Dear friends,
Each week, I scavenge for the good news because this is long-haul work and we need to see some results, even when the triumphs are small.
Today, I get to report a big win. Or rather, Bill McKibben reported it yesterday and I get to bring it to you, if you’ve not already seen it.
Earlier today, President Biden signed [an executive order] which mandates the use of the 1950 Defense Production Act to spur the production of heat pumps, because, as he puts it in the text, “ensuring a robust, resilient, and sustainable domestic industrial base to meet the requirements of the clean energy economy is essential to our national security, a resilient energy sector, and the preservation of domestic critical infrastructure.”
Biden’s order isn’t precisely what we’d called for, since the heat pumps are destined for US homes instead of European ones—but that may well be more politically palatable, and in any event, as we’ve pointed out over and over, oil is a global market. If we can suppress demand here by giving people efficient technology, it will help drive down the windfall that rising oil prices have provided Putin.
Climate action should not be a tough sell, given the stark realities.
The president also announced that
The Commerce Department’s investigation into whether China has been using other Southeast Asian nations in order to bypass US tariffs will continue while we lift the import ban that is hampering our transition from fossil fuel dependence.
In addition to heat pumps, the Defense Production Act will be used to expand the domestic manufacture of solar panels and building insulation.
The good news is that they’ve won an agreement that will require the US Fish and Wildlife Service to
update and improve habitat protections for the state’s ailing manatees over the next two years, under a legal agreement announced this week.
The agreement comes as the gentle sea cows face extraordinary habitat challenges in Florida, most notably widespread water quality problems and seagrass losses in the 156-mile Indian River Lagoon, crucial manatee habitat on the east coast.
Making rules and enforcing them is one of the key functions of government, especially when they provide for the common defense and promote the general welfare of ourselves and our posterity.
The previous administration deliberately sought to block states and Indigenous tribes from citing climate change as the basis for challenging federal permits or licenses for fossil fuel projects. A new draft regulation from the EPA would flip that script.
[T]he decision could also have broad implications in the fight against climate change, as a paralyzed Congress continues to thrust the burden of drastically reducing the nation’s emissions onto states.
The rights of nature, which should be free from both state and federal interference, are not enshrined in the US Constitution. Of course, waterways will still need lawyers even when the principle that ecosystems have legal personhood is widely accepted.
The first three-way debate for the Democratic nomination in this year’s gubernatorial primary is this evening. The debate will be moderated by CBS2's anchorman Maurice DuBois and political reporter Marcia Kramer.
Watch Jumaane Williams, Tom Suozzi, and Kathy Hochul at 7 PM tonight.
Pay close attention to what they say about realizing the state’s climate goals.
The body armor legislation raises concerns for journalists, who frequently find themselves in harm’s way while doing their jobs.
Take 30 seconds to urge the governor to include journalists on the list of designated professions so that they can purchase body armor.
Port Jervis, NY installed a historical marker to acknowledge the lynching of Robert Lewis in 1892. Lewis was a Black man killed by a mob. As the plaque notes:
No one was held accountable for his murder.
One hundred thirty years later, the residents of his town will say his name.
A Colorado sixth-grader was feeling pretty low because his classmates didn’t want to sign his yearbook. He had enduring bullying, which the school had addressed to some extent, but the freeze-out at the end of the year felt really bad.
When his mother posted about it on a private Facebook group for parents at her son’s school, older students — an eighth grader and two 11th graders — showed up to his class with some friends they’d rounded up to write encouraging messages in the sixth grader’s yearbook. And some of his classmates followed their example.
His mom’s goal was to start a conversation in other families about bullying. The outcome was a good reminder that young people are having those conversations with each other and they know how painful bullying and social exclusion are.
An intervention by other young people is a good thing. It is not a substitute for investing in mental health support.
It’s budget season in NYC, and there’s a rally today to call for a $5 billion investment in public transit, infrastructure, and jobs and a $4 billion for affordable housing.
Turn out at 11 AM at Tweed Courthouse AND sign this one-click action from The People’s Plan.
Have a great day!
with love,
L