Dear friends,
We have achieved Friday. When the new year began, I was really hoping that each week would stop feeling this way.
For one thing, it’s still Infrastructure Week. The latest from our friends at Corporate Accountability is that the bipartisan infrastructure plan, details of which have not been widely available, is looking like another corporate giveaway, soiled by the insidious language of “public-private partnership.” Biden promised to invest public money in infrastructure.
Schumer is hoping to bring the bill to a vote on Monday. Before this flawed bill goes forward, let’s urge our Senators to purge the privatization provisions from the proposal. These calls will take you two minutes. Clean water for everyone. Two minutes.
Use the call script provided and, if you can, use social media to amplify the message!
Two years ago, the NY legislature passed the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), which created a Climate Action Council to figure out how to reach the emissions reduction targets set by the law.
The Climate Action Council has a deadline six months from now, and the leadership of that body needs to know that we are paying attention and expecting them to make a good plan.
Send this ready-made email to the chairs of NY’s Climate Action Council to call for a bold plan to meet the targets set by the CLCPA.
The Climate and Community Investment Act (CCIA) will provide the funding — collected from fossil fuel industry polluters — to implement the Climate Action Council’s plan, so we still need to get that that legislation passed.
Ask Cuomo to call a special session of the legislature to address the climate emergency. Here’s a sample message.
Sometimes, when I think about loving the earth and trying to save it, I remember that most of us only know and love small patches of earth, and that we need to start by saving them.
A few weeks ago, my friend Sara Katz told me that she followed her Birthright trip to Israel by visiting an extraordinary farm, the Tent of Nations, in occupied Palestine. Yesterday, she wrote:
On their farm / orchard / vineyard, which their family has owned for generations, the Nassars have created a space for healing, joy and expression for local children, as well as empowerment for local women, and have touched lives around the world by welcoming people of all faiths and nationalities together for dialogue.
A group called Friends of Tent of Nations North America now reports that the Nassar’s enchanted place, is in grave danger:
On May 21, 2021, more than 1,000 fruit trees were destroyed by arson. On June 9, 2021, the Israeli military entered the farm with vehicles and a bulldozer, destroying over 50 trees and damaging the terraced land. In the last few months, the Nassar family have been under increased pressure as the pace of settlement expansion, construction of roads for settlers that restrict the movement of Palestinians, and the use of checkpoints has accelerated. Taken together, these acts are intended to pressure the family to leave their home so that the land can be taken and incorporated into the adjacent Israeli settlement.
Please sign the petition to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to save Tent of Nations.
CORRECTION: A confusing typo slipped into yesterday’s post, so I’d like to clarify: The Pfizer vaccine is the only one in the pipeline for FDA approval. Moderna’s June application has not been accepted by the FDA because it is missing some supporting materials, and J & J’s application is anticipated. All three vaccines have Emergency Use Authorization.
At a press briefing yesterday, the mayor lost his patience with a question
about misinformation circulated among some uniformed services personnel, in the Police and Fire Departments, who claimed that if they were previously exposed to COVID-19, they retained enough immunity to the point where a vaccination is not necessary.
“This is in the category of ‘give me a bleeping break,'” an apoplectic de Blasio responded. “When did everyone get a medical degree?
De Blasio acknowledged that people had the right to feel a little skeptical about the vaccine at the start, but that the advice of medical professionals — and the effectiveness of the vaccine itself, which has been administered to more than 150 million Americans — had put such skepticism to bed.
“Listen to the doctors who have been protecting you and have been saving the lives of your family and your community,” the mayor said. “They’re telling you with one voice, ‘Get vaccinated.’”
The question came from Bob Hennelly of The Chief Leader, who has since reported on “the vociferous objections from several uniformed-union leaders” to the possibility that workers will need to be vaccinated against COVID or submit to weekly testing.
Vaccination rates are higher for employees of the DOE employees than for NYPD (58% of education department employees had received at least one vaccine dose, according to city data from early July). But both DOE and NYPD employees have been vaccinated at a lower rate than all New York City adults, 70 percent of whom have gotten at least one dose.
City officials declined to outline what factors they’re considering in stepping up vaccine or testing requirements for educators or when they would make a decision.
Let the mayor know that requiring vaccination or weekly testing for all public-facing city workers is good policy and that he should not delay.
Have a good weekend!
with love,
L