Dear friends,
Now that it’s spring, it’s nice to get out in the streets. On Tuesday, Lena and I joined a spirited Third Act protest outside the Chase Bank in downtown Boston. The protests outside banks around the country were part of a coordinated call to get financial institutions to stop funding climate chaos.
Anita Betterbank cut up her credit card outside of Chase Bank.
In a campaign called Banking on Our Future, Third Act has organized about 17,000 people — so far — to pledge to close accounts and cut up their credit cards unless banks stop funding fossil fuel projects. Those pledges were delivered to banks across the country.
The demonstrations happened a day after a United Nations report was released showing that the world is on track to face catastrophic warming. However, world leaders already have the necessary tools to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save lives, according to the report.
I didn’t move fast enough to get a photograph of the guy with the solar-powered chainsaw cutting up the giant credit card above, but it was fun to watch.
It’s not too late to join the call relay with NY Renews to pass the Climate Jobs, and Justice package. You can call from your apartment or the park!
You may be aware of the ‘new research’ about the hazards of gas stoves. But more than 50 years ago, the American Gas Association prepared a draft report on natural gas and the environment that
included a section on “Indoor Air Quality Control” that detailed its concerns with pollution from gas appliances like carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides. The document showed that the trade group was in the process of researching solutions “for the purposes of limiting the levels of carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides in household air.” But all that information disappeared from the final text.
The new studies show that gas stoves contribute heavily to childhood asthma and that both planet-warming methane and benzene — a carcinogen — leak from the stoves even when they’re turned off.
Send a public comment to the US Department of Energy to strengthen regulations for gas stoves. Please personalize it!
Yesterday, I joined the rally for Fair Pay for Home Care in lower Manhattan. The argument for keeping older people in their homes and communities was powerfully made, not only by the speakers, but by two dance troupes of senior citizens, the first of which has an average age of 82.
Start the video at 52:45 to see the dancing!
I saw my friend Claudia Mallea at the rally with her mom. Claudia recently published a piece that asks the question, “Is Kathy Hochul our negligent mother?” because
Governor Hochul refuses to appropriately fund home health care for her elderly and disabled constituents, such as myself. After surviving a cerebral aneurysm on my 24th birthday in December of 2021, I need home care to feed myself, bathe, exercise, and go to medical appointments. I have the privilege of parents who are able to care for me here in Brooklyn. My Mom is my unpaid home healthcare worker. If I weren’t so lucky, I could have ended up in a nursing home. . . . [T]he wages for homecare workers are so low that, as for so many others, I would likely be unable to find aides.
Claudia — shown here with her wonderful, caring mother, Tamara — points out that a care workforce shortage that has left 20% of home care positions in the state unfilled means that thousands New Yorkers go without the care they need, jeopardizing their health, forcing them into nursing homes, and sometimes costing their lives.
Call on the governor to care for the people who need it most and fund Fair Pay for Home Care in this year’s budget. This action is updated!
As usual, there is SO much going on. Our rally was just a few blocks south of the vigil of reporters, army of cops, and scattering of pro-Trumpers awaiting the former president’s indictment.
Let’s end with a quick action in support of the Universal School Meals Act, which would eliminate “lunch debt” and expand access to meals for children year-round!
Call on your Congressional delegation to support the Universal School Meals Act. This action is from More Perfect Union.
with love,
L