Chop Wood, Carry Water 6/8
Hi, all, and happy Thursday!
First, I want to send out love and support to everyone in the Northeast who’s trapped inside due to the horrible air there. As a Southern Californian I know exactly how you feel—especially if you have young children—and it’s not good.
My experience of these “wildfire days,” as I call them, is that they’re not just annoying and inconvenient—they’re downright apocalyptic. Nothing brings on the reality of climate change more than feeling afraid of the air outside. It’s awful, and particularly so if you’re trying to explain to a young person why it’s happening.
These are tough days. The climate crisis is upon us; it’s unsettling and frightening.
But we aren’t helpless, and it’s important to remember that every fraction of a degree of warming we prevent will make a huge difference in our lives and those of our descendants later. So even if we’ve largely ignored the climate crisis until now, it’s not too late to start paying attention and taking action.
The good news is that this event does seem to be waking more folks up. My step-father told me yesterday about an encounter he had with a woman on the street in upstate NY. When he made a passing comment to her about the terrible air she responded:
“Yes! Remember that guy? That black haired politician guy? I guess he was right after all!”
She meant Al Gore. Sigh. Better late than never.
So let’s seize the moment and urge everyone we know—politicians and “regular folks” alike, to do more on climate.
Remember, action is the antidote to despair. It’s also the only option if we want to clear the air—literally—for ourselves and future generations.
Call Your Senators (find yours here) 📲
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.
I’m deeply concerned about the climate crisis and how little our government is doing about it. The U.S. continues to expand fossil fuels; President Biden approved the Line 3 tar sands pipeline, the Willow Project and the Mountain Valley Pipeline. We’re going in the wrong direction!
President Biden needs to declare a climate emergency under the National Emergencies Act. He also needs to deny approvals for any new fossil fuel projects and mandate a phaseout of fossil fuel production on federal lands and waters. I’d like the Senator to push him to do all of that, please. Look at the East coast. That’s our future if we don’t act aggressively. Thanks.
Call Your House Rep (find yours here) 📲
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.
I’m deeply concerned about the climate crisis and how little our government is doing about it. The U.S. continues to expand fossil fuels; President Biden approved the Line 3 tar sands pipeline, the Willow Project and the Mountain Valley Pipeline. We’re going in the wrong direction!
President Biden needs to declare a climate emergency under the National Emergencies Act. He also needs to deny approvals for any new fossil fuel projects and mandate a phaseout of fossil fuel production on federal lands and waters. I’d like the Congressmember to push him to do all of that, please. Look at the East coast. That’s our future if we don’t act aggressively. Thanks.
Extra Credit ✅
I was just on a call with Sam Schwartz, the young man leading a sit-in at the Capitol this week to demand a vote on the Assault Weapons Ban. He is getting lots of visits from lawmakers but one critical Senator has been ignoring him. That’s Chuck Schumer. So Sam’s asking us all to call and ask Senator Schumer to go meet with him and the many, many gun violence survivors on the Capitol steps. Let’s do it!
(202) 224-6542 or (212) 486-4430 or (914) 734-1532. Say:
My name is ______ and I’m calling from ______. I’m calling the Senator in his capacity as Senate Majority Leader to ask him to go meet with Sam Schwartz and the other gun violence prevention advocates and survivors doing a sit-in on the Capitol steps. So far Senator Schumer has ignored them and it’s not OK. I stand with Sam and I want Senator Schumer to please go talk to him about the Assault Weapons Ban. Thanks.
Extra Extra Credit ✅✅
Considering the smoke on the east coast, it’s a good day to write to the CEO of Citibank (jane.fraser@citi.com), her chief of staff (margo.pilic@citi.com), and the Chief Sustainability Officer (val.smith@citi.com) for good measure. They are breathing that air too, and it might be a moment for connection. Just say “it’s time to stop funding the expansion of fossil fuel. So that we can all breathe a sigh of relief.” Or something to that effect.
Get Smart! 📚
Some of you have already seen this, since I dropped it in the comments of
last night, but, in a state of anxiety over my East coast family’s well-being, I spent yesterday afternoon putting together a resource doc with a bunch of simple ways we can help with the climate crisis. Please read and please share! Lotta good resources in there!It can be found at https://tinyurl.com/climatelist
Give 💰!
Worried about the climate emergency? Consider a donation to the Environmental Voter Project. Did you know that folks who list climate as their top priority are EXTREMELY low-propensity voters? But the Environmental Voter Project knows how to turn them out, and they have the data to back it up! Every dollar they raise will go to contacting more voters who *will* vote our way…if they vote.
So if you’ve got anything to give, please consider a donation.
Win Races! 🗳
A friendly reminder that Postcards 4 VA still needs writers! You’ll provide your own cards; they’ll give you scripts and addresses. The VA elections are hugely important. Can you help? Sign up here. (I think they have a good source for ordering postcards, too.)
Resistbot Letter (new to Resistbot? Go here! And then here.) 💻
[to all 3 reps and POTUS] [Taken almost completely from Judd Legum’s newest post here] [Quick send: text SIGN PTHGKX to 50409 or share here.]
I’m writing because our military spending is out of control.
Today, more than half of all discretionary spending is spent on defense; military personnel make up the majority of federal government employees and private military contractors are a leading force in the U.S. economy. Meanwhile, investments in infrastructure, healthcare, education, and emergency preparedness have been crowded out.
The Department of Defense has a budget of $849 billion in the current fiscal year, and more than half is funneled to military contractors. About 30% of this money goes to just five firms: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, General Dynamics, and Northrup Grummond. Billions are awarded without competitive bidding. Despite the massive sums of money involved, we know surprisingly little about how they spend these funds, what kinds of jobs and pay are supported, which sub-contractors are paid and how much.
This situation is terribly concerning. Why do we continue to increase defense spending when we’re not at war? Why is it always programs for the American people that receive cuts, not a bloated department that continues to fail audits year after year?
We need to reprioritize our spending. No more increases in defense spending! Put that money towards working Americans, climate mitigation, and Medicare for all instead! Thanks.
OK, you did it again! You helped save democracy! You’re amazing.
Talk soon.
Jess
BTW I no longer receive the automatic resist bots texts daily. I don’t know why that is or how I started getting it or why it subsequently stopped. But either way I send one every day after I get your newsletter. Thank you
Also encourage responsible forest management!! We are living with the unintended consequences of years of mismanaged forests. Fire is a necessary tool. But it has been suppressed for so long that fires burn hotter and deeper. We need to learn from our mistakes.