January 10, 2019 Re: Legislation to Address the Urgent Threat Of
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ANNUAL REPORT 2016–2017 2 Climate Generation: a Will Steger Legacy
2016–2017 Annual Report 1 CELEBRATING YEARS OF CLIMATE ACTION! ANNUAL REPORT 2016–2017 2 Climate Generation: A Will Steger Legacy LETTERS FROM OUR FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR This past year, dramatic Climate change is personal, changes in our political visceral, and grounded in system and in public reality. discourse have highlighted the heightened urgency With a decade of of addressing climate experience educating change. We are on the and activating leaders edge as a human race. to engage in solutions, we are building climate- The U.S. administration’s literate young people, rejection of climate change and science is educators, businesses, and communities who showing up in damaging ways, from canceling are equipped to take action and inspired to environmental regulations to trying to silence lead the way in creating the resilient world scientists. Preventing experts from expressing and we envision. bringing truths to the public is a harmful initiative. This past year has inspired immense gratitude. There is evidence of climate change all around us. Our 10-year anniversary celebration last This past year, we have witnessed unprecedented December came at a time when we needed droughts, floods, wildfires, and extraordinary our supporters to lift us up and carry us hurricanes. Climate change is no longer a emotionally and financially down the long road concept of the projected future; it’s with us now. ahead. I’m watching West Antarctica closely, where irreversible changes loom frighteningly close. On a national scale, we saw a continuation of The waters around the Amundsen Sea in West climate change facts tangled up in a complex Antarctica have warmed dramatically over the web of misinformation. -
1 March 18, 2021 To
March 18, 2021 To: Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen Secretary of State Anthony Blinken Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm Incoming President and Chairperson of the U.S. Export-Import Bank Acting CEO of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation Dev Jagadesan Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Jake Sullivan Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy Robin Colwell [heads of other agencies and partner institutions, as appropriate] We are encouraged by the Biden Administration’s initial steps to implement a ‘whole-of-government’ approach to the climate crisis, as set out in the January 27 “Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad.” We are writing now to provide our recommendations on a critical piece of the international agenda described in the Executive Order — ending public support for fossil fuels around the world by “promoting the flow of capital toward climate-aligned investments and away from high-carbon investments.” We urge the Biden Administration to act swiftly to end new financing for all parts of the fossil fuel supply chain (including for gas), stop new U.S. fossil fuel support within 90 days across all government institutions, and work with other nations to end fossil fuel financing.1 As you know, averting the worst impacts of the climate crisis requires a rapid transition away from fossil fuels. There is simply no room left for new investments in long-lived carbon intensive infrastructure. Still, public agencies continue to provide tens of billions of dollars to finance and support such investments each year. This has to stop. -
Green Parties and Elections to the European Parliament, 1979–2019 Green Par Elections
Chapter 1 Green Parties and Elections, 1979–2019 Green parties and elections to the European Parliament, 1979–2019 Wolfgang Rüdig Introduction The history of green parties in Europe is closely intertwined with the history of elections to the European Parliament. When the first direct elections to the European Parliament took place in June 1979, the development of green parties in Europe was still in its infancy. Only in Belgium and the UK had green parties been formed that took part in these elections; but ecological lists, which were the pre- decessors of green parties, competed in other countries. Despite not winning representation, the German Greens were particularly influ- enced by the 1979 European elections. Five years later, most partic- ipating countries had seen the formation of national green parties, and the first Green MEPs from Belgium and Germany were elected. Green parties have been represented continuously in the European Parliament since 1984. Subsequent years saw Greens from many other countries joining their Belgian and German colleagues in the Euro- pean Parliament. European elections continued to be important for party formation in new EU member countries. In the 1980s it was the South European countries (Greece, Portugal and Spain), following 4 GREENS FOR A BETTER EUROPE their successful transition to democracies, that became members. Green parties did not have a strong role in their national party systems, and European elections became an important focus for party develop- ment. In the 1990s it was the turn of Austria, Finland and Sweden to join; green parties were already well established in all three nations and provided ongoing support for Greens in the European Parliament. -
Petition to Suspend Reactor Licensing Decisions and Reactor Re
February 27, 2014 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION BEFORE THE COMMISSION In the Matter of ) Detroit Edison Co. ) Docket No. 52-033-COL (Fermi Nuclear Power Plant, Unit 3) ) In the Matter of ) Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. ) Docket Nos. 50-247-LR (Indian Point Nuclear Generating ) and 50-286-LR Station, Units 2 and 3) ) In the Matter of ) FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co. ) Docket No. 50-346-LR (Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station, ) Unit 1) ) In the Matter of ) (Florida Power & Light Co. ) Docket Nos. 52-040-COL Turkey Point Units 6 and 7) ) and 52-041-COL In the Matter of ) Nextera Energy Seabrook, L.L.C. ) Docket No. 50-443-LR (Seabrook Station, Unit 1) ) In the Matter of ) Pacific Gas and Electric Co. ) Docket Nos. 50-275-LR (Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, ) and 50-323-LR Units 1 and 2) ) In the Matter of ) Progress Energy Florida, Inc. ) Docket Nos. 52-029-COL (Levy County Nuclear Power Plant, ) and 52-030-COL Units 1 and 2) ) In the Matter of ) South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Co. ) Docket Nos. 52-012-COL (South Texas Project, ) and 52-013-COL Units 3 and 4) ) In the Matter of ) Tennessee Valley Authority ) Docket Nos. 52-014-COL (Bellefonte Nuclear Power Plant, ) and 52-015-COL Units 3 and 4) ) In the Matter of ) Tennessee Valley Authority ) Docket Nos. 50-327-LR, (Sequoyah Nuclear Plant, ) 50-328-LR Units 1 and 2) ) In the Matter of ) Tennessee Valley Authority ) Docket No. 50-0391-OL (Watts Bar Unit 2) ) In the Matter of ) Virginia Electric and Power Co. -
Influence on the U.S. Environmental Movement
Australian Journal of Politics and History: Volume 61, Number 3, 2015, pp.414-431. Exemplars and Influences: Transnational Flows in the Environmental Movement CHRISTOPHER ROOTES Centre for the Study of Social and Political Movements, School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK Transnational flows of ideas are examined through consideration of Green parties, Friends of the Earth, and Earth First!, which represent, respectively, the highly institutionalised, the semi- institutionalised and the resolutely non-institutionalised dimensions of environmental activism. The focus is upon English-speaking countries: US, UK and Australia. Particular attention is paid to Australian cases, both as transmitters and recipients of examples. The influence of Australian examples on Europeans has been overstated in the case of Green parties, was negligible in the case of Friends of the Earth, but surprisingly considerable in the case of Earth First!. Non-violent direct action in Australian rainforests influenced Earth First! in both the US and UK. In each case, the flow of influence was mediated by individuals, and outcomes were shaped by the contexts of the recipients. Introduction Ideas travel. But they do not always travel in straight lines. The people who are their bearers are rarely single-minded; rather, they carry and sometimes transmit all sorts of other ideas that are in varying ways and to varying degrees discrepant one with another. Because the people who carry and transmit them are in different ways connected to various, sometimes overlapping, sometimes discrete social networks, ideas are not only transmitted in variants of their pure, original form, but they become, in these diverse transmuted forms, instantiated in social practices that are embedded in differing institutional contexts. -
1 October 19, 2020 to the Ceos of Major Global Asset Managers
October 19, 2020 To the CEOs of major global asset managers, banks, and insurers: We, the undersigned group of Indigenous women and organizations, call on your institutions to stop financing, investing in, and insuring the expansion of tar sands oil extraction, transport, and refining, and commit to phasing out support for tar sands oil. These measures should encompass both projects and the companies that build and operate such projects. The tar sands sector poses grave threats to Indigenous rights, cultural survival, local waterways and environments, the global climate, and public health. Furthermore, this year saw a significant set of losses in the oil and petroleum sector, and no subsector has had a worse financial prognosis than tar sands oil. The destructiveness of tar sands has been well-documented, and the sector’s growth has been inhibited by legal challenges, financial uncertainty, and grassroots resistance. Though governments and corporations are still calling for the expansion of the tar sands, current tar sands production is restricted by a pipeline bottleneck, which means that the future of increased tar sands extraction depends on three pipelines. With fossil fuel corporations plowing ahead with pipeline construction in the midst of a global pandemic and massive financial meltdown, we urge your institutions to immediately decline any support for TC Energy’s Keystone XL pipeline, Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline, and the Canadian government’s Trans Mountain pipeline – and to cut ties with these tar sands projects and companies. At this moment, tar sands extraction and construction poses major risks to the health of communities and workers due to COVID-19 transmission. -
Our Broken Voting System and How to Repair It
THE 2012 ELECTION PROTECTION REPORT OUR BROKEN VOTING SYSTEM AND HOW TO REPAIR IT FULL REPORT PRESENTED BY ELECTION PROTECTION Led by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law 1401 New York Ave, NW, Suite 400 Washington, DC 20005 Phone: (202) 662-8600 Toll Free: (888) 299-5227 Fax: (202) 783-0857 www.866OurVote.org /866OurVote @866OurVote www.lawyerscommittee.org /lawyerscommittee @lawyerscomm © 2013 by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. This report may be reproduced in its entirety as long as Election Protection is credited, a link to the Coalition’s web page is provided, and no charge is imposed. The report may not be reproduced in part or in altered form, or if a fee is charged, without the Lawyers’ Committee’s permission. NOTE: This report reflects the views of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and does not necessarily reflect the views of any other Election Protection partner or supporter. About ELECTION PROTECTION The nonpartisan Election Protection coalition—led by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law—was formed to ensure that all voters have an equal opportunity to participate in the political process. Made up of more than 100 local, state and national partners, this year’s coalition was the largest voter protection and education effort in the nation’s history. Through our state of the art hotlines (1-866-OUR-VOTE, administered by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and 1-888-Ve-Y-Vota, administered by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund); interactive website (www.866OurVote.org); and voter protection field programs across the country, we provide Americans from coast to coast with comprehensive voter information and advice on how they can make sure their vote is counted. -
Letter to Climate Envoy John Kerry
March 30, 2021 The Honorable John Kerry Special Presidential Envoy for Climate United States State Department 2201 C Street NW Washington, DC 20520 Dear Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, We the 145 undersigned organizations, many of which are members of the Stop The Money Pipeline coalition, wish to welcome you to your new role. The creation of your position, and your long history of leadership on climate change, is an important sign of the commitment the Biden administration has to achieving a 100% clean energy economy. We look forward to working with you to ensure we protect the workers and the communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis. Today we write to request your support and leadership in urgently addressing one of the most important and overlooked drivers of climate change: ending the flow of private finance from Wall Street to the industries driving climate change around the world — fossil fuels and forest-risk commodities. As Bill McKibben has written, “money is the oxygen on which the fire of global warming burns.”1 Since the Paris Agreement was signed, that fire has been raging: $3.8 trillion from global banks has flowed to fossil fuels from 2016-2020;2 over that same period, global banks invested over $191 billion in forest-risk commodities worldwide.3 The largest fossil fuel lenders, insurance providers, and institutional investors are all U.S.-headquartered firms. JPMorgan Chase has been the largest fossil fuel banker in the world by a wide margin in recent years.4 Companies like Liberty Mutual, AIG, and Chubb exacerbate climate risks by supporting increasingly risky fossil fuel development. -
Letter to US Senator Ron Wyden from 85
June 30, 2013 Chairman Ron Wyden U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 405 Dirksen Senate Building, Washington, D.C. 20510 CC: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell U.S. Senate Speaker John Boehner, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Henry Waxman Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Ed Markey U.S. House of Representatives Dear Chairman Ron Wyden and Members of Congress: In a January 30, 2013 letter to President Obama, you and fifteen of your colleagues in the U.S. Senate wrote that “pollution can cause asthma attacks, heart and lung disease, cancer, damage to the reproductive system, strokes, and premature death.” 1 You said that you “stand ready to work with [the President] to use available tools to provide stronger safeguards that will address dangerous air pollution.” With your clearly stated intentions on the public record, we, the undersigned, are writing to ask you to expand upon your laudable efforts on behalf of the health and well-being of all Americans by ending your support for the expansion of polluting industrial-scale biomass energy. While receiving many of the same taxpayer subsidies as genuinely clean energy sources which emit no pollutants, such as solar and wind, electricity-generating biomass facilities emit large quantities of health-damaging air pollution. For example, the latest U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data shows that biomass incinerators emit 98% as much nitrogen oxides (NOx) as burning bituminous coal and higher levels of the most dangerous particulate matter (PM 2.5 , including ultrafine and nano particulates). -
2020 NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL Scorecard
2020 NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL scorecard SECOND SESSION OF THE 116TH CONGRESS LCV BOARD OF DIRECTORS * JOHN H. ADAMS, HONORARY RAMPA R. HORMEL, HONORARY BILL ROBERTS Natural Resources Defense Council Enlyst Fund Corridor Partners BRENT BLACKWELDER, HONORARY JOHN HUNTING, HONORARY LARRY ROCKEFELLER Friends of the Earth John Hunting & Associates American Conservation Association THE HONORABLE SHERWOOD L. BOEHLERT, MICHAEL KIESCHNICK THEODORE ROOSEVELT IV, HONORARY VICE CHAIR Green Advocacy Project CHAIR The Accord Group Barclays Capital ROGER KIM THE HONORABLE CAROL BROWNER, CHAIR Democracy Alliance KERRY SCHUMANN Former EPA Administrator Wisconsin Conservation Voters MARK MAGAÑA CARRIE CLARK GreenLatinos LAURA TURNER SEYDEL North Carolina League of Conservation Turner Foundation WINSOME MCINTOSH, HONORARY Voters The McIntosh Foundation TRIP VAN NOPPEN DONNA F. EDWARDS Earthjustice MOLLY MCUSIC Former U.S. Representative Wyss Foundation KATHLEEN WELCH MICHAEL C. FOX Corridor Partners WILLIAM H. MEADOWS III, HONORARY Eloise Capital The Wilderness Society ANTHA WILLIAMS ELAINE FRENCH Bloomberg Philanthropies GREG MOGA John and Elaine French Family Foundation Moga Investments LLC REVEREND LENNOX YEARWOOD, JR. MARIA HANDLEY Hip Hop Caucus REUBEN MUNGER Conservation Colorado Education Fund Vision Ridge Partners, LLC STEVE HOLTZMAN SCOTT NATHAN Boies Schiller Flexner LLP Center for American Progress LCV ISSUES & ACCOUNTABILITY COMMITTEE * BRENT BLACKWELDER SUNITA LEEDS REUBEN MUNGER Friends of the Earth Enfranchisement Foundation Vision Ridge Partners, -
April 30, 2018 the Honorable Ryan Zinke Secretary of Interior U.S
Adventure Scientists • Advocates for Snake Preservation • Alameda Creek Alliance • Alaska Clean Water Advocacy • Alaska’s Big Village Network • All-creatures.org • Anacostia Riverkeeper • Animal League Defense Fund • Animal Welfare Institute • Animals Are Sentient Beings, Inc. • Animas Valley Institute • Basin and Range Watch • Battle Creek Alliance • Bird Conservation Network • Black Warrior Riverkeeper • Blue Heron Productions • Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project • Born Free USA • Boulder County Audubon • Boulder Rights of Nature, Inc. • California Wolf Center • Campaign to Fight Toxic Prisons • Cascades Raptor Center • Center for Biological Diversity • Center for Environmental Policy, Bard College • Center for Food Safety • Center for Snake Conservation • Christians Caring for Creation • Citizens Committee to Complete the Refuge • Ciudadanos Del Karso • Clean Air Watch • Columbia Riverkeeper • Community Works CIC • Conservation Alabama Foundation • Conservation Congress • Conservation Northwest • Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship • Cottonwood Environmental Law Center • DC Environmental Network • Defenders of Wildlife • Defiance Canyon Raptor Rescue • Delaware Ecumenical Council on Children and Families • Desert Tortoise Council • Dogwood Alliance • Don’t Waste Arizona • Earthjustice • Earthworks • Eastern Coyote/Coywolf Research • Ebbetts Pass Forest Watch • Eco-Eating • Ecology Party of Florida • Endangered Small Animal Conservation Fund • Endangered Species Coalition • Environmental Committee for the SLV • Environmental Protection -
By Ezra Silk
VICTORY PLAN BY EZRA SILK Director of Policy & Strategy; Co-Founder, The Climate Mobilization August 2016: Initial Publication March 2019: Initial Revision by Kaela Bamberger CONTENTS Foreword by Paul Gilding 4 Preface by Margaret Klein Salamon 8 Learning from Our Last Battle for Survival: World War II Home Front Mobilization Overview 10 Climate Mobilization Objectives for Victory 14 FRONT ONE Restore a Safe & Stable Climate Targets, Definitions & Context 23 Kick-Start the Mobilization 29 Mobilize the Fed 32 Establish New Federal Government Agencies 33 Fair Shares Greenhouse Gas Emissions Rationing 38 Energy & Electricity: Phase Out Fossil Fuels and Rapid Rollout of Renewable Energy 41 Transport Mobilization: Mass Electrification and Shift toward Rail & Public Transit 50 Transform the Food System: Shift Toward Plant-Based Diets, Perennialize Grains, Embrace Agroecology & Carbon Farming 63 Overhaul the Built Environment 70 Full Employment & WWII-style Tax Fairness 72 Mobilize the Department of Defense to Fight Climate Change & Ecological Overshoot 75 Launch an Emergency Global Forest Management Effort 77 Research Program on Near-Term Cooling Approaches 81 Drawdown Research & Development Program 83 FRONT TWO Reverse Ecological Overshoot Half-Earth Conservation Preservation & Restoration Project to Halt the 6th Mass Extinction 87 Restore the Oceans 94 APPENDICES Appendix A: Works Cited 97 Appendix B: Background on “Solar Radiation Management” 98 Remaining Sections (to be Drafted) 102 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I greatly appreciate the valuable feedback on this first draft I received from Margaret Klein Salamon, George Woodwell, Richard Heinberg, Anya Grenier, Michael Hoexter, David Kai- ser, Raychel Santo, Emily Nink, Adam Sacks, Sailesh Rao, Marie Venner, Joe Uehlein, Jeremy Brecher, David Spratt, Tom Weis, and Paul Gilding.