March 29, 2022
Dear friends,
On Friday, I marched with young people for a sustainable future. I was interviewed by a documentary filmmaker who spent some time with me, looking at the handmade signs that many of the protesters were carrying.
We talked about the idea of activism as an art, one that calls on all of our senses to move the work forward. I regret not asking this young artist for their name.
Brian Torres, the filmmaker, wanted to know what happens after we march. And so I talked about the legislative agenda in NYS and the dangerous mythology that it’s too late to act.
We are, however, coming down to the wire for budget-making in NYS, so today is a day for hope-in-action:
The Extended Producer Responsibility Act, a NYS bill
would place the responsibility on producers, rather than overwhelmed municipalities, for recycling or otherwise responsibly disposing of packaging waste at the end of its lifetime.
The overarching goal is to get producers to reduce packaging waste.
Call on your legislators to pass the Extended Producer Responsibility Act. This is a 15-second(!) action from the New York League of Conservation Voters.
As members of the public, we have the opportunity to submit comments on the proposed scoping plan from New York State’s Climate Action Plan. NY Renews has created a new comment on waste management, including calls for extended polluter responsibility legislation, organics composting, improved recycling, and waste reduction.
Submit a comment calling for a comprehensive waste management plan This 15-second (!) action is from NY Renews.
As the child of a frugal and resourceful engineer, I admire relatively low-tech innovations that offer inexpensive solutions to serious problems.
Because most filters provide no indication of when they are no longer effective, the team made a filtration cartridge with chemicals that bind to dissolved lead, while the reaction byproduct discolors water that is still contaminated.
Climate activists are taking a new tack in addressing the emissions of cryptomining: the campaign is called
Change the Code Not the Climate.
The issue is that the “proof of work” code that verifies bitcoin requires massive computing power; an alternative method, used by etherium, relies on something called “proof of stake.” I will not try to explain the difference; the important bottom line is that the shift to “proof of stake” verification could vastly reduce energy use.
It isn’t yet clear how we can join this campaign; please keep your eyes open and let me know if you find out before I do!
He sees Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine as an outrage, but possibly also a step towards solving the climate crisis and a way to save trillions of dollars. “[Putin] has managed to bring about all the outcomes that he most feared, but he may inadvertently have put the energy transition and climate solutions into a higher gear.
“Solar and wind are now the cheapest bulk power sources in 91% of the world, and the UN’s International Energy Agency (IEA) expects renewables to generate 90% of all new power in the coming years. The energy revolution has happened.”
Lovins lays waste to the argument for nuclear power. I won’t quote him further, though I urge you to read the article to the end. He makes a very strong case for further, faster investment in renewable energy as well as energy conservation.
Call on the Biden Administration to fight climate change AND authoritarianism with massive investments in clean energy.
If my dad were around, he would cheer on Lovins’s suggestion of
a mass movement to knit millions of cheery yellow and blue woolly hats. That, and people turning down their thermostats by two or three degrees would save billions of cubic metres of gas.
Every once in a while, you get to hear an informed, outraged, and well-spoken legislator spell out what’s going on in this country or their little corner of it. It’s a powerful reminder not to give up, even after hearing the bullshit attacks on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson by Republican senators during last week’s hearings.
Watch Kentucky state senator explain to her colleagues why their bill outlawing abortion after 15 weeks is unconscionable. The video is just 2 minutes long.
I didn’t watch the hearings last week — as with the Oscars and the State of the Union, I prefer to catch the highlights and then read about them. But I was wondering why the Republicans did not linger over Judge Jackson’s decisions pertaining to the former president.
Jackson took a direct shot at Trump’s often-stated claims of executive privilege to rebuff attempts by Congress and other investigators to subpoena his associates or key documents.
In the ruling, which was overturned on appeal, Judge Jackson famously stated that
presidents are not kings.
For those of us who are grateful not to live under authoritarianism, Judge Jackson’s words (and the ruling as a whole) were refreshing, but they could have been treated by Republicans as an example of judicial overreach, because her ruling was reversed. The pundits have noted, however, that Republicans are distancing themselves from the former president, sensing that he is the wildcard that could cost them the midterms.
Call me naive, but I think we can remind the electorate that the Big Lie came from a Big Liar, and the Republicans (lesser, pandering liars) provided cover — failing to remove him after two impeachments! — for his various high crimes and misdemeanors. I am not giving up on a Democratic congress. Go ahead. . .tell me I’m naive.
This brings me to a few more hopeful signs that we should celebrate today: there is some progress in the talks between Russia and Ukraine. Here in the US, the former president is bragging about a hole-in-one. This is likely delaying the rage response to the news that the walls are indeed closing in.
Yesterday, a federal judge ruled that Trump and one of his lawyers, John Eastman, likely committed felonies in their efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The judge included, among the probable felonies,
obstructing the work of Congress and conspiring to defraud the United States.
Many of us despair of Trump ever being held accountable for anything. I am cautiously optimistic. Meanwhile, if we can keep his criminality in view, that will help. There are lots of reasons to wish for a cease-fire in Europe, and this is but one.
Have a good day!
with love,
L