Hi friends,
My goodness! Is it me, or is this turning out to be another epic week of dire news in another endless month of 2020?
When I read that the president-reject is speeding up federal executions, I was forced to take refuge under the table. Has he not killed enough people already? I won’t offer a further recitation of the news because I expect you have already endured all that you can.
I will share a morsel of good news, which I think you could use. NY State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli announced yesterday that the New York State Common Retirement Fund, the third largest pension fund in the US with $226 billion in assets will divest from
certain fossil fuel companies, with the goal of transitioning the massive portfolio away from greenhouse gases entirely by 2040.
The plan [earned] immediate praise from activists and lawmakers who've long pushed for divestment as a tool in combatting the climate crisis.
According to #DivestNY, a coalition campaign that formed after Superstorm Sandy, the announcement marks the most comprehensive divestment commitment to date of any public fund in the world.
Bill McKibben regards this news as a harbinger of the new reality: fossil fuel corporations have “reached a low in financial and political power.” Just in case you’re tired of signing petitions and writing your elected officials, this is a nice reminder that sustained organizing and broad participation by the public makes a difference.
Over 2,500 Americans died yesterday from Covid. Let’s make sure our next VP understands the necessity of finding a path to universal health care.
Please read the letter from the American Council to Advance Medicare for All to Kamala Harris and add your name.
Structural change takes time, so consider a gift that will change someone’s life.
Go ahead and purchase someone else’s medical debt. Unlike medical treatment, it doesn’t hurt a bit and is surprisingly affordable.
We need to get the NYS Legislature back into emergency session to act before the expiration of eviction moratoriums (federal and state) at the end of this month.
The good folks from Housing Justice for All are mobilizing to get Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the Senate Majority Leader, and Carl Heastie, Speaker of the State Assembly, to call the legislature back into session to stop evictions, house people experiencing homelessness, and clear back rent for tenants who cannot pay.
Make your own housing justice holiday card and send it to the address here OR complete this online form so that Housing Justice for All can print and send it.
Here are some additional housing justice actions from last week: Support the passage City Council bill, Introduction 146, which would increase the allowable amount that existing rent vouchers can cover.
Contact your council member and urge them to pass Introduction 146.
Please sign this petition urging legislators to pass the Emergency Housing Stability and Displacement Prevention Act.
I am still interested to hear from those who are working in or whose children are attending a school that reopened this week. Based on what I’ve read, elementary school students are too chilly to take their mittens off in class, since Covid-safety requires open windows. In another late-to-the-gate move, the DOE is finally looking to fill positions in a program to create materials for remote classwork. The program was created in recognition of the fact that preparing effectively for education-by-Zoom requires considerable technological know-how, on top of the pedagogical and content mastery required.
with love,
L