Chop Wood, Carry Water 8/25
Hi, all, and happy Thursday!
Honestly, I am *really* enjoying this run of good news.
Biden’s student debt cancellation announcement yesterday was a delight. Did naysayers on both sides immediately start complaining? Of course. Could Biden have gone bigger? Maybe. But was what he did remarkable? YES. Will it help millions of people?
Immensely.
And, with your calls and emails you helped make it happen. CONGRATULATIONS!
The plan will totally cancel the debt of 20 million people and benefit 43 million overall. 90% of the relief funds will go to those who make less than $75,000 a year, and the BIPOC community will be especially helped. Racial wealth gaps that have persisted and grown over centuries will be reduced. People whose lives were painfully constrained by the debt they carried will now be able to buy houses, start families, or start businesses. This is good for everyone! Not only that, it is just.
And justice is something Biden, and most Democrats, genuinely care about. So if your heart isn’t bursting with pride this morning, let it start doing so now!
Speaking of pride, I want to send a special shout out to subscriber Adelia M, who canvassed for Pat Ryan in NY-19 in the weeks leading up to his special election win. Great job, Adelia! It was volunteers like her, who got out and did the work even when polls told them it was pointless, that made Ryan’s “miraculous” win possible.
Adelia had this to say about her efforts:
As one of the activists in CD19 canvassing to get out the vote for Pat Ryan, polls weren’t really relevant: we still knocked on doors to get voters to vote - in this case mostly Dems, sometimes “unaffiliateds,” aka independents. In our small town, we knocked on about 300 doors during the six week campaign. How many votes did we produce? We’ll never know but definitely some. They mount up from town to town.
Canvassing is the best. It is sometimes challenging but usually fun and often moving. People like to talk and tell their stories! So give it a chance this fall. Most campaigns have a place to sign up as well as many organizations. Try Mobilize.us where Dems post their volunteer opportunities. You’ll never regret it if you do it; you might regret it if you don’t.
I couldn’t have said it better.
Let’s all channel Adelia as we head into September. Polls aren’t relevant. Up or down, “favored” or not, we must turn out and do the work of talking to voters. Postcards are wonderful; letters work. But having actual conversations with other humans at doors—and on the phone—is how we most effectively move the needle. Please, consider reaching out to a campaign in your area and asking if you can help.
As Adelia said, you won’t regret it.
After all, nothing’s better than helping to make “miracles” happen.
Call Your Senators (find yours here)
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.
I’m calling again to ask the Senator to vote yes on S. 4556, the Respect For Marriage Act.
Also, has the Senator yet co-sponsored S 3802, the Big Oil Windfall Profits Act, to hold Big Oil accountable for their blatant price-gouging and profiteering and send some of that money back to the American people? I certainly hope so. Thanks.
Call Your House Rep (find yours here)
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.
I’m calling to ask if the Congressmember has yet co-sponsored HR 7061, the Big Oil Windfall Profits Act, which will hold Big Oil accountable for their blatant price-gouging and profiteering and send some of that money back to the American people. If not why not?
Extra Credit ✅
[This action is courtesy of the Climate Action Now app, which is an outstanding tool for taking 5 easy climate actions each day. If you haven’t yet downloaded it I can’t recommend it highly enough. You can do so here.]
Send an email to 3 major news outlets asking them to cover Big Oil’s “carbon bomb” plan.
Email: viewer@pbs.org, contact.nbcnews@nbcuni.com, and CNN through their contact form.
Say (roughly)
[Introduce yourself and say why you worry about climate change]
I'm writing to urge you to run primetime coverage of the the fossil fuel industry's plans to set off hundreds of "carbon bombs", dooming us to a future of climate chaos.
A bombshell investigation in the Guardian reveals that, far from participating in the green transition, Big Oil is placing multi-billion dollar bets against our future. Emboldened by inaction from governments and financiers, they have invested heavily in 195 massive new drilling projects - so-called "carbon bombs" - that together would eat up our entire carbon budget for keeping global warming under 1.5 degrees:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2022/may/11/fossil-fuel-carbon-bombs-climate-breakdown-oil-gas
This is proof that fossil fuels will NOT go away on their own. Unless we take immediate, drastic action at every level, Big Oil will simply continue to cash in as our world burns.
The public needs to know the truth about the fossil fuel industry and the urgency of combating climate change. Please give this story the primetime coverage it deserves.Thanks,
[Name]
[City, State]
Get Smart! 📚
Friendly reminder that I will be offering my Activism 101 workshop this Sunday from 10-11AM PT / 1-3PM PT. All on this list are welcome! I think you’ll find it’s both educational and encouraging. Please come if you can! Register here.
Give 💰!
A small number of extremist voters in rural western Michigan just defunded their town’s only public library over books with LGBTQ content, accusing the librarians of “grooming” children and promoting an “LGBTQ ideology.” The Patmos Library was stripped of 85% of its funding for next year and is in danger of closing.
Fortunately there’s a GoFundMe for the library that’s raised over 150K already and, even better, the town has managed to get re-funding the library onto the November ballot. But they still need to raise 100K to make it until then. If you can help please do. And spread the word!
https://www.gofundme.com/f/fund-patmos-library-for-2023
[Thanks to subscriber Kathy R for brining this to my attention!]
Win Races! 🗳
Today, as always, I’ll be running my phonebank into Arizona. We’ve been having such great conversations and finding SO MANY voters who weren’t aware of the stakes in the election but now are. It’s literally thrilling.
Please come? I WILL TRAIN YOU!
Today, 3-5 PM PT / 6-8 ET Register here.
P.S. — Can’t make this one but want to help in Arizona? I run an AZ phonebank on Saturdays from 10AM-12PM PT /1PM-3PM ET too, and I’d love you to come! Register here!
Resistbot Text (new to Resistbot? Go here! And then here.)
[to all 3 reps] [H/T] [Quick send: text SIGN PZOROU to 50409]
President Biden announced his interim Justice40 Initiative in 2021 which will send 40% of federal investment benefits to frontline communities. We're glad to see President Biden engaging on environmental justice. Now we need him to strengthen his guidance before it is finalized.
I'm writing to urge you to sign the letter led by U.S. Reps. Maloney, Khanna, Bush, and Tlaib and Sen. Markey calling on the White House to strengthen its Justice40 Initiative by:
-Directing funding to communities that are most vulnerable to historic discrimination, pollution, and climate change.
-Ensuring that Justice40 creates good paying jobs in frontline communities that adhere to strong labor standards and prioritize hiring frontline workers in those communities.
-Ensuring that all federal investments “do no harm” to disadvantaged communities and require agencies to publicly report impact assessments.
-Requiring all agencies to implement Justice40 initiatives quickly and comprehensively.
President Biden has the authority to create a Justice40 Initiative that directs funds to frontline communities, creates jobs, centers justice, and gets done quickly, but he needs to hear from Congress! Please do this now, thanks!
OK, you did it again! You helped save democracy! You’re amazing.
Talk tomorrow.
Jess