Dear friends,
We are still fighting the good fight on NY State’s scoping plan for climate action. There’s a new comment from NY Renews on the subject of biomass.
Don’t feel badly if this term is unfamiliar; I didn’t know what biomass was either. Biomass is mainly woody matter — and also straw, pulp, animal waste, solid waste, and sewage — that is burned as fuel instead of being processed into liquid fuels.
Because biomass can be heated to produce biogas — a process called “thermal gasification” — it is sometimes considered renewable energy. But gasifying biomass contributes to emissions and local pollution.
Tell the Climate Action Council that substituting biomass for fossil fuels is a false solution. This is a 15-second action!
The crypto mining moratorium was the only climate legislation from the Climate Can’t Wait package of bills to pass the legislature. We need Governor Hochul to sign it.
insisting that donations and support from the cryptocurrency industry would not influence her decision.
Call or write the Governor to tell her to sign the moratorium! This takes 30-seconds! This action has been updated.
A second infuriating moment in Tuesday night’s debate was Hochul’s response to a question about congestion pricing:
Hochul didn’t say that New Yorkers have been waiting long enough or tout the reduced pollution from driving that tolls will cause or mention how the MTA’s capital plan depends on the billion dollars in revenue from the toll or even point out that New Yorkers support the idea and said they’d switch to mass transit to get into Manhattan.
Instead the incumbent vaguely gestured to supporting congestion pricing before unleashing a word salad of non-committal gobbledygook.
“I support congestion pricing,” said Hochul. “But we’ve been in negotiation with the federal government, who have a say on the next step and they have now put some hurdles in the way we have to overcome. So this is not going to happen in the next year under any circumstances. But now is not the right time.”
Watch Jumaane Williams respond to the same question.
Tell the Governor that congestion pricing is overdue and we’re tired of waiting. This is a 30-second action.
The student council members that I’ve been working with in a Bronx middle school have undertaken to convince their school leadership to do something about school lunch. They expressed their concerns:
Add more flavor. They should make a Taco Tuesday and make better pizza.
There should be more options for lunch. People should get a second serving.
When asked if the meat is halal, some teachers don’t know and the ones that say yes don’t look very confident in their answer.
School lunches should be separated on the tray not mixed together.
[We need] more inclusive options for people with allergies.
Food is not a side issue. As one student noted:
Kids need the nutrients that good and healthy lunches give us to have better focus in class and for our brains to keep pumping that smartness juice.
Ample research shows the educational, health and behavioral benefits for students who eat breakfast and lunch. But millions of students cannot afford to pay a full-price school lunch, and a pre-pandemic survey by the School Nutrition Association found as many as 75% of school districts in America have unpaid student meal debt.
Under the old rules, for a student to qualify for a subsidized meal, a student’s family would have to submit an application including some of their financial information. These applications are complicated and can cause embarrassment, according to Jillien Meier, the director of No Kid Hungry, a food access advocacy group.
Meier described the “huge stigma” attached to being identified as a student requiring free meals, which is why the waivers were such an effective way of reaching hungry children.
Tell Congress to extend pandemic support to the National School Lunch Program! This 15-second action is from the Juggernaut Project.
Yesterday, I rallied with climate activists and workers and the Alliance for a Greater New York (ALIGN) for bold climate action. Whenever I spend time with union people, I am reminded of all the problems I have not faced in my work life owing to my union membership. Below, a public service announcement for freelancers:
If you work freelance in NYS, please fill out the survey to help document the problem of non-payment for services. This action is from the Freelancers Union.
Finally, some important election reminders (before I start advising you on whom to vote for):
Monday, June 13 is the last day to request an absentee ballot for the June 28 primary. That means that if you’re mailing a request, the BOE must receive it by Monday. Before you request a ballot, read this:
Due to a recent change in law, New York State voters are no longer permitted to cast a ballot on a voting machine if they have already been issued an absentee ballot for that election. Voters who have already been issued an absentee ballot can still vote in person using an affidavit ballot.
You can request an absentee ballot online as late as Monday.
Remember that there are two primaries in NYS: June 28 and August 23. Early voting for the June primary begins on June 18. The August primary was scheduled because of the delay of the new district maps; it is only for State Senate and US House of Representatives.
Use The City’s online tool to tell if you’ve been redistricted. After you enter your address, scroll down to see the map/s.
Have a great day!
with love,
L