Hi, all, and happy Monday.
Wow. Lots going on. I flew to NY for the weekend for my Mom’s 80th birthday, so was somewhat checked out from the news. I got in late last night, woke up at 6 this morning to get my kid ready for their first day of in-person 6th grade, and am now catching up.
And…taking a lot of deep breaths.
It’s a lot, friends. Please remember what this newsletter is called. The only thing we can do when things get stressful and scary is take the next right action. Chop wood. Carry water. Stay in the day. Do what we can.
This is a formula that has carried me—and lots of us—through many, many dark and hopeless-feeling times. It can get us through this one, too.
So let’s take care of ourselves, make some calls, and look for how we can help.
P.S. — My weekend getaway/reprieve resulted in a terrible news quiz score—6.5 out of 11. Oy. Can you do better? (Probably.)
Call Your Senators (find yours here)
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.
First, I want Congress to take tangible, immediate steps to evacuate Afghans who worked with the military during the war. I understand that the withdrawal was going to be awful no matter when we did it, but we CANNOT abandon these folks. They should be given humanitarian parole and brought directly to the USA. In general we have a deep moral obligation to accept as many Afghan refugees as we can—especially women and children.
Second, what is the Senator doing to address the climate crisis? Have they introduced legislation to address it? Do they support the Polluters Pay Climate Fund Act to make the biggest polluters pay to help clean up the mess they caused? What about the Civilian Climate Corps? Do they support that? Have they called for the Line 3 Pipeline to be shut down? Have they demanded that the 25 billion in subsidies for the oil and gas industry be pulled out of the upcoming budget package? If not, they need to do all of these things. We are out of time. The Senator needs to act like it. Thanks.
Call Your House Rep (find yours here)
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.
First, I want Congress to take tangible, immediate steps to evacuate Afghans who worked with the military during the war. I understand that the withdrawal was going to be awful no matter when we did it, but we CANNOT abandon these folks. They should be given humanitarian parole and brought directly to the USA. In general we have a deep moral obligation to accept as many Afghan refugees as we can—especially women and children.
Second, what is the Congressmember doing to address the climate crisis? Have they introduced legislation to address it? Do they support the Polluters Pay Climate Fund Act to make the biggest polluters pay to help clean up the mess they caused? What about the Civilian Climate Corps? Do they support that? Have they called for the Line 3 Pipeline to be shut down? Have they demanded that the 25 billion in subsidies for the oil and gas industry be pulled out of the upcoming budget package? If not, they need to do all of these things. We are out of time. Congress needs to act like it. Thanks.
Extra Credit
Please send this to President Biden either via his web form or by texting GO ELO to Resistbot at 50409 (or on FB messenger) or by clicking here.
We ask you to demand this administration close down the asylum-seeking child detention camps at Ft. Bliss and Pecos and hold up all additional funding to HHS until they stop giving contracts to private companies that cut corners on children’s safety.
Whistleblowers have described children in detention denied access to clean clothing, regular showers, and being supervised by people with zero experience in child welfare. There are widespread reports of depression, anxiety, and stress. Audio was leaked of managers admitting to inappropriate sexual contact between a staff members and a minors.Lawyers just had to sue to close these tent camps down. It shouldn’t take a lawsuit to force the government to provide the basics of safe and sanitary care.
This is completely unacceptable. This is not who we can or should be as a country, and it's urgent that these facilities are shut down and replaced with a compassionate solution that welcomes children with dignity, instead of treating them like criminals.
Get on the Phones! ☎️
Terrified about climate change? Me tooooo! And I can’t say enough good things about the Environmental Voter Project.
EVP identifies inactive environmentalists and transform them into consistent voters to build the power of the environmental movement. It’s a winning strategy, and the more I know about their strategy the more I like.
They have a phonebank on August 17th (tomorrow) at 7PM EDT to call unlikely-to-vote environmentalists in St. Petersburg, FL ahead of the August 24th Municipal Primary Election. They'll start with an overview of their phone banking program and the scripts they'll be using, then you'll get to work calling FL voters. THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT! Local elections get neglected but they are where impactful decisions about the environment are being made across the country!
Resistbot Text (new to Resistbot? Go here!)
[to all 3 reps] [H/T]
With the frightening reality of climate change threatening us all, I urge you to oppose adding any provision to the infrastructure bill that would allow for longer or heavier trucks or allow state-legal trucks to operate on the interstate system. Any effort to allow these longer and heavier pollution spewing trucks to further endanger our climate must be blocked.
Now is the time to tackle climate change and air pollution, and larger semi-trucks would be a significant step back in our efforts. Research has found that raising length and weight limits at the federal level would result in an additional 55 million tons of carbon emissions while using 4.27 billion gallons of fuel.
Please speak up for our environment and our health, and vote against any increases in semi-truck size and weight. Thanks.
OK, you did it again! You helped save democracy! You’re amazing.
Talk tomorrow.
Jess