Dear friends,
It is the last Tuesday of the longest month of the year. I had hoped that Judge Engoron would rule in the business fraud case before I post today, because I think a string of losses for Trump in court might help the cause of democracy.
My eyes are wide open, and I see the vast array of problems we face. My inspiration for action is Michael Mann, the climate scientist who has warned of the dangers of doomism,
[the] idea that it’s too late to do anything, because if we truly believe we have no agency, no efficacy in acting, then why bother? So ironically, doomism has been weaponized by bad actors.
Here, we celebrate efforts that move in the direction of justice, democracy, and general welfare.
The Klamath river, which runs from Oregon to California, is flowing freely for the first time in 100 years. The federal government removed one of four hydroelectric dams in August and and released the water from behind the remaining three dams this month.
Klamath River, downstream from the John C. Boyle Dam; photograph © 2017 by Stanley Greenberg
The freeing of Klamath’s waters is a triumph for the Indigenous communities and environmental activists who have been calling for the removal of the dams for many years.
The river is central to [Indigenous] culture and traditions and its salmon populations were a major food source for their communities. Renewed efforts to oppose the dams and call for their destruction came in 2002 when the Chinook salmon populations disappeared completely.
It will take a year for demolition crews to deconstruct the huge structures.
Restoration and rehabilitation of the river will take a long time after that. Former reservoirs will need to be reseeded and hundreds of thousand of trees and shrubs will be planted.
Local Indigenous people fought the building of the dams, which began in 1911, and their descendants are hopeful that one day the salmon will come back.
Because I believe that we don’t necessarily win when others lose, I’m going to continue to work to help Republicans in Congress notch some wins for all of us.
Here’s a second chance to take action to remedy child poverty in the US:
Tell your Congressional representative to support the Bipartisan Child Tax Credit Expansion. This quick action is from the National Women’s Law Center.
Local and state legislators in New York have acknowledged that to prevent fires caused by lithium-ion e-bike batteries, we will need federal legislation authorizing the Consumer Products Safety Commission to mandate standards for both the manufacture and importation of batteries.
This is a huge issue in NYC, where injuries related to battery fires have increased more than 1,000 percent since 2019.
When FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh went to DC to lobby for regulatory legislation earlier this month, every lawmaker she spoke to — regardless of party affiliation — had had a lithium-ion battery fire in their district.
Even though there are radical right-wing forces eager to destroy the administrative capacity of the executive branch, there is bipartisan support for this measure.
We need to build support for sensible governance, rather than giving into doomism. Last month, the Setting Consumer Standards for Lithium-Ion Batteries Act passed the House’s Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously.
Tell your member of Congress to support the law to set standards for lithium-ion batteries.
If organizers can gather 90,000 signatures by July, the amendment could appear on the November ballot.
Collecting the signatures will be an uphill battle, due to stringent requirements:
Signature gatherers must also be citizens and residents of the state, undergo training, and be licensed. They cannot be paid per signature and must adhere to a long list of regulations in order to obtain verifiable signatures. There are nearly three dozen reasons that a signature or an entire of page of signatures could be invalidated.
Once licensed, canvassers must collect signatures in 50 of the state’s 75 counties, up from only 15, a move state lawmakers implemented last spring.
It is a daunting task, and it will still be a challenge to pass the initiative given the extremely conservative, rural, and religious population.
That said, 92 percent of the population believe it should be easier to obtain an abortion. The constitutional amendment, which would allow abortions up to 18 weeks, and includes a variety of exceptions after 18 weeks, is still relatively restrictive.
The army of people knocking on doors to garner signatures to get the amendment on Arkansas’s ballot is a good thing all by itself.
As my springling has been canvassing all of Burlington’s Ward 5 in their campaign to be a city councilor, they have shared with me the important conversations that have brought people from warm houses onto cold porches to talk to them. The work of talking to and listening to each other is integral to the effort of building permanently organized communities that will enable us all to thrive.
I found it impossible not to be delighted by the work of a street activist who has planted their flags in piles of uncollected dog waste in Venice, California. The flags include simple, handwritten messages on white paper
“who raised you?”
“c’mon, you’re better than this”
“Pick. Up. Your. Poop!!”
that address the humans responsible for the piles, while alerting the rest of the community to watch their step. Of course, folks are taking pictures of the poop flags, and I assume they’ve turned up on social media.
This initiative focuses on the social dimension of the poop problem. Nonetheless, the environmental and public health issues are real.
Fecal bacteria is “rampant” on the streets of New York City, and a “deluge” of dog droppings may also be harming nature reserves, researchers have warned.
Some years ago, a young friend explained to me the importance of removing shoes at the door, to avoid polluting our homes with “pee, poop, and petroleum.” Whoa. Once you see it, you can’t un-see it. Shoes off, please.
If you are a person who picks up poop for a friend, consider flagging other poop you see on your walks.
with love,
L