Dear friends,
Sometimes, I feel naive because it seems that every problem we face is simply a question of greed. Could it be that simple?
Robert Reich wrote a piece this week opposing child labor, remarking that the topic is embarrassing in 2023. A former Secretary of Labor and professor of public policy, Reich makes me feel both less naive and more despondent:
This is unfortunately where capitalism is heading, and has always been heading: children competing with their parents for jobs amid the ruins of societies we sacrificed for profit. But for awhile it seemed like child labor might have escaped the empire to live primarily in its colonial subjects.
Exploiting child labor is not okay anywhere.
Send a message to the US states to stop the rollbacks of child labor laws that facilitate the trafficking and exploitation of migrant children. This quick action is from Freedom United.
Approximately 1.3 million active duty military personnel are expected to work without pay.
If there’s a shutdown, nutrition benefits through WIC (for low-income women and their young children), Section 8 housing vouchers, veterans’ benefits including disability payments, and loans for farmers are likely to be affected almost immediately.
A longer shutdown will create greater hardships, including a cessation of SNAP benefits. The impact on federal employees who don’t receive pay will also ripple outward, as they miss rent or mortgage payments.
Take action with Moms Rising, a group that holds corporations and government officials accountable to build a nation where both businesses and families can thrive.
It was a strong turnout on the day following a mass climate march and rally, especially given the very rainy weather and the potential of arrest.
Alicé Nascimento, one of the event organizers and the campaigns director for climate advocacy group New York Communities for Change [said], “I hope that the fossil fuel financiers understand this is an escalation and as long as they continue to invest in fossil fuels we will continue to escalate.”
[G]overnment subsidies for fossil fuel companies and consumption doubled globally in 2022 over the previous year — to $1 trillion, a record high.
By the end of the day 149 protesters — of the roughly 500 who turned out — were arrested. Their focus was on getting central banks and financial regulators to decouple our financial institutions from the dirty business that keeps us tied to fossil fuels.
We can keep the pressure on down the chain by calling on banks and the large corporations that do business with them to change their practices.
Write to the executives at Citibank to urge them to stop funding fossil fuels. This quick action is from Stop the Money Pipeline.
Call on Costco to drop Citibank because of Citi’s role in funding catastrophic climate change. This quick action comes from Th!rd Act.
It would require all vendors to the state to demonstrate that no tropical deforestation was caused in the production of their products.
If you read ingredient labels in an effort to avoid palm oil or other products that have contributed to plantation farming and deforestation, this bill is for you. If you love the birds that used to have habitats before monocultures destroyed them, this bill is for you. We still need the governor to sign it.
Tell Governor Hochul to sign the Tropical Deforestation-Free Procurement Act. Stop the Money Pipeline makes it easy!
It’s hard to avoid the former president when following the money: this week, a civil court judge in New York found that
Trump and his company deceived banks, insurers and others by massively overvaluing his assets and exaggerating his net worth on paperwork used in making deals and securing loans.
We always knew.
For a good laugh, read Andy Borowitz’s “Trump University Graduates Outraged They Were Never Taught to Defraud Banks.”
with love,
L