Dear friends,
Tuesdays are for good news and actions that will bring good outcomes. First off, it’s Groundhog Day and no one is likely to see their shadow today. So, spring is coming and we are going to make it through this pandemic winter.
There is momentum building toward meaningful action on the climate crisis and we can be part of it. Locally, the Sane Energy Project is part of the Coalition fighting the North Brooklyn Pipeline. National Grid is behind an insidious effort to commit the public to fossil fuel dependence by expanding a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facility. The company actively resists initiatives that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency because they reduce the demand for gas and cut into their profits. The initiatives they fight are the ones that save us money and protect the environment.
Send a letter to comment on the Liquefied Natural Gas permits; the talking points are provided and the whole process takes a few minutes. If you only have a minute, adapt mine.
Today at noon, there is a Get Off Gas Press Conference & Rally. Join the Public Service Commission’s Renewable Heat Now campaign to move NYS off fracked gas in an equitable way and to ensure every household has access to affordable renewable heat and renewable energy.
Make a sign and register for the noon rally.
This evening, the NY Renews coalition is hosting a grassroots livestream event to motivate, educate, and mobilize a multiracial, cross-movement effort to build power at every level of government for the Climate, Jobs, and Justice agenda. Senator Ed Markey from Massachusetts is one of the featured speakers.
Register for tonight’s livestream event.
Last week, I urged you to write to Biden about commuting the death sentences of the 49 federal prisoners who remain on death row. Now, there’s a petition.
Sign the petition to call on the President to commute death sentences and abolish the federal death penalty.
And speaking of people not dying, here’s some very good news about the Covid-19 vaccines that may not have come through the noise:
All five of the vaccines — from Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Novavax and Johnson & Johnson — look extremely good. Of the roughly 75,000 people who have received one of the five in a research trial, not a single person has died from Covid, and only a few people appear to have been hospitalized. None have remained hospitalized 28 days after receiving a shot.
To put that in perspective, it helps to think about what Covid has done so far to a representative group of 75,000 American adults: It has killed roughly 150 of them and sent several hundred more to the hospital. The vaccines reduce those numbers to zero and nearly zero, based on the research trials.
This is the news that might build confidence in vaccinations.
Please share it with skeptics in your midst.
And finally, some happy almost-news: the State Legislature is poised to repeal the law that criminalizes “Walking While Trans.” This is very important because violations for “loitering for the purpose of engaging in prostitution” are not sealed automatically after a year, the way almost every other violation and traffic infraction is in NYS. In addition, the law is enforced in a wholly discriminatory fashion. It looks like the Democratic supermajority is on the job to get this repealed.
Have a great day!
with love,
L