Dear friends,
There’s abundant bad news out there AND good things happening. The good news is generally underreported and does not happen by accident.
Resourceful, tenacious people are making things happen through determined advocacy, study, effective regulation, and direct action.
Climate action works. This month, the UN Secretary-General said the ozone layer is on the road to recovery.
In 2022, the Biden signed the Kigali Amendment to an international agreement to reduce the use of refrigerant gases called hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). That contributed to the end of the production of “damaging ozone-depleting substances.”
Although Trump signed a bipartisan energy bill in 2020 that required the phase down of HFCs, the Senate didn’t ratify the treaty until almost exactly two years ago.
Here’s what’s new:
The UN weather agency said ozone could recover to 1980 levels - before any hole in the ozone layer appeared - by around 2066 over the Antarctic if current policies remain.
This could also lead to full recovery of the layer by 2045 over the Arctic and 2040 for the rest of the world.
If your day is interrupted by a climate protest, thank the protesters!
A polluting coal plant is in Minnesota, which is scheduled for retirement, will make an organ donation of sorts: the plug that connects to the grid that powers homes and businesses will be used for renewable energy projects on the same site.
The US could essentially double the capacity of its electrical grid overnight by plugging renewables projects into old fossil fuel power plants, University of California Berkeley researchers found, whether they be coal, gas or oil. And projects could be plugged into existing plants, not just ones that are retiring.
A senior scientist at UC Berkeley, Umed Paliwal, believes that this will be a valuable strategy going forward.
Deaths from overdoses are down. It is not yet clear exactly why this is happening.
National surveys compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention already show an unprecedented decline in drug deaths of roughly 10.6 percent. That's a huge reversal from recent years when fatal overdoses regularly increased by double-digit percentages.
Addiction and fatal overdoses remain common, however large federal grants have enabled state health departments to saturate communities with the naloxone, a medication to reverse overdoses. States are also accessing funding from opioid settlements.
I like to honor the tenacious motherfuckers who do things that seem impossible. A cat named Rayne Beau, who got separated from his family in Yellowstone National Park, walked —and possibly hitchhiked — hundreds of miles back to California, where he lives.
Here are some other tenacious characters who have been defending democracy. The list includes election administrators and organizers who are
working to boost voter participation, reverse disenfranchisement, and combat misinformation.
Hundreds of thousands of new voters registered last week through Vote.org and 11 percent were 18-year-olds. More than 8 in 10 of the new registrations were for folks under 35.
Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts — who resides in my favorite city . . . tenacity — is behind an initiative that now allows people who apply for health insurance through the HealthCare.Gov site the option to get voter registration info.
“The health of our democracy depends on Americans registering and exercising their right to vote," Warren said in a statement. Many people looking for coverage through the website have low-wage jobs that don't offer insurance or are just coming off of their parents' insurance at age 26.
A friend shared an IG post with me about the student government at Forsyth Satellite Academy, a small downtown alternative public school, where young people registered 37 students to vote yesterday. This is how it’s done!
There’s still time to invite me to lead a voter readiness workshop for students or a training for facilitators at your school!
I signed on for my second round of door-knocking with Neighbor2Neighbor. I had great conversations and did a lot of Prop 1 education.
If you live in a large apartment building or any dense neighborhood, you can talk to lots of people about the November election. My second list of 10 addresses is also entirely in my building!
Join Neighbor2Neighbor and have face-to-face conversations with neighbors about what’s at stake in the November election.
Abortion measures are going to drive the vote.
In 2022, every state referendum on abortion was a victory for pro-choice advocates. Voters in California, Michigan and Vermont voted to enshrine reproductive rights in their respective constitutions, while voters in Kentucky and Montana decisively voted down measures that would have restricted them.
In New York, Prop 1 is on the ballot. It will add an Equal Rights Amendment to the state constitution. The Amendment has passed in both houses of the legislature twice; all we need is for voters to understand what it is and how to vote.
Abortion is legal in New York — we have to make sure it stays that way. Embedding abortion protections in our state constitution insulates us from the anti-abortion extremists who are working to ban, eliminate or reduce access to abortion care through changes to the state law — as we’re seeing happen in states across the country.
Vote YES on Prop 1. Share the information with friends, family, and neighbors in NYS. Prop 1 will be on the back of your November ballot.
A note for NYC voters. There are five additional ballot questions on our ballots. I will write more about this soon.
Have a great day!
with love,
L