Dear ones,
Last night, we watched a 9-minute film called A Message from the Future II: Years of Repair. The film tells the story of how we will come through the intersecting crises of climate catastrophe, corporate abuse, racial violence and oppression, and the exploitation of working people, land, and water resources.
Watch A Message from the Future II: Years of Repair.
What I loved about the film was the explicit connection between our priorities as society and the kinds of initiatives we support. Today, we have some actions to move us in the right direction.
I’m not the only one excited by the President’s love of train travel. On Monday, about a thousand transit activists joined a call with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to talk about how to get mass transit projects completed and protect against service cuts. To build on their efforts, the Riders Alliance is calling on Twitter users to echo the message.
Tweet @JoeBiden to #savetransit and protect working class riders from unjust service cuts and fare increases.
A big victory is in our sights: NY State can pass the NY Health Act. This bill has been ten years in the making and we can help bring it over the finish line.
Register for the People’s Health Care Town Hall, today at 1:30 PM.
We are still trying to secure composting arrangements in NYC so that we can inch along in the direction of our vision for a sustainable city. You may recall that Big ReUse still needs a long-term lease for its site, which is currently located in Queensbridge Park. Join the virtual visioning session to develop renovation plans for Queensbridge Baby Park (not a park for babies, but a baby park).
Register here for the meeting, to be held Thursday.
Recycling efforts continue to be uneven, costly, and largely ineffective, but new state legislation could require product manufacturers to pay the costs of recycling instead of externalizing them to us. The smallest companies would be exempt, and the legislation would not cost NYS anything. Michael Kimmelman wrote today in the Times that the legislation has “a good chance of earning support from some of those same companies and their lobbyists.”
Contact your NYS Senator and ask them to support the Extended Producer Responsibility Act.
We recently celebrated a victory for frontline workers at Hunts Point Produce Market and we’re following heroic efforts to organize Amazon’s workforce. But the bigger picture is the continued efforts by American corporations to break unions. I am still looking for the best ways for us to support unionizing workers.
In case you missed them, here are some relevant actions from earlier this week to challenge corporations that continue to violate water rights, pollute with impunity, destroy habitat, and rely on exploitative labor practices. :
Support 350.org and join “an international movement of ordinary people working to end the age of fossil fuels and build community-led renewable energy for all.”
Sign this petition to tell Biden to stop Line 3, a massive pipeline already under construction in northern Minnesota, in violation of Indigenous rights.
Take the pledge to boycott Nestlé and Starbucks. Here’s a helpful list of alternative products.
Donate to the Lakota People’s Law Project Action Center to help secure treaty land and water rights, stop the tar sands pipelines, and defend native voting rights, health, and safety.
Have a great day!
with love,
L