EARTH ACTION IN THE NEWS - May 15, 2020

[Emerald]

​EARTH ACTION IN THE NEWS  

Welcome to the people who have joined recently.  This is a simple weekly newsletter.  Your participation is encouraged.  Please share information and actions about climate change, climate justice, GMOs, toxic chemicals, and Earth-related topics.
If you wish to reduce email volume switch your membership to the digest or abridged version.
Please refrain from posting petitions or donation requests without OSC approval.  Thank you for joining us.

Go to our Facebook and Twitter pages to share these articles already posted there. 
If you are uncomfortable clicking on links in an email you can cut and paste the link into your browser.

BREAKTHROUGH!

Thanks to Climate Divestment, Big Oil Finally Runs Out of Gas

https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2020/05/12/thanks-to-climate-divestment-big-oil-finally-runs-out-of-gas/

by Bill McKibben

This Energy Analyst Says the Oilsands Are ‘Done’
https://thetyee.ca/News/2020/05/11/The-Oil-Sands-Are-Done/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_content=051120-1&utm_campaign=editorial-0520&fbclid=IwAR2nvZBCGxRA1pJP01rxvNnfd-yOl_wYrozfduelgFodVG6Gm1k5Ie79W6I

"The collapse in oil prices has hurt Alberta’s energy companies, but it has absolutely devastated their peers in the United States. Market watchers are already suggesting the collapse of the shale industry could ultimately be a boon for Canadian producers, who had already spent the past few years cutting costs and tightening up their operations,” writes former Alberta Oil magazine editor Max Fawcett in the Globe and Mail."

LOCAL REPORTS

Scott Dam slated for removal in plan by Sonoma County and partners to control hydropower project

https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/10960029-181/sonoma-county-backs-plan-to?trk_msg=EPUJFN0G5O4K57K20A4NHA3R44&trk_contact=QQQLPEJ4NTMGK1AJ6O84IQKD2K&trk_module=new&trk_sid=DSFUH3QPERMA1F22L30V3S017S&utm_email=94D5D43DA4752562A4E1D47CED&utm_source=listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=http%3a%2f%2fwww.pressdemocrat.com%2fnews%2f10960029-181%2fsonoma-county-backs-plan-to&utm_campaign=pd_daily

Sonoma County Transportation Authority board inches toward approving Measure M sales tax renewal in November election

https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/10956461-181/sonoma-county-transportation-authority-board?trk_msg=7S89C8KE0DF4TC1PD41CFRFH5S&trk_contact=QQQLPEJ4NTMGK1AJ6O84IQKD2K&trk_module=new&trk_sid=J4PRAFQ39FSV1831S9D50P9CG0&utm_email=94D5D43DA4752562A4E1D47CED&utm_source=listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=http%3a%2f%2fwww.pressdemocrat.com%2fnews%2f10956461-181%2fsonoma-county-transportation-authority-board&utm_campaign=pd_daily

Santa Rosa floats proposal to close Fourth Street to vehicles

https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/10951949-181/santa-rosa-floats-proposal-to?trk_msg=7S89C8KE0DF4TC1PD41CFRFH5S&trk_contact=QQQLPEJ4NTMGK1AJ6O84IQKD2K&trk_module=new&trk_sid=J4PRAFQ39FSV1831S9D50P9CG0&utm_email=94D5D43DA4752562A4E1D47CED&utm_source=listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=http%3a%2f%2fwww.pressdemocrat.com%2fnews%2f10951949-181%2fsanta-rosa-floats-proposal-to&utm_campaign=pd_daily

California redwoods are tops in carbon storage needed to fight climate change, nonprofit says

https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/10934689-181/california-redwoods-are-tops-in?trk_msg=9GSFR0KGO654L7EGOUMGVLU9UK&trk_contact=QQQLPEJ4NTMGK1AJ6O84IQKD2K&trk_module=new&trk_sid=73UUG7EJRUH7IH7FG9EN2AT9TK&utm_email=94D5D43DA4752562A4E1D47CED&utm_source=listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=http%3a%2f%2fwww.pressdemocrat.com%2fnews%2f10934689-181%2fcalifornia-redwoods-are-tops-in&utm_campaign=pd_daily

Sonoma County agencies rush to prepare for lengthy wildfire season

https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/10945565-181/sonoma-county-agencies-rush-to?trk_msg=50AVK109AJ0K717ABU7KOI6JKO&trk_contact=QQQLPEJ4NTMGK1AJ6O84IQKD2K&trk_module=new&trk_sid=E8NQNU39EVKO4HEH1IONNE9NRG&utm_email=94D5D43DA4752562A4E1D47CED&utm_source=listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=http%3a%2f%2fwww.pressdemocrat.com%2fnews%2f10945565-181%2fsonoma-county-agencies-rush-to&utm_campaign=pd_daily

The Zero Waste Challenge: Minding the gap

http://www.sonomawest.com/sonoma_west_times_and_news/opinion/columns/the-zero-waste-challenge-minding-the-gap/article_dc0e08a0-8ff0-11ea-a0da-0fb63727a320.html

SMART weighs eliminating weekend service, 40% of weekday trains to cut $6 million from budget

https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/10946181-181/smart-weighs-eliminating-weekend-service?trk_msg=LRJV2JU2OJ1KFA2KBL68E53CB0&trk_contact=QQQLPEJ4NTMGK1AJ6O84IQKD2K&trk_module=new&trk_sid=2TKOFFA7R54HKPE2I94IF4H6D8&utm_email=94D5D43DA4752562A4E1D47CED&utm_source=listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=http%3a%2f%2fwww.pressdemocrat.com%2fnews%2f10946181-181%2fsmart-weighs-eliminating-weekend-service&utm_campaign=pd_daily

Business booming at reopened Sonoma County bike shops

https://www.pressdemocrat.com/business/10939100-181/business-booming-at-reopened-sonoma?trk_msg=MB9F8PFEKOL4J3EHN8UGIBE1BS&trk_contact=QQQLPEJ4NTMGK1AJ6O84IQKD2K&trk_module=new&trk_sid=BA78JB65JRSEP7A6N169DE25NG&utm_email=94D5D43DA4752562A4E1D47CED&utm_source=listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=http%3a%2f%2fwww.pressdemocrat.com%2fbusiness%2f10939100-181%2fbusiness-booming-at-reopened-sonoma&utm_campaign=pd_daily

GMOs, GLYPHOSATE & TOXINS

Glyphosate Overuse Leads to Serious Immune System Concerns

https://sustainablepulse.com/2020/05/13/glyphosate-overuse-leads-to-serious-immune-system-concerns/#.Xr58c1DLfd7

Lead Poisoning Reveals Environmental Racism in the U.S.

https://ecowatch.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=214ab5fbb3f6015d74ffab4ec&id=cbb1f0ef73&e=41817bb0a2

Pilot Study Links Celiac Disease to Long-Lived Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals, like DDT, in the Environment
https://beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/2020/05/pilot-study-links-celiac-disease-to-endocrine-disrupting-long-lived-chemicals-like-ddt-in-the-environment/

FOSSIL FUELS

4 Canadian energy firms blacklisted by world’s largest wealth fund over high emissions

https://globalnews.ca/news/6937012/canadian-energy-firms-blacklisted-bank/

The Arctic Refuge is the heart of my people. ConocoPhillips may drill it.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/outlook/article/The-Arctic-Refuge-is-the-heart-of-my-people-13852105.php

Fossil Fuels Already Get Billions in Bailouts — They’re Called Subsidies

https://truthout.org/articles/fossil-fuels-already-get-billions-in-bailouts-theyre-called-subsidies/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=0235767e-fd85-41fd-a069-f275c8fa61c4

The Fed Just Changed Its Own Rules to Bail Out the Fossil Fuel Industry

https://truthout.org/articles/the-fed-just-changed-its-own-rules-to-bail-out-the-fossil-fuel-industry/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=fddf9d5b-c148-4770-bcce-ab201102a049

PIPELINES

'Without water, nothing can survive': Coldwater band challenges Trans Mountain pipeline route

https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/coldwater-neb-trans-mountain-route-hearing-merritt-1.4658302

Atlantic Coast Pipeline Faces Pushback Ahead of Dominion Shareholder Meeting

https://ecowatch.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=214ab5fbb3f6015d74ffab4ec&id=871b0054b6&e=41817bb0a2

10 states ask energy regulators to postpone pipeline approvals amid pandemic

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/496673-10-states-ask-energy-regulators-to-postpone-pipeline-approvals-amid

Federal Judge: Pipelines Must Not Cross Streams Without Considering Endangered Species

https://ecowatch.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=214ab5fbb3f6015d74ffab4ec&id=727f0092dc&e=41817bb0a2&fbclid=IwAR1_tNDj0LvCwtomdFPML5pWZNSFdJwl2MEQqxMc--RMOT65965qB9ZpakY

Water protectors turn to Minnesota’s Line 3 Pipeline as their next target of resistance

https://wagingnonviolence.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f279f100fef8b39c61c33aef1&id=a82691e644&e=90fd636912

PLASTIC & POLLUTION

Mayor Frank Jackson Confirms: All Cleveland Recyclables are Going to a Landfill

https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2020/04/29/mayor-frank-jackson-confirms-all-cleveland-recyclables-are-going-to-a-landfill

"Jackson said the financial goal of the municipal recycling program was merely to break even, but that Cleveland had in fact turned a profit for years, when recyclable goods were hot commodities overseas. That's no longer the case. The city plans to continue shipping recyclable materials to the landfill until they receive a more "reasonable" bid or until such time as the market improves."

Plastic recycling is broken. Why does Big Plastic want cities to get $1 billion to fix it?
https://grist.org/politics/plastic-recycling-is-broken-so-why-does-big-plastic-want-1-billion-to-fix-it/

"Big plastic-producing companies have little incentive to use recycled materials rather than virgin materials. Plastics are made from petroleum, and when the price of crude oil is as low as it is now, it costs more to manufacture goods from recycled polymers than from crude."

5 Sustainable Alternatives to Plastics

https://ecowatch.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=214ab5fbb3f6015d74ffab4ec&id=018c7bddae&e=41817bb0a2

GREEN NEW DEAL

The Green New Deal Is the Key to Ending Forever Wars

https://truthout.org/articles/the-green-new-deal-is-the-key-to-ending-forever-wars/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=d0bfbca5-1467-44c1-ac1d-40b0e9ef7838

Covid-19 Is a Reason To Start the Green New Deal Now

http://inthesetimes.com/article/22500/climate-change-covid-green-new-deal-universal-income-jobs-guarantee?link_id=4&can_id=4ac90aceb77dd266e204a905365379d8&source=email-why-more-stimulus-is-the-only-path-to-recovery-bernies-army-redeploys-to-support-covid-19s-frontline-workers&email_referrer=email_798874&email_subject=the-covid-19-response-has-lavished-wealth-on-the-rich-trump-is-goading-anti-lockdown-militias-to-violence

WAKE UP CALL

Wildfires Are Burning 5 Million Acres in Siberia and Eastern Russia

https://ecowatch.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=214ab5fbb3f6015d74ffab4ec&id=aa459ad902&e=41817bb0a2

What Michael Moore’s New Climate Documentary Gets Wrong About Renewables

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidrvetter/2020/05/13/what-michael-moores-new-climate-documentary-gets-wrong-about-renewables/

How Climate Change Is Contributing to Skyrocketing Rates of Infectious Disease

https://www.propublica.org/article/climate-infectious-diseases

The Planet Is Probably in Worse Shape Than We Can Even Predict

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ep4gyw/the-planet-is-probably-in-worse-shape-than-we-can-even-predict

Soil pathogens rise as temperatures do
https://cosmosmagazine.com/climate/soil-pathogens-rise-as-temperatures-do

THINK TANK & STRATEGY

New York CCLers bring winemakers to the climate conversation

https://citizensclimatelobby.org/new-york-ccl-winemakers-climate-conversation/

Indigenous Solutions to Climate Crisis Could Lie in Archaeology, Experts Say

https://ecowatch.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=214ab5fbb3f6015d74ffab4ec&id=f6a862ada2&e=41817bb0a2

Nuclear Is Getting Hammered by Green Power and the Pandemic

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-04/nuclear-is-getting-hammered-by-green-power-and-the-pandemic?sref=1Akj1jLg

Green steel industry could secure jobs future for Australia's coalmining heartland

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/may/11/green-steel-industry-could-secure-jobs-future-for-australias-coalmining-heartland?fbclid=IwAR1x9g4LiOuPvL-kZfwoOFf63Vx57nh4GQ7kXY-zbhfhlDUGBPlGJaJZ2Fs

DIRECT ACTIONS

Amid shutdowns, youth climate activists are writing the curriculum for a just economic recovery

https://wagingnonviolence.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f279f100fef8b39c61c33aef1&id=5277cd7dd1&e=90fd636912

SUSTAINABLE LIVING
Takeout Tips: How to reduce waste when ordering takeout and delivery

https://www.plasticscore.co/blog/take-out-tips-how-to-reduce-waste-when-ordering-take-out-and-delivery

Top 5 Ways to Live Sustainably
https://climatesolutioncenter.com/top-5-ways-to-live-sustainably/

CATCHING UP

Renewable Sources Made up 72% of New Energy Added in 2019
https://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy-sources-2019-2645656941.html

FEMA agrees to let wildfire victims get paid first in PG&E bankruptcy

https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/10808890-181/fema-agrees-to-let-wildfire?trk_msg=72VSG3AOK3RK15OOHCHTASRVI4&trk_contact=QQQLPEJ4NTMGK1AJ6O84IQKD2K&trk_module=new&trk_sid=TERPJA6TUP5J6EU0QBLARC14OG&utm_email=94D5D43DA4752562A4E1D47CED&utm_source=listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=http%3a%2f%2fwww.pressdemocrat.com%2fnews%2f10808890-181%2ffema-agrees-to-let-wildfire&utm_campaign=pd_daily

Sonoma County native Andrew Smith confirmed as new agriculture commissioner

https://www.pressdemocrat.com/business/10808431-181/sonoma-county-native-andrew-smith?trk_msg=72VSG3AOK3RK15OOHCHTASRVI4&trk_contact=QQQLPEJ4NTMGK1AJ6O84IQKD2K&trk_module=new&trk_sid=TERPJA6TUP5J6EU0QBLARC14OG&utm_email=94D5D43DA4752562A4E1D47CED&utm_source=listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=http%3a%2f%2fwww.pressdemocrat.com%2fbusiness%2f10808431-181%2fsonoma-county-native-andrew-smith&utm_campaign=pd_daily

ENDING ON A POSITIVE

24 Creative Green Projects to Tackle Now

https://ecowatch.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=214ab5fbb3f6015d74ffab4ec&id=8f91b9fc21&e=41817bb0a2

Call To Action! 
We urge all groups including schools, neighborhood associations, organizations, clubs and groups of any kind to adopt a Climate Declaration.  Adopt ours or write your own.  Share your Climate Declaration with local governments, the media, write articles, and share information. 
Occupy Sonoma County Climate Declaration

Occupy Sonoma County, along with concerned, forward thinking people all over the world, declares that climate change has reached catastrophic proportions as evidenced by the current level of CO2 in the atmosphere, the melting of polar ice caps, and the continual rising of global temperatures.  This is a global emergency, and we must act immediately.​  We invite all forces of life to join together for our survival.  We stand up for life.

We recognize that the root of climate change is a capitalist system run by money greedy corporations and the governments that they control.  We actively oppose greenhouse gas producers, nuclear power investors, and fossil fuel companies by boycotting their products, developing alternatives, divesting from corporations that endorse them and insisting that governments at all levels take action.  We call on all governments and corporations to adopt life-sustaining practices immediately.

The people must act now to stop this destruction from continuing and reverse the damage this has caused​.  The future is in our hands.  We are the 99%!

What Earth Actions are you taking?

707-877-6650
http://OccupySonomaCounty.org
http://OccupySonomaCounty.org/es ​ (en español)
http://www.facebook.com/OccupySonomaCounty
https://twitter.com/OcSoCo
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmJoCP-ePUTPWNgHZwtBelg

Occupy Sonoma County embraces the egalitarian, deep democracy principles of the Occupy Movement with a regional strategy for effectively organizing countywide social justice campaigns that are globally relevant.