EARTH ACTION IN THE NEWS - August 9, 2018

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Aug 9, 2018, 7:00:11 AM8/9/18
to OSC - Earth Action Campaign
 
Occupy Sonoma County

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.
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This is the new Naomi Klein article that everyone's talking about. 

2) Plastic pollution: How one woman found a new source of warming gases hidden in waste
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-45043989
BBC News: "Young researcher Sarah-Jeanne Royer set out to measure methane gas coming from biological activity in sea water. Instead, in a "happy accident" she found that the plastic bottles holding the samples were a bigger source of this powerful warming molecule than the bugs in the water. Now she's published further details in a study into the potential warming impact of gases seeping from plastic waste."

3) Egypt set to open its first solar farm – and it’s the largest in the world
https://inhabitat.com/egypt-set-to-open-its-first-solar-farm-and-its-the-largest-in-the-world/
Inhabitat: "Located 400 miles south of Cairo, the $2.8-billion project will single-handedly revolutionize energy supply for the nation, and none too soon. The World Health Organization recently named Cairo the second most polluted large city on the planet. The Egyptian government, in response, aims to nearly halve its natural gas consumption and provide at least 42% of the country’s energy from renewable sources by the year 2025. Investment in Egypt’s clean energy market has increased by 500% since the announcement."

4) Justice Mocked in Pennsylvania
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2018/08/05/justice-mocked-pennsylvania
Common Dreams: "Ellen Gerhart sat in leg irons and cuffs, a guard standing behind her, as Houston-based pipeline giant Energy Transfer Partners made its case against her on Friday in a Pennsylvania courtroom. Seconds after Huntingdon County Court of Common Pleas Judge George Zanic found the 63-year old retired teacher guilty... Zanic sentenced Gerhart to two to six months in the Centre County Correctional Facility about an hour away from her home."

5)
A Watershed Moment: Advocates Join Forces to Save the Russian River
https://www.sonomamag.com/a-watershed-moment-advocates-join-forces-to-save-the-russian-river/
Sonoma Magazine: "The Russian River is showing new signs of life, a renascent vitality, and portents for the future are favorable. We will never regain the river primeval; it will remain a working watershed, overtaxed at times, but it is reasonable to expect that it will be healthier, that its tributaries will be safeguarded, that it will have more fish, and cleaner, clearer water."

6) ExxonMobil’s Support for a Carbon Tax Is a Sham

https://www.ecowatch.com/exxon-carbon-tax-2591473213.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=ceebec3b60-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-ceebec3b60-86095421
Union of Concerned Scientists: "The most recent example of ExxonMobil's upside-down funding priorities was a nonbinding carbon tax resolution in the House, which stated that such a tax would be "detrimental" to the U.S. economy. The measure, which Majority Whip Steve Scalise sponsored just days before Curbelo introduced his carbon tax bill, passed by a 229 to 180 vote, and a majority of ExxonMobil-funded lawmakers lined up in favor of it. All told, 78 percent of the 174 House members who have received ExxonMobil campaign contributions since 2013 voted for the resolution."

7) 7 Hospitalized After Pipeline Explosions in Texas
https://www.ecowatch.com/pipeline-explosions-in-texas-2592070518.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=0b6b779850-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-0b6b779850-86095421

8) Newly Elected President of Mexico to Ban Fracking
https://www.ecowatch.com/mexico-bans-fracking-2592125998.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=0b6b779850-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-0b6b779850-86095421

9) America's First Large Offshore Wind Farm to Offer $1.4B in Savings
https://www.ecowatch.com/public-health-benefits-of-adding-offshore-wind-to-the-grid-ecowatch-2592094974.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=0b6b779850-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-0b6b779850-86095421
"Massachusetts electricity users will save about $1.4 billion over the 20-year duration of the contract, Bloomberg reported."

10) Standing Rock Activist Accused of Firing Gun Registered to FBI Informant Is Sentenced to Nearly Five Years in Prison
https://theintercept.com/2018/07/13/standing-rock-red-fawn-fallis-sentencing/
The Intercept: "Red Fawn Fallis was sentenced to 57 months in prison on charges stemming from her arrest while opposing the Dakota Access pipeline."

11) The U.S. and Canada Are Preparing for a New Standing Rock Over the Trans Mountain Tar Sands Pipeline
https://theintercept.com/2018/07/17/trans-mountain-pipeline-tar-sands-canada-us-kinder-morgan/
The Intercept: "Resistance to the pipeline is already escalating: On July 3, seven pipeline opponents rappelled from Vancouver’s Ironworkers Memorial Bridge in a daylong blockade of tanker traffic associated with the existing Trans Mountain line. Last week, the Tiny House Warriors wheeled the homes into a provincial park that sits on the site of a historic village near Clearwater, British Columbia, in an assertion of their title to the land. On Saturday, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police singled out and arrested Manuel, whose livestream of the incident has garnered more than 500,000 views on Facebook. She was detained on a charge of “criminal mischief” and released later that day. The struggle against the expansion, Manuel told The Intercept, could become “the Standing Rock of the north.”

12) Climate Scientist: California Wildfires Are Faster, Stronger, Deadlier & Will Continue to Intensify (video)
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/8/2/climate_scientist_california_wildfires_are_faster?utm_source=Democracy+Now%21&utm_campaign=160e60bfa9-Daily_Digest_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_fa2346a853-160e60bfa9-191276697
Democracy Now!: "In California, tens of thousands of residents have been forced to evacuate as deadly wildfires continue to rage across the state. The worst wildfire, the Carr Fire, has engulfed more than 100,000 acres and destroyed more than a thousand homes in and around Redding, California, making it the sixth most destructive fire in the state’s history."

13) Rob Nixon: Gov’t Inaction on Climate Change Is “Slow Violence” That Hits World’s Poor the Hardest (video)
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/8/2/rob_nixon_govt_inaction_on_climate?utm_source=Democracy+Now%21&utm_campaign=160e60bfa9-Daily_Digest_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_fa2346a853-160e60bfa9-191276697
Democracy Now!: "Rob Nixon, professor in the humanities and the environment at Princeton University... is the author of “Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor.”
Democracy Now!: "“Losing Earth.” That’s the title of The New York Times Magazine article by Nathaniel Rich published August 1 in a special edition of the magazine dedicated entirely to climate change."
AND
Extreme Weather Is Exploding Around the World. Why Isn’t the Media Talking About Climate Change? (video)

Democracy Now!: "Major corporate broadcast networks reported on July’s 2-week global heat wave at least 127 times, but mentioned climate change only once. That’s according to a report by Media Matters, which tracked coverage of the extreme weather by ABC, CBS and NBC."

14) Valve Turner Michael Foster released from prison, arriving home in Seattle (from their newsletter)
https://www.facebook.com/ClimateDirectAction/videos/2095844753998395/
"Michael Foster was greeted at the Greyhound station by his community at midnight -- joyful people, flowers, and hugs abounding. The crowd scooted off to a late night diner where the waitstaff commented they’d never taken so many vegan burger orders. Michael had a chance to share stories and reflections before heading home with sweetie Sue at nearly 3am.
“Six months, went by like nothing. Somebody just got released last month after 43 years of being unjustly imprisoned after a police raid, I think it was Philadelphia, in the 70s*. And I got to sit in a retreat center for 6 months. So I feel like the luckiest guy on earth - and I don’t plan on going back, unless it’s for a really good cause. And I’m really really really really glad to see people I really love and people who want to make a difference in the world. Because the city and complicated life, all this stuff, and the pollution and the crap we have to do everyday, I didn’t miss any of that… And I’m really not looking forward to being part of it again. I’m gonna try really hard not to be part of that.”
This month we’ve seen record breaking temperatures across the globe, Algeria, Japan, South Korea, and the United States. Fire hellscapes abound, California, Greece, and even the Arctic, with a hundred deaths and counting. And in more bad news, it’s reported that by the end of the century, the North China plain, home to 400 million people, will be uninhabitable. But, the question is not just when life will be unbearable but for whom it is already so -- in this dire time when children are being stripped from their parents and all civil liberties are under attack, we are being given a preview of what more is to come under climate change.
It’s ever more apparent that our disruptive actions are completely necessary, if not restrained. We hope to have a date for the Minnesota trial next week. And we hope that the potential jurists in Minnesota are also taking note of the global climate catastrophe, as the impacts of shifting weather patterns very noticeably settle into Northern Minnesota."
*The person released from prison was Debbie Africa from MOVE - go to our Facebook page to see that report.

15) Backfire: How misinformation about wildfire harms climate activism (commentary)
https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/backfire-how-misinformation-about-wildfire-harms-climate-activism-commentary/
Mongobay: "It can be particularly tempting for climate activists to adopt negative messages about wildfire and link them with global warming as a means of building public concern about dangers from anthropogenic climate change. While such efforts are well-intentioned, in this essay I examine how negative messages about wildfire will ultimately backfire for climate activists by inadvertently giving cover to logging schemes that are harmful to forests and the climate."

16) Brazil Judge Suspends Use of Agrochemical Glyphosate
https://sustainablepulse.com/2018/08/07/brazil-judge-suspends-use-of-agrochemical-glyphosate/#.W2wH6rjLezZ
Sustainable Pulse: "The ruling affects companies such as Monsanto Co, which markets a glyphosate-resistant, genetically-modified type of soybean that is planted on a large scale in Brazil... Brazil is the world’s largest exporter of soybeans, driven largely by growing demand from China."

17) Mendocino Complex Fire Now the Largest in California History
https://www.ecowatch.com/mendocino-complex-fire-now-the-largest-in-california-history-2593542567.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=20c45a5eb5-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-20c45a5eb5-86095421

18) FERC Halts Work on Mountain Valley Pipeline
https://www.ecowatch.com/mountain-valley-pipeline-construction-halted-2593256634.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=20c45a5eb5-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-20c45a5eb5-86095421
AND
Second Controversial Fracked Gas Pipeline Runs Into Legal Trouble

https://www.ecowatch.com/second-controversial-fracked-gas-pipeline-runs-into-legal-trouble-2593893066.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=5969d54544-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-5969d54544-86095421
"August is off to a good start for environmental groups and communities in Virginia and West Virginia who oppose two pipelines that would carry fracked natural gas through the region. Three days after the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) ordered work to pause on the Mountain Valley Pipeline, its sister pipeline also ran into legal trouble. A federal appeals court on Monday vacated two permits required by the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to complete its 600 mile project beginning in West Virginia and traveling through Virginia to North Carolina, The Associated Press reported."

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%!

 

Take Action - Get Involved!


Saturday, August 11, 2:00 - 3:30 PM
Protecting Sonoma County's Forests--What You Can Do
Northwest Santa Rosa Library - 150 Coddingtown Ctr, Santa Rosa
Forest Unlimited Executive Director and Educator Rick Coates will lead this presentation.
For more info: https://sonomacounty.libcal.com/event/4295021


Monday, August 20, 7-9 PM

Attend our next Earth Action Campaign meeting
Peace & Justice Center, 467 Sebastopol Ave., Santa Rosa
This campaign meets monthly on the 3rd Mondays. Meet in person or call in from home.
For more information go to http://OccupySonomaCounty.org or call 707-877-6650.

Wednesday, August 23, 7pm
350 Sonoma
For more info go to Facebook350 Sonoma or webpage 350sonoma.org. Email 350Sono...@gmail.com


Saturday, September 8, 10 AM
Embarcadero Plaza, San Francisco
RISE March for Climate, Jobs, and Justice

Get on the bus in Sonoma & Marin County: http://bit.ly/sonmarinrise

Let's mobilize EVERYONE for this important march!

For more info contact 350Sono...@gmail.com


Tuesday, September 11 - Thursday, September 13, 9am-9pm
The National Heirloom Expo
Sonoma County Fairground, Santa Rosa
$30 for 3 days, $15 for 1 day, kids free
The "World's Fair of Pure Food" - exhibits, speakers, vendors, workshops, food, and fun!
For more info: http://theheirloomexpo.com/ (check the website close to the event for the schedule)
(Editor's note: Don't miss this awesome event!)

September 17, 2018 6-8pm – Potential Strategies for Zero Waste
October 22, 2018 6-8pm - Draft Zero Waste Plan
Finley Community Center, Person Senior Wing, Room 1
2060 West College Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA 95401
For more info contact 350Sono...@gmail.com

December 6, 5-8 PM

Holiday Networking Party &  Awards for Leadership in Post-fire Ecosystem Regeneration

Sebastopol Grange

Sonoma County Conservation Council: sc...@sonic.net


Volunteer Opportunities

• We need a list of Mexican restaurants and taquerias for a mailing about GMOs in corn products.

* Please help promote and attend the RISE march on September 8: http://CA.RISEFORCLIMATE.org
 for bus info:
http://bit.ly/sonmarinrise


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.
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