EARTH ACTION IN THE NEWS
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to the people who have joined recently. This is a simple weekly
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and actions about climate change, climate justice, GMOs, toxic
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BREAKTHROUGH!
New Zealand Will Consider Climate Crisis in All Major Policy Decisions
2019 Was a Big Year for Renewable Energy in New York
Top 10 People-Powered Moments of 2019
The city of Tucson pays residents up to $2,000 to help cover the cost of a storage tank that collects rainwater.
"The city of Tucson pays residents up to $2,000 to help cover the cost of a storage tank that collects rainwater."
St. Louis passes solar-ready construction mandate
"All new commercial and residential buildings in the city must have
reserved rooftop sections so that solar could be easily installed upon
them if need be, according to a new law passed on December 23...
As mayor, I want people to know that this administration is taking the
climate crisis seriously and meeting its challenges head-on, especially
at the local level. That includes signing this historic solar readiness
bill, which reflects that commitment."
California’s new building codes will make solar panels the next home appliance
"In California, the nation’s most populous state, every newly-built home must now come with enough solar panels to satisfy its electricity needs."
LOCAL REPORTS
Herbicide spraying proposed to curb broom plants in small parts of Mendocino National Forest
SMART ridership declined in 2nd year, but weekday use growing, newly obtained records show
GMOs, GLYPHOSATE & TOXINS
FOSSIL FUELS
PIPELINES
A voice from the forest in the corporate boardroom
"I recognise that my words might appear idealistic, that I do not
understand the way of the world, that it cannot change so easily or
readily. I wonder, though, when each of you sits here at this table with
me, human to human, not banker to consulting party, if you believe
humans have truly conquered the earth. If we can live without drinking
water. If we are truly civilised when the cost is destruction of our
shared home. We're in rough shape, as a species. I hope to look upon the
faces of my grandchildren and tell them I did everything I possibly
could to give them a better world."
PLASTIC & POLLUTION
Humanity Can’t Recycle Its Way Out of Consumption Problems
"The cost to produce new fossil-fuel-based plastic is kept artificially
low, with oil and gas subsidies: $5.2 trillion annually. This
disincentivizes the use of recycled content and other alternatives... Recycling might sound like a not-so-bad solution, and there is
certainly plenty of propaganda and recycle-recycle-recycle chants, yet... only 2 percent of plastic is effectively
recycled... Most is downcycled... such as
into a plastic bag, and then it goes to a landfill or incinerator... waste that was once shipped to China and
forgotten is now here for us to deal with. No other country has the
capacity China had, so now waste is, quite literally, piling up... recycling plant wash water from
what little is recycled is dumped back into estuaries and drinking water.
Then it’s melted and releases volatile organic compounds. There is no
place for this stuff to go—it’s toxic to life as we know it... it’s the poor suffering the most... unable to drink the groundwater, suffocating from the
polluted air. It’s mostly poor marginalized women who work in the trash
piles of recycling centers, separating it out for recycling... We cannot keep supporting oil and gas’s bottom line forever. They need
to be held accountable. Now. They need a bill for cleanup, and they need
to be legislated into creating biodegradable packaging. They will not
do that unless it is legislated."
Plastics Industry’s Greenwashing Aggravates Environmental and Health Crises
"We think of recycling as local... when in fact it’s a big business which is of
course international. And some of the realities... about the business of recycling, which is being presented to us as the answer — but the realities of the business of plastics recycling are heartbreaking... there’s a growing awareness of how immense and terrible this problem is
we’re all facing... it’s a health problem, it’s
an environmental problem, it’s a racial justice problem at this point,
because of the way it’s distributed throughout the country and the
world... it’s wrong to miss the larger picture here, which is that the vast
responsibility for this crisis belongs on the corporations that have
created it."
Thailand Begins the New Year With Plastic Bag Ban
GREEN NEW DEAL
Naomi Klein: Climate Solutions That Neglect Inequality Are Doomed to Fail
WAKE UP CALL
Members of Congress Own Up to $93 Million in Fossil Fuel Stocks
Don't miss this one.
Climate Change Forces 20 Million People to Flee Each Year, Oxfam Finds
Climate crisis: Scientists brave the cold to study the hell that Antarctica could unleash
Yes, Food Is Grown in Sewage Waste. That’s a Problem.
THINK TANK & STRATEGYGermany Will Close All of Its Nuclear Power Plants, but Needs to Put Its Nuclear Waste Somewhere
"All seven of Germany's nuclear power plants are slated to close by
2022, but questions remain about where the European country can safely
bury nearly 28,000 cubic meters of radioactive waste that will stay
there for the next million years, as CNN reported. The
decision to close the country's nuclear plants came after the Fukushima
disaster in Japan in March 2011. Japan is still struggling to cool and
to contain the nuclear waste from the plant, which is part of the reason
that Germany is wrestling with the puzzle of where to offload nearly
2,000 containers of nuclear waste."
Green Consumerism Is Part of the Problem
Farmers and Salmon Advocates Agree: It’s Time to Talk about the Snake River Dams
Climate Solutions: Technologies to Slow Climate Change
A Growing Movement Shows There Is an Alternative to Capitalism
"The profit-driven economy is being tested by new visions of
wealth-building models outside of mainstream capitalism. These
cooperative structures form part of a new system that envisions a
service to the public good instead of the shareholders’ balance sheets.
As global demands for economic justice grow, can this new economy
reshape the way we think about ownership and pension strategies?"
We Are the Majority. We Must Turn That Into Power.
"We are building toward being a movement that can make transformational changes over the next decade. There are opportunities to
organize in our communities, connect with others throughout the country
and around the world. The potential of a movement of movements linking
issues that seem unrelated is being realized. We are building solidarity
from person-to-person across movements and across borders. Together we
can build the power to create a new world."
New York City spends billions on flood protection
York to ban private car journeys from city centre within three years
DIRECT ACTIONS
Action Strategy Update for 2020 - Extinction Rebellion
More Climate Lawsuits Could Spur Federal Legislation and a Just Transition
How a Rising Anti-Mining Movement Is Challenging Portugal’s “White Gold” Rush
"The real issue is that attempting to solve an ecological problem with a
solution that involves more extraction — in this case, mining for
lithium to make electric cars to reduce CO2 emissions — is not a
solution. In fact, it is heading in the opposite direction of what is
called for at this time: to protect and restore ecosystems.”
SUSTAINABLE LIVING
How to Shop Sustainably
H&M Tests Renting Clothes to Boost Environmental Credentials
16 Initiatives Changing Urban Agriculture Through Tech and Innovation
ENDING ON A POSITIVE
20 Reasons Why 2019 Gave Us Climate Hope
Take Action - Get Involved!Monday, January 20, 7-9 PM (Every 3rd Monday - No meeting in December)
Occupy Sonoma County Earth Action Campaign Meeting
Peace & Justice Center, 467 Sebastopol Ave., Santa Rosa
For more information go to http://OccupySonomaCounty.org or call 707-877-6650
(website contact preferred) Saturday, January 25 (the last Saturday every month)
Community Seed ExchangeSt. Stephen's Episcopal Church, 500 Robinson Rd., Sebastopol
9-10:30 Optional Work Party
11-12 Free WorkshopMonday, January 27, 7-9 PM, free with donations welcome
EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES FOR CLIMATE ACTION: What’s working, and why?
Time
is running out; we can’t afford ineffective approaches to the climate
crisis. This workshop will provide a brief overview of where we are in
the climate movement and look at the key targets for slowing or
reversing climate change. We will explore the most successful climate
strategies and tactics for building our movement, shifting government
policies and corporate practices, while changing the public discourse on
climate.
Presenter Daniel Solnit is a union organizer, campaign strategist, and social change activist with 40 years of experience.
These strategies can be applied to a number of issues.
Peace & Justice Center, 467 Sebastopol Ave., Santa Rosa 95401
Wednesday, January 29, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM or later
Collating the Peace & Justice Center's Peace Press
Help assemble 4,000 copies of the Peace Press with a fun group of people to show your support of the PJC.
Peace and Justice Center - 467 Sebastopol Ave, Santa Rosa 95401
Wednesday, February 5 (every first Wednesday) No Dogs
Sonoma County Permaculture Guild Monthly Potluck
Family Friendly & Fun. Swap
seeds/plants, & explore the PSC
Permaculture Skills Center, 2185 Gravenstein Hwy S, Sebastopol 95472
For more info contact: permacultureskillscenter.org or 707-824-0836
March 2-7
Social Justice Week at Sonoma State University
Noam Chomsky and Angela Davis will be keynote speakers. OSC will be speaking on climate activism.
Sunday, March 15, 1:30-6 PM
Sonoma County Climate Activists Community Summit
stay tuned for more details
Odd Fellows Hall, 545 Pacific Ave., Santa Rosa
Monday, March 30, 7-9 PM
Sonoma County Climate Activist Network
(SoCoCAN!)
Peace & Justice Center, 467 Sebastopol Ave., Santa Rosa 95401
Facilitator for this meeting: Kevin
Notetaker: Terri
For more info: SonomaC...@gmail.com
or to the SoCoCAN listserv (preferred)
The North Bay Community Engagement Fair
postponed to September 20
A gathering of local groups, community leaders,
activists, artists, and volunteers working together to secure civil
liberties, protect the disenfranchised, justly transition to a
regenerative economy, and foster a resilient ecology.
Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Hall - 1351 Maple Ave, Santa Rosa
Volunteer
• Make phone calls
from home for 1 hour every other month as follow up to our press releases.
No skill needed other
than a pleasant phone demeanor.
Even once would be helpful.
• Please post flyers for our teach-ins at the bulletin boards where you already shop.
Download
event flyers from our website or pick them up at the Peace & Justice Center Monday-Friday 1-4 PM.
Let us know what bulletin boards you can
cover. Thank you.
• Experienced builder to
help us build raised bed garden boxes.
• Help editing our teach-in videos.
•
We need an email list of bars and restaurants in Sonoma County.
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
