like these at the Katerra mass timber factory in Spokane Valley, Wash., are designed to replace steel and concrete

Weekly Announcements

National/International News

#EarthDayLive Discussion
NRDC president and CEO Gina McCarthy, Greenpeace USA executive director Annie Leonard, and Ocean Collectiv founder Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson discuss the 50th anniversary of #EarthDay and where we go from here

A Satellite Lets Scientists See Antarctica’s Melting Like Never Before
— The New York Times

The Lab That Discovered Global Warming Has Good News and Bad News
The good news is that the pandemic shows “science works.” The bad news?
Global warming may be far more dangerous than a pandemic.

Combos of heat, humidity at edge of human tolerance hitting globe decades earlier than expected — NBC News
Researchers found that temperature extremes previously thought to be rare have been recorded more than 1,000 times in 40 years.

Read the Washington Post stories that won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize

Global warming to push humans out of climate niche, forcing billions to migrate – The Washington Post

COVID-19 and Climate: Economic Impacts — Climate One

Fed’s expansion of lending program sparks oil bailout worries — Politico
The Federal Reserve told reporters that the changes were not directed at oil and gas companies, or any one industry.

Shell cuts dividend for first time since World War Two — Reuters

Tell members of Congress to support the REWIND Act today — 350.org
Tell Congress to stop bailouts for Big Oil and prioritize the millions of people who are reeling

Here’s an easy way to take action: ask your members of Congress to cosponsor the ReWIND Act, barring fossil fuel bailouts — Climate Hawks Vote

Digest

Satellite image from 27 April of wildfires burning in Russia. Photo: NASA

‘Normal’ is a crisis: Climate impacts across the world this week are adding to challenges for those already dealing with COVID-19. Millions of acres are burning in Siberia, and thousands have been displaced as floods hammer Kenya and Somalia. Evacuation orders were just lifted for Fort McMurray, Canada – a key tar sands development area – where thousands of Canadian workers and their families are recovering from floods from fast winter thaw. And as the world’s seas simmer at record-high temperatures, hurricane and wildfire risks are heightening.

What’s Up with Banking and Climate

The Latest News

How to build a no-smell compost bin

Carbon Emissions Just Turned Back 10 Years — Yes! Magazine

Judge Vacates Oil and Gas Leases on 145,000 Acres in Montana — The New York Times

Inside Clean Energy:
6 Things Michael Moore’s ‘Planet of the Humans’ Gets Wrong
— Inside Climate News

Climate in Politics

This “Honest Government Ad” series may offend you, or it may amuse you with it’s inappropriateness, depending on your sensitivity to strong words.

Inspiration

Alaska Wilderness League presents the Geography of Hope series
Here’s the initial lineup with more events to be announced:

Thursday, May 7, 4pm EDT: Kristin Gates presents “The Sacred Place Where Life Begins”
Tuesday, May 12, 7pm EDT: New York Times-featured author Caroline Van Hemert presents on her 4,000-mile journey into Alaska’s wilderness and book “The Sun Is My Compass”
Thursday, May 21, 7pm EDT: Michael Boardman: Artist in Residence, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Saturday, May 30, 5:30pm EDT: Renowned filmmaker Mark Titus presents “The Wild,” which draws attention to the battle against the reckless Pebble Mine that threatens the most productive wild sockeye salmon fishery on Earth, in Bristol Bay, Alaska.

Climate Crash Course #7: Is what I do important? — The New York Times

Pancakes and Jam! brunch & arts
Pull Together and Vines Festival hosts a virtual brunch concert. Listen to the recording.

Calling Bullshit:
Data Reasoning in a Digital World

Course: INFO 270 / BIOL 270. University of Washington

Our learning objectives are straightforward.
After taking the course, you should be able to:
– Remain vigilant for bullshit contaminating your information diet.
– Recognize said bullshit whenever and wherever you encounter it.
– Figure out for yourself precisely why a particular bit of bullshit is bullshit.
– Provide a statistician or fellow scientist with a technical explanation of why a claim is bullshit.
– Provide your crystals-and-homeopathy aunt or casually racist uncle with an accessible and persuasive explanation of why a claim is bullshit. — CallingBullshit.org

Coming August 4th, 2020: Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World, by Carl Bergstrom and Jevin West.
Pre-order now

This is a series I’m writing on climate change for our local monthly newspaper. I wanted to go back to the basics of the science behind climate change.

Category:
Burning Worlds

OMG! look at that honeybee swarm!

Quick, call Noelle!

360-280-4594 | noellenordstrom.oly@gmail.com | #beeallaboutit

Hello neighbors, my name is Noelle and I am a hobbyist beekeeper who moved here last fall. I live on 9th street in Port Angeles. Alas, my bee colonies did not survive the winter. Since I am renting, I decided not to purchase bees this year and I have several empty beehives standing by in my backyard. Honeybee swarming season is revving up, so I wanted to ask you to please give me a shout if you see a honeybee swarm in our neighborhood. I have homes for them. I can even set up a hive in your yard if it has the right conditions and you think it would be fun. I will tend it and we can share the honey. When a swarm clusters, time is of the essence. Please know that though a honeybee swarm is a dramatic, kind of scary looking event, the bees are in a very good mood and not likely to sting. Do not be scared, it is a festive occasion! Please magnetize my contact information above, to your fridge and put it in your phone.

My second request is that everyone keep their eyes peeled for an invasive menace called the Asian Giant Hornet. Please familiarize yourself with what they look like so you can report them to WA Dept. Ag. and consider trapping them if you are interested. If you have a hummingbird feeder it is possible you might see one stop by for a drink. It will be nearly as large as a hummingbird! These hornets are dangerous to humans and can decimate honey bee colonies as well as other colonial insects. Just last year they were discovered in British Columbia and in Blaine, Washington. The Washington Department of Agriculture has instigated a volunteer trapping program to try to get a handle on them. Clallam County is one of the spots they want to watch closely. We have at most 2 years to get a grip on these things before they become a long-term problem. If they are here, the queens will be emerging right about now and looking for sugar. They like tree sap, especially oaks.

New York Times article: Murder Hornets’ in the U.S.: The Rush to Stop the Asian Giant Hornet

AGH Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/hornets

WA Dept Agriculture AGH information, report sightings, etc: https://agr.wa.gov/departments/insects-pests-and-weeds/insects/hornets

I am going to set up some traps and am getting supplies. More traps improve our chances of detecting them, so consider setting out and tending (weekly) traps of your own: https://agr.wa.gov/departments/insects-pests-and-weeds/insects/hornets/trapping. If you decide to set out traps, two places you can get the rice cooking wine are McPhee’s on Race St and Saar’s on Lauridsen Blvd in PA.

If you decide to set traps, let me know, and I might be able to offer advice or help.

Thanks a ton! My husband and I are very happy to land in this excellent place! We look forward to making friends around here.

Take care everyone -Noelle noellenordstrom.oly@gmail.com

The “new approach” for our leaders

Ed and others,

Hope you are all having a nice day!

The “new approach” is for our leaders, elected and agencies, to realize that immediate action is required to save salmon, Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKW), and Bonneville Power Authority (BPA). Collaboration needs to be about rounding up some of these leaders and to agree and how to get these two agencies and their overseers in DC to agree to immediate breaching. More meeting about anything else is the “old approach” and should be avoided. If they don’t understand the peril these creatures, fisherman and ratepayers are in, then help me arrange a briefing for them. I can also show them how the option of immediate breaching is real.

The Columbia River Systems Operations (CRSO) was a planned train wreck and is so fatally flawed as to render it useless accept as cannon fodder in the next round of legal battles between the NGOs and Feds. Which is just fine with them. Our leaders need to stand up to this protracted discussion, studies, litigation, etc. and take decisive and immediate action on breaching. That would be “new”. Here is the link to a document submitted to the CSRO process that lays out the 14 Fatal Flaws in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). https://damsense.org/fourteen-fatal-flaws/

Also, the COVID 19 crisis will most likely wreck much of the salmon and orca restoration initiatives, whereas breaching does not cost the state a dime, saves 8 million juvenile smolts, goes a long way to restoring fisheries and those jobs, and could create 2-3 thousand jobs in eastern Washington. That is what our leaders ought to be talking about, not more collaboration about anything but immediate breaching and how to expedite the mitigation that keeps virtually everyone whole and that have already been identified. Along those lines I have attached a letter we recently sent to Governor Inslee making these points.

I applaud Ron Allen for raising this issue with Congressman Kilmer, and he just may be the person in the Pacific Northwest who has the business acumen and courage do to what is right before it is too late.

Thanks for sharing this.

Respectfully,

Jim Waddell Civil Engineer, PE USACE Retired and Clallam County PUD Commissioner.
These views are my own and do not represent a position by the CC PUD

Letter-to-Gov-Inslee-final Download

Hot Off the Wire — 5/01/2020

Local, Actionable and Timely

Flu Virus Resources

COVID-19 and Climate: Implications for Public Health — Climate One

Opinion

LETTER: Healthy body politic — Peninsula Daily News

Jubilee — A way forward with deep, ancient roots

**Pandemic Billionaires** and **Corruption, Corruption Everywhere**

Earth Day 2025: The things we left behind
— By Todd Paglia, Executive Director, Stand.earth

Why Jane Goodall says human disregard for nature led to the coronavirus pandemic
— PBS News Hour

As Earth Day Turns 50, Imagine a Just, Green, Pandemic-Free Future

Planet of the Humans deceives viewers about clean energy and climate activists — Leah Stokes | Vox

Skepticism Is Healthy, but Planet of the Humans Is Toxic— Films for Action

The wheel of first-time climate dudes, or Why I don’t want to review Michael Moore’s climate change documentary. — Emily Atkin | Heated

Climate experts call for ‘dangerous’ Michael Moore film to be taken down — The Guardian

350.org responds to inaccuracies in Planet of the Humans

Solutions

Week 23: Don’t wash your jeans all month.

Click here to learn more about Sunrise School and how you can register for free training to be a leader in the movement to stop climate change.

Climate assembly continues in UK despite coronavirus

Citizens’ assemblies on climate change seek to shape the post-Covid recovery

A new approach to accelerating solutions

The global pandemic has spawned new forms of activism – and they’re flourishing
We’ve identified nearly 100 distinct methods of non-violent action that include physical, virtual and hybrid actions — The Guardian

Regional Actions

Climate Leaders Live:
Building a Clean Energy Future Together
Tuesday, May 19^th at 11 a.m. PST — Please RSVP here

Endangered Species Day and how you can take action
Join us Wednesday, May 6 at 4 p.m. Pacific/4 p.m. PT to learn more
— Center for Biological Diversity

Join us to learn more about raingardens and how you can help protect Puget Sound from home

National Actions

Virtual Meeting – Our Plan to Win in 2020 | Saturday May 9, 2-3:00 PT — Sierra Club

Stem the rising tide of brutal violence against indigenous forest guardians

Give us recycled fiber Toilet Paper or give us . . . — Stand.earth

COVID-19 & Climate Change: What does this mean for the fight against the climate crisis? — ClimateAction.org

Morgan Stanley just became the fifth major U.S. bank to reject financing drilling in the Arctic

I Pledge to Never Fund Fossil Fuels

Sign the petition: No bailouts for oil companies! — Demand Progress

Tell cruise companies: No return to pollution as usual! — Stand.earth

Get registered and get your friends to vote with you — Climate Hawks Vote

Add your name now to fight for protections against dangerous offshore drilling and spilling — Oceana

Local/Regional News

SAFE Cities briefing and discussion video | April 21 2020 – 38 minutes
Liz McDowell and Todd Paglia lead a briefing and discussion about the SAFE Cities program at Stand.earth

Tom Steyer is now Chair of the Governor of California’s business and jobs recovery task force — TomSteyer.com

Weekly Announcements

National/International News

What will it REALLY take for our governments to fix the global warming extinction emergency which is unfolding over the following decades?
— by Lawrence Wollersheim

Short Circuiting Policy
Interest Groups and the Battle Over Clean Energy and Climate Policy in the American States — New book by Leah Stokes

RSVP now for “Comedy Night for Mother Earth” | April 30 at 8:00pm ET
— Chesapeake Climate Action Network

**50th anniversary of Earth Day, in case you missed it.**

Naomi Klein on How to Beat Coronavirus Capitalism

From Emergency to Emergence — David Korten

Pandemic Prescriptions for the Climate Emergency — Stan Cox

Stuck in the Past on the Climate
Shareholders at JP Morgan Chase should block a former Exxon chief from another term on the bank’s board. — 350.org

In fast-warming Minnesota, scientists are trying to plant forests of the future — The Washington Post

50 years later, Earth Day’s unsolved problem: How to build a more sustainable world
— The Washington Post

Climate in Politics

Al Gore endorses Joe Biden on Earth Day

Jay Inslee Endorses Biden, Citing Private Conversations on Climate Policy
— The New York Times

To Understand the Medical Supply Shortage, It Helps to Know How the U.S. Lost the Lithium Ion Battery to China — ProPublica

Climate Change Won’t Stop for the Coronavirus Pandemic — ProPublica

Inspiration

Hello climate enthusiasts, On today’s edition of Democracy Now!, French Economist Thomas Piketty discusses the following premise from his book Capital and Ideology: “All history shows that the search for a distribution of wealth acceptable to the majority of people is a recurrent theme in all periods and all cultures,” he reports boldly. As societies distribute income, wealth and education more widely, so they become more prosperous. The overturning of regressive ideologies is therefore the main condition of economic progress.

Piketty’s premise clearly shows the link between income equality, the pandemic, and climate justice. Here’s a link to a review of Piketty’s book from The Guardian

I hope you find this information provocative and helpful. Sincerely, Tammy Dziadek

This is a series I’m writing on climate change for our local monthly newspaper. I wanted to go back to the basics of the science behind climate change.

Category: Burning Worlds

Meet Fabian Almazan, an award-winning jazz pianist and composer, environmentalist, and founder of Biophilia Records

Jubilee — A way forward with deep, ancient roots

It’s the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, we’re in the midst of a global pandemic, the global price of oil hit minus zero and headlines are declaring the end of the economy as we know it. And, sorry, but I don’t want to go back to normal. I want to go forward, toward a better future for us humans, Earth and all the creatures that call this planet home. I want to continue to enjoy clearer skies, cleaner water, the quiet. But how, you may well ask?

Let’s adopt a successful practice that dates back to 1729 BC and declare a Jubilee Year. After 49 successful years, the 50th became the Jubilee Year, when complete freedom from all debt and servitude was proclaimed throughout the land. The ancient Babylonian King Hammurabi forgave all citizens debts owed to the government, high ranking officials and dignitaries. Boom. Gone. Not to be restarted for an entire year.

The idea that debt can grow faster than the ability to repay, until it unbalances a society, was well understood thousands of years ago. Ancient rulers weren’t motivated by charity; they were being pragmatic — trying to make sure that citizens could meet their own needs and contribute to public projects, rather than just laboring to pay creditors.

What’s more, the jubilee year worked, according to economist and historian Michael Hudson. “Societies that canceled the debts enjoyed stable growth for thousands of years.’’

Continue reading →

For a healthy planet, we need a healthy body politic

Crises have a way of laying bare some home truths.
Letter from OCA chair Ed Chadd: https://www.peninsuladailynews.com/letters/letter-healthy-body-politic/

Hot Off the Wire — 4/16/2020

R.S.V.P. for Earth Day Live programming on April 22, 23, 24

See what’s happening here during Earth Week . . .

Flu Virus Resources & News

Arundhati Roy: ‘The pandemic is a portal’

The novelist on how coronavirus threatens India — and what the country, and the world, should do next – Free to read in The Financial Times

Top UK scientist: ’80 percent’ confident a COVID-19 vaccine could be ready by September — The Hill

WaPo: Trump allegedly asked Fauci if officials could let coronavirus ‘wash over’ US — The Hill | By Marina Pitofsky – 04/11/20 11:31 PM EDT

Opinion

Noam Chomsky on Trump’s Disastrous Coronavirus Response, Bernie Sanders & What Gives Him Hope — DemocracyNow! interview

Tomgram: Engelhardt, “The Skies Are Emptying Out” — March 24, 2020

Covid-19 is nature’s wake-up call to complacent civilization

A bubble has finally been burst – but will we now attend to the other threats facing humanity?
–The Guardian

George Monbiot

Solutions

REI’s Opt to Act Weekly Calendar / Checklist

Week 21: Celebrate Earth Day by contacting your local representative to advocate for environmental action
Take part: April 19–25, 2020

Pandemic shines more light on environmental justice

A 35-page dissection of the plastics problem — Greenpeace

Regional Actions

Support Indigenous Nations in their cases against TMX pipeline

National Actions

Social Community is a virtual live series focused on discussions, hangouts, and webinars led by youth leaders and adult allies across the country. In these times of uncertainty due to the coronavirus pandemic, this is a space intentionally developed for community, conversation, and collaboration

Digital Chase Takeover video promo (90 seconds) — 350

Air pollution rollbacks will make coronavirus worse

Cancel KXL: Halt All Keystone XL Construction Due to Coronavirus Public Health Emergency — NoKXLPromise.org

We will not allow Keystone XL to expose Native peoples to the coronavirus. Demand a stop to all work on this pipeline to protect the health of every one of us — Native Organizers Aliance

Don’t let the fossil fuel industry exploit the COVID crisis — Stand.earth

Message your Congressperson to stop the EPA from gutting air quality standards — Greenpeace

COVID-19 is NOT an Excuse to Stop Regulating Polluters — NRDC

Tell Liberty Mutual to stop insuring the Keystone XL Pipeline — 350.org

WeRenew.net

Local/Regional News

Letter-sign, Virtual Group Banner #1 Completed

Necessity seems to be the mother of creative invention and implementation.
We’ve taken the virtual banner idea and run with it here as a means to reach out, keep perspective of what is important and feel some sense of solidarity as we reflect in appreciation, concern and hope for our beautiful and fragile planet.
Life is precious in its myriad of forms and together it forms a beautiful, complex tapestry in which we are privileged to be a part.
Let’s honor that as we celebrate our Earth today and every day.
See the other art projects in progress

The western U.S. is locked in the grips of the first human-caused megadrought, study finds — The Washington Post

Weekly Announcements

National/International News

Welcome to The Climate Crisis Newsletter

By Bill McKibben | February 27, 2020

Annals of a Warming Planet — The New York Times

Exclusive: U.S. banks prepare to seize energy assets as shale boom goes bust — Reuters

Youth Climate Movement Study (YCMStudy-US) — U. of Maryland

Webinar — THE CLIMATE CRISIS POLICY DIGEST
Wednesday, April 22, 2020 9 -9:30 AM PST

How the Climate Change Generation Is Redefining Community

What’s Up with Banking and Climate

A troubling story for communities of color

Climate in Politics

Digital Audio Book

Calling for an alliance between progressives and moderates to seize the moment and restore hope to America’s future for the 2020 presidential election

What America Needs Next: A Biden National Unity Cabinet — New York Times

Inspiration

This is a series I’m writing on climate change for our local monthly newspaper. I wanted to go back to the basics of the science behind climate change.

Category:
Burning Worlds

The Destruction of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

Photo: Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Go to Earth Day Home

How Trump is destroying Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and what it means for environmental protection laws everywhere

Thursday, April 23, 7pm

On zoom.us,meeting ID: 972 0690 8213, Password: carolyn@riseup.net, or call in at
(253) 215-8782 (more connection information below).

Trump’s border wall is under construction through the most pristine Sonoran Desert ecosystem – Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Endangered species, Indigenous sacred sites, and wilderness lands are being destroyed now.

“Our normal litigious strategies have been rendered useless by the Trump administration’s waiver of almost every relevant environmental and cultural resources law.”
–– Center for Biological Diversity

We have put together a public presentation on this issue and will be hosting a Zoom conference on Thursday, April 23, 7pm. Details are below. While this border wall is far away from the northwest, the legal issues are right in our backyard. Our solidarity with the people of southern Arizona and northern Sonora, and the people migrating through that area, is critical to change the policies that allow this destruction to happen in the first place.

In honor of Earth Day, we have put together a public presentation on this issue. While this border wall is far away from the northwest, the legal issues are right in our backyard. Our solidarity with the people of southern Arizona and northern Sonora, and the people migrating through that area, is critical to change the policies that allow this destruction to happen in the first place. This presentation will allow people to learn about this fragile desert ecosystem, the people on the southern border, how Trump has waived the law to allow this destruction, and how these precedents threaten wilderness ecosystems in the pacific northwest.

Continue reading →

“All Earth Life Matters”

Go to Earth Day Home

Go to Inspire Art Projects

Reaching out and fostering awareness in Earth care and concerns within the community has been what the supporting visual art projects have been about all along. Then along came covid-19 and everything was upended on its ear….so to speak…and we continue to move through the effects of so much change in our lives.

As the saying goes, “necessity is the Mother of invention” it can also be said now that it is also the “Mother of do-it-yourself” (I personally installed track lighting in my studio last week. Those three little wires coming out of the ceiling where I’d removed the old light fixture didn’t have to be so intimidating after all….given that I had already switched off the breaker.) The hardest thing was maneuvering the snake-y track and affixing it where it needed to be. Voila! New lighting to work by for this artist soul!

Continue reading →

#ClallamTogether: Earth Day comes home & goes virtual

Go to Earth Day Home

Go to Inspire Art Projects

Dear Community Members/Organizations/Businesses/Groups and Allies:

As Wednesday, April 22, the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day, approaches, we find ourselves in unprecedented circumstances, as the urgent, evolving challenges of the coronavirus pandemic call on people everywhere to respond to one another and to our shifting circumstances with courage, compassion, ingenuity and open hearts.

And though our ways of connecting with one another have shifted, Earth itself remains our constant home.

Continue reading →

Noam Chomsky, Democracy Now 4/10/20

Amy Goodman interviews Noam Chomsky

“[Climate change] is a far more serious threat than the coronavirus, [which] is bad and serious, but we’ll recover somehow. We’re not going to recover from the melting of the polar ice sheets. . . . Just recently, there was a very interesting leak, a memo from JPMorgan Chase, America’s biggest bank, which warned that, in their words, ‘the survival of humanity’ is at risk if we continue on our present course, which included the funding of fossil fuel industries by the bank itself.”

Hot Off the Wire — 4/10/2020

Are we resilient? — WE ARE RESILIENT!

“The music is amazing, but the interpretive dancing is just baffling!”

Flu Virus Resources

If you’ve wanted to see Derek Kilmer with a beard,
Here’s your chance . . .

A message from U.S. Representative Kilmer and CoronaVirus resources.

Opinion

Destroyed Habitat Creates the Perfect Conditions
for Coronavirus to Emerge

COVID-19 may be just the beginning of mass pandemics
— Scientific American

This aerial photograph, taken on September 30, 2019, in Kahuzi-Biega National Park, northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, shows an area devastated by logging. Credit: Alexis Huguet *Getty Images*

Pandemic Response Should Mobilize Around Low-Carbon Solutions
— the Energy Mix

Oprah Winfrey leads a conversation speaking directly about systematic racism

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A Short List of People in America Who Were Not Freed in 1776

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Episode Description

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DemocracyNow! Examines Our National Reckoning

#CancelCanadaDay

Rally and March at Vancouver Art Gallery July FirstWe will not celebrate the ongoing genocide within Canada against Indigenous people.

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In solidarity with Indigenous communities, farmers and ranchers along the route, OCA is sending our protest banner to the Governors of Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska demanding they stop all pre-construction activity.

Background:

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Climate Change Tied to Pregnancy Risks, Affecting Black Mothers Most

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Today is World Oceans Day – Stand.earth

What’s Wrong with Financial Equity?

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THE FOSSIL FUELNON-PROLIFERATION TREATY

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On Social Justice

The essential coronavirus FAQ — PBS

Election 2020 Webinar: Evergreen Future Grassroots ActionJune 10 6:00 PM – 7:15 PM

Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

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$170K grant will facilitate climate planning on the North Olympic Peninsula

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The Interfaith Earth Care Coalition

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Maybe not gold, but definitely silver!

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The “new approach” for our leaders | Jim Waddell

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Quick, call Noelle!

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Top UK scientist: ’80 percent’ confident a COVID-19 vaccine could be ready by September — The Hill

WaPo: Trump allegedly asked Fauci if officials could let coronavirus ‘wash over’ US — The Hill | By Marina Pitofsky – 04/11/20 11:31 PM EDT

Letter-sign, Virtual Group Banner #1 Completed

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How Trump is destroying Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and what it means for environmental protection laws everywhere

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If you’ve wanted to see Derek Kilmer with a beard, Here’s your chance . . .

Oprah Winfrey leads a conversation
speaking directly about systematic racism

Rally and March at Vancouver Art Gallery July First
We will not celebrate the ongoing genocide within Canada
against Indigenous people.

Climate Change Tied to Pregnancy Risks,
Affecting Black Mothers Most

THE FOSSIL FUEL
NON-PROLIFERATION TREATY

Election 2020 Webinar:
Evergreen Future Grassroots Action
June 10 6:00 PM – 7:15 PM

Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences
of the United States of America

$170K grant will facilitate climate planning
on the North Olympic Peninsula

If you’ve wanted to see Derek Kilmer with a beard,
Here’s your chance . . .