News Feeds | ecology.iww.org (2024)

Food Tank - Thu, 05/23/2024 - 08:47

House Agriculture Chair Glenn “GT” Thompson recently unveiled the full bill text of the 2024 Farm Bill. Lawmakers including Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa have previously said they are uncertain whether Democratic and Republican leaders will be able to pass a bipartisan Bill this year. But food policy expert Eric Kessler argues that the failure to come to an agreement may be preferable to a Farm Bill that compromises on critical programs.

“No Farm Bill is better than a bad Farm Bill,” says Kessler, who founded and previously served as Co-Head of Arabella Advisors. Calling the House version of the Bill “as far from bipartisan as you can get,” he tells Food Tank that it is “a direct attack on anti-hunger and nutrition programs…[and] climate programs.”

The legislative package, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates could cost as much as US$1.5 trillion over 10 years, covers everything from nutrition assistance programs and conservation to commodities and rural development.

The latest House version proposes cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs by almost US$30 billion. It also alters requirements for conservation funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, developed to support more climate-smart agriculture practices.

“I think [Republicans] are cynically looking at their constituency and what they believe their constituencies want and saying: Hey, we can convince them that climate change isn’t real, we can convince them that this money isn’t doing any good and put it into things that support big ag,” Kessler tells Food Tank. But, he says, “the polling doesn’t support that. Americans understand climate change.”

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack recently expressed “deep concerns” about the House Farm Bill stating, “It really is designed not to create a route to passage, but I think it’s designed unfortunately for a route to impasse which will create further delay.”

But Kessler says that even if lawmakers cannot come to an agreement, “the funding is there to continue hunger programs, continue nutrition programs, continue climate programs.” That’s why he tells Food Tank “let’s just keep rolling rather than agree to a bill that actually cuts these programs.”

Listen to the full conversation with Eric Kessler on “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg” to here more about the competing version of the House and Senate Farm Bills, what makes chefs powerful food systems advocates, and why evolving perspectives on investments in food and agriculture sector give him hope.

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Photo courtesy of Zoe Schaeffer, Unsplash

The post What to Expect from the Latest Farm Bill Negotiations appeared first on Food Tank.

Categories: A3. Agroecology

Common Dreams - Thu, 05/23/2024 - 08:46

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released its 2024 Atlantic hurricane outlook today, which predicts an 85% chance of an above normal and possibly record-breaking season. The outlook forecasts 17 to 25 named storms of which eight to 13 could become hurricanes, with four to seven major hurricanes expected. Scientists also raised the alarm that record-warm sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic coupled with a 77% likelihood of La Niña conditions developing between August and October could lead to storms that rapidly intensify as they approach land and bring excessive rain upon landfall—an increasingly common phenomenon for which government officials, local emergency planners and residents must prepare.

In addition to storms, coastal communities may see a significant number of tidal flooding events, a trend that is expected to worsen if policymakers fail to rein in heat-trapping emissions and address the climate crisis. According to a peer-reviewed analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), in the decades ahead as many as 360 coastal communities could face chronic inundation due to sea level rise primarily driven by climate change. Likewise, as many as 311,000 coastal homes with a collective market value of about $117.5 billion as of 2018 could be at risk of chronic flooding by midcentury.

Below is a statement by Dr. Astrid Caldas, a senior climate scientist for community resilience at UCS.

“As a climate scientist that tracks hurricane activity, I recognize that the fun-filled summer season has increasingly become a time of dread for the dangers that await. The people and places that have found themselves in the path of a tropical storm can attest to its utter and enduring devastation, which often hits communities of color and low-income communities the hardest.

“U.S. coastal communities are tired of crossing their fingers and hoping these storms of epic, record-breaking proportions veer away from their homes, dissipate, or spin out over the Atlantic. It’s imperative that local, state, and federal policymakers and emergency planners help keep communities safe by prioritizing investments to get homes, businesses, and infrastructure in frontline communities climate-ready and be prepared to ensure a quick and just recovery should disaster strike. Reining in heat-trapping emissions driving the climate crisis is also essential.”

Dr. Caldas and other UCS experts are available to speak about the following topics related to the 2024 hurricane season:

• How climate change is impacting hurricane activity and rising sea levels.
• How hurricanes exacerbate existing racial and socioeconomic inequities, and compound public health disparities.
• The risks a specific storm event may pose to electric grid infrastructure and nuclear power plants in its path.
• The role fossil fuel companies have played in exacerbating climate change events.
• How investments to help communities prepare before disasters strike can help limit future economic damages and prevent loss of life.
• The role that the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency and Department of Housing and Urban Development play in disaster response and recovery.
• Ways the insurance market is being affected by climate change and the implications for at-risk communities.

Additional Resources and Analyses:

• A newly launched UCS online map, which tracks the places at risk of extreme heat, wildfires, storms, poor air quality and flooding during the 2024 Danger Season.
• UCS blogposts from this and previous Danger Seasons.
• A 2020 UCS report titled “A Toxic Relationship: Extreme Coastal Flooding and Superfund Sites,” which found hundreds of hazardous sites were at risk of flooding in the coming decades due to sea level rise and hurricanes.
• A 2015 UCS report titled “Lights Out? Storm Surge, Blackouts, and How Clean Energy Can Help,” which examined the risks storm surge and coastal flooding pose to power plants, substations, and other electricity infrastructure along the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts.
• Peer-reviewed research by UCS that shows how much global sea surface temperatures, sea level rise, and ocean acidification can be traced to emissions from the products of ExxonMobil and other major fossil fuel companies.
• A UCS fact sheet on the science connecting extreme weather events, like hurricanes, to climate change.

Categories: F. Left News

Green European Journal - Thu, 05/23/2024 - 08:41

Во последно време, ЕУ ги претвора кризите во можности за да ја придвижи својата зелена агенда. Но, кога станува збор за енергетската транзиција, надминувањето на внатрешните поделби помеѓу земјите-членки не е доволно: Зелениот договор не може да успее без силна надворешна димензија. Натали Точи објаснува како ЕУ треба да ја предводи глобалната борба против климатските промени.

Едуар Годо: Во Вашата книга Зелена и глобална Европа тврдите дека ЕУ е глобален лидер благодарение на своите климатски амбиции и политики? Каков тип на лидерство претставува тоа?

Натали Точи: ЕУ претрпе речиси две децении егзистенцијална криза, почнувајќи со одбивањето на Договорот за воспоставување Устав во 2005 година, потоа кризата во еврозоната, миграциите, брегзит, пандемијата и сега војната во Украина. Поради големината на овие кризи таа неколку пати се соочи со изгледи за колапс. Но, додека во првиот од сите овие шокови ЕУ се изгуби и себеси и способноста да ги претвори во можности, таа динамика се промени со пандемијата, а сега и со војната. ЕУ ги искористи овие понеодамнешни кризи за да напредува на својот интеграциски пат на начини што се блиску поврзани со зелената агенда.

Фондовите на Следна генерација на ЕУ беа обоени зелено и тоа додаде вистинска вредност на Европскиот зелениот договор. Сличен аргумент може да се извлече и за војната, а тој не беше очигледен. Постоеше ризик дека енергетската безбедност би можела да се толкува исклучиво низ нечиста призма. Но, повеќе од една година подоцна, безбедно може да заклучиме дека тоа не се случи и дека инвестициите во обновливи извори на енергија се зголемија.

На ЕУ очајно ѝ беше потребен нов наратив, нова визија, нов начин да се разбере себеси и да се поврзе со своите граѓани, особено со помладите генерации. Начинот за тоа да се направи беше повторно да се создаде нов модел на раст кој нема да биде заснован само на ограничувања и на правила, туку ќе биде поврзан и со конструктивна, продуктивна, напредна агенда.

Така, внатрешниот поредок на ЕУ е мојата појдовна точка. Каква врска има тоа со надворешно лидество? ЕУ долго се сметаше за лидер во однос на климатските прашања, но тие никогаш не беа навистина во средиштето на меѓународните или на домашните политички агенди. Сега, одеднаш, климатските промени и енергетската транзиција се во фокусот не само на ЕУ, туку и на домашната политика. Меѓународните односи стануваат далеку поисполитизирани, па дури и поларизирани. Во извесна мера, тоа го сметам за добра вест, бидејќи тоа значи дека сега зелената транзиција станува реална: треба да се направи одреден избор и баланс, се појавуваат победници и губитници, и неизбежно сето тоа станува понепопустлива игра. Тоа претставува предизвик за ЕУ: повторно да открие што значи надворешно лидерство (алатките на климатската дипломатија од деведесеттите и од почетоците на XXI век не вршат работа), додека ги става климатските промени и транзицијата во суштината на својата внатрешна приказна.

А кој предводи со ЕУ? Советот, Парламентот, земјите-членки?

Едноставниот одговор би бил Комисијата и Претседателката Фон дер Лајен. Комисијата не се покажа особено добро во претходните кризи. Нејзиното лидерство беше слабо, на чело со Советот и особено со Европскиот совет. По пандемијата, Комисијата (особено нејзината претседателка Урсула фон дер Лајен) завршија значителна работа со тоа што станаа лицето, во „кисинџерска“ смисла, на ЕУ лидерство.

Што се однесува на земјите-членки, би се очекувало Германија да биде истакнат лидер, особено со зелените како дел од владината коалиција. Но, тоа досега не се случи, барем не на начин на кој се очекуваше, бидејќи коалицијата се бори да прикаже силен идентитет. На пример, при неодамнешното превирање за моторите со согорување и е-горива Германија имаше приговор за зелените мерки и потпиша матни билатерални договори со Комисијата. Во тој поглед, Германија не го направи она што се очекуваше од неа.

На транзицијата треба да гледаме како нешто што речиси наликува на револуција.

Франција е интересна. Втор во извршната власт на ЕУ, во смисла на важност, е внатрешниот пазарен инспектор Тиери Бретон. Другите инспектори, вклучувајќи го и потпретседателот Франс Тимерманс, се помалку убедливи. Сметам дека ова го одразува фактот што индустриските политики се во мода насекаде во светот. Франција стана еден од стожерите поради тоа што отсекогаш се залагала за индустриска политика и за поголема улога на државата. Нејзиниот успех во поглед на нуклеарната агенда е уште еден знак за тоа.

Како може ЕУ да ги надмине тензиите помеѓу нејзините земји-членки? Било да се работи за Полска, Романија и Чешка во поглед на јагленот, Германија и Италија во поглед на автомобилите или поскапувањето на енергенсите за граѓаните, постојат многу прашања што го отежнуваат внатрешното лидерство. Дали ќе биде доволен само наратив?

На транзицијата треба да гледаме како нешто што речиси наликува на револуција. Револуциите создаваат победници и губитници, главното прашање е како да им се надомести на губитниците. Бидејќи ако не им се надомести, отпорот да се променат ризиците станува ненадминлив.

Постојат различни начини транзицијата да се направи посакувана за многумина, но дел од неа секогаш ќе има врска со компромис, а остатокот со пари. Неопходен е компромис ако сакате сите да се согласни, а тоа и се случуваше со моторите со согорување сè додека некој не се обиде да го попречи процесот. Исто така, финансирањето е клучен аспект, а токму затоа ЕУ ги има Фондот за праведна транзиција, Европскиот социјален фонд и сака да ги искористи приходите од Системот за тргување со емисии и од Механизмот за прилагодување на јаглеродната граница.

Сумите за коишто станува збор можеби не се ни приближно до неопходното. Во последната година и половина, земјите од ЕУ (плус Норвешка и Велика Британија) потрошија 800 милијарди евра на сметки за јавни услуги за да ја ублажат енергетската криза. Тоа е истиот износ што Следна генерација на ЕУ ќе го троши во текот на седум години, а само 40 проценти од него е наменет за климатските промени. Кога ќе настапи криза, владите мора да изнајдат средства, така што треба да ги убедиме да ги инвестираат своите пари онаму каде што е неопходно пред да биде предоцна.

Уделот на Кина во индустријата на соларни панели изнесува околу 80 проценти, а Актот за намалување на инфлацијата на САД (IRA) предизвика паника во ЕУ. Дали е Европа веродостоен зелен лидер? Дали се остварливи нејзините индустриски амбиции?

ЕУ не може да биде климатски лидер на начин на којшто беше во минатото. Таа мора одново да се избори за тоа право. IRA има многу значителни ограничувања, особено ако се гледа низ призма на климатските промени и транзицијата. Како правен акт, тој е првенствено насочен кон Кина, па дури потоа на климатските промени.

За разлика од Европа, зелената транзиција е политички екстремно контроверзна во САД. Единствената причина што IRA постои во таков облик и со таква големина беше да се натераат демократите и републиканците да се согласат околу нешто. Но колку е одржливо да се адресираат климатските прашања само преку финансирање? Колку пакети од 400 милијарди долари може да се изгласаат долгорочно? Поразумно е да се обложите на комбинација од регулатива на финансирањето и на систем за одредување цена на јаглеродот. Во тој поглед, пристапот на ЕУ е поодржлив.

Европскиот зелен договор никогаш не се однесуваше на Кина, туку на транзицијата. Сепак, денес тој треба да разбие надворешен аспект. Прашањето е како одново да се дефинира надворешното климатско лидерство, со оглед на тоа што светот (дури и ако само помислиме на односот меѓу САД и Кина) фундаментално се промени.

Глобално, растат тензиите во поглед на критичните ресурси и на суровините есенцијални за енергетската транзиција. Во тој поглед, постои амбивалентност во начинот на кој ЕУ ги третира своите соседи. Не постои ли ризик дека надворешното климатско лидерство наликува на класичен неоколонијализам базиран на ресурси?

По комплетната руска инвазија врз Украина целото внимание на ЕУ е насочено кон тоа таа да се одвикне од руските фосилни горива. Но, завршивме на истото место каде што бевме кога правевме резерви со вакцини во текот на пандемијата. Складирањето гас направи цените на гасот и сите цени генерално да пораснат, не само во ЕУ, туку и во целиот свет. Така што реакцијата на војната и на енергетската криза не беше воопшто зелена, туку кафеава и скапа.

Значи, лидерството не треба да подразбира дека сите треба да станат како ЕУ. Целта е да се сфати дека транзицијата може да има различен ритам и различни форми.

Јас сум во советот на [италијанскиот енергетски гигант] ENI како независен неизвршен член последниве три години. Беше многу интересно да се види како Италија се сврти од Русија кон Алжир за нејзините потреби од гас. Немаше дополнително производство, така што алжирскиот гас беше одземен од друг клиент. Во замена за тоа што го лиши локалниот алжирски пазар од овој гас, Италија таму направи нови инвестиции во енергетска ефикасност, обновливи извори, секвестрирање и складирање јаглерод. На тој начин, може да се изгради партнерство со земјите во соседството така што тие ќе се вклучат во енергетската транзиција. Во земјите што не се членки на OECD, немаше големи инвестици во обновливи извори на енергија бидејќи враќањето на инвестициите во обновливи извори е многу пониско во споредба со фосилните горива.

Така, постои реален потенцијал овие земји да започнат да вклучуваат зелени инвестиции како дел од пошироки партнерства настрана од валканата енергија. Идеално, она што треба да се случи со текот на времето е зелената компонента во енергетската мешавина да порасне до степен што кафеавата веќе нема да биде потребна. Институциите на ЕУ треба да го предводат овој процес, а не само да сметаат на приватните компании. За тоа е потребна рамка што ќе го поттикне приватниот сектор да се приклучи.

Ако добро ве разбирам, да се сметате за лидер неопходно е да имате претстава каде одите. Европа е богат континент чија економија стагнира, нејзиното население се намалува, а нејзиното колонијално минато воведува сомнеж за неоколонијализам при секој трговски договор за кој таа преговара. Зошто Европа би требало да има апсирации да води некого, особено во поглед на новите наративи чиј предвесник е Кина или можеби BRICs?

ЕУ е одговорна за помалку од осум проценти од глобалните емисии. Ако треба да стане целосно зелена додека остатокот од светот е кафеав, таа би постигнала точно нула, всушност осум проценти, што не е добро. Ова, очигледно, е првата причина зошто ЕУ е заинтересирана за лидерство. Европската мисија кон зелено општество има смисла само во поширок глобален контекст. Второ, многу се говори за „одвојување“, што главно подразбира САД и Кина да ја намалат својата меѓусебна економска зависност. Но, одвојувањето на зелените и на кафеавите економии носи ризик за повисоки трошоци за сите вклучени во глобалниот вредносен синџир. Значи, лидерството не треба да подразбира дека сите треба да станат како ЕУ, а тоа не е лесно за Европејците. Целта е да се сфати дека транзицијата може да има различен ритам и различни форми. Во текот на процесот ќе дознаеме како може да придонесеме кон искуството на другите. Евентуалната дестинација е иста, но патиштата може да се различни. Ова мора да биде вежба за заеднички развој. Она што Европа не може, е, на пример, да му рече на Чиле: „Ние навистина ги сакаме вашите физички минерали. Но, не е можно во контекст на нашата FTA да ја заштитите вашата домашна индустрија со цел да развиете капацитети за складирање и за батерии“. Ако го задржи овој менталитет, ЕУ ќе заврши во друга форма на екстрактивизам и колонијализам. Напротив, како што ја става индустриската политика во суштината на она што го прави, ЕУ треба да ги поддржи индустриите во земјите-партнери за да им помогне да ги развијат своите капацитети и да го помести синџирот на вредности во поглед на технологијата и индустријата.

Categories: H. Green News

Common Dreams - Thu, 05/23/2024 - 08:40

Today, in a controversial 6-3 decision, the right-wing majority of the U.S. Supreme Court allowed South Carolina Republicans to proceed with a gerrymandered map that weakens the influence of Black voters in the halls of Congress.

This ruling reverses a lower court decision that determined the electoral maps were racially gerrymandered and ordered the state legislature to redraw its congressional districts.

Stand Up America Senior Associate for Policy and Political Affairs Tishan Weerasooriya issued the following statement in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Alexander v. South Carolina NAACP:

“Today, in yet another attack on our democracy, the Supreme Court's right-wing majority delivered a blow to the rights of Black voters in South Carolina. Their ruling undermines the ability of Black voters to elect representatives who truly represent their interests and sets a dangerous precedent for racial gerrymandering nationwide.

“Alexander v. South Carolina NAACP is a stark reminder of how vulnerable federal voting protections are for communities of color in the face of this Supreme Court. It has become increasingly clear, Congress must pass voting rights legislation and comprehensive Supreme Court reforms to safeguard the democratic principles upon which our nation was founded.”

Stand Up America’s nearly two million members have mobilized in support of Supreme Court reform––including court expansion, term limits, and a binding code of ethics––driving 800,000 constituent emails and calls to legislators and submitting over 30,000 letters to the editors of their local newspapers.

Categories: F. Left News

Pittsburgh Green New Deal - Thu, 05/23/2024 - 08:26

สล็อตออนไลน์ เว็บดังสุดฮิต อันดับ1ของเอเชีย

สล็อตออนไลน์ เว็บดังสุดฮิต อันดับ1ของเอเชีย เพลิดเพลินไปพร้อมกับความสนุก รับเงินรางวัลสุดคุ้มในการเล่นเกมได้แบบไม่อั้น ร่วมลงเดิมพันเล่นเกม ชนะรางวัลได้อย่างเต็มที่ กับเว็บสล็อตออนไลน์ที่ดีที่สุดในเอเชีย 1688upx เว็บตรง ถูกกฎหมาย ไม่ผ่านเอเย่นต์ ผู้ให้บริการเกมรายใหญ่ ที่มีฐานการเงินมั่นคง มีใบเซอร์การันตีการเปิดให้บริการ และยังได้รับความไว้วางใจ จากผู้ใช้งานจริงทั่วโลกอีกด้วย

เปิดให้บริการมาอย่างยาวนาน สามารถเข้าใช้งานเล่นเกมได้ตลอด 24 ชั่วโมง รองรับทุกแพลตฟอร์ม สร้างทำกำไร สร้างรายได้ในการเล่นเกม ได้ทุกที่ ทุกเวลา เพียงแค่มีคอมพิวเตอร์ หรือโทรศัพท์มือถือ เข้าใช้งานง่าย กับเว็บไซต์ของเรา ที่มีการพัฒนาระบบการเข้าใช้งาน พัฒนาระบบเกม ให้ดียิ่งขึ้นอย่างต่อเนื่อง สะดวก รวดเร็วทันใจ ต่อการเข้าใช้งานเล่นเกม ของผู้เล่นอย่างครอบคลุม

แหล่งรวมความสนุกของเกมสล็อตออนไลน์ ลงเดิมพันเล่นเกมได้อย่างมั่นใจ ร่วมสนุก เล่นเกมสล็อตออนไลน์ได้อย่างเพลิดเพลิน หากมีปัญหาในการเข้าใช้งาน ลงเดิมพันเล่นเกม เว็บไซต์ของเรา ก็ยังมีการบริการ มีการดูแล ผ่านเจ้าหน้าที่แอดมิน ของเว็บไซต์ อย่างครอบคลุม และใส่ใจ ตลอดในการเข้าใช้งานเล่นเกมอย่างต่อเนื่อง เล่นเกมสล็อตออนไลน์ กำไรง่าย ได้เงินจริง ต้องเกมสล็อตออนไลน์ บนเว็บไซต์ 1688upx เท่านั้น

เว็บตรง ทำกำไรหลักล้านก็จ่าย สล็อตออนไลน์ เว็บดังสุดฮิต อันดับ1ของเอเชีย

เข้าร่วมสนุก ลงเดิมพันเล่นเกม ชนะรางวัลได้ไม่อั้น กับเกมสล็อตออนไลน์ บนเว็บไซต์ 1688upx เว็บไซต์ยอดนิยมรายใหญ่คุณภาพดี ในเอเชีย ฐานการเงินมั่นคง ฐานผู้เล่นจำนวนมาก พร้อมทั้งยังมีใบเซอร์ การันตีการเปิดให้บริการ เชื่อถือได้ ปลอดภัย 100% เข้าใช้งานได้อย่างเพลิดเพลิน ลงเดิมพันเล่นเกมได้อย่างมั่นใจ เข้าใช้งานง่าย ลงเดิมพันชนะรางวัลได้ไม่อั้น การันตีการถอนเงินรางวัลได้จริง

เพลิดเพลิน ไปพร้อมกับความสนุก ความมันส์ และความบันเทิง ของเกมสล็อตออนไลน์กันได้อย่างเต็มที่ ลงเดิมพัน รับเงินรางวัลได้ไม่อั้น 1688upx เว็บตรง บริการเกมครบวงจร ผู้ถือลิขสิทธิ์แท้ ของเกมสล็อตออนไลน์ทุกค่าย คัดสรรเกมสล็อตออนไลน์ จากค่ายเกมดังชั้นนำคุณภาพดีทั่วโลก มาบริการ ให้ผู้เล่น นักเดิมพันออนไลน์ทุกท่าน ได้ร่วมสนุก ลงเดิมพัน รับเงินรางวัลกันได้อย่างจุใจ มากกว่า 1000+ เกมเลยทีเดียว

การันตีความสนุก ความมันส์ และความบันเทิง เกมสล็อตออนไลน์ลิขสิทธิ์แท้ จากค่ายผู้พัฒนาเกมโดยตรง ชนะรางวัลได้ง่ายมากยิ่งขึ้น โบนัสเกมแตกหนัก ชนะรางวัลได้รัวๆ โอกาสในการรับเงินรางวัลสูง จ่ายเงิยรางวัลคุ้มค่า ให้อิสระในการร่วมสนุก ลงเดิมพัน พร้อมอัพเดทเกมใหม่ๆ ให้ผู้เล่น นักเดิมพันออนไลน์ทุกท่าน ได้เลือกลงเดิมพันก่อนใครทุกวัน ไม่มีการล็อคยูสเซอร์ ไม่มีการล็อคผลรางวัล ลงเดิมพัน ถอนเงินไปใช้ได้จริง

ระบบเกมมาตรฐานสากล ไหลลื่น ไม่มีสะดุด ไม่มีปัญหากวนใจ ลงเดิมพัน ไม่จำกัดทุน มีทุนหลักสิบ ก็ฝากเข้ามาร่วมสนุกกันได้อย่างเพลิดเพลิน ทำกำไร สร้างรายได้ หลักร้อย ไปจนถึงหลักล้าน เราก็มีการคำนวณผล และจ่ายรางวัล ให้กับผู้เล่นในทันที มีการบริการดูแล ผ่านฝ่ายเจ้าหน้าที่แอดมิน ของเว็บไซต์ อย่างครอบคลุม และใส่ใจ ตลอดในการเข้าใช้งานอย่างต่อเนื่อง

สำหรับการลงเดิมพันเล่นเกม ผู้เล่นทุกท่าน สามารถปรับเพิ่มลดเบทเดิมพัน เลือกเบทเดิมพันในการเล่นเกม ได้ด้วยตนเองได้อย่างอิสระ โดยจะมีเบทเดิมพันขั้นต่ำ ที่ผู้เล่น สามารถเข้าใช้งาน ร่วมลงเดิมพันเล่นเกม รับเงินรางวัลกันได้อย่างครอบคลุม เริ่มต้นเพียงแค่ 1 บาทเท่านั้น ซึ่งในการลงเดิมพันเล่นเกม ผู้เล่นทุกท่าน สามารถปรับเพิ่มลดเบทเดิมพัน ได้สูงสุดตามลำดับถึง 2000 บาทเลยทีเดียว

การเงินมั่นคง ฝากถอนมั่นใจ ระบบออโต้

1688upx เว็บสล็อตออนไลน์สุดทันสมัย ที่นักเดิมพันออนไลน์ยุคใหม่ชื่นชอบ เว็บไซต์รายใหญ่คุณภาพดี ยอดนิยม ที่มีการพัฒนาระบบการเข้าใช้งานเล่นเกม ให้ดียิ่งขึ้นอย่างต่อเนื่อง โดยในปัจจุบัน เว็บไซต์ของเรา ได้พัฒนาระบบการฝากถอน ให้สะดวก รวดเร็วทันใจ ต่อการเข้าใช้งานเล่นเกมของผู้เล่นอย่างครอบคลุม

กับระบบการฝากถอนออโต้ ที่มีความมั่นคง และปลอดภัย ผู้เล่น นักเดิมพันออนไลน์ทุกท่าน สามารถแจ้งทำรายการฝากถอน ผ่านหน้าเว็บไซต์ได้ง่ายๆ ด้วยตนเองได้อย่างอิสระ โดยไม่ต้องรอคิว แจ้งทำรายการฝากถอน ไปทีเจ้าหน้าที่แอดมิน ให้เสียเวลาอีกต่อไป

ทำกำไรสุดคุ้มได้ไม่อั้น ไม่จำกัดขั้นต่ำในการฝากถอน รับเงินรางวัลได้เต็มจำนวน ไม่ต้องทำยอดเทิร์น ไม่จำกัดจำนวนครั้ง ที่สำคัญ ยังมีการรองรับ การฝากถอน ผ่านบัญชีธนาคาร และบัญชีทรูวอเลทอีกด้วย

Credit สล็อตเว็บตรง

อ่านบทความน่าสนใจเพิ่มเติม

The post สล็อตออนไลน์ เว็บดังสุดฮิต อันดับ1ของเอเชีย appeared first on climateworkers.org.

Categories: B3. EcoSocialism

Bellona.org - Thu, 05/23/2024 - 08:24

The story coming from the government is the same wherever it’s told— whether at industry conferences, in talks with US allies, at climate summits to embarrassing effect, or during horse-trading in Norwegian Parliament: The only alternative to seabed-mined minerals is total dependence on China, Russia, and child labor in Congo.

Fortunately, there are better solutions.

Minerals are crucial for both European security and the green transition, and the need for them is expected to multiply in the next decade. Norway can play a key role — not through seabed mining, but through land-based mining. We have the deposits and the technology that can meet the mineral demand faster, cheaper, and far more sustainably than what we can do on the seabed. At the same time, significant progress is being made in recycling, which will both reduce the need for mining and reduce its consequences – by allowing mine waste to be used for something useful. Why then does the Norwegian government consistently choose to promote seabed minerals from deep sea mining?

Full speed into the unknown – consequences be damned

The government’s application for seabed mining was rushed through after a process that garnered strong criticism. The resource estimates, and thus the profitability assessments, were heavily criticized by the state’s expert authority on minerals and other leading experts. The Norwegian Environment Agency, on the other hand, stated that the knowledge base was too poor to justify an application. Internationally, efforts were made to make Norway reconsider, and warnings came from not only from the EU, but leading scientists and the journal Nature. The government did not listen.

Why couldn’t they wait for at least one environmental agency to deem the approval justifiable?

There is much to indicate that the government’s haste may be due to the hope of finding the new oil. The startup companies wishing to being seabed mining come precisely from the oil industry, and they argue that seabed minerals could provide the same profitability — they just need some subsidies from the state to prove it. But it’s quite different to extract minerals in low concentrations at depths of several thousand meters than oil and gas. Even for mines on land, it can be challenging today to finance new projects, and often the minerals are right at the surface.

It should not be difficult for the government to understand that Norway’s opportunities for mineral extraction are better on land than on the seabed. After all, the government has itself launched a strategy for land minerals with the ambition of developing the world’s most sustainable practices. At Bellona, we were pleased, for this is something we have recommended — but by all current indications, that strategy has been shelved. The numbers speak for themselves – in the budget, the government allocated six times more for mapping the seabed than for following up on the mineral strategy with mapping on land.

Bellona collaborates with the Norwegian mineral industry to help Norway lead the way and set a greener standard for land-based mining. But it requires support from the authorities. And unfortunately, the authorities are preoccupied with an environmentally hostile looting expedition on the seabed.

The post Have mining companies ensnared Norway’s prime minister? appeared first on Bellona.org.

Categories: G1. Progressive Green

Clean Air Ohio - Thu, 05/23/2024 - 08:04

Clean Air Council and Philadelphia Department of Public Health recently teamed up to install pedestrian counters along Cobbs Creek Trail. This effort comes as Philadelphia’s Streets Department and Parks and Recreation take steps to connect Cobbs Creek Trail from Woodland Avenue and Cobbs Creek Parkway to Eastwick Park and Recreation Center.

Over the past decade the Council has partnered with City, State, and Federal agencies to advance the construction of the Cobbs Creek Trail while advocating for safe access to the trail. The Council has worked with partners and stakeholders to activate and program the park and trail with the aim of improving the neighborhood’s connection to the space, and making it a place that all residents can enjoy the mental, emotional, and physical health benefits of this green space.

The Council has previously conducted two manual trail counts, one in 2021 and the other just recently in 2023, in order to gain a better understanding of where and how Cobbs Creek Trail is used. The additional trail use data from these counters will help shed light on which sections of the trail are used most and least and inform where future programming could be planned. In addition, long term trail use data will help the Council create a better understanding of the effectiveness of our current and future programming’s effect on trail and park use, and whether or not these engagements build long term connections to the green space.

Categories: G2. Local Greens

PoWHR Coalition - Thu, 05/23/2024 - 08:04

Washington, D.C. — Virginia Senator Tim Kaine criticized the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s pipe failures and environmental violations after sustained pressure from his constituents to speak out. “The testing has shown all kinds of problems. There continue to be the kind of environmental violations that slowed them down before. It’s not like Congress waving a magic wand saying, ‘Do this project,’ made it a project being done well. So I’m not happy with that,” he said on Capitol Hill. Kaine said the recent pipe rupture during hydrostatic testing revealed “some serious challenges” that need to be fixed.

Senator Kaine joins his colleague Representative Morgan Griffith in calling for pipeline safety to be further scrutinized. In early May, Delegate Sam Rasoul and twenty-three Virginia lawmakers wrote to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) demanding they deny MVP’s request to go into service. Several days ago, MVP admitted to another construction delay and pleaded with the FERC to allow it to go into service immediately. Despite similar constituent pressure, Senator Mark Warner has remained silent on this issue.

Russell Chisholm, co-director of the Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights Coalition (POWHR) responded:

“Thanks to sustained pressure from his constituents, Senator Tim Kaine has spoken out about MVP’s pipe failures. Now Senators Kaine and Warner must call for immediate investigation and enforcement of pipeline safety across the MVP route. Their constituents’ lives are on the line because Congress greenlit this beleaguered project; their job is to meaningfully take action to protect us from a deadly explosion.”

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Categories: G2. Local Greens

Alaskan Native Looks to Tradition to Deal with Contemporary Problems

Deenaalee Hodgdon (who uses the pronouns they/them) is a Native Alaskan and the Executive Director of On The Land, an Indigenous media and consulting business that elevates the voices of Indigenous Peoples. Hodgdon has seven years of commercial fishing experience and has been a raft and cultural guide in Denali National Park.

They work with the Arctic Athabaskan Council and represent the AAC on the Arctic Council, an intergovernmental forum promoting cooperation among the Arctic states, Arctic Indigenous Peoples and other Arctic inhabitants.

Deenaalee also works on developing sustainable management of salmon fisheries, and building just economies in Bristol Bay, along the Yukon, and in the larger Arctic region. They are the co-founder and co-director of The Smokehouse Collective, an Alaskan mutual aid network that works to build the resilience of Native people.

ARTY MANGAN: You are an experienced fisher, do you fish on rivers and at sea?

DEENAALEE HODGDON: When I was younger, I mostly fished on the river. In the last six years, I’ve been fishing out in Bristol Bay. I fish in Nushagak Bay, which people also call a river too, but its mouth is so massive that you could be in the middle of the river and it feels like you’re kind of on the ocean or open water.

ARTY: What is it like to spend so much time on the water? How does it affect you emotionally and spiritually?

DEENAALEE: I like that question because you led in with how you both fish on the river and on the open water, and I’ve been a raft guide and I also used to row crew. I come from a people who developed the original kayaks. For me, being on the water is like a process in trust and letting go of control because the water is going to do whatever the water wants to do. There are things a person can do to make themselves safer, like knowing how to read the water, knowing how to read the weather, and having as much knowledge and tools as you can in order to survive while being on the water. But at the end of the day, the water’s going to do what the water wants to do.

When I’m on the water fishing, for example on the drift boats, I appreciate that time in my life because you’re out there day and night, sometimes not getting any rest when you’re fishing around the clock. You have to step up and into a place between instinct and survival skills, as well as utilizing the knowledge that you’ve gained from people who have come before you, whether they’re fishermen in the commercial industry — your captain and crew mates — or it’s ancestral knowledge that comes through your bloodline.

ARTY: South of Alaska, from British Columbia to California, most salmon fisheries are in decline. Are there rivers in Alaska where the fisheries are thriving or at least stable?

DEENAALEE: It’s been amazing to see what the tribes have done on the Columbia River in terms of bringing salmon back. It’s really heartening, and I get excited to think about the work that those tribes have been doing bringing back salmon that have been lost or whose numbers have been diminished.

In Alaska, it really depends on the stock of the species. I would say Bristol Bay is one of the last truly great safe havens for salmon in the world.

The management of the returns of salmon—while not being as good as it could be—has done a better job of ensuring that fish are returning and that the stocks are healthy. That being said, climate change science predicts that there’s going to be species that are winners and losers along the continuum of climate change. Right now, there are two species of salmon that we’re seeing that are winners in climate change in Alaska—pink salmon are thriving in Southeast Alaska and are also thriving in another area of the Arctic.

The other is Sockeye salmon, the main fishery for Bristol Bay, which have been thriving for the last five years. The expected number of return of salmon has declined for this upcoming season. But it’s still higher than expected returns that I saw as a young person growing up in Bristol Bay.

Unfortunately, Chinook or king salmon, the large salmon that are the literal backbone of salmon peoples, are suffering from climate change. The Nushagak River, which flows into Bristol Bay, is one of the last strongholds of king salmon in the world, and they are currently being considered a potential stock of concern. During last year’s Alaska’s Board of Fisheries meetings, the tribes of the Nushagak River were advocating for the sockeye salmon fishery to be adjusted to protect the run of the kings, which usually will run up the river returning home first.

So, it’s a balancing act. Right now, within that entire context, we’re trying to balance the health and well-being of ecosystems and the concerns of the salmon, and halibut, and all these other fish that peoples are reliant upon, alongside an economy that has been extraction based and has been used to the abundance of large returns for the last five years, and that’s the commercial industry—the fishermen, processors, wholesale buyers and the consumers of fish at large across the world.

ARTY: What are some of the climate adaptive strategies that are being implemented in your region?

DEENAALEE: There are a lot of communities right now that are having to go through something called relocation/manage/retreat/protect in place. A lot of communities in Southwest Alaska, like the communities of Quinhagak and Kwigillingok, Noatak, and others up north are having to face questions of how do we ensure that our communities aren’t disappearing when facing things like coastal erosion, flooding, loss of sea ice, etc.

There are relocation programs that move villages from Point A to Point B. And there’s a protect-in-place program that reinforces infrastructure to make it more resilient to the stresses of climate change.

ARTY: What do Native Alaskans have to do to build food sovereignty in the face of climate change?

DEENAALEE: In the Arctic, we are hunter/gatherer societies who are at pivot point with climate change. We are losing ice and permafrost; the very structure of the tundra is thawing. In the context of food sovereignty, we need to use traditional gathering spaces to have conversations about what seeds we need to be planting to nourish our soil as it changes.

Where are our old stories to guide us? The Inupiaq people have stories about when there used to be palm trees in Alaska. How do we bring those stories to the surface so that they can guide the work that we’re doing right now?

There is a future-looking orientation that I’m trying to root into with food sovereignty within the context of climate change. How long do we have and how can we build a fertile soil while doing the deep grieving work of losing our permafrost and losing our boreal forests? And while that shift is happening, we are advocating to ensure that our people have the time and the space to go out and harvest on the land because we know that when we do not have the ability to participate in those harvests, death happens. Our communities are dying when we are not rooted in our traditional harvesting practices.

Food sovereignty for Native Alaskans is to bring that back. It is a work of transition and translation, being able to grieve and have the medicines that we need and the conversations to hold the deep work of being in advocacy spaces to ensure that we support one another to take the time to participate in those practices while we are on the frontlines.

One of the strategies that I’m looking into more is: How do we make adaptations around our food systems and our economies within those food systems, and our relationships that are needed to build a resilient, reliable, ecologically sound and responsive system? To me, that looks like being able to localize where we are getting our food. By local, it would be great if every community had community gardens and had their own co-ops, but that’s probably not going to be the case anytime soon.

How can a region be more food secure in growing and providing for the community? Within the whole of Alaska, how can we make sure that Alaska isn’t just dependent on a three-day supply that comes from the lower 48, but that we have the transportation networks in place and food caches in place so that there is a supply and it’s accessible by community members and isn’t being run by the cash economy?

ARTY: Alaska has unique vulnerabilities in regards to climate change which require location-specific adaptations.

On the personal level, as an Indigenous, queer person, have you experienced resistance or even racism in your work, in your activism or other parts of your life?

DEENAALEE: Yes and no. Yes, we continue to face racism through the system. A lot of times, within the Board of Fisheries or the Alaska Board of Game process, our voices as Indigenous Peoples are not valued; traditional knowledge is not valued. It is starting to gain a little bit more traction, as non-Native scientists are stepping up as allies and giving a stamp of approval that what the elders are saying is validated by science.

Within this world, I’m pretty privileged. Yes, I’m Native, yes, I’m queer. However, I’m light-skinned; very tall, so I have a presence; I’m well-spoken because I’ve been trained in a Western academic institution at an Ivy League college. As soon as I say I went to Brown University, in certain situations, in certain circles, I automatically gain an ear more than, I would say, the average Native person or average BIPOC person. So I would say that I really do function within a lot of systems of privilege while carrying my identity.

I have felt the loneliness of being one of the only Native people within my radio group and my fishing group up until about two summers ago when we had a couple more Native people who were hired on in my fishing group. But advocating for subsistence and Indigenous rights within my own fishing group has been like pulling teeth; it has not been easy, and that oftentimes is because the fishermen coming to Alaska and who are excelling as fishermen have been coming here for the last 30 years and have close relationships with the region and they’re okay with maintaining the status quo. So when you pushback and say, “Hey, would you be willing to step in and change X, Y, Z in order to benefit a more vibrant ecosystem,” a lot of the time there’s pushback.

Those folks aren’t taking the time — and maybe they don’t fully care — to help to create change, because at the end of the day, they’re able to take their catch and the money from that catch and leave the state. They don’t see the bigger picture of the repercussions of their actions.

ARTY: As an activist, how do you keep your body, mind and spirit strong?

DEENAALEE: I think I’ve been labeled activist, but I don’t necessarily consider myself an activist—like I do and I don’t. I think that word has a lot of political weight to it. I just define myself as a community or tribal member who cares and is working to maintain, uphold and assert our sovereign rights, to make our lands and waters sovereign according to our original instructions.

I appreciate the question about keeping yourself balanced and centered — I’m still learning how to do that. I have recently been reminded that if you do this work and you’re not grounded and centered, you get sick. Then you’re not fully able to do the work that you are called to step up into, whether you’re being asked by people or a higher power, or whatever you want to chalk it up to.

I’ve been learning to build and maintain more of a practice around my self-care. Basic things like drinking enough water, getting enough sleep, and eating the foods from the land. That food from the land is not only vital to my physical health, but also to my spiritual, mental and emotional well-being. I can’t really process gluten very well; I can’t process dairy very well. Those are two foods that are non-native to these lands. I am thriving and I’m so much more mentally clear when I’m eating beaver, fish, moose, when I’m eating these foods that haven’t been so GMO’d that they don’t even know what they are.

I also require a lot of sleep. That’s pretty integral to my functioning. And I have to get outside. It’s unfortunate, because the first thing that often doesn’t happen when I’m facing a lot of deadlines and need to be in a lot of meetings is taking the time to get outside. But it’s essential for me to be outside on the land and to participate in subsistence activities. I have also adopted skiing and climbing and biking, more recreational-based activities. If I’m moving my body, I’m in a good place, and that at the end of the day is the most important. I have to move my body and breathe fresh air, and if I can do that, I’m pretty well grounded.

I recently picked up my beadwork again. Keeping my hands busy is important. In the summertime I do that by picking fish and flaying and putting away the fish, or picking berries, putting away food, doing the things necessary at that time of year. But in the wintertime, it’s picking up sewing and beading or tanning and working on moose and caribou hides.

I was just thinking about how it’s time for me to start making some bone tools, because I haven’t scraped hides as much as I wanted to this winter. Those are pretty necessary.

I also do yoga and pull Tarot cards, and keep my mind active.

ARTY: I heard you use the phrase “pleasure activism.” You resisted the label of activist, but you engage in pleasure activism?

DEENAALEE: Yeah. Pleasure activism is a term that was coined by adrienne maree brown in her book titled Pleasure Activism. It’s something that resonates with me. Western Christian-based societies, like the United States, are built on religious rigidity. I was raised with some of that rigidity that denied some of the pleasures of the world like dancing and feasting and having joy and true connection. Through adrienne maree brown’s work and pleasure activism, I’ve been reintroduced and given the word “toolkit” to describe an ethic and an ethos that I would like to live by. Within the world of this work things can be so disheartening and dark. They can feel like how will we ever win against the pressures of climate change and extractive industry. It’s a constant struggle. For example, tonight, I’ll be going to another public hearing for another land grab that is happening in Alaska, in which eight million acres of land are being up for evaluation on whether or not it should be open for mineral and mining, and oil and gas leasing, or whether no action should be taken and those lands will remain with their protections. It gets tiring.

So I think there are things within life, like dancing, feasting with one another–especially around the foods that we harvest together–playing music, singing, stretching, really playing. I started playing volleyball again, which is one of my first loves in life, and it’s integral to keeping that balance. I think in order to do good, we have to feel good, otherwise, we’re just reifying the systems that keep us feeling bogged down.

I’ve done work when I’ve been depressed. I’ve done work when I’ve been angry. I’ve done work when I’ve been sad. Was it my best work? Was it work that I think connected with people in an authentic way? No, not at all. Was I “doing the work?” Yeah. Did it make a difference? Maybe. Was it filled with the love and longevity that it could have been if I was in a good place—not saying I have to be in a good place all the time—but no.

That’s why I am turning away from policy work because in the policy world you have to go through a long and cumbersome process that often doesn’t take time to connect with people before putting together policies that impact their everyday lives.

I’m trying to re-root back into digging my hands in the earth because I love to play in dirt. As a little kid, I dug holes in the garden and made mud pies, and played on the banks of the river. I was more action-oriented. Being in my body — whether that’s fishing or gardening or playing volleyball – enables me to connect with people in my community. Those are the things that are going to weave together our connections in a much more pleasurable way so that we can continue doing the work in the long run.

The post Alaskan Native Looks to Tradition to Deal with Contemporary Problems appeared first on Bioneers.

Categories: B5. Resilience, Third Nature, and Transition

ab banks, an urban farmer whose work is grounded in agroecology, wellness and Black food autonomy, is the Garden Lead for People’s Programs at the Oxford Tract at UC Berkley, which grows food and seeks to advance food autonomy for Oakland’s Black population and to ensure that healthy produce is available to under-resourced community members, including the unhoused. Peoples Program is a Black-led organization founded by Black youth to empower the community of Oakland.

Previously a Just Leader Fellow with the Cooperative Food Empowerment Collective, which seeks to build a cooperative food economy powered by the visionary leadership of Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, ab also started the (Free) Community Health Clinic, and is the Agroecology and Wellness Coordinator at the Berkeley Food Institute. Arty Mangan of Bioneers interviewed ab banks.

ARTY MANGAN: One of the many positions you hold is the Garden Lead for the People’s Programs in the East Bay. Can you describe the community that you work in and how the program serves that community?

ab banks: Initially a friend of mine developed an urban garden on a quarter-acre of abandoned land on Campbell Street in West Oakland, but we recently transitioned off that land to the UC Berkeley Oxford Tract. The produce that was harvested from that land in West Oakland went to local families. We started an informal CSA grocery program for local families that has expanded and now serves about 150 people. We don’t actually farm in that neighborhood anymore because­ the land is going to be developed with housing, but we still serve the same people that we started the CSA with.

ARTY: That is a big challenge of urban farming. I’ve heard many times from urban farmers who had established farms and gardens but eventually had to move because the city or the landlord wanted to develop the land. It makes it challenging. Michael Ableman, an urban farmer I know well, works in a very underserved part of Vancouver, BC, and most of his workers are unhoused people who have a variety different challenges in their lives. He farms in the parking lot of a major sports arena and knows that eventually he may have to move, so he created a one-acre orchard composed of 30 to 40 different varieties of fruit trees, but all of the trees are planted in 4X4 planter boxes, three-feet high, so, if he has to move, he can just forklift them onto a truck and move them to a different location. Michael wrote a book about the project: Street Farm: Growing Food, Jobs and Hope on the Urban Frontier

ab: That’s amazing!

ARTY: You also started the Free Community Health Clinic. Can you tell me a little bit about how that started?

ab: in 2017, when People’s Programs started passing out food, it was evident even then that there was a big need for some type of public medical care. People would come to pick up food and some of them would have injuries and wounds and ask us for Ibuprofen and things like that. We had started with providing food and then extended it to passing out clothes, but we felt the next obvious step was to provide free accessible healthcare, so we raised funds and were able to buy a mobile clinic—a clinic on wheels. Now, along with hot meals, we provide access to free healthcare, as much as you can do in a mobile clinic. And for anything that we can’t do, we send people to a referral to get the medical care they need.

That’s how it started, and it’s still expanding. We want to be a resource for what the community needs; we don’t want to limit it. If another need is asked for and we can help, we’re going to build a program around that and offer that as well. When I think about the populations I serve, these folks have the answers; they know exactly what they need. They’re not in need of a savior to come in and do all these things for them. What people need is a viable local economy, self-determination, and the ability to set their own destiny, whatever that means for them. When I talk to students of color, they know exactly what they want to do and need—they just need the resources to get it done.

Photo by Marco Alexander

Julius Nyerere, a highly influential former president of Tanzania, wrote a book called Ujamaa about how important it is for farms to be in the hands of local farmers who care for the people around them and know what they want to eat, and how that creates a sense of community. When we started the farm in West Oakland, it drew in the community members around us, and they gave us feedback. When your food isn’t local, you can’t make decisions about how food is grown. Urban farms are important because city folk need food and should have autonomy over the food that’s grown, and they should know how to grow their own food.

ARTY: How does farming in the city affect the urban ecosystem?

ab: It totally changes ecosystems, and in my opinion, for the better. It just breaks up cement jungles, as a lot of folks call them, and creates more green spaces. There’s a lot of research about what green spaces do for mental, spiritual, and emotional health, and there is a biological benefit when people eat food that is grown where they’re from. A while back, I spoke to a nutritionist about the importance of eating eat food from your culture and eating locally grown food. If you don’t eat local food, you won’t have the correct microbiome to fight diseases that are prevalent where you live.

ARTY: That’s consistent with the Macrobiotic principle of eating food in season. Locally-grown food is food in season for that locale, so, for example, no pineapples in December…

ab: Exactly right.

ARTY: Let’s talk about your work as a Just Leader Fellow with Cooperative Food Empowerment Collective. Is your breakfast program inspired by the Black Panthers’ Free Breakfast Program in the ‘60s?

ab: Yes. Definitely. What we do is called “Decolonization Programs and Projects.” We think of it as being an evolution from a survival program. Everything that we’re doing is an attempt at decolonization. We pass out food because people are starving. We give free access to healthcare because people need healthcare. Some people with diabetes have wounds that escalate to infection and even amputation because they don’t have basic healthcare. We provide basic needs directly in line with how the Panthers rolled.

They realized that a crucially important population in their community was students. Schoolchildren weren’t getting fed adequately, so when they went to school, they couldn’t focus because they were hungry. To a lot of people, it always feels like a complex issue—we need to get the funding, etc. No. We’re just going to go out there and set up tables and feed the children. Obviously, it takes a lot of logistical work to get that done, but if it needs to get done, we’re going to do it. That’s kind of the fervor that we carry when we’re building programs and projects.

We feed 300 to 400 people every other Sunday. During COVID, we went out three times a week because folks weren’t getting fed by anyone. Many in the homeless community depend on people leaving a restaurant giving them a dollar or leftovers. During COVID, that wasn’t happening, so we increased the number of days we provided food. We serve people in West Oakland near St. Vincent’s Shelter, and we also have a driving crew of folks who serve around 15 to 20 encampments, and that’s 300 to 400 meals.

ARTY: When the Panthers were feeding kids in Oakland and other cities in the ‘60s, they were harassed, jailed, even murdered by the FBI. How is your program perceived by those in power?

ab: I’d say we haven’t really been perceived by the government. In my opinion, if folks really cared about what we were doing, then we would have an endless supply of money, but we never see funds at all. I haven’t really experienced any harassment. There have been times, of course, where people have said, “Oh, you need a food handler’s permit” or have tried to put obstacles in our way, but it’s only made us better because if we get a critique, we’re going to definitely shift our feet and make sure we’re grounded and do the right thing in how our operations roll.

ARTY: Have the socioeconomic conditions improved in communities of color in recent years?

ab: No. It’s getting worse. Homelessness is up 22 percent since 2017. If people say it’s getting better, I point them in the direction of the homelessness rate. It’s clear in the data, and it’s obvious in the streets. The reason we focus on homelessness is because this is the community that we feel encompasses all the communities of the Bay Area. No one’s exempt from being homeless in terms of race and class. We see all different types of people, but still, the homeless in our region are majority Black.

ARTY: I ‘d like to ask you about what motivates you, what your vision is. I listened to an interview with you on KQED, and you said you’re creating sovereignty from an intersectional standpoint, pushing folks who are last to go first, and letting love lead the way.

ab: What motivates me is that I want all the people I know to have the ability to lead their own destiny and to be sovereign. I think folks often shy away from understanding that because it seems like a lot of work to be in charge of your own destiny, but I have 100 percent faith in the community that I serve, that one day we’ll be able to achieve our own liberation and be completely autonomous over our lives. That’s my motivation.

Just thinking about the work that we do, it’s really sad. It’s really sad to see people starve. It’s really sad to see people deal with substance abuse when there are real solutions that I don’t feel are taken seriously by the people in power. I want to continue to draw a line of demarcation and say, ‘Hey, listen, there’s stuff that can be done, and if the government can’t figure it out, let the people figure it out.’ Obviously, the people who are closest to the problems are closest to the solutions as well, so let those folks lead the way.

I’m motivated by the history and legacy that has been left behind for me by the Black Panther Party, the Young Lords, and all the African anti-colonial freedom fighters—Thomas Sankara, Julius Nyerere, Amílcar Lopes da Costa Cabral, etc. All of those people inspire me, and all the revolutionary movements that have happened inspire me to keep going and to keep understanding and not backing down from what I know to be true, which is we are our own liberators.

ARTY: On that KQED interview, you also talked about radical forms of self-love. How do you reconcile the concept self-love with working to overcome injustice and suffering in your community?

ab: When there are people on the streets starving or people in your family struggling with substance abuse, that must be addressed first in order to actually feel that there’s promise in the future. If you want to develop love for yourself, there’s work that needs to be done to make sure your community is safe and good. That’s partly why I do the work at People’s Programs

I could shut myself off from the community, get a massage, do some yoga, go to the gym—which are all things that I do—but I need to help feed my people, read to gain knowledge, and talk to people and see if I can give them what they need, because without that, I’m going to feel the pain of the exploitation of capitalism without having any answer for it.

ARTY: As a frontline activist covering many bases in terms of serving community needs, there’s a high risk of burnout. You mentioned how you take care of yourself, but do you have any recommendations, things you’ve learned about how to avoid burnout?

ab: I think it’s important to analyze particularly where the burnout is coming from. I can feel when it’s happening before I get tired. When I start to feel burnout, I feel a dissociation, but I also have a slight pushback on this. There are people who don’t do any direct service work but still experience burnout. It’s an emotional feeling because of all of the really messed up, nasty stuff going on in the world. My answer to that is what I was alluding to in the last question. When you’re doing all of these self-care things, but they’re not working, it’s often because you are part of a broken system, and you’re feeling hopelessness because you’re trying to fix something on the personal level without actually contributing to a wider solution.

We’re experiencing pain and grief for something we feel helpless in, but actually there’s a bunch of things you can do to contribute to the revolution, so that’s my first thing. The second thing is for people who are on the frontlines doing direct-action work—my advice is build a team, a solid team of folks you can be honest with, who can hold you accountable, who know your triggers and know what’s going on in your life. It’s not as simple as just saying, ‘Oh, you should journal,’ or ‘Oh, you should go for a walk.’ I think it’s much more complex than that. The only real advice I have is to have comrades and community members who are in your corner and are keeping it real with you; keeping it real when you mess up; keeping it real when you’re doing good; keeping it real when you need a break. If you don’t have people on your side, and you’re trying to do everything you can for the revolution all at once, then you are going to burn out.

Doing this work is a marathon. It’s not a sprint. You have to able to delegate something to a comrade and say: ‘Hey, listen, I can’t do this right now.’ And they trust you because they know how much you are putting into the work. It might seem from the outside that I’m doing a lot, but I’m doing exactly what I’m passionate about, and I’m not doing more than I’m supposed to be doing. I’m delegating when I need to. I help run the clinic and the farm, but I don’t run the clinic or the farm by myself. I do what I can, and I’m honest and truthful about what I can do. And I can prevent my comrades’ burnouts by stepping in when they need a break, but if we’re all kind of dragging our feet, then we’re all going to burn out.

I was telling one of my elders how tired I was. I had to work the farm that day and the clinic the next day. I was working seven days a week. She looked at me and said, “ab, you’re not going to f*ck up the revolution with one day of rest.” It’s important to note that when you’re going real hard, you need to listen, so you know when you’re going past your limit and you need a break, and you know when you need to keep going.

ARTY: You cited that expression: “It’s a marathon, not a sprint.” It usually takes a long time to understand that. It’s usually folks who are older than you who figure that out, and, too often, by the time they figure it out, they have seriously burnt out. Everything is so urgent right now, and yet this is a multi-generational struggle. Yes, we’re looking for as much success and progress as possible right away, but at the same time, we’re trying to build something solid that other folks can stand on and build on in the future.

The post Urban Farming, Community Care and Self-Love appeared first on Bioneers.

Categories: B5. Resilience, Third Nature, and Transition

When the Covid pandemic hit and disrupted so many of our social and economic systems, a crisis within the crisis exploded: the number of people who were facing hunger grew catastrophically. News footage showed miles-long lines of cars at food banks with many of those people being turned away due to a lack of food. At the same time, quite a few farmers were dumping their crops because many of their major markets, such as restaurants, were closed.

The urgency of the crisis caused a small group of college students in Southern California to feel they had to do something. Their initial, modest goal of providing food to one local food bank grew astonishingly quickly, and became the Farmlink Project, a national operation redirecting millions of pounds of food to feed the hungry while highlighting the food system’s twin failures of food insecurity and food waste.

One of the students who co-founded the project is Owen Dubek, now its Creative Director. An avid surfer and documentary filmmaker, Owen captured the whole story in his inspiring, award-winning film: Abundance: The Farmlink Story.

In this interview, Arty Mangan of Bioneers discussed this extraordinary initiative with Owen and with Farmlink’s Director of Sustainability, Julia DeSantis.

ARTY MANGAN: The pandemic was obviously the crisis that awakened your activism and the activism of your colleagues, but what were the specific conditions that inspired you to act?

OWEN DUBEK: In the beginning of the pandemic, we were seeing billions of pounds of food going to waste on farms. It became front and center as a national news story. Right in our backyard in L.A. at some of the food banks near us, we were seeing mile-long lines. At the same time, many of us were being sent home from college. I had just graduated and had my first job, but work had really slowed down, and a few of us asked ourselves: What can we do to help?

So, we talked to the West Side Food Bank and a few others in our area. They said that they needed more food. With a few friends, we scraped a couple hundred dollars together, rented a U-Haul truck, and drove our first truckload of food from a local farm to that food bank. We didn’t set out to build an organization; we were just looking for one small way we could help. Julia joined us a little bit later, but during the pandemic she was working on an initiative that was getting groceries to older folks in her area. It turned out that there was a huge wave of young people who were privileged enough to have the time to volunteer who had the spirit and motivation to make a difference.

ARTY: What did you learn from taking action in that crisis? And what is your message to young people who are discouraged by the world’s seemingly intractable problems and feel powerless to address them?

OWEN: We’ve shown the film in a bunch of schools. That’s what I’m focused on because I think a lot of people, especially younger people, are a little cynical about the future and don’t know how to take the first step. They don’t know where to start. What we’ve learned is that— and it sounds like a cliché—but the power of collective hope is the reason that Farmlink exists. It’s the reason we were able to move 100 million pounds of food. Hundreds of people went to work every day doing the most that they could do to get as much food on people’s tables as possible. There was a deep sense of hope that drove people to drop out of school, quit their jobs and give it everything they had to get food to communities that were facing hunger.

There’s an interesting angle here too. Looking at the analytics of our videos that we put online, when we dwell on the negative, when we dwell on the crisis and emphasize how bad things are, we see people click away within five to seven seconds. They do not watch the video, and they’re definitely not inspired to take action. But when we root it in hope and highlight faces of young people who are hopeful, it really inspires people to do something about it. I think people are sick of hearing how negative things are, and they’re looking for ways to take action.

JULIA DeSANTIS: I studied Climate Communications at school because I went through that emotional cycle, when you learn about a problem and then you’re either overcome with paralysis or you develop a deep connection to the issue. I wanted to learn how to find a way to activate positive impulses, to imbue hope and the will to take action in many more people.

What Farmlink can be a demonstration of is that we were all kids that just got started somehow but were able to get a lot done. We were not a group of experts, but we were willing to support one another by taking action together. Especially with communicating about the climate, we don’t need to bludgeon people with the truth anymore. We need to catalyze people’s energy into a sustainable creative force – the problem-solving force of people who are excited to break a problem or a system down, delegate tasks, and try again tomorrow. I think that’s what gets momentum. Farmlink uniquely captured the spirit of students wanting to get out there with no prior expectation of how they should operate in the world. It’s the spirit of creative problem-solving combined with the joy of being able to learn together. I think that’s also something the climate challenge offers to everyone: we know the beauties of this planet and we want to continue to create a healthy life on it.

ARTY: A big part of your mission is to empower the next generation of changemakers. You responded to a crisis out of your instinctive altruism, but now, looking back at the successes you’ve had and the impact that you’ve made, have you developed a theory of change?

OWEN: We knew nothing about the agricultural space, and we were not experts in the charitable food space, but we knew what questions we wanted to ask and were not afraid to call industry leaders and other people in these domains, and ask them, “Hey, here’s what we’re doing, what do you think? Are we on the right path? You said we’re doing this wrong, how do we do it right?” And without that advice, counseling, consulting, none of this would have happened. Eden, who’s one of our founding members, said on a panel: “You’re going to fail along the way, but you need to set it up so that when you fail, you can bounce right back and build it stronger.”

Another thing that was really crucial—and I think a lot of companies and movements in their early stages can get this wrong—is that everyone had ownership over the project. It didn’t matter if you were the first person or the 500th person to join the project, it felt like it was yours. You can see that in our early news coverage. The same person never went on the news twice. It was always a different person because it was everyone’s project, and that made everyone work so much harder.

ARTY: So, it was a spontaneous startup enterprise, but entrepreneurial startups can be exhausting, exhilarating and challenging in regards to effective management. How did the internal systems develop in a way that was organizationally effective?

OWEN: In the beginning, it was literally just call up your friends. Hey, this guy knows how to build a website. This guy knows how to make videos. This person’s down to cold call 500 farmers in a day and has no shame or fear or rejection. It just ballooned into having 100, 120 people. We started looking for advisers, asking each other: “Does anyone have a parent who started a business?” And the advisers we found said things like, “You need a fundraising team; you need a food program team, etc.” So, we broke our work into four different pillars, and it was able to naturally grow through that.

There was a key transition point where all of these kids were going back to college. We had to figure out a hybrid model. We hired full-time a mix of industry experts and the student leaders who had started Farmlink while also making sure that there was a fellowship program that could usher in the next generation of change-makers. Right now, we have 26 full-time employees. Some of those are people who have left other large nonprofits because they were inspired to come work with us, feeling they could drive their vision for the future more readily at Farmlink. Some of them are the founders you see in the documentary, and we have a fellowship program with 50 to 60 students who play a major role in moving food, fundraising, storytelling, policy, all the things we’re working on.

ARTY: Things grew pretty fast. What were some of the obstacles you encountered? And what are the opportunities that opened up?

OWEN: The first major obstacle was we received all of our funding as a result of news stories. We were on ABC News World Tonight; we were in the New York Times, and we were on NBC. Tens of thousands of people in a twenty-minute burst were donating $10, $20 at a time, just everyday Americans coming together to support this project. But that model was not sustainable. There’s a limit to how many times you’ll get major media coverage, so we had to pivot to find corporate partnerships and different fundraising opportunities. That was a major challenge.

Another difficulty was figuring out where there are major surplus opportunities. You can see in the film that we called 100 farms that first day and no one had surplus food. We weren’t looking in the right places. Eventually, we found bigger farms, larger commercial farms that were wasting a lot of food, but it took us a while to find them. Now we’re at the point where we’re able to anticipate three, four months in advance when a major harvest might go to waste.

In the fall, we rescued 36 million apples that were going to go to waste. Due to the pandemic, contracts had been cut with farmers in an entire region of West Virginia. We were able to anticipate that far enough in advance to send hundreds of trucks to divert that food to hundreds of different communities. The biggest challenge in the beginning was finding food and getting there fast enough to collect it, and it feels like we’re getting a lot better at that.

ARTY: It sounds like there’s a lot of flexibility into your system.

OWEN: Totally, because I think that was the thing that wasn’t working with other organizations during the pandemic—they weren’t agile. They’d been doing things the same way for many years, but all of a sudden, we’re in this global pandemic and the supply chain looks nothing like it did yesterday, and they weren’t necessarily adapting as fast as our new organization of young people with no preconceived ideas could. That’s a big thing we need to be conscious of going forward. It would be very easy for us to grow and become an organization that’s kind of rigid, so we’re really trying hard to bake it into our DNA that we want to continue to be agile, especially as challenges with climate change come forward.

JULIA: I lead our sustainability team, and it’s really important how we respond to the existing system that is designed to over-produce, that has bubbles of surplus that need to be recovered and redistributed away from landfills to people who could really benefit from having access to that food.

At the same time, there are many different ways to approach growing food globally at scale, so part of what I really have our team focus on now is how we can explore ways that food can be grown more resourcefully and distributed more efficiently. I think there’s plenty for Farmlink to continue to learn to be able to be part of adaptive solutions that make sure that food is distributed in the most sustainable and humane way.

ARTY: You started out wanting to help one local food bank, and now you have the capacity “to feed millions of people with dignity.” What does it mean to feed people with dignity?

OWEN: Let me lead with a stat that fifty percent of people who are food insecure and know where their local food bank is, will not go there because of the stigma associated with it. That tells us that there’s a crisis in how we are delivering food to people. Waiting in line for hours in your car and being handed a bag of food that sometimes isn’t culturally appropriate and isn’t necessarily what you wanted can be a shame-inducing experience. We truly believe it should not be that way, so we try to prioritize sending food to organizations that are giving people choice in their food, where there aren’t patronizing processes or paperwork, where people can actually access the food bank easily, for example, in a community center. We love community organizations where food is built into everyday life.

In the documentary you can see a community center in Oklahoma, in the Cherokee Nation, where people go to for live music, dancing, and they can get fresh produce there as well. That’s so important that it’s baked into everyday life, and it removes that stigma a little bit, and in turn you’re reaching more people. So that’s what dignity means to us.

ARTY: Are there policies, either economic or political, that actually restrain what you’re trying to do?

OWEN: Yeah. The first low-hanging fruit, no pun intended, right off the bat, is that there are states where you can get a tax deduction for donating food to us, and then there are states where you don’t get a tax deduction. If those states did have tax deductions, farmers would donate hundreds of millions of pounds more food.

And we’re trying to get reimbursed for some of our transportation costs. If an entire harvest of food is about to go to waste in a state, sometimes the Department of Agriculture of that state will pay farmers for their work so that dozens of farms that have been there for a hundred years don’t go belly up. A lot of times, there is a requirement to donate the food in order to get paid, but there isn’t an easy pathway for them to donate the food. We’re trying to bake it into policy that when this happens, the state also reimburses the transportation, so that we can coordinate with the farmers in an ongoing, sustainable way.

ARTY: Let’s talk about overproduction. In one of your videos, Chef Nick DiGiovanni shows three tomatoes and explains why they’d been thrown away. One had a minor blemish; one was slightly overripe; and in the last case, a buyer had just pulled out of a purchasing commitment. DiGiovanni said that our current system is designed to throw away roughly 30 percent of the food we produce. Do you agree that the system’s actually designed that way?

OWEN: I don’t think there was a conscious decision to create a system that throws away 30 percent, but it’s the world we’ve built together. It’s not that people are evil or unjust and want to throw away food, but these are what the existing incentives are driving people to do.

As a large-scale conventional farmer, you need to be delivering a perfect-looking product that meets certain criteria dictated by the market. Your potatoes have to be just right, not too big or too small, with uniform color and no spots, etc. As a result, there are going to be a lot of potatoes that the farmer can’t sell, but a huge amount of food needs to be harvested just to find the 70 percent of it that will be saleable. In Mexico we saw 25 million tons of bananas that were perfectly edible go to waste because the supplier pulled out of the contract. There had been a cold front that swept through, and that had created a lot of little brown spots on the bananas. They were perfectly edible. I flew down there to film a video and ate a bunch of them, and they were great, but they didn’t look like what the market wants a banana to look like, so they all went to waste.

ARTY: Talk a little bit about the process of making the film at the same time you were running at high speed to try to build an organization to help feed people.

OWEN: I showed up on the first day to take some photos of my friends driving a U-Haul truck with some food to their local food bank thinking, hey, maybe we’ll get on the local news, maybe we’ll make an Instagram post out of this, or something like that. There was never an intention of making a documentary or starting an organization, but it quickly became clear in the first couple of days that footage and photos documenting what we were doing were going to be really important. You see a lot of it in the documentary—three months after I took those photos, ABC World News wanted the images of how we were trying to feed people and showed them to tens of millions of people.

After that, I began to think that maybe there’s a documentary here, but I wasn’t sure. I was filming in the background on important events, visiting farms just to continue to tell stories and send stuff to the news, but kids started dropping out of school and people starting quitting their jobs, calling their bosses and saying: “Hey, I’m working on something that’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” When that was happening, I realized that there was something truly special happening that went well beyond connecting farms to food banks. It was a surge of collective hope and empowerment during the biggest crisis in our generation’s life that made this topic worthy of a documentary.

ARTY: The crisis of the pandemic certainly shed more light on the food system’s systemic failures of hunger and of food waste.

OWEN: These problems had existed for a very long time, but the pandemic brought them front and center into the national conversation. A lot of people thought that when the pandemic was over, there probably wouldn’t be any more surplus food, but that’s completely wrong. There’s more surplus food than ever; this is the system we’ve been handed.

We definitely don’t want Farmlink to continue forever. We joke that we want to put ourselves out of business, but we are quite serious about wanting to help create real solutions that would make this project unnecessary. As long as there’s surplus food and there are hungry people, though, we’re going to do this for as long as we can.

ARTY: How has your experience with Farmlink changed you?

OWEN: It’s given me my best friends. I’ve been able to work on something that I feel is so important, dedicate all my time to it and become so close to the people around me. It’s given me a community that I never had before. It’s also connected me to a deeper sense of purpose. I drove around the country with a group of friends, visiting all the communities we had served, and that trip changed me in a lot of ways. We worked a twelve-hour day in a parking lot at a food bank, and at noon we saw nurses lining up, waiting an hour in line during their lunch break, to get food. I feel like that single moment changed me in how I look at the economics of the United States and the importance of bringing justice to this issue.

This included the time I spent with Anne Lopez, who’s running the somewhat secret network of food banks for undocumented people who don’t feel comfortable going to a food bank because they could be risking deportation. I felt like all of these experiences brought me from a person who makes social impact documentaries because I generally care about the world, to someone who now has a very deep personal connection to these issues and feels the injustices in my bones, and I think that deeper capacity for empathy will find its way into my film projects going forward.

JULIA: Farmlink has given me the opportunity to work with other people on a shared challenge we all care passionately about. It’s a defining opportunity that will mark us deeply and stay with us throughout our lives. Farmlink gave me the voice to articulate what I believe and to be able to work with brilliant, dedicated, resourceful, hilarious, beautiful, young energy to try and try again on something that we know without any doubts is worth our time. Farmlink was started by young people but is now made up of a diverse group of people across age groups who have a shared “if-not-now-when” energy. Whether you’re young or old, you’re constantly reminded that this is our time.

We are living in critically important times, so let’s get after it and do something cool with it and share the joy. We get to create something with a team to improve conditions that we are born into. That is a massive opportunity that I have been gifted and that I get to come back to every single day when I show up to work. It’s such a fun thing that I’ve been able to grow into radically, as someone who can think, research, test, and trial again. It’s such a gift to make mistakes and learn with a team. That has dramatically improved my problem-solving skills and my respect for other people’s opinions. I’ve learned that an expansion of creativity is possible when you give yourself permission to dare. I think those are just some of the many, many gifts that Farmlink has given me.

The post The Farmlink Project: Reducing Hunger by Reducing Food Waste appeared first on Bioneers.

Categories: B5. Resilience, Third Nature, and Transition

Undisciplined Environments - Thu, 05/23/2024 - 07:02

A contribution to student encampments for Palestinian liberation.*

“This obscure feeling that you had as you left Gaza,
this small feeling must grow into a giant deep within
you. It must expand, you must seek it in order to find
yourself, here among the ugly debris of defeat.

I won’t come to you. But you, return to us! Come
back, to learn from Nadia’s leg, amputated from the
top of the thigh, what life and what existence is worth.

Come back, my friend! We are all waiting for you.”

Ghassan Kanafani (1956)

Background: Longue durée of Palestinian liberation and political ecologies of resistance to settler-colonialism

1. Salamanca, O. J., Qato, M., Rabie, K., & Samour, S. (2012). Past is present: Settler colonialism in Palestine.Settler colonial studies,2(1), 1-8.
2. Pellow, D. (2017) Chapter 4: The Israel/Palestine Conflict as an Environmental Justice Struggle, in What is critical environmental justice?. John Wiley & Sons.
3. Ajl, M. (2024). Palestine’s Great Flood: Part I. Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy, DOI: 10.1177/22779760241228157.
4. Malm, A. (2024) The Destruction of Palestine Is the Destruction of the Earth, https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/news/the-destruction-of-palestine-is-the-destruction-of-the-earth
5. Salamanca, O.J., Khosla, P. & Aruri, N. (2024) Intervention — “It’s been 164 Days and a Long Century: Notes on Genocide, Solidarity, and Liberation. Antipode Online. https://antipodeonline.org/2024/04/11/notes-on-genocide-solidarity-and-liberation/

Environments of Palestine

1. ENTITLE in Palestine (2015) The Political Ecology of Everyday Life under Settler Colonialism I – Reporting from Palestine, https://undisciplinedenvironments.org/2015/09/02/the-political-ecology-of-everyday-life-under-settler-colonialism-i-reporting-from-palestine/
2. Isaac, J. & Hilal, J. (2011) Palestinian landscape and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict,International Journal of Environmental Studies, 68:4, 413-429, DOI: 10.1080/00207233.2011.582700
3. Jaber, D. A. (2018): Settler colonialism and ecocide: case study of Al-Khader, Palestine,Settler Colonial Studies, DOI:10.1080/2201473X.2018.148712700207233.2011.582700
4. al-Butmeh, A., al-Shalalfeh, Z., Zwahre, M., & Scandrett, E. (2019). The environment as a site of struggle against settler-colonisation in Palestine. In Harley, A., & Scandrett, E. (eds.). Environmental Justice, Popular Struggle and Community Development. Policy Press (pp. 153-172).
5. Forensic Architecture (2024) ‘No Trace of Life’: Israel’s Ecocide in Gaza 2023-2024, https://forensic-architecture.org/investigation/ecocide-in-gaza
6. Qumsiyeh, M. B (2024) Impact of the Israeli military activities on the environment, International Journal of Environmental Studies, 81:2, 977-992, DOI: 10.1080/00207233.2024.2323365
7. Braverman, I. (2024). Frontier ecologies: Israel’s settler colonialism in the Jawlan-Golan. Political Geography, 111, 103073.
8. Molavi, S. C. (2024) Environmental Warfare in Gaza: Colonial Violence and New Landscapes of Resistance, Pluto Press.
9. Salamanca, O.J. (2024) “Because of the Land”: Insurgent Infrastructures of Social Reproduction in Palestine. In: The Undisciplined Environments Collective (Eds.) Insurgent Ecologies: Between Environmental Struggles and Postcapitalist Transformations, pp. 26-46. Halifax: Fernwood Publishing.

Climate in Palestine

1. Bigger, P. et al. (2024) Ceasefire now, ceasefire forever: No climate justice without Palestinian freedom and self-determination, Climate and Community Project, DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.27376.43527
2. Mason, M., Zeitoun, M., & Mimi, Z. (2012). Compounding vulnerability: impacts of climate change on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Journal of Palestine Studies, 41(3), 38-53.

Water in Palestine

1. Hafez, Y. and Dhenin, M. (2024) Palestine’s Jordan River Drained of Water and Livelihood, https://atmos.earth/palestines-jordan-river-drained-of-water-and-livelihood/
2. Alatout, S. (2006). Towards a bio-territorial conception of power: Territory, population, and environmental narratives in Palestine and Israel. Political Geography, 25(6), 601-621.
3. Selby, J. (2003). Dressing up domination as ‘cooperation’: The case of Israeli-Palestinian water relations. Review of International Studies, 29(1), 121-138.
4. Braverman, I. (2020). Silent springs: The nature of water and Israel’s military occupation. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 3(2), 527-551.
5. Beltrán, M. J., & Kallis, G. (2018). How does virtual water flow in Palestine? A political ecology analysis. Ecological Economics, 143, 17-26.
6. Trottier, J., & Perrier, J. (2018). Water driven Palestinian agricultural frontiers: The global ramifications of transforming local irrigation. Journal of Political Ecology, 25(1), 292.

Land, Food and Commons in Palestine

1. Quiquivix, L. (2013) When the Carob Tree Was the Border: On Autonomy and Palestinian Practices of Figuring it Out, Capitalism Nature Socialism, 24:3, 170-189, DOI: 10.1080/10455752.2013.815242
2. Alkhalili, N. (2017). Enclosures from below: The Mushaa’in contemporary Palestine.Antipode,49(5), 1103-1124.

   Grosglik, R., Handel, A., & Monterescu, D. (2021). Soil, territory, land: The spatial politics of settler organic farming in the West Bank, Israel/Palestine. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 39(5), 906-924.

3. Sayrafi, I. (2022). Political Ecology and the Social Solidarity Economies within the Power Matrix in Rural Palestine. Center for Development Studies – Birzeit University.
4. Henderson, C. (2024). Israel’s weapon of hunger in Gaza, https://peasantjournal.org/news/israel%E2%80%99s-weapon-of-hunger-in-gaza/

Waste in Palestine

1. Perrier, J. (2021). Land defenders, infrastructural violence and environmental coloniality: Resisting a wastewater treatment plant in East Nablus. In Environmental Defenders (pp. 198-217). Routledge.
2. Stamatopoulou-Robbins, S. C. (2021). Failure to build: Sewage and the choppy temporality of infrastructure in Palestine. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 4(1), 28-42.
3. Garb, Y., & Leblond, N. (2024). Flowing toxics: E-waste field work in the Palestinian-Israeli space. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 42(1), 45-63.
4. Stamatopoulou-Robbins, S. (2019). Waste siege: the life of infrastructure in Palestine. Stanford University Press
5. Baumann, H., & Massalha, M. (2022). ‘Your daily reality is rubbish’: Waste as a means of urban exclusion in the suspended spaces of East Jerusalem. Urban Studies, 59(3), 548-571.

Urban Palestine

1. Abujidi, N., & Verschure, H. (2006). Military occupation as urbicide by “construction and destruction”: The case of Nablus, Palestine. The Arab World Geographer, 9(2), 126-154.
2. Alkhalili, N. (2019). ‘A forest of urbanization’: Camp Metropolis in the edge areas.Settler Colonial Studies,9(2), 207-226
3. Joudah, N. (2020) Gaza as Site and Method: The Settler Colonial City Without Settlers, https://antipodeonline.org/2020/08/24/gaza-as-site-and-method/
4. Abu Hatoum, N. (2021). For “a no-state yet to come”: Palestinian urban place-making in Kufr Aqab, Jerusalem. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 4(1), 85-108.
5. Golańska, D. (2022). Slow urbicide: Accounting for the shifting temporalities of political violence in the West Bank. Geoforum, 132, 125-134.
6. Salamanca, O. J., & Silver, J. (2022). In the excess of splintering urbanism: The racialized political economy of infrastructure.Journal of Urban Technology,29(1), 117-125.
7. Azzouz, A. (2024). Erased city. City: Analysis of Urban Change, Theory, Action, 28(1-2), 1-6. DOI: doi.org/10.1080/13604813.2024.2323388

More-Than-Human Palestine

1. Sasa, G. (2023). Oppressive pines: Uprooting Israeli green colonialism and implanting Palestinian A’wna. Politics, 43(2), 219-235.
2. Amira, S. (2021). The slow violence of Israeli settler-colonialism and the political ecology of ethnic cleansing in the West Bank. Settler Colonial Studies, 11(4), 512-532.
3. Salih, R., & Corry, O. (2022). Displacing the Anthropocene: Colonisation, extinction and the unruliness of nature in Palestine. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 5(1), 381-400.
4. Sharif, L. (2015). Savory colonialism: Land, memory, and the eco-occupation of Palestine. Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, 11(2), 256-257.
5. Sezer, J. (2023). Sustaining Resistance, Cultivating Liberation: The Enduring Bond of Rooted-Resistance-Companionship between Palestinians and Olive Trees, https://studenttheses.uu.nl/handle/20.500.12932/44436
6. Qumsiyeh, M.B., Abusarhan, M.A. (2021). Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation in Palestine. In: Öztürk, M., Altay, V., Efe, R. (eds) Biodiversity, Conservation and Sustainability in Asia. Springer, Cham.
7. Adolfsson, J. (2023). A new storm over the Naqab: The temporality of space in Israeli settler colonialism, https://su.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1717177&dswid=6293

Green Imperialism in Palestine

1. Jung, W. And Wu, C. (2024) A Mirror of Our Immediate Future: On Green Imperialism and Palestine, https://magazine.scienceforthepeople.org/online/a-mirror-of-our-immediate-future/
2. Hughes, S. S., Velednitsky, S., & Green, A. A. (2023). Greenwashing in Palestine/Israel: Settler colonialism and environmental injustice in the age of climate catastrophe. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 6(1), 495-513.
3. Shqair, M. (2023) Arab–Israeli Eco-Normalization: Greenwashing Settler Colonialism in Palestine and the Jawlan, in Hamouchene, H. and Sandwell, K. (eds). Dismantling Green Colonialism: Energy and Climate Justice in the Arab Region. Pluto Press. URL: https://openresearchlibrary.org/content/00f17fce-1221-4a50-bc6e-643d19f790f7
4. Alkhalili, N., Dajani, M., & Mahmoud, Y. (2023). The enduring coloniality of ecological modernization: Wind energy development in occupied Western Sahara and the occupied Syrian Golan Heights. Political Geography, 103, 102871.

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* This selection was curated by Ethemcan Turhan and is reproduced here with his permission. Last updated 28 May 2024.

The post Palestinian Political Ecologies Reader appeared first on Undisciplined Environments.

Categories: B4. Radical Ecology

NC WARN’s sweeping new Sharing Solar campaign coincides with years of advocacy by leading proponents of a US transition to renewable energy

“The cheapest, most reliable power can be produced renewably and produced at/or near the customers — that is ‘distributed.’”That’s how clean energy guruAmory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute says it. (“Freeing Energy” Podcast)

Last week, NC WARN began proposing a sweeping shift in the profit-driven monopoly mindset that increasingly harms communities, drives up power bills, and makes the climate crisis worse.All Duke Energy’s residential, commercial and nonprofit customers can share in the costs and benefits of clean energy much like we currently pay for polluting power plants – through the electric rate system.

We’re filing this proposal in the Carbon Plan docket at the NC Utilities Commission and we’re going straight to the public with a statewide campaign.

Under NC WARN’sSharing Solar proposal:

• There would be no up-front cost for customers to add solar plus battery storage. It would be funded through the Rate System – just as we now all pay for dirty power.
• Local solar-with-storage can expand across NC quickly, inexpensively and equitably – with a priority on disadvantaged communities.
• All homes, businesses, nonprofits benefit in many ways – even if they don’t have solar themselves.
• Solar companies grow and create thousands of jobs in small towns and cities.
• It avoids the year-after-year rate hikes in Duke Energy’s high-risk plan to keep expanding fossil fuels and building experimental nuclear reactors.

Many experts agree that local solar plus storage is the best tool we have to address the climate crisis.

“When energy is produced and consumed closer to its source, less stress is placed on the electricity grid, which promotes energy resilience during mass power outages, an increasingly common occurrence as our planet warms and storms intensify.”
— Center for Progressive Reform,“Power to the People: Advancing Energy Equity via Customer-Owned Electricity Generation”

“Distributed solar, especially when paired with battery storage or micro-grids, is vital to creating a resilient and reliable energy system… Distributed energy can provide essential power even when the centralized grid fails.”
— Center for Biological Diversity,“Rooftop-Solar Justice: Why Net Metering Is Good For People And The Planet And Why Monopoly Utilities Want To Kill It”

“Rooftop solar projects produce power right where folks use it — eliminating delivery fees altogether. It’s the only option that provides generation, transmission, and distribution all in one package.”
— John Farrell (Institute for Local Self-Reliance), “The Free Delivery Farce in Solar”

North Carolina desperately needs an open, fair debate about our energy-climate future — not continuing deference to Duke Energy’s leaders.

See more experts supporting local solar-plus-storage (aka distributed generation)at this link.

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The post Lovins, Experts Support Solar-Plus-Storage as NC WARN proposes — NC WARN News Release appeared first on NC WARN.

Categories: G2. Local Greens

Oil Change International - Thu, 05/23/2024 - 06:30

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 23, 2024

Contact:
Collin Rees, collin@priceofoil.org
Cassidy DiPaola, cassidy@fossilfree.media

Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Ilhan Omar Reintroduce the End Polluter Welfare Act with Broad Support from Over 300 Organizations

Legislation aims to end billions in annual subsidies to the fossil fuel industry

WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) reintroduced the End Polluter Welfare Act, the most comprehensive legislative proposal in the United States Congress to address the billions in special interest subsidies that disproportionately flow to the oil, gas, and coal industries. The reintroduction comes with the support of over 300 environmental, climate, consumer protection, and frontline organizations who have signed an organizational letter backing the legislation.

Read the support letter: http://priceofoil.org/content/uploads/2024/05/End-Polluter-Welfare-Act-–-support-letter_2024_final.pdf

The End Polluter Welfare Act aims to rein in the corporate power of the polluting fossil fuel industry, lower climate emissions, reduce related harm in frontline communities, and raise USD 170 billion in revenue over the next ten years by eliminating tax loopholes, giveaway leasing rules, and investments in false solutions that keep fossil fuel projects alive.

In the letter, the signatories state,

“The End Polluter Welfare Act is the most comprehensive legislative proposal to address the billions in special interest subsidies that disproportionately flow to the oil, gas, and coal industries. These subsidies include century-old tax loopholes, giveaway leasing rules for extraction on our public lands and waters, and newer investments of billions into false solutions that keep fossil fuel projects alive for decades longer through investments from export credit and development finance agencies.”

The letter also emphasizes the urgent need to end taxpayer subsidies for the fossil fuel industry, stating,

“We must end the $170 billion in taxpayer subsidies for the fossil fuel industry. With major provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 expiring in 2025, there is an opportunity to pass critical tax reform legislation and ensure that fossil fuel corporations finally pay their fair share.”

Among the over 300 signatories are prominent organizations such as Oil Change International, the Sierra Club, Greenpeace USA, Friends of the Earth U.S., Oxfam America, People’s Action, Public Citizen, Sunrise Movement, WE ACT for Environmental Justice, 350.org, and the League of Conservation Voters.

“The conduct of the fossil fuel industry toward the American people and their distortion of the truth about climate change is one of the biggest scandals of our lifetime,” said U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders. “At a time when scientists tell us we need to drastically reduce carbon pollution to prevent climate catastrophe, when fossil fuel companies are making billions of dollars in profit every year, and when working people across this country are living paycheck to paycheck, we have a fiscal and moral responsibility to put a stop to this absurd corporate welfare. No, working families should not be forced to pad the profits of an industry that is destroying our planet.”

“American taxpayers have been forced to foot the bill for corporate handouts propping up the fossil fuel industry that is driving the climate crisis,” said U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar. “With the End Polluter Welfare Act, we’re putting a stop to these subsidies that accelerate environmental devastation. It’s time to transfer that revenue to invest in a clean energy future that protects our environment. I choose to fight for our children’s right to a healthy planet and economy powered by renewable sources, not wealthy CEOs’ profits.”

The reintroduction of the End Polluter Welfare Act in the Senate and House of Representatives marks a significant push to address the urgent climate crisis and hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for its role in exacerbating the problem. The broad support from organizations across the country demonstrates the growing demand for bold action to combat climate change and protect frontline communities.

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Additional quotes from signers of the support letter:

Collin Rees, United States Program Manager at Oil Change International:

“The End Polluter Welfare Act is a critical step toward reorienting our government’s priorities away from one of the deadliest industries in the history of the planet —fossil fuels. New research shows that the eight major oil companies alone could use up 30% of the remaining global carbon budget to stay under 1.5ºC. Fossil fuel producers don’t deserve public money —these climate arsonists deserve public shame and a quick end to their existence.”

Mahyar Sorour, Director of Beyond Fossil Fuels Policy at Sierra Club:

“Fossil fuel companies have raked in astronomical profits at the expense of communities while Big Oil and Gas lobbyists actively work to keep us hooked on their polluting products that perpetuate the climate crisis. It is absurd that taxpayers should then also provide a blank check through subsidies, corporate giveaways, and sweetheart deals. We must end the billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies to the fossil fuel industry.”

Zanagee Artis, Executive Director of Zero Hour:

“The fossil fuel industry lied for decades about the devastation their products wreak on communities, ecosystems, and the climate. All the while, taxpayers have spent billions of dollars to support their operations. It is outrageous that the public is being forced to subsidize an industry that is destroying our air, our water, and our chances at a livable future. It is time to end fossil fuel subsidies.”

Tom BK Goldtooth, Executive Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network:

“The fossil fuel industry functions because federal government subsidies ensure the longevity of the institutions driving the climate crisis. To protect the sacredness of Mother Earth, we must redirect subsidies away from the fossil fuel industries and false solutions.”

Kate DeAngelis, Senior International Finance Program Manager at Friends of the Earth U.S.:

“This bill would force the U.S. government to finally end its disastrous financing of fossil fuel projects around the world. The same billions that have enriched Exxon have also fueled violence, displaced thousands, and wreaked environmental havoc in places like Mozambique, Guyana, and Mexico. Congress must put a stop to this reckless funding by passing the End Polluter Welfare Act.”

Rev. Fletcher Harper, Executive Director of GreenFaith:

“It’s blatantly immoral to subsidize corporations to destroy the planet, which is why the End Polluter Welfare Act must become law and be vigorously enforced. The well-being of the Earth and all its inhabitants is what is sacred, not the fossil fuel industry’s bottom line.”

Daniel Mulé, Policy Manager for Just Energy Transition & Extractives at Oxfam America:
“Oxfam proudly endorses the End Polluter Welfare Act. It is long past time to eliminate the tax giveaways and public support that prop up oil, gas, and coal companies on the public’s dime. As Congress considers the need for climate investments and significant reforms to the tax code, ending fossil fuel subsidies is crucial for tackling the climate crisis, funding a just energy transition, and protecting marginalized communities, including those impacted by extraction.”

Saul Levin, Political Director of the Green New Deal Network:

“The End Polluter Welfare Act is the gold standard for how we can stop spending government dollars propping up the oil and gas industry and start spending them on keeping people safe from climate change and dangerous pollution. The money saved should be invested in the green schools, housing, and transportation we need for a Green New Deal for our communities.”

Russell Armstrong, Senior Director of Campaigns & Advocacy at Hip Hop Caucus:

“Subsidizing fossil fuel companies that already receive hundreds of billions yearly in financing from big banks is madness when communities are still struggling to recover from health crises and natural disasters. The United States can’t be serious about ending its addiction to fossil fuels — predominantly based in frontline communities being sacrificed for multinational profits — unless we end taxpayer subsidies for these oil, gas, and coal producers. This legislation, which ends liability loopholes and tax credits for companies that pollute onshore and offshore lands and waters, particularly in the Gulf South, is a major step toward climate justice.”

Cheyenne Rendon, Senior Policy Officer at Society of Native Nations:

“Our nation must lead by example and prioritize health and human rights over false solutions such as fossil fuels. We must end taxpayer subsidies that boost oil and gas projects’ viability and mandate responsibility systems to hold producers accountable across the entire fossil fuel supply chain. Our people — including Indigenous Peoples, workers, youth, and fenceline communities — are already sick and dying. Why must they also pay for this indignity in taxpayer subsidies? Passing this critical tax reform and ending funding from export credit and development finance agencies is one of the many necessary steps to hold fossil fuel corporations accountable.”

Sikowis Nobiss, Plains Cree / Saulteaux, Executive Director of Great Plains Action Society:

“Special interest subsidies for the oil, gas, and coal industries are but state-sanctioned continuance of Christian-colonial-capitalist land theft and environmental degradation. This greedy and corrupt practice, steeped in over 500 years of Indigenous genocide, has created the current climate emergency wherein the living things on this Earth now face extinction.”

Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch:

“In order to achieve a rapid transition off fossil fuels, we must implement provisions that halt the current massive handouts for oil and gas companies. We simply cannot afford to keep subsidizing an industry that is poisoning our climate and communities — an industry literally killing us. Congress must pass the End Polluter Welfare Act now.”

Jessica Roff, Plastics & Petrochemicals Program Manager for United States & Canada, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives:

“The fossil fuel industry will do anything to protect its bottom line, harming generations of frontline, fenceline, environmental justice, Black, brown, low-wealth, and Indigenous Peoples around the world. There is no excuse for our government using our tax dollars to perpetuate these harms for industry profit. The U.S. government is actively investing in industry’s greenwashed incineration, incentivizing more investment in plastics while weakly promoting demand-side measures in international instruments like the Global Plastic Treaty. It’s past time to stop extraction, drastically reduce plastic production, and stop giving handouts to an industry set on destroying our communities and the planet.”

Marc Yaggi, Chief Executive Officer of Waterkeeper Alliance:

“As the climate emergency escalates and the threats to our water and communities multiply, existing policies continue to hinder progress by rewarding the root cause of our challenges and enabling the fossil fuel industry to amass record profits. Eliminating subsidies for this industry is a commonsense approach to speed up the necessary transition away from fossil fuels and to meet our international climate commitments.”

Jeff Ordower, North America Director of 350.org:

“I can’t believe that in 2024 we are STILL discussing subsidies for energy sources that destroy the planet and put frontline and Indigenous communities at risk. We urgently need to be talking about how U.S. industrial policy can promote and incentivize renewables instead so that we minimize further damage and transition justly.”

Natalie Mebane, Vice President of Government Affairs at Rise to Thrive:

?“At a time when we are on the brink of passing 1.5ºC of warming and scientists have been begging us to pay attention to this crisis, we are funding our own destruction. Polluters should be paying for their crimes against the climate and the communities that they have harmed, not getting a handout from taxpayers. It is time to end polluter welfare.”

Jean Tepperman, Coordinator of Sunflower Alliance:

“It is suicidal for our tax dollars to continue to support the fossil fuel industry that’s destroying our health and our future. Fossil fuels are losing the race to clean energy — it’s time to accelerate that trend and support the energy of the future, not the energy of the past. Congress must pass the End Polluter Welfare Act now.”

Dr. Lynn Ringenberg, Physicians for Social Responsibility Florida:

“Children have long lives ahead compared to most members of the House and Senate, which means our kids and grandkids will continue to be harmed for decades to come from continued fossil fuel expansion. It is past time for Congress to step up and end fossil fuel subsidies! We must instead provide these funds to improve good health and safety in our communities, especially those that are disproportionately impacted and harmed by fossil fuels.”

Hailey Campbell, Co-Executive Director of Care About Climate:

“It’s ironic that we pay taxes that fund our death and destruction rather than safeguard an equitable future. Meanwhile, climate action remains critically underfunded. Redirecting the billions currently allocated to fossil fuel subsidies would boost the crucial climate finance we need to meet climate goals.”

Bonnie Sundance, Executive Director of Our Sacred Earth:

“To continue to financially support harm to the planet and people is unwise. We are in times which require wisdom, care, and careful action on behalf of our present and future. The End Polluter Welfare Act is a step in the right direction, and should be accompanied by redirecting subsidies away from Big Agriculture and other industries contributing to global warming.”

Drew Hudson, Founder at 198 methods:

“Fossil fuels are killing the planet and we’re paying them to do it with taxpayer funds. We strongly support the End Polluter Welfare Act and look forward to the day it is enacted so we can stop paying the fossil fuel industry for harming our climate, communities, and common home.”

Pauline Seales, Santa Cruz Climate Action Network:

“If we fail to act quickly, climate change will have disastrous effects for most of the world’s population. Oil companies are the major perpetrators of this crime against humanity. Ending their public subsidies should start right now.”

Rudy Salakory, Conservation Director, Friends of the Columbia Gorge:

“It’s madness to think that we can phase out fossil fuels while providing financial incentives and subsidies to one of the most lucrative industries in the world. Climate change brings uncertainty and stress to the ecologies, economies, and communities of the Columbia River Gorge. We must work together to build a future free of fossil fuels while we ameliorate the effects of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and in the oceans. The End Polluter Welfare Act is a much needed step in that direction at a meaningful scale.”

Tamela Trussell, Founder of Move Past Plastic:

“Profits, urgency, and a lack of oversight often lead the petrochemical industry to violate regulatory permits and fail to report these violations. Our policy of self-reporting and a lack of enforcement is a crime taxpayers pay both upfront and throughout our lives. Harms to health, tourism, ecological biodiversity, our climate, and our lands and agriculture cost taxpayers greatly. Regulatory violations perpetuate the crimes, and economic and health burdens on frontline communities, the general population, and our ecosystems. If industry actors are unable and unwilling to follow the rules, they should not get federal and state tax breaks and subsidies.”

Anne Sparks, Steering Committee Member at Save Ohio Parks:

“Knowing that the climate crisis can no longer be ignored, the fossil fuel industry has responded by increasing efforts to maximize profits, even pushing to receive subsidies for unproven technologies to ‘solve’ the crisis it created. Americans know drastic measures are needed to avoid disaster and are wondering why a climate emergency with a full suite of coordinated, goal-driven policies has not been declared. Save Ohio Parks supports the End Polluter Welfare Act as a concrete action necessary to sharply curtail greenhouse gas emissions.”

Dr. Robert Gould, President of San Francisco Bay Physicians for Social Responsibility:

“The fossil fuel industry harms the health of our children and the climate, jeopardizing their future. Big Oil and Coal should be paying to repair the damage they have caused — not receiving taxpayer subsidies to continue their destruction. Our representatives are overly influenced by Big Oil’s big money — we need to change that so they are truly representing us, the voters, and protecting our communities.”

Kevin Cawley, Deignan Institute for Earth & Spirit at Iona University:

“As Thomas Berry writes, ‘We have become so acclimated to an industrial world that we can hardly imagine any other context of survival, even when we recognize the industrial bubble is dissolving and will soon leave us in the chill of a plundered landscape. The difficulty is in the order of magnitude of change that is required of us. None of our former revelatory experiences, none of our renewal or rebirth rituals, none of our apocalyptic descriptions are quite adequate for this moment.’ We must pass the End Polluter Welfare Act now.”

Julia Cohen, Co-Founder & Managing Director of Plastic Pollution Coalition:

“Instead of incentivizing polluters’ harm to human and environmental health and perpetuating environmental injustices, taxpayer dollars should be spent on exactly the opposite: Protecting people and the planet by incentivizing real solutions to fossil fuel and plastic pollution, and providing help to those disproportionately forced to bear the brunt of industrial pollution. This bill helps move us in the direction necessary for the survival of humanity.”

Peggy Baker, Rio Arriba Concerned Citizens:

“As a grassroots organization in New Mexico, we are wholly opposed to use of ‘produced’ fracking water, which is exacerbating our water crisis. Water for use on small family farms and Indigenous lands is already showing documented contamination from oil and gas extraction. These impacts are the direct results of 40 years of heavy subsidization of fossil fuel development and exemption from effective regulatory oversight and enforcement. Oil and gas profits do not support the regions most harmed, but rather flow to make the rich richer. We must end this polluter welfare and invest in our futures.”

RL Miller, Climate Hawks Vote:

“I’m sure all the Members of Congress deeply concerned about smart budgeting, deficits, and inflation will rush to endorse the End Polluter Welfare Act. Right? Right?”

Todd Fernandez, Director, Climate Crisis Policy & The Earth Bill Network:

“Too many United Nations IPCC scientists in 2024 believe we will hit 3ºC global heating, which is a doomsday scenario for the future. We need to outlaw climate pollution now, with federal mandates on industry to transition off of fossil fuels. We must stop funding our suicide and double down on survival while we still have time, or the future will never forgive us. If we were acting responsibly, we would cut all fossil fuel subsidies and unite to pass The Earth Bill (HR 598)!”

Will Brieger, 350 Sacramento:

“Like the federal government, my state of California spends billions of dollars to regulate pollution from petroleum combustion and spills, to fight climate change, and to develop alternatives to petroleum. Why should we send tax money to promote more petroleum production or otherwise enable the industry? That will require even more expenditure to clean up after them.”

Rev. Richenda Fairhurst, Board Member of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon & Oregon Interfaith Power & Light:

“What we choose to invest in says a lot about who we are as moral people. Not only do dollars spent on fossil fuels continue to perpetuate the harms of the fossil fuel industry, but this deadly cycle also denies us the opportunity to invest in better things, save lives, restore the planet, and choose a more just way of life. My home state of Oregon values the natural world, and by our faith it is God’s creation. What benefit does it bring us to invest in industry driving a climate crisis that upsets ecological balance, kills millions of trees, diminishes snowpack, closes our fisheries, and disrupts our beautiful wilderness? Let us make the moral choice — stop investing in fossil fuels and instead invest in an economy of well-being, for a clean, just, and beautiful future.”

The post Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Ilhan Omar Reintroduce the End Polluter Welfare Act with Broad Support appeared first on Oil Change International.

Categories: J2. Fossil Fuel Industry

Common Dreams - Thu, 05/23/2024 - 06:23

US President Joe Biden should oppose threats and calls for punitive actions against the International Criminal Court (ICC), 121 human rights and civil society groups said today in a letter to President Biden.

On May 20, 2024, the court’s prosecutor announced that he was seeking arrest warrants for three leaders of Hamas and two senior Israeli officials. Some members of the US Congress have threatened to retaliate against the ICC, including by imposing sanctions against court officers, if the court moves forward with arrest warrants against Israeli officials in its Palestine investigation.

Although the United States is not a member of the ICC, Republican and Democratic administrations have supported the court in specific cases, and the US government has assisted with the arrest of suspects wanted by the court. The Biden administration has recognized the court’s essential role in addressing serious international crimes in Ukraine and in Darfur, Sudan.

In the May 22 letter to the White House, the groups urged President Biden to reject attacks on the court, calling the previous US administration’s sanctions against the prosecutor’s predecessor an affront to justice. “The previous administration’s sanctions against [ICC officials] … aligned the United States with authoritarian tactics of threatening judges and independent judicial institutions,” the groups said in their letter.

President Biden should “oppose any legislative efforts to undermine the ICC, and to make clear that regardless of its views on specific ICC investigations, the United States continues to support independent international justice mechanisms,” the groups said.

The text of the letter and its signatories is available here.

Categories: F. Left News

Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) - Thu, 05/23/2024 - 06:23

Para su publicación inmediata

En un esfuerzo por abordar la creciente crisis de contaminación por plásticos en Latinoamérica, organizaciones miembros de Break Free From Plastic de nueve países desarrollaron un exhaustivo análisis de las auditorías de marca realizadas en la región durante el año 2023. Este informe, que es el primero de América Latina que analiza las auditorías de marca en la región de manera consolidada, revela cifras alarmantes sobre la presencia de residuos plásticos en distintos ecosistemas de la región y destaca la urgencia de tomar medidas concretas para enfrentar este desafío global.

Las auditorías de marca son un ejercicio de ciencia ciudadana que se desarrolla a nivel mundial desde 2018, en el que personas de la sociedad civil se involucran activamente en la recopilación de datos relacionados a la contaminación por residuos plásticos encontrados en distintos espacios naturales. En el caso de Latinoamérica, en 2023, 708 voluntarios participaron en 34 eventos coordinados por 11 organizaciones, que recolectaron un total de 45.886 artículos plásticos.

Los resultados de estas auditorías publicados hoy, resaltan la presencia predominante de ciertas empresas en la generación de residuos plásticos en la región. De manera preocupante, se identificó que las empresas multinacionales The Coca Cola Company y PepsiCo encabezan la lista, reflejando también su posición dominante en los informes globales de auditoría de marcas de la organización internacional Break Free From Plastic. Además, se observó que la empresa brasileña Grupo Viton, se encuentra entre las tres principales generadoras de residuos plásticos en la región.

María Esther Briz, campañista de Break Free From Plastic en América Latina, señala «Las auditorías de marca nos permiten identificar a las empresas cuyos residuos plásticos contaminan nuestro planeta, exigirles que asuman su responsabilidad y que cumplan con sus compromisos voluntarios de reducir su huella plástica. Los resultados de este primer reporte regional se corresponden con las auditorías de marca globales de años anteriores, y un estudio científico recientemente publicado en que se confirma que un número limitado de corporaciones son responsables de más de la mitad de las marcas más contaminantes del mundo. La responsabilidad no es de los consumidores, es de las empresas que venden sus productos en envases que contaminan, pero de los que no se hacen cargo, a pesar de sus afirmaciones de tener “prácticas amigables con el medio ambiente”. Este reporte revela quiénes son y cómo intentan evadir sus responsabilidades.»

Por otro lado, Fundación Basura realizó un análisis de greenwashing en los sitios web y comunicaciones de Coca-Cola y PepsiCo, en el que se encontró que en ambas prevalece un carácter ambiguo y no hacen referencia al impacto que las empresas generan en términos de residuos. Por ejemplo, PepsiCo en su sitio web bajo el slogan “Positivo” indica, “A través de nuestras marcas, inspiramos a la gente para que tome decisiones que generen más sonrisas para ellos y para el planeta.”; sin embargo, no indica cómo se inspira, qué significan las sonrisas ni cómo esto se relaciona con acciones frente a la crisis global de la contaminación por plásticos, además de dejar el problema solo en manos de los consumidores.

Break Free From Plastic y las organizaciones que participaron en la recopilación de información, señalan que para que una solución ante la contaminación por plásticos sea eficaz, es esencial que el problema se aborde reduciendo la producción de plástico, que los envases se rediseñen para promover la reutilización y sistemas de rellenado, y que el Tratado global de plásticos que actualmente se está negociando en Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Medio Ambiente, logre determinar metas globales vinculantes de reducción para alcanzar el objetivo mundial de 1,5 ºC y evitar un calentamiento catastrófico del planeta.

Para más información o para concertar una entrevista, contactar a:

• Camila Aguilera, comunicaciones Break Free From Plastic América Latina camila@no-burn.org | +56 9 51111599
• María Esther Briz, campañista Break Free From Plastic América Latina, mariaesther@breakfreefromplastic.org|+593 99 462 1993

Imágenes

Sobre Break Free From Plastic

#BreakFreeFromPlastic es el movimiento mundial que trabaja para lograr un futuro libre de contaminación por plástico. Más de 13.000 organizaciones y personas de todo el mundo se han unido para exigir la reducción de los plásticos de un solo uso y abogar por soluciones duraderas a la crisis de la contaminación por plásticos. Los miembros del BFFP colaboran para lograr un cambio sistémico abordando la contaminación por plásticos en toda la cadena de valor, desde la extracción hasta la eliminación, centrándose en la prevención más que en la cura.

The post Informe revela alarmante impacto de grandes empresas en la contaminación por plásticos en Latinoamérica first appeared on GAIA.

Categories: E2. Front Line Community Green

Climate Change News - Thu, 05/23/2024 - 05:58

Two and a half years ago, at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, South Africa signed a first-of-its-kind agreement with wealthy nations to collaborate on rolling out clean energy to replace coal in a socially fair manner.

President Cyril Ramaphosa described the $8.5 billion “Just Energy Transition Partnership” (JETP) as a “watershed moment” – and then British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called it a “game-changing partnership”.

But, as South Africa prepares to head to the polls next Wednesday in an election that could force Ramaphosa’s ruling party to share power for the first time since apartheid ended, there is still little to show for the energy transition deal on the ground.

Africa must reap the benefits of its energy transition minerals

Crispian Olver, executive director of the Presidential Climate Commission which is advising the government on the JETP, told Climate Home: “This is a bit like trying to turn a big container-ship – it’s slow to shift onto a new path, but once it’s on that new course, things will start to move faster.”

As of last November, just $308 million of grant-funded projects under the JETP had reached the implementation phase, government data shows. Of this, just $30m was categorised as spending on the just transition in the coal-dependent Mpumalanga province.

The government has not published equivalent information on loans – which make up 97% of the donor-backed support. But those following the JETP say progress has been slow partly because South Africa’s state-owned electricity generator Eskom is reluctant to take on more debt.

In addition, South Africa’s energy ministry and the wealthy governments that are providing funding disagree on the role of gas in the country’s energy transition. The donors backing the JETP are the US, Canada, Britain, Switzerland, the European Union, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Denmark and Spain.

Coal plant closures have been delayed by South Africa’s lack of reliable electricity, which has led to rolling power black-outs known as “load-shedding”.

While problems affecting the coal sector are a key cause of unreliable electricity supplies, Eskom has said it will delay the closure of three coal-fired power plants in response to the crisis.

South Africa’s best wind and solar resources, in the south and west, meanwhile remain under-utilised because the national power grid is already congested in those areas.

Azerbaijan pursues clean energy to export more ‘god-given’ gas to Europe

To transport the clean power, Eskom is trying to build transmission cables but progress has been slow as the utility is deeply in debt and reluctant to take on new loans through the JETP – even if those loans are offered on cheap terms.

An Eskom spokesperson said that “off-balance sheet options” – like allowing the private sector to build cables and substations – are being considered, but the details are still to be finalised.

Electricity cables at South Africa’s Lethaba power station in 2007 (Photos: World Bank)

Yet not all government departments want a rapid transition to renewables. The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE), ledby pro-coal minister Gwede Mantashe, recently published an energy planning document that envisages a sharp slowdown in the roll-out of solar and wind power and instead more of a shift from coal to gas power plants.

This has complicated things for the international partner group behind the JETP. Two people with knowledge of the negotiations told Climate Home that South Africa’s apparent reticence to switch to renewables is slowing the pace of funding flows under the deal.

On the other hand, South Africa’s parliament recently approved a Climate Change Bill and a Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill, which seeks to create a competitive power market and end Eskom’s century-long, coal-dominated monopoly. The legislation will render the DMRE’s controversial gas-reliant energy plans less relevant, as it paves the way for more electricity to be produced by private companies.

Energy minister Gwede Mantashe (left) speaks to President Cyril Ramaphosa (right) in 2018 (Photos: South African government)

But that has done little to appease anxious workers and residents in the heart of the country’s coal belt. In particular, the town of Komati offers a warning of the electoral damage that can occur if coal-plant repurposing projects don’t go smoothly.

Eskom’s coal-fired power station in Komati was retired from service in October 2022 after reaching its end-of-life date. It is now being converted into a solar, wind and food farm, a solar microgrid assembly factory and training facility.

Parts of it are now starting to open but for many local people, it is too little too late.“The community is currently facing a pandemic of unemployment and poverty,” said community leader Carlos Vilankulu, who is also a repurposing project liaison officer.

Eskom says none of its workers lost their jobs when the last coal units were taken offline – many were transferred to other power stations. But local guesthouses and other small businesses in the community say they are struggling as a result of the closure.

A man selling second-hand tyres waits for customers in Komati village, May 9, 2024 (Photo: REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko)

“Everything has come to a standstill. Many people are unemployed,” said Alta de Bruin, a guest-house owner based in Komati village. While the repurposing project has generally been well received, it “could have started a long time ago”, de Bruin told Climate Home.

The decision to close down Komati was made long before South Africa agreed to its climate finance package at COP26, but the local transformation project is intended to serve as a blueprint for other just transition initiatives in the country.

It has been a cautionary tale, according to Olver. Community consultations on the way forward only took place years after the decision was made to shut Komati – meaning local residents and businesses were left in a state of limbo. “The next [coal power] stations will do it better,“ he said.

Besides South Africa, JETPs have also been signed with Indonesia, Vietnam and Senegal. Leo Roberts, an analyst with climate change think-tank E3G, said South Africa’s delays in closing down its coal plants are concerning.

Indonesia has also postponed coal plant closures after expressing disappointment with rich countries’ support, while Vietnam’s partnership has ground to a halt amid political turmoil.

“We mustn’t lose sight of what the JETPs need to deliver,” Roberts said. “This is ultimately about reducing emissions to avoid catastrophic climate change, dealing with the huge health pollution challenges coal causes, and supporting countries to deliver self-defined low-carbon development pathways.”

(Reporting by Nick Hedley; editing by Joe Lo and Megan Rowling)

The post As South Africa heads to the polls, voters await stalled “just energytransition” appeared first on Climate Home News.

Categories: H. Green News

The post A Britain Talks Climate Q&A appeared first on Climate Outreach.

Anthropocene Magazine - Thu, 05/23/2024 - 05:00

Fueled by climate change and a growing population, water shortages are a growing crisis around the world. About 300 million people in over 150 countries rely on desalination, the removal of salt from ocean water for fresh water, according to the World Bank. But current desalination technologies consume a lot of energy and are prohibitively expensive for poorer communities most facing water scarcity.

Researchers in Australia have now devised a simple new desalination method that does not need high pressure, high temperature or complex materials such as membranes. And it only uses only a fifth of the energy of conventional methods.

Modern desalination plants, most of them found in parched but wealthy Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, rely on two main technologies. One, called reverse osmosis, sieves salt out of seawater using membranes that tend to foul and are expensive. The other method, thermal desalination, involves heating water to evaporate it and then condense it in pure form.

People have used heat to purify water for thousands of years, says Juan F. Torres of the Australian National University, but that is energy intensive on large scale. So he and his colleagues invented a desalination technique they call thermodiffusive desalination (TDD) that does not require high heat or complex membranes.

.IRPP_ruby , .IRPP_ruby .postImageUrl , .IRPP_ruby .centered-text-area {height: auto;position: relative;}.IRPP_ruby , .IRPP_ruby:hover , .IRPP_ruby:visited , .IRPP_ruby:active {border:0!important;}.IRPP_ruby .clearfix:after {content: "";display: table;clear: both;}.IRPP_ruby {display: block;transition: background-color 250ms;webkit-transition: background-color 250ms;width: 100%;opacity: 1;transition: opacity 250ms;webkit-transition: opacity 250ms;background-color: #eaeaea;}.IRPP_ruby:active , .IRPP_ruby:hover {opacity: 1;transition: opacity 250ms;webkit-transition: opacity 250ms;background-color: inherit;}.IRPP_ruby .postImageUrl {background-position: center;background-size: cover;float: left;margin: 0;padding: 0;width: 31.59%;position: absolute;top: 0;bottom: 0;}.IRPP_ruby .centered-text-area {float: right;width: 65.65%;padding:0;margin:0;}.IRPP_ruby .centered-text {display: table;height: 130px;left: 0;top: 0;padding:0;margin:0;padding-top: 20px;padding-bottom: 20px;}.IRPP_ruby .IRPP_ruby-content {display: table-cell;margin: 0;padding: 0 74px 0 0px;position: relative;vertical-align: middle;width: 100%;}.IRPP_ruby .ctaText {border-bottom: 0 solid #fff;color: #0099cc;font-size: 14px;font-weight: bold;letter-spacing: normal;margin: 0;padding: 0;font-family:'Arial';}.IRPP_ruby .postTitle {color: #000000;font-size: 16px;font-weight: 600;letter-spacing: normal;margin: 0;padding: 0;font-family:'Arial';}.IRPP_ruby .ctaButton {background: url(https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts-pro/assets/images/next-arrow.png)no-repeat;background-color: #afb4b6;background-position: center;display: inline-block;height: 100%;width: 54px;margin-left: 10px;position: absolute;bottom:0;right: 0;top: 0;}.IRPP_ruby:after {content: "";display: block;clear: both;}Recommended Reading:A massive supply of fresh water exists as vapor above oceans. Scientists have an idea to tap it.

Thermodiffusion is a phenomenon in which salt moves to the colder side of a smooth temperature change from hot to cold. The water stays liquid the entire time. “TDD is the first thermal desalination method that does not need phase change, such as evaporation or freezing,” Torres says. “This has tremendous potential for energy savings, as changing the phase of water is an energy-intensive process. Another advantage of TDD is its simplicity.”

In the new method, reported in the journal Nature Communications, the researchers made a 0.5 meter-long, 1 mm-high channel. They placed it between a top plate that was heated to over 60°C and a bottom plate that is cooled to 20°C. When they pushed seawater through the channel, salt moved towards the cool bottom, so less salty water emerged from the top part of the channel.

The researchers repeatedly pass the low-salinity water through the channel. After repeated cycles, the salinity of seawater goes can be brought down from 30,000 parts per million (ppm) to between 1,000–5,000 ppm. This salinity is “above the recommended salinity for potable water, but well within the salinity tolerance of many types of crops,” Torres says. “Hence, TDD is suitable for agriculture, which consumes about 70% of our worldwide freshwater needs.”

The method does require a lot of heat, but it is low-grade heat that can come from sunlight or waste heat from industrial processes, he says. The method can, in principle, be scaled up, he adds. “The key is to improve our manufacturing techniques to build low-cost, large-scale multi-channel devices where TDD takes place. We are now building such devices in my research group. Cost could be reduced with 3D printing techniques, suitable for fabrication in remote areas.”

Source: Shuqi Xu et al. Thermodiffusive desalination, Nat. Commun. 2024

Image: Agastya drinks the-ocean by Ramanarayanadatta astri

Categories: B5. Resilience, Third Nature, and Transition

Yale Environment 360 - Thu, 05/23/2024 - 03:00

The transition to renewables requires batteries that can store energy for long periods of time. To meet that demand, engineers in California’s Kern County are aiming to revamp depleted oil wells to hold concentrated solar energy in super-heated water underground.

Read more on E360 →

Categories: H. Green News