Hi friends,
This morning, a friend referred to the ten plagues while describing a soccer game that was cancelled due to swarming insects. References to Exodus aside, I balk whenever people talk about escaping the various climate threats and pollutants, as I have the stay-and-fight instinct. There’s also a question of where to go.
So, here we are, all of us. Today is the last day to comment on the EPA’s proposed rule to prohibit consumer uses and many industrial uses of methylene chloride, which is
most commonly used as a solvent in adhesives and sealants, automotive products, and paint and coating removers.
The rule includes exceptions: the civil aviation industry and NASA have ten years to phase out the use of the chemical and exceptions can thereafter be made if there isn’t a feasible alternative that’s safer.
The chemical poses a danger to workers and consumers. At least 85 people have died from toxic exposure to methylene chloride since 1980 and others have suffered severe health effects including cancer. Act twice for extra credit! Apologies for leaving you so little time to act.
Tell the EPA to ban the toxic chemical methylene chloride! This quick action is from Public Citizen and the public comment period ends today!
Tell the EPA to ban methylene chloride. This one’s from Toxic Free Future.
The Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) Southgate Extension was not explicitly named in the fast-tracking provisions that Congress included in the debt-ceiling deal, but developers are trying to push it through. In mid-June, they submitted their request for an extension of their original Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) certificate.
The 15-day comment period, which includes tomorrow’s federal holiday, limits our chances to comment. Hopefully you have the day off tomorrow and will find time to take action. Please feel free to add your own version of the next two sentences in the comment section.
Extending the Mountain Valley Pipeline into North Carolina threatens water supplies there. Building pipelines lengthens our commitment to planet-destroying fossil fuels.
Tell FERC to stop the Southgate extension of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. This action is from Appalachian Voices.
On Earth Day in 2022, President Biden signed an executive order to “strengthen America’s forests.” It’s not the verb I would have chosen. I would have used the word protect.
The order acknowledged the “irreplaceable role” forests play in sequestering planet-warming greenhouse gasses and tasked the nation’s two largest federal land managers, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service, with inventorying the nation’s remaining carbon-rich forests and then crafting rules to better conserve them in the face of mounting climate change impacts.
There has been too little action to back up the order. Add your voice to help make the rules. It takes hundreds of years to replace old-growth forest. We haven’t got that kind of time.
Make a public comment to the US Forest Service to protect old-growth forests! This quick action is from Great Old Broads.
A reader contacted to me to let me know that the doc below didn’t have sharing permissions on. Now you can let the president know that it’s a conflict of interest to have an oil company CEO as the leader of the world’s next big climate convention.
Call on Joe Biden to push for better leadership at COP28.
On the eve of July 4, meant to be a celebration of independence from colonial rule and the rejection of tyranny, it’s worth noting that there are activists facing harsh penalties for political expression while climate criminals roam free.
Last month, two climate activists were indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit an offense against the US and injury to a National Gallery of Art exhibit for an action that temporarily defaced the plexiglas case around a Degas sculpture. Each charge carries a maximum prison sentence of five years and a fine of up to $250,000.
On June 24, there was an action at the Met to protest the severe penalties that the two climate activists — Joanna Smith and Tim Martin — are facing.
“If [they] had been graffiti artists using fingerpaint to tag plexiglass, they wouldn’t be facing the prospect of lengthy prison sentences,” said an organizer with Rise & Resist. “Their indictment is not based on their actions, but on their motivations. It is an indictment of intimidation, rather than a pursuit of justice.”
Sign the petition to the Assistant US Attorney General to drop the charges against Smith and Martin. This quick action is from Rise and Resist and Extinction Rebellion.
Extinction Rebellion is planning an action at the Met on Saturday, July 8. It doesn’t involve any damage or defacement of art. It is both a solidarity action to call attention to the excessive punishment sought against the Degas Two and an action to get
museum-goers [to] pause and deeply reflect on the contradiction of admiring art while our planet is engulfed in flames.
Learn more about the action and register to participate.
Consider not setting fire to anything tomorrow!
with love,
L