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Real food is how our bodies are interconnected to the web of life on Earth. We are so deeply interconnected that our microbiome forms a continuous, reciprocal macro-organism with the microbiome of the soils. The real food we eat provides information to our bodies about the season, environment, and the health of the surrounding ecosystems so that our body can respond accordingly. We are so connected that the debilitation of health of one aspect of our food web, goes on to have a direct effect on our health. But since the advent of industrialization, we have been systematically displaced from the deep, inherent relationships we hold with our food.

The deep seeded extent of corporate power’s infiltration into our daily bread extends all the way from the overuse of toxic substances, shadowy backroom lobbying, and a shapeshifting appropriation of resistance through greenwashing tactics. All to keep us in the dark over the  destructive consequences of agribusiness-as-usual. So much so that now less and less people remember where food comes from, and what a healthy, integrated agro-ecosystem looks and feels like.

Such is the disconnect that nutritionally empty, artificial, chemically laced junk, masquerading as food, has become the norm. We have been fooled into thinking food is an object, a necessary but fundamentally non-distinct input into the machine of the body. Corporations would have us believe that food is just ‘functional’, i.e. all nutrients, whether synthetic, from plants, or from animal foods are all created equal in terms of nutrition. But this is simply not so. There are fundamental differences and complexities in bioavailability, nutritional synergies, nutrient density and diversity that are present in real foods.  It is impossible for lab-made imposters to mimic the bioavailability and nutrition synergies present in natural foods. Especially as the extent of such complexity is not yet fully understood. As the most advanced branches of science evolve, such as epigenetics, microbiome research, ecology and others, it’s clear there is an infinite amount of information we still don’t know and therefore cannot manipulate artificially.

There is also overwhelming evidence of how such synthetic simulacrums cause detrimental health effects on their own. Just as the Earth, her ecosystems, and her soils have been treated as dead, empty matter that can be manipulated with chemicals, so has the body, under this vision, suffered the same fate.

Small farmers and local food communities have deliberately been destroyed in favor of corporate power, and the health of people, the planet and food systems has been purposefully disregarded. Today this has become evident in the explosion of noncommunicable, metabolic diseases, along with mental illnesses, on one side, and the growing number of people affected by malnutrition and hunger on the other.  All caused by the depletion of the human microbiome, lack of basic macro and micronutrients, and food being contaminated with carcinogenic and endocrine disrupting chemicals from toxic pesticide residues, heavy metals, artificial growth hormones, and antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria. These same diseases that are affecting humans are also affecting the Earth, in the forms of pollution, mass extinction, and ecological collapse causing climate change.

The call has been made that this system can no longer go on, and now we are finding agribusiness chanting along with what food movements have been saying for years. The corporate chimera has shifted its mask again, appearing to be an ally to the growing eco-conscious movements.  Now the very ones who have perpetuated the Earth’s destruction and our amnesia, have shapeshifted once more to try and convince us they hold the solutions.  But how can the same groups that have so heavily profited off the destruction of our health, small farmers, and the Earth, all of a sudden be so interested in changing the system they created? If in condemning the industrial atrocities of animal factory farming, for example,  we are inadvertently making way for the same corporate actors to step in, are we really making any progress?

The imagination of corporate power can only conjure further iterations of itself- cold, anti-life, lab-made, synthetic and most importantly, profitable. Those that have caused mass-suffering (of peoples, ecosystems, animals and so on) are now saying no more animal suffering, no more nutrient deficiency, no more climate problems thanks to carbon trade offs, nature-based solutions, digital agriculture and lab-made foods. Technological innovation can solve all this by simply eliminating the problem. No more cattle to feed, no more chickens to house, no more dairy cows to pump because now a highly complex combination of never before seen ingredients can be put together with pesticide laden, industrially grown seeds to produce a sterilized, denatured facsimile of the real thing. Complex ecological breakdown is now simplified into catchy marketing slogans, reduced to simple solutions where corporate accountability is conveniently forgotten in favor of shameful individual responsibility.

The push for food without farmers, and farming without the Earth, represents the agenda of the next corporate takeover of food systems in the final elimination of real farming through digital agriculture, and elimination Real Food through lab-made synthetic foods.  An agenda being pushed through corporate aligned, false climate-change policies to eliminate animal agriculture, vertically integrate supply chains and digitalization. The industrial, monocultural farm will now find its use in providing previously inedible, unpopular commodity crops as raw materials for lab-made foods. The parasite now sucks the last drops of its heavily infected host before it moves on to its new cell-cultured lab protein.

The already underway destruction of real food has already destroyed health, as profits cannot be made from a healthy planet, healthy people, or a well-functioning local food community. The fight now extends beyond just small farmer versus factory farming, its now real food versus man-made synthetic, fake foods; its nutrient-dense, regenerative foods grown with care, versus corporate digital dystopia.

So, are we going to look to those who regard land, food, and life as extractible, commodifiable, profitable objects to solve the problem which stems from the fundamental disconnection to the Earth and Life? Or do we look to the generational stewards, the indigenous people who speak for their lands, the independent scientist evolving the science of agroecology, and the careful small farmer? Who are the ones that can teach us how to care for the Earth?

The defense of real food is now more important than ever, as it also represents the defense of the small farmer, the defense of our relationship to the Earth, and to life itself.

Real food is nutrient dense, comes from living soil, living water, sunlight and the contribution of hundreds, if not thousands of interconnections with other living beings (including animals).

Real food comes from the care of a small farmer’s hands.

Real food works in tandem to the inherent interconnections of both plants and animals as essential elements of a healthy and balanced agroecosystem. It is made by caring for multidimensional health necessary to produce nutrient rich foods for generations to come.

Real food accepts, honors and humbly respects the cycles of life and death inherent in the Earth’s cycles.

Real food connects us all to the flow of life.

Real food gives us a chance to rejuvenate the earth, our food economies, food sovereignty and food cultures.

CALL TO ACTION – “Our Bread, Our Freedom” 2022

Natural gas enters your home through your furnace, your appliances, and even through the electricity you use, much of which comes from gas-fired power plants. And that’s a problem because, not only is gas bad for your physical health (more on that later), it’s bad for your family’s financial health by making you more susceptible to inflation. The greater your home’s level of infection—the amount of gas you use—the harder you’re hit when prices rise.

 

Source: Author’s calculation based on EIA U.S. Price of Natural Gas Delivered to Residential Customers. Consumer Price Index calculation using the Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI Calculator.

 

That’s been true since at least 1974, which was the last time the retail price of natural gas had not risen faster than the overall rate of inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index. The price rise in the early 1970’s was solidified at the end of the decade when the OPEC oil embargo caused the price of oil and other fuels to surge. It was America’s first hint of the volatility that would accompany exposure to global commodity markets.

Natural gas inflation has been worse during some periods, such as the early 2000s, than it has during others but it has always been bad. Even in the last decade, during which gas prices temporarily came down, they did so from hyperinflationary peaks and only returned to a baseline level that is still 20% above the overall rate of inflation in Pennsylvania and 30% nationally. Consequently, every time your gas furnace or gas water heater goes on and every time you turn on a light, you’re paying a premium. The bad news is that it’s getting worse.

 

No, natural gas isn’t saving us money . . . it’s doing the opposite

48 years of above-average prices have not stopped the natural gas industry from claiming to save Pennsylvanians money. The misleadingly-named industry front group, the Consumer Energy Alliance, crows that between 2008 and 2018, increased natural gas production saved consumers $32.1 billion.

Of course, the year 2008 was one of those twin peaks in the preceding chart—a time at which natural gas prices had risen at more than twice the rate of inflation. So the decline in prices that followed wasn’t a “savings”, it was still above-average inflation just at a less egregious level.

 

Source: Consumer Energy Alliance

 

Natural Gas is a Principal Driver of Our Current Inflation

Given that natural gas price rises have historically outpaced increases in the rest of the economy, it’s not surprising that it is playing a leading role in our latest inflationary bout. In August 2022, the nation’s annual inflation rate was 8.3%, but electricity, which as we shall see in a moment is closely tied to natural gas, increased by almost twice that amount at 15.8%. And utility gas—the kind piped into your home to power your furnace and other gas appliances—rose by four times the overall rate at 33%. In fact, the only sector to increase in price by more than natural gas was fuel oil.

 

Source: Author’s calculation using the Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI Calculator.

 

Reining in rising electric prices will likely depend on reducing our reliance on natural gas

The Energy Information Administration’s most recent “Short Term Energy Outlook”, released on September 9, 2022, found that residential electric rates are likely to climb by 7.5% this year, nearly double last year’s rate increase. The STEO attributes the increase to natural gas, saying, “Higher retail electricity prices largely reflect an increase in wholesale power prices driven by rising natural gas prices.” Pennsylvania is likely to be hit even harder because over half of electricity is generated from natural gas as compared to only 39% nationally.

 

Source: US Energy Information Administration’s Short-Term Energy Outlook, September 2022

 

The rising price and price volatility of natural gas are among the reasons the STEO suggests that natural gas’s share of electricity generation may have peaked and will go into decline as clean, low-cost renewable energy, which, unlike gas, is not subject to commodity market volatility, continues to rise.

 

Source: US Energy Information Administration’s Short-Term Energy Outlook, September 2022

 

Increasing gas production for export also increases prices and volatility

Like all commodities, natural gas chases the highest price, wherever it can be found. But for decades natural gas couldn’t travel very far. Nearly all of our international trade in natural gas was conducted by pipeline with our economically stable neighbors Canada and Mexico.

 

Source: US Energy Information Administration’s Short-Term Energy Outlook

 

Then, in 2016, we began transporting liquified natural gas by ship to markets in Asia and Europe where prices were higher. And when in 2020 European and Asian prices started skyrocketing, American exports skyrocketed along with them.

 

Source: US Energy Information Administration, Bloomberg Finance

 

At first, the impact on domestic prices of increased access to international markets was modest due to immense production capacity, particularly in Appalachia, and because of the economic downturn caused by the Covid epidemic. But, coming out of the epidemic and with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the associated drop in Russian gas deliveries, prices in Europe and Asia spiked. 

So, despite the fact that there is no major increase in North American natural gas demand, prices are rapidly rising as producers direct as much production as they can to more profitable overseas markets. And domestic prices would be even higher than they already are were it not for supply chain constraints that limit the amount of natural gas that can be exported, especially from Appalachia, which is landlocked and where pipeline “take away” capacity is still limited. 

That point was demonstrated quite powerfully when, in June, the Freeport Liquified Natural Gas Export Terminal in Texas was shut down by an explosion resulting in an immediate drop in US export capacity and accordingly in domestic natural gas prices. The malign influence of increased access to global commodity markets on US natural gas prices was explained in a September 1, 2022 piece in Barons by Clark Williams Derry who writes:

 

“As the U.S. exports more and more gas, there’s less supply left for domestic consumers. Gas utilities, power companies and gas-dependent industries now must compete with one another for the remaining gas supplies.” 

 

These facts fly in the face of claims by the oil and gas industry and many sympathetic politicians such as West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin who argue that increased pipeline capacity and increased production will bring down prices and contribute to American “energy independence”. A November 2021 ORVI blog post explained the sordid history of the myth of energy independence which was born in the 1970s and 80s.

 

“We were told and many of us believed that energy independence was an existential necessity. But the funny thing is that the term “energy independence” never actually had a fixed meaning. The way in which it was talked about by politicians, starting with the president, and understood by most listeners was that America could, over time and with the help of the right policies, reach a stage at which we could produce enough energy domestically to meet our needs and foreign nations, principally the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its member states, would cease to be in a position to dictate how much energy would be available to Americans and at what price. If OPEC tried to ratchet up the price of oil, we would be in a position to say, “Keep your damn oil, we can produce all we need without you.” 

“But, if that was the concept politicians were selling and we were buying, it was never the one that American oil companies considered for even a nano-second. Why should they? Every time OPEC slashed production and prices rose on global markets, American producers saw profits skyrocket and, unlike OPEC, they didn’t have to reduce production volume to collect the bonus. The OPEC nations may have profited from restricting supply, but American oil companies profited even more.”

 

Nothing has changed. And, to the degree the US continues to build out pipelines and other infrastructure that give US production access to Europe, Asia, and other regions, the prices we pay for natural gas and electricity produced using natural gas will be set by global commodity markets.

 

PA is the second largest gas-producing state, but we haven’t gotten “a bargain”

The preceding chart also shows that, despite Pennsylvania’s rise as a producer of natural gas, the Commonwealth’s residents have benefitted only slightly as compared to the rest of the nation. Generally, retail gas prices in Pennsylvania have closely tracked those of the nation. Only in 2014 did they dip slightly below the national average, just to bounce back and exceed the national average again in 2019. 

In the last year, Pennsylvania prices, while still rising, have fallen about 11% behind those of the nation. However, that owes primarily to the lack of pipeline “take-away” capacity, which prevents gas produced in Pennsylvania from reaching even higher-priced global markets, resulting in a glut here. But, as we’ve seen before, such as in 2016, deviations from national prices levels tend to be temporary and evaporate quickly.

 

Inflation is only a figurative disease, but natural gas also contributes to literal diseases

A 2020 report that was sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Institute, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Mothers Out Front, and the Sierra Club found that:

 

“Burning gas in buildings is not only a threat to climate action but also to human health, as these appliances are sources of indoor air pollution. Gas stoves, particularly when unvented, can be a primary source of indoor air pollution. What’s more, a robust body of scientific research shows the pollutants released by gas stoves can have negative health effects, often exacerbating respiratory conditions like asthma.” 

 

The report cited indoor air pollution levels associated with gas ovens and compared them with health standards published by the United States, California, Canada, and the World Health Organization.

 

Source: Rocky Mountain Institute, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Mothers Out Front, Sierra Club

 

Not addressed in the report is the added issue of pollutants emitted from the combustion of natural gas to generate electricity, as well as upstream emissions from the extraction, processing and transportation of natural gas.

Expanding US natural gas production and transportation capacity in order to meet demand in higher priced global markets will drive down prices in those markets, but only at the expense of raising them here in the US. If that’s the way we play it, we will guarantee that natural gas’s 48-year run of above-average inflation will continue. Or we can mitigate natural gas inflation by reducing our dependence. Switching to lower-cost clean energy alternatives and embracing energy efficiency will be much better for our health and our bank accounts.

 

The post Inflation & Natural Gas: A Disease and its Carrier appeared first on Ohio River Valley Institute.

Fossil fuel companies are misleading the public about carbon capture technology, according to internal documents unearthed as part of an ongoing federal investigation into fossil fuel company misinformation. Private conversations between top employees of major oil and gas corporations reveal that the industry is pushing carbon capture as a climate solution, despite private acknowledgement that the technology is meant primarily to prolong and expand oil and gas drilling. 

The US House Committee on Oversight and Reform’s new memorandum reveals startling insights into the industry’s carefully crafted campaign to sell at-scale carbon capture deployment as a viable climate solution. 

 

Public promises, private deception

 

“Please do not give the impression that Shell is willing to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to levels that do not make business sense.”

 

In recent years, fossil fuel companies have trumpeted dozens of pledges to reduce carbon emissions and help the world usher in a cleaner energy future. Shell’s widely publicized “climate target” claims the oil major will “become a net-zero emissions energy company by 2050” by “cutting emissions from operations, including the production of oil and gas, and by increasing energy efficiency [and] capturing or offsetting any remaining emissions.” ExxonMobil is also publicly eyeing net-zero emissions by 2050, claiming “investments in lower-emission solutions in which [the company] has extensive experience, including carbon capture and storage, hydrogen and biofuels.” Fossil fuel giant BP, the company that infamously rebranded to “Beyond Petroleum” before bailing due to resounding public pushback, has its sights on 2050, as well. In a 2021 interview on the Paris Climate Accords, BP Chief Economist Spencer Dale explained that “climate mitigation technologies, such as carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS)…will be important partners to gas in the drive to net zero.”

In their own words, fossil fuel majors are curbing emissions and combating the climate crisis at the front lines, wielding carbon capture as a silver bullet solution to a warming planet. But in reality? These squishy, CCS-based net-zero pledges are nothing but smoke and mirrors, according to the committee’s investigation.  

 

Contrary to what their pledges imply, fossil fuel companies have not organized their businesses around becoming low-emissions, renewable energy companies. They are devoted to a long-term fossil fuel future. 

 

Internal documents show BP, Exxon, Shell, and other oil and gas majors admit that the carbon capture and storage technology upon which their climate pledges are founded could “enable the full use of fossil fuels across the energy transition and beyond.” That’s the hidden truth about CCS that fossil fuel companies don’t want you to know—far from a climate solution, carbon capture is actually a Trojan horse for more drilling, more pollution, and more net carbon emissions. 

 

The public isn’t fooled.

There’s a reason why oil and gas majors are increasingly bullish on pro-climate messaging and duplicitous about the true intent of carbon capture. In a January 2018 employee briefing, BP laid out a series of key public messaging points on carbon capture, use, and storage (CCUS). Among the “challenges” for CCUS messaging? “Societal concerns with CCUS extending the use of fossil fuels.”  

Recent public opinion research confirms that the public is broadly skeptical of oil and gas companies and their role in the climate crisis. About eight in ten (80%) Americans say the oil and gas industry is at least somewhat responsible for causing climate change, and six in ten (60%) say the industry is “mostly or completely responsible,” according to a 2021 YouGov survey. On the whole, it’s led to a bad rap for oil and gas majors. More Americans have a negative view than a positive view of Shell (32% vs. 24%) and Exxon (32% vs 22%), despite these companies’ attempts at climate-positive rebranding. 

And despite the industry’s million-dollar investments in net-zero messaging and climate-positive rebranding, polling shows the public has called the industry’s bluff. A majority (55%) of Americans say that oil and gas companies have lied to suppress public awareness about climate change. 

 

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The industry’s solution? Even more deception, misrepresentation, and sleight of hand. An internal Shell email, daylighted as part of the federal investigation, warns executives that “we want to be careful to not talk about CCUS as prolonging the life of oil, gas or fossil fuels writ large.” Instead, industry representatives are privately directed to be as vague and deflective as possible on climate targets and “cagey about project specifics” to skirt accountability.

 

Carbon capture means more fossil fuels. But does the technology even work? 

The investigation also reveals doubt among fossil fuel company executives that carbon capture technology is even deployable at scale. Private discussions about Exxon’s 2018 television ad run reference uncertainty about the company’s carbon capture projects, noting that Exxon decided to “replace lines implying that [carbon capture] technology is live today” to make solutions “more future focused (e.g., we’re building a plant to test this…).” 

Exxon’s track record on carbon capture and storage should raise serious questions about the technology’s viability, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform notes. The company owns just one carbon capture facility in Schute Creek, Wyoming, which has consistently failed to meet capacity targets. Just 3% of the carbon captured by the facility has been effectively removed from the atmosphere and stored underground, according to research from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. The remaining 97% is either vented or sold to fossil fuel companies to help stimulate oil production, ultimately increasing net carbon emissions when that oil is burned. Experts estimate that Exxon may be capturing less than 1% of its total emissions through carbon capture technology.

But it’s not just Exxon. ORVI research shows that carbon capture technology itself is unproven and a poor means of reducing carbon emissions. The technology has been in development for more than four decades and received over 15 years of government subsidies for research and development, yet it’s still not used effectively in any large American power plant. And even in ideal, laboratory settings, carbon capture retrofits are only able to capture a maximum of 90% of plant and factory emissions, leaving millions of metric tons of CO2 unaccounted for each year.

Even worse, carbon capture does nothing to reduce the “upstream” emissions produced when fossil fuels are extracted, transported, and processed. The fossil fuel production that carbon capture is intended to prolong would thus continue emitting climate-warming emissions into the atmosphere entirely unabated, accelerating the climate crisis for generations. 

 

A better pathway

Ultimately, Big Oil’s push for carbon capture comes at a critical juncture for our planet’s future. As Kentucky, Puerto Rico, and Florida wearily rebuild communities devastated by fossil fuel-exacerbated disasters, climate science experts warn that failing to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius could lead to global cataclysm: runaway ice melts, ocean current disruption, and an exponential increase in the severity and frequency of extreme weather events, like flooding, wildfires, hurricanes, and drought. 

A forthcoming decarbonization pathway, produced for the Ohio River Valley Institute by Strategen Consulting, describes how the historically fossil fuel-dependent region of Western Pennsylvania could slash its carbon emissions by at least 94% by 2035 with an accelerated transition to clean energy. By shuttering coal- and gas-fired power plants, rapidly deploying renewable energy generation, and investing in energy efficiency upgrades, the ten-county region sets the 1.5 degree Celsius target within reach, all while cutting costs and creating jobs far more effectively than pathways based on carbon capture and continued fossil fuel use.

In the meantime, the fossil fuel industry will continue to push deceitful messaging to maintain its bottom line. It’s up to us to stay wary of empty net-zero pledges and false climate solutions, like carbon capture and storage, and advance a true energy transition that will yield shared prosperity for all. 

 

The post Industry is Misleading the Public on Carbon Capture, Internal Documents Show appeared first on Ohio River Valley Institute.

OCTOBER 15, 2022

From the squares of Campania and Italy for a “world of justice and peace“, with Dr Vandana Shiva in a live broadcast from India coordinated by Infinitimondi in collaboration with Navdanya International.

Economic growth—the expansion and enrichment of business activity—is a narrow goal, easy to explain and understand: “More jobs for the community.”  Economic development—expansion and enrichment of a community—is a broader goal: hard to explain, often fraught with disagreement over community needs.  State and local governments invest heavily in strategies to create economic growth, but ‘development’ gets short shrift in the politically fraught and competitive process of industrial attraction. Siloed funding and separate stakeholders contribute to firewalls between strategies for economic growth and social needs. 

The division is counterproductive in today’s economy.  When common jobs paid enough to support a safe, modest yet decent standard of living, the private market responded to community needs, like supplying housing that workers could afford.  Things have changed. Today, six of the ten largest occupational groups in Ohio leave a full-time worker with a small family eligible for SNAP, the federal food assistance program. Today’s private market no longer responds to the needs of workers. 

Corporations locate factories and offices in places with lots of people from which they can draw a stable workforce. They scrutinize community assets that support the workforce: good schools, safe roads and bridges, clean water, and other basic factors. Five years ago the National Association of Counties reported that Amazon focused on diversity of housing options and availability of housing in its search for a second headquarters site. Yet today many places do not incorporate housing as an explicit component of economic strategy.

Housing development falls into a grey area between social and economic silos. Employers built worker housing after World War II to create a stable labor pool. The housing industry grew, serving the needs of an expanding middle class.  Low-wage workers and workers of color were often excluded, so where the private market failed, the federal government stepped in and provided some subsidy to help some struggling families. Later, local governments stepped in and incentivized development of high-end, luxury homes to attract affluent people and corporate headquarters. Worker housing has fallen through the cracks. In a nation that needs 3.8 million more single-family houses and 7 million more rental units affordable to working class families, economic development strategies need to include supply of housing at all levels of the income spectrum.

 

The rapid escalation in rental rates nationally leaves many working families struggling

Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

 

In Ohio’s largely rural Hancock County, business expanded even during the pandemic and jobs were created but rental housing—the most common form of housing for workers—was scarce. The problem was complicated by lack of public transit from nearby communities that did have worker housing. “It’s a concern that Findlay has about a 98% occupancy rate for apartments,” said Tim Mayle, director of Findlay-Hancock County Economic Development, cited in the Findlay Courier. “The easiest way to address the workforce shortage, which other communities across the nation also face, is to have more people living in the community.” 

 

The Virtuous Cycle

In 2018, Tulsa, Oklahoma created an explicit economic development strategy that leveraged the city’s supply of affordable housing to attract remote workers. The city offered a $10,000 grant to eligible workers who committed to work remotely and live in Tulsa for at least one year. The program—boosted by pandemic ‘work from home’ orders—brought 1,200 new residents between 2018 and 2021.

Ohio’s cities and villages, dependent on the municipal income tax, have good reason to expand or leverage their existing supply of affordable housing. Ohio’s cities generally split the income tax between place of work and home. Cities with an employment base faced fiscal crisis during the pandemic as offices closed and commuters worked from home. Some never came back. Attracting new residents has a new urgency for Ohio municipalities from a revenue perspective. 

Housing development contributes to a virtuous economic cycle. In the United States, home ownership is a primary rung on the ladder to the middle class. Construction and rehabilitation of homes stimulates a supply chain for lumber, concrete, windows, doors, and other building materials, many of which are supplied locally or regionally.  Residential development employs many construction workers. It creates assets that anchor neighborhoods and expand the property tax base. The property tax primarily funds schools, so expanded housing contributes to good schools in the community. Good schools contribute to rising property values, creating wealth for residents and revenue for the community. 

 

The downward spiral

Unmet community needs are a barrier to this virtuous cycle. In 2021, 20% of small families earning around $30,000 a year in the Southeast Ohio region lacked housing they could afford (with rent taking no more than 30% of monthly income); more than half of such families making less than $20,000 lacked housing they could afford. These families struggle to have enough food, clothing, medicine, and other necessities.

 

Workers of modest income struggle with the high cost of housing

Source: Ohio Housing Finance Agency

 

“My experience is that more families are doubled and tripled up in housing or living in garages, sheds or campers,” says Jack Frech, Executive-in-Residence at Ohio University and former director of Athens County Office of Jobs and Family Services. The hardship families face spills over into the communities. 

“Local municipalities have a wide range of serious issues that are related to housing,” Frech points out. “Many have severe needs for adequate water and sewage systems. Utility costs are rising. Assuring public safety is becoming more challenging as labor shortages and increased costs have forced many communities to reduce their safety forces. Rising transportation costs have left poor families immobile.”  

What Frech describes is the opposite of the virtuous economic cycle: it’s a downward spiral that stymies economic growth. 

 

Political failure to meet basic needs 

Public policy has not halted the downward spiral. The federal government provides public housing for some families of very low income, and housing subsidies to others, although only a small share of eligible families are helped through the inadequately funded programs. There are federal programs that subsidize development of worker housing, like the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, which provide grants to states and localities for a wide range of housing activities. The national housing shortage highlights the inadequacy of these programs.

States also have programs to support affordable housing. The Ohio Housing Finance Agency promotes the Ohio Housing Tax Credit, the Multifamily Bond program, the Multifamily Lending program, and other programs to incentivize development. The Ohio Housing Trust Fund provides grant funding.  Even when combined with federal incentives, the state’s tools have failed to redirect housing developers away from the higher returns they can get in the development of luxury housing. 

“Each year, Ohio is allocated about $120 million of federal bond volume cap for multifamily development,” Ohio legislator Ron Hoops said in a recent press release on House Bill 650, which he is co-sponsoring with Representative Gail Pavligia. “Unfortunately, due to a lack of private sector investment in Ohio, much of this federal allocation has gone unused …”

Source: Ohio Housing Finance Agency

 

Turnaround is possible

“A poor community cannot boot-strap itself out of a housing crisis,” says Zach Reizes of Sunday Creek Horizons, an Athens County consulting group. “But local officials can take steps to turn things around.” A municipality or county can deepen the subsidy of federal and state tools with low-interest loans and grants. It can use bond financing and partner with land banks and housing agencies as well as developers. It can create programs that fund the rehabilitation of dilapidated houses and apartments, an important element in economic turnaround. After the closure of a major employer, the town of Centralia, in Washington State, focused on residential rehabilitation with energy efficiency improvements. This strategy raised property values, lowered costs, created jobs and recession-proofed the community, meeting social needs as an economic development strategy.

Wheeling, West Virginia, has anchored redevelopment strategies with worker housing.  Urban Design Associates of Pittsburgh incorporates worker housing in its plans for Wheeling Heights.  The Woda Cooper company, a Columbus-based firm, has created apartment buildings with affordable rents. Wheeling Councilwoman Rosemary Ketchum is an enthusiastic supporter.  “I’m very excited for Wheeling to be able to embrace a diverse housing landscape. It’s one of the issues I think we’ve been dealing with for many years—a lack of quality affordable housing.” 

 

It takes meaningful attention and investment. 

The crisis in worker housing is well understood. The New York Times has analyzed the economic forces that reduced the supply of smaller “starter homes.” Economist Paul Krugman documents the rising cost of rent (up 25% nationally since the pandemic) and housing (up 40% since the beginning of the pandemic). 

“Federal and state governments need to dramatically increase programs to develop affordable rental units and development of starter homes,” says Reizes. “It will take tremendous investment to rebuild the middle class. Housing is an essential part of that investment.” 

The federal government is working on it. The Biden Administration plans to create new financing mechanisms to encourage affordable developments that the private market doesn’t fund, like manufactured housing and smaller, multifamily buildings. Officials will implement a new form of financing, “Construction to Permanent” loans (where one loan finances the construction but is also a long-term mortgage), by involving Fannie Mae in the purchase of these loans. New treasury guidance for use of State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) allocated through the American Recovery Plan Act expands eligibility for housing. Thirty states have committed almost $10 billion of these funds for affordable housing development and preservation. 

This is an opportunity for communities up and down the Ohio River Valley. The state of Ohio recently provided $500 million in SLFRF funds to the state’s Appalachian counties. These funds could go a long way toward addressing development of worker housing and other pressing community needs.

 

The problem is bigger than housing alone. 

Public programs to create and maintain worker housing stock should be an ongoing, integral part of the economic development toolkit. At present, the state’s 2020-23 development plan for Appalachian Ohio doesn’t have much to say about it. Recent “Opportunity Appalachia” grant awards mentioned housing only in passing. But the tide may be turning. Large employers like Intel and Amazon want diverse housing options. The Ohio Chamber of Commerce prioritizes policies to support and stabilize the workforce, including housing. Word will spread to local officials and community leaders promoting economic growth. A renewed focus on the needs of the workforce is overdue. 

More is needed for balanced economic development. 

“One-time funding may be good for defined infrastructure projects, but the ongoing housing issue will not be solved until we increase household income,” warns Frech. “Housing is critically important but in today’s rocky economy, so is raising the minimum wage, increasing Social Security, easing access to food aid, bolstering Veterans Administration benefits, and increasing other supports for working families.”

 

The post Worker Housing: A Pressing Economic Development Need, an Important Economic Development Tool—The Case of Ohio appeared first on Ohio River Valley Institute.

Regeneration International, in conjunction with steering committee partners such as the Organic Consumers Association, The Global Alliance for Organic Districts, IFOAM Asia, Navdanya, the International Network of Eco Regions, Savory Hub Africa, Via Organica, The League of Organic Municipalities and Cities and BERAS International will be hosting the People’s Food Summit on World Food Day, October 16, this year.

Paysannes d’ici et d’ailleurs.

Marché paysan, exposition, animations enfants avec la participation de Vandana Shiva.

A conversation with Canadian socialist David Camfield about his new book, Future on Fire. Simon Pirani: Congratulations on the publication of your book Future on Fire. It stands out, in my view, because you avoid pronouncing neat “solutions” to climate issues, you consider actually existing social movements and how they might address the climate emergency. […]

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By Alexia Cassinari – Salus, 4 October 2022 | Source

The international conference “ Promoting health and sustainability: the natural way out of the permanent state of emergency ” was held on 28 and 29 September at the European Parliament in Brussels. Thanks to MEPs Rosa D’Amato and Manuela Ripa and the Greens / Efa group it was possible to bring the theme of health promotion linked to environmental sustainability to an institutional place. 

Life expectancy in Europe has grown in recent decades but the quality of life has not. The data and studies presented during the two days of the conference outlined how it is actually possible to achieve healthier longevity thanks to a paradigm shift that focuses on a concrete strategy for promoting healthy lifestyles that unite health and the environment.

The response of European governments to the spread of Covid has highlighted a system vacuum: the emergency approach that has been put in place has not been accompanied by any significant intervention on health promotion that would have helped the population to strengthen the natural response. immune to infection . “The motto we have thought to define this paradigm shift is ‘compone et collaborate’ (unite and collaborate)” said the naturopath Milena Simeoni, creator of the SALUS initiative in 2019. Director of the LUMEN School of Naturopathy , Simeoni presented, among other things, the MINERVA project (MIgraine and Nathuropathy: Empowerment with nutRition, attententiVness and yogA). MNERVA represents an example of the paradigm shift that can concretely be implemented; the project, in fact, aims to promote, at a European level, independent and non-profit research on the efficacy of holistic naturopathy in the prevention and treatment of migraines. Another important piece of this paradigm shift is the Citizens’ Initiative (ICE) # Time4SustenaibleHealth. “The SALUS European Network” explained Simeoni “wants to collect more than one million signatures of European citizens to ask the European Commission to recognize and support the central role of the health and sustainability promoter (HSP), to activate local trials, to coordinate Member States to increase investment in health promotion up to 5% of health and social budgets.

To show the feasibility and concreteness of the proposals put forward by SALUS, the intervention of Dr. Pekka Jousilahti, epidemiologist and researcher who works as a research professor at the Finnish Institute for Health and Wellness (THL) , abbreviated as THL , was enlightening. , in Helsinki presented the positive results of a public campaign to promote healthy lifestyles conducted on a stable basis in the North Karelia Region from the 1980s to today.

Among the interventions, several international speakers, including the famous Indian activist Vandana Shiva who recalled how the industrial agricultural model, characterized by monoculture, biodiversity reduction and widespread use of chemicals and, in parallel, a wrong diet strongly influence the incidence of chronic degenerative diseases and contribute to reducing the quality of life with advancing age. On the same wavelength, the intervention of prof. Mìguel Angel Martinez Gonzalez, Spanish doctor, epidemiologist, professor and researcher in nutritionwhich for twenty-five years has been engaged in research involving more than 22,000 participants and which demonstrates the importance of the traditional Mediterranean diet, both to ensure greater health and to ensure environmental sustainability. 

Among the concrete paradigm shift proposals that emerged during the conference, there was also talk of the gradual transition from a health system that pays for the disease to one that pays for the healthy longevity generated. “This ambitious goal is possible” said Dr. Alberto Donzelli, president of the Alineare Sanità e Salute Foundation,specialist in hygiene and preventive medicine. “We need to make health profitable and create a bridge between education and health and health promotion. A proposal that goes in this direction, which emerged within the SALUS initiative, is to involve non-health professionals in the health system, such as experts in traditional and complementary medicines, who can collaborate with doctors in supporting citizens to achieve a change of lifestyle “. 

Among the practices related to the holistic world, we talked about meditation and its positive effects on the quality of life, as explained by Davide Pirovano, teacher of effective communication and meditation at the LUMEN network. “With mindfulness it is possible to reduce systemic pressure, perceived stress and anger,” he said. “This is why meditation can also be a fundamental tool for that change we want to see in the world”. 

As part of the SALUS initiative, legislative proposals were also born: Dr. Alberto Zolezzi, an Italian parliamentarian, worked for example on the legislation on the recognition of sustainable intentional communities, “people who come together around a purpose, a project and a common set of values ​​that contribute to the good of the territory. The environment and ecology always return as fundamental ingredients for the change of paradigm, ”he explained.

Numerous and innovative the philosophical and scientific contents of the event that will soon see new European appointments to continue building the bridge between sustainability and health. Those who subscribe to the newsletter on the website www.salusnetwork.eu are sent the conference proceedings.

 

 

Hast auch du Schwierigkeiten, über den Monat zu kommen oder machst dir jetzt schon Sorgen vor der nächsten Rechnung?
Du arbeitest immer mehr und am Ende reicht es trotzdem nicht?
Dir liegt etwas Gerechtigkeit und Solidarität?
Du hast eine Idee, wie wir diese Worte Praxis werden lassen können?
Möchtest du dich mit anderen zu sozialen Problemen austauschen?

Dann komm am 26. Oktober ab 19:00 in den Stadtteiltreff Reichenau (Innsbruck). Nach einem kleinen thematischen Vortrag wollen wir uns gemeinsam die Frage stellen:

Warum wird alles teurer und was können wir dagegen tun?

Weitere Infos gibt es hier!

Last week marked the close of the Clean Energy Ministerial’s inaugural Global Clean Energy Action Forum, a three-day conference on accelerating the transition to a clean energy economy. Billed as the “biggest energy event of the year,” the forum welcomed more than 6,000 energy leaders representing governments, industries, NGOs, and communities from around the world. 

In a widely-circulated open letter to forum attendees, published as a full-page advertisement in the Sunday edition of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, ORVI and nearly a dozen western Pennsylvania elected officials described why it’s fitting that the Clean Energy Ministerial chose Pittsburgh, long the heart of American energy and industry, as the host city for the premier energy convergence of 2022. 

 

 

Signers included:

• Joanne Kilgour, Executive Director, Ohio River Valley Institute
• Deborah Gross, Pittsburgh City Council
• Erika Strassburger, Pittsburgh City Council
• Bobby Wilson, Pittsburgh City Council
• Olivia Bennett, Allegheny County Council
• Michelle Naccarati-Chapkis, Allegheny County Council
• Bethany Hallam, Allegheny County Council
• Anita Prizio, Allegheny County Council
• Dan Frankel, PA State Representative
• Sara Innamorato, PA State Representative
• Emily Kinkead, PA State Representative
• Summer Lee, PA State Representative

 

ORVI’s official side event at the forum, “Zero Carbon Resources and Appalachia’s Sustainable Finance Hub,” co-presented by the University of Pittsburgh and Marshall Plan for Middle America, outlined the labor, leadership, and financing needed to “deploy, deploy, deploy” for economic development in traditionally carbon intensive communities. Nine speakers, including policymakers, industry and labor leaders, energy experts, and community partners, described how zero-carbon resources can minimize cost, maximize emission and pollution reduction, and deliver jobs and opportunity in challenged areas and regions. 

 

Panelists included:

• Jake Pawlak, Deputy Mayor, City of Pittsburgh
• Shanti Gamper-Rabindran, Professor, University of Pittsburgh
• Joanne Kilgour, Executive Director, Ohio River Valley Institute
• Sean O’Leary, Senior Researcher, Ohio River Valley Institute
• Amanda Woodrum, Senior Researcher, Policy Matters Ohio
• David Wilhelm, CEO, Hecate Global, Chief Strategy Officer, Hecate Energy
• Oliver Kroner, Interim Director, Office of Environment and Sustainability, City of Cincinnati
• Ed Hill, Jr., International Representative, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
• Chris Gassman, Senior Associate Director, Center for Sustainable Business, University of Pittsburgh

A Clean Energy Pathway for Western Pennsylvania

As part of the presentation, Executive Director Joanne Kilgour and Senior Researcher Sean O’Leary unveiled preliminary results from a forthcoming decarbonization study conducted by Strategen Consulting. The report describes an energy transition pathway for the ten-county region of Western Pennsylvania, finding that a clean energy pathway would cut costs, reduce climate-warming emissions, and create jobs far more effectively than fossil fuel-based pathways. 

A renewables-based decarbonization pathway is the most economic strategy for economic transition. Rapid deployment of clean energy and energy efficiency retrofits would cost 12% less than a pathway centered around locally sourced fossil fuels and carbon capture technology. The renewables-based pathway will also result in annual benefits of nearly $2.7 billion, higher than those modeled as part of a natural gas and carbon capture pathway, and cut carbon emissions by 94% by 2035 and at least 97% by 2050. 

Transitioning from fossil fuels to clean energy is viable, economical, and necessary for our planet’s future, the report finds. The pathway outlines an accelerated retirement of coal- and gas-fired power plants and curbing natural gas for power generation and building usage by at least 98% by 2050. The renewables-based pathway invests heavily in energy efficiency to reduce electricity costs, create jobs, and make the region a healthier, safer place to live. Electrifying transportation and buildings will simultaneously cut the region’s carbon emissions significantly. With energy efficiency offsetting a significant share of demand growth that may result from building and transportation electrification, overall load growth by 2050 can be limited to just 33%.

All told, here’s how the region’s energy mix could evolve from 2021 to 2050:

 

Backwards Visions

But competing visions for western Pennsylvania’s energy future abounded at the Global Clean Energy Action Forum. As expected, hydrogen—and the carbon capture technology underpinning blue hydrogen development—proved a major lightning rod throughout the three-day conference. The industry group Team Pennsylvania, in collaboration with the Great Plains Institute, released a roadmap on carbon management and hydrogen development in Pennsylvania outlining rapid, ‘hub’-based deployment of expensive, unproven decarbonization technologies that would prolong fossil fuel use across the region. Analysis indicates the roadmap would achieve fewer emission reductions, cost more, and deliver fewer jobs than the clean energy pathway outlined in the forthcoming ORVI/Strategen report. It also fails to answer basic questions about cost and impacts on people and communities, suggesting the decarbonization pathway was determined without a comprehensive assessment of its cost, effectiveness, viability, and its merits relative to other decarbonization pathways. 

 

ORVI’s Media Splash

ORVI’s research on the false promises of blue hydrogen and carbon capture technologies garnered serious media attention in Pittsburgh’s largest media outlets during the ministerial:

 

Paul Gough | Pittsburgh Business Times

Pittsburgh Business Times: Differing visions of hydrogen future — key to Pittsburgh region — dominate energy conference (9/22/22)

Excerpt:
…but ORVI Executive Director Joanne Kilgour in a separate session said many policymakers on both sides of the aisle have been focused on a midpoint strategy that maintains a dependence on fossil fuels. Kilgour and Sean O’Leary, senior researcher at the Ohio River Valley Institute, cast doubt about the wisdom of a fossil fuel-focused hydrogen and carbon capture and storage economy in Appalachia.

“It represents a difference between a future of job growth, economic prosperity and environmental recovery to one of job loss, population loss and environmental degradation,” O’Leary said.

ORVI has outlined the economic cost of decades of fossil fuel drilling in Appalachia. ORVI has presented evidence from both coal mining and natural gas drilling, and counted a cost in job loss and population loss in many areas where there is natural gas drilling.

“The fact is that the Appalachian natural gas boom has been economically disastrous for our region,” O’Leary said.

ORVI is about to present a report that highlights a renewables-based decarbonization that O’Leary said would be hundreds of millions of dollars less over time than using carbon capture and storage and hydrogen produced from natural gas.

O’Leary pointed as an economic model the city of Centralia, Washington, where a closed coal mine and a soon-to-be-closed power plant that has found a green-based sustainable formula that has led to the community adding jobs and wage growth.

“It’s an economic model that is replicable in our region but whether or not we take it depends on the development strategies we adopt,” O’Leary said.

 

Ryan Deto | Tribune Review

TribLive: Some Pittsburgh Elected Officials Caution Against ‘Blue Hydrogen’ Hub Pitch (9/22/22)

Excerpt:
…and a group of Pittsburgh-area elected officials and environmentalists met Wednesday at Flagstaff Hill in Oakland to try to sway Pittsburgh’s hydrogen future towards an alliance with renewable energy, and away from one with natural gas…

…Joanne Kilgour, director of environmental think tank Ohio River Valley Institute, said the region shouldn’t align its energy future with natural gas, which has gone through a boom and bust cycle since proliferating more than 10 years ago.

She said embracing blue hydrogen over green hydrogen could mean the region misses its climate change goals. While natural gas emits less carbon dioxide compared to coal, production of the gas emits large amounts of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.

“We hope that the Clean Energy Ministerial will instead focus on proposals that invest in true clean energy strategies like renewables – which are proven, cheap, safe, and clean,” said Kilgour.

 

Pittsburgh City Paper

Pennsylvania Capital-Star: ‘We need to do everything we can now’: In Pgh, students march for climate justice (9/22/22)

Excerpt:
A student-led rally and march brought dozens of protesters to Carnegie Mellon University’s campus today to demand climate justice as part of this week’s Clean Energy Justice Convergence…

…Ben Hunkler, of the Ohio River Valley Institute, shares a similar vision.

“I don’t know about you all, but I am tired of being exploited for profit by the fossil fuel industry,” said Hunkler at the start of the rally, addressing the growing investment in Hydrogen and Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage.

“What carbon capture really means is more drilling, more pollution, more tainted water and contaminated air,” Hunkler continued. “Carbon capture means more sick children. It means fewer jobs for our communities. And it means climate change accelerating for decades.”

 

John Colombo | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The Hydrogen Money Is Here, Just In Time For The Hype (9/23/22)

Excerpt:
The idea of using natural gas as the main source of hydrogen production has been challenged by various groups who are worried that it’s another way to keep the oil and gas industry relevant and profitable at the expense of cleaner energy sources.

The Ohio River Valley Institute, a progressive think tank, has cautioned that the pursuit of a blue hydrogen hub may leave taxpayers and utility rate payers on the hook for subsidies to fossil fuel companies. Its researchers also worried that it might distract resources and attention from other energy and economic development strategies. 

 

Indiana Gazette: Toomey concerned as ‘clean energy’ conference opens in Pittsburgh (9/22/22)

Excerpt:
…programs scheduled today and Friday in Pittsburgh include a forum on “the labor, leadership, and financing needed to deploy, deploy, deploy for economic development in traditionally carbon-intensive communities” in Appalachia, organized by the University of Pittsburgh and the Johnstown-based Ohio River Valley Institute.

Organizers said government, industry, and community partners will describe how zero-carbon resources can be deployed in ways that minimize cost, maximize emission and pollution reduction, and deliver jobs and opportunity in challenged communities.

“This region is ready for a true clean energy transition rather than one that still depends on fossil fuels,” said Pittsburgh City Council member Erika Strassburger. “We’re ready for clean energy solutions that are good for workers, good for families, and good for our climate.”

Strassburger and other local elected officials gathered Wednesday afternoon at a news conference arranged by the Ohio River Valley Institute, to call on global energy ministers to “endorse real clean energy solutions.”

 

Conclusion

The catastrophic weather events bookending the first Global Clean Energy Action Forum underscore the urgency of an accelerated transition to clean energy. Record flooding in Appalachian Kentucky in late July, catastrophic hurricane damage in Puerto Rico in September, and, now, Hurricane Ian’s devastating landfall in Florida and along the southeastern US have uprooted communities and destroyed lives and livelihoods. Climate science experts warn that failing to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius could lead to global cataclysm: runaway ice melts, ocean current disruption, and an exponential increase in the severity and frequency of extreme weather events, like flooding, wildfires, hurricanes, and drought.

Decarbonization pathways that leave the door open for ineffective, expensive technologies like carbon capture and blue hydrogen and maintain our dependence on fossil fuels are a dead end for our communities and for the planet. The divergence between a renewables-centered pathway and one that eschews emissions reduction targets for false climate solutions like hydrogen and carbon capture represents a difference between a future of job growth, economic prosperity, and environmental recovery or one of continued job loss, depopulation, and climate and environmental degradation. 

 

The post ORVI Makes Waves at the 2022 Global Clean Energy Action Forum appeared first on Ohio River Valley Institute.

    Michael Löwy   In the various speeches on the climate, we find a large number of commonplaces, repeated a thousand times in all tones, which constitute wrong ideas, which lead, voluntarily or not, [...]

    Report by Brian Champ.   On Friday September 23rd the Fridays for Future Global Climate Strike continued mass action on the streets around the world to demand action for climate justice under the [...]

I gave a talk at an on-line event on the war in Ukraine, arranged by the Future of the Left group on Monday. The meeting was shorter than planned, due to technical problems. Only two of the advertised speakers made it: Richard Sakwa, emeritus professor of Russian and European politics at Kent university, and me. […]

2023 Arc of Justice Summer Fellowship

Spend your summer building community power and advancing racial & economic justice at one of California’s leading civil rights law firms!

Public Advocates Inc. and the Charles Houston Bar Association (CHBA) are proud to announce the seventh annual Arc of Justice Summer Fellowship opportunity for law students committed to pursuing careers in public interest law. The Arc of Justice Summer Fellowship is a collaboration between Public Advocates and CHBA to improve the representation of attorneys of color in the public interest profession and to increase advocacy with communities of color throughout the Bay Area, particularly Black communities. The Arc of Justice Fellows will spend the summer clerking at Public Advocates with dedicated support from CHBA.

The Fellows will leverage Public Advocates’ and CHBA’s networks and professional development resources and will be exposed to public interest practitioners representing a wide variety of legal fields. In addition, the Fellows will establish meaningful connections with other summer law clerks and attorneys at other public interest legal organizations, minority bar associations, government agencies and private law firms or corporations.

Since 2016, Public Advocates and CHBA have selected Arc of Justice Summer Fellows from law schools throughout the country to clerk on our Education Equity and Metropolitan Equity Teams. The Fellows have engaged in local, regional, and state policy work on behalf of students, transit riders, and residents of color. They have also been warmly welcomed into the CHBA network, building meaningful relationships with high-caliber Bay Area attorneys through networking and social events.

The ten week-long Arc of Justice Summer Fellowship comes with a $3,000 stipend, in addition to a Public Advocates’ $3,000 living allowance (both are subject to taxes). To promote diversity in public interest law, the allowance can be used to supplement any additional outside funding law clerks may receive. 

Fellowship Partners

Public Advocates, a non-profit law firm and advocacy organization, challenges the systemic causes of poverty and discrimination by strengthening community voices in public policy and achieving tangible legal victories advancing education, housing and transit equity, and climate justice. Since 1971, Public Advocates has focused on “making rights real” across California by collaborating with grassroots groups representing people of color, immigrants, and low-income individuals to achieve strategic policy reform, enforce civil rights, and support movement-building.

CHBA is a nonprofit organization of lawyers, judges, and law students throughout Northern California, and operates as an affiliate member of the National Bar Association and the California Association of Black Lawyers. Since 1955 CHBA has been committed to working within the African American community to facilitate access to the justice system and to promote equal protection under the law.

Spend Your Summer at Public Advocates

Our Legal Clerkship Program exposes students to the diverse strategies of our impact work in an environment designed to help them develop as public interest attorneys. Each law clerk is assigned to a supervising attorney on one of our two teams (Education Equity and Metropolitan Equity) who has primary responsibility for giving constructive feedback in a positive learning environment.

• Education Equity Team: Law clerks on the Education Equity Team support attorneys in K-12 and Higher Education advocacy school funding equity cases and campaigns in partnership with community-based organizations. Examples of cases and campaigns include legal advocacy to defund school police, enforcement actions to hold districts accountable for transparent and equitable budgeting, and enforcement actions to hold community colleges accountable for remedial education reform.
• Metropolitan Equity Team: Law clerks on the Metropolitan Equity Team support attorneys and community groups to win investment and development that meets the needs of the region’s low-income residents and workers. Public Advocates, along with our community, regional, and statewide partners, works to secure more affordable housing near jobs and transit, robust and affordable local transit service, investment without displacement, healthy and safe communities, access to quality jobs, and greater power for low-income communities of color in local and regional decision-making. Examples of our work include campaigns and coalition work that aim to create more homes that families can afford, more protections for tenants facing rising rents, and better wages and stronger workforce development policies for local residents.

Law clerk duties may include legal research and writing, drafting policy memos and reports, client communication and leadership development, community training and resource development, coalition-building, and data analysis. In addition to providing substantive legal advocacy experience, the Legal Clerkship Program includes a number of brown bag sessions, visits to legislative and state agency meetings in Sacramento, team-building events, meetings with community partners, and other activities intended to complement the day-to-day work of our law clerks.

Qualifications

Public Advocates and CHBA are seeking a law student with a demonstrated commitment to:

• Promoting diversity in the legal field, such as through membership in a relevant bar association or law school affinity group;
• Pursuing a career in public interest law and/or policy; and/or
• Serving low-income communities, communities of color and/or immigrant communities — and the Black community, in particular.

Public Advocates currently has a hybrid schedule and we expect all of our clerks, except for the clerk to be based in Southern California, to be able to commit to working at least part time for 10 weeks in Public Advocates’ San Francisco or Sacramento office, with the acknowledgement that this could change if COVID-19 levels increase.

How to Apply

Applicants should provide a cover letter explaining:

• Your specific interests and qualifications (please do not simply recap your résumé);
• Your experiences and commitment to working with low-income communities, communities of color and immigrant communities, especially Black communities;
• Your reasons for applying to Public Advocates; and
• Your preference (if any) for placement with our Education Equity or Metropolitan Equity Teams.

In addition, include a résumé, writing sample and list of references. Please email your materials to: Public Advocates’ Legal Clerkship Program, at lawclerks@publicadvocates.org, and Nichelle Holmes, CHBA Immediate Past President, at pastpresident@charleshoustonbar.org. Please include “Arc of Justice Fellowship Application” in your subject line.

We are currently accepting applications and plan to finalize our class by the end of February, 2023. The summer program begins the Tuesday after Memorial Day. If you are applying for the Arc of Justice Summer Fellowship, please do not submit a separate summer clerkship application.

Diversity Commitment

Public Advocates is committed to fostering a diverse staff and diversity in the legal profession. We encourage all interested individuals to apply — especially Black, Indigenous and People of Color; women; people from low-income backgrounds; people with disabilities; people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender; and anyone belonging to any other federal or state protected category. Read our Diversity Vision Statement here.

The post 2023 Arc of Justice Summer Fellowship appeared first on Public Advocates.

2023 Summer Legal Clerkship

Spend your summer building community power and advancing racial & economic justice at one of California’s leading civil rights law firms!

Public Advocates Inc. is currently hiring summer 2023 law clerks for our San Francisco and Sacramento offices. Our law clerks play a crucial role in building power in low-income communities of color through our community partnership lawyering model and advancing racial and economic justice through policy advocacy, enforcement actions and capacity-building. In turn, we are committed to providing high quality training and supervision to help advance the career goals of our clerks and to foster a true community of public interest lawyers.

Our Mission

Public Advocates, a non-profit law firm and advocacy organization, challenges the systemic causes of poverty and discrimination by strengthening community voices in public policy and achieving tangible legal victories advancing education, housing and transit equity, and climate justice. Since 1971, Public Advocates has focused on “making rights real” across California by collaborating with grassroots groups representing people of color, immigrants and low-income individuals to achieve strategic policy reform, enforce civil rights, and support movement-building.

Legal Clerkship Program

Our Legal Clerkship Program exposes students to the diverse strategies of our impact work in an environment designed to help them develop as public interest attorneys. Each law clerk is assigned to a supervising attorney on one of our two teams (Education Equity and Metropolitan Equity) who has primary responsibility for giving constructive feedback in a positive learning environment.

• Education Equity Team: Law clerks on the Education Equity Team support attorneys in K-12 and Higher Education advocacy in partnership with community-based organizations. Examples of cases and campaigns include legal advocacy to defund school police, enforcement actions to hold districts accountable for transparent and equitable budgeting, and enforcement actions to hold community colleges accountable for remedial education reform. 
• Metropolitan Equity Team: Law clerks on the Metropolitan Equity Team support attorneys and community groups to win investment and development that meets the needs of the region’s low-income residents and workers. Public Advocates, along with our community, regional, and statewide partners, works to secure more affordable housing near jobs and transit, robust and affordable local transit service, investment without displacement, healthy and safe communities, access to quality jobs, and greater power for low-income communities of color in local and regional decision-making. Examples of our work include campaigns and coalition work that aim to create more homes that families can afford, more protections for tenants facing rising rents, and better wages and stronger workforce development policies for local residents.

Law clerk duties may include legal research and writing, drafting policy memos and reports, client communication and leadership development, community training and resource development, coalition-building, and data analysis. In addition to providing substantive legal advocacy experience, the Legal Clerkship Program includes a number of brown bag sessions, visits to legislative and state agency meetings in Sacramento, team-building events, meetings with community partners, and other activities intended to complement the day-to-day work of our law clerks.

Public Advocates currently has a hybrid schedule and we expect all of our clerks, except for the clerk to be based in Southern California, to be able to commit to working at least part time for 10 weeks in Public Advocates’ San Francisco or Sacramento office, with the acknowledgement that this could change if COVID-19 levels increase.

Living Allowance

Public Advocates provides a $3,000 living allowance (subject to taxes) to each summer clerk who commits to and completes a 10-week internship. The allowance can be used to supplement any additional outside funding law clerks may receive.

How to Apply

We value applicants with a demonstrated commitment to public interest work. Summer clerks commit to working full-time (on-site, if applicable) for 10 weeks (Monday through Friday, 7.5 hours/day). Applicants should provide a cover letter explaining:

• Your specific interests and qualifications (please do not simply recap your résumé);
• Your experiences and commitment to working with low-income communities, communities of color, and immigrant communities;
• Your reasons for applying to Public Advocates;
• Your preference (if any) for placement with our Education Equity or Metropolitan Equity Teams; and
• Your preference (if any) for placement in San Francisco, Sacramento, or Los Angeles.

In addition, include a résumé, writing sample and list of references. Send your materials to our Legal Clerkship Program at lawclerks@publicadvocates.org.

We are currently accepting applications and plan to finalize our class by the end of February, 2023. The summer program begins the Tuesday after Memorial Day.

Arc of Justice Summer Fellowship

Public Advocates and the Charles Houston Bar Association (CHBA) are proud to announce the seventh annual Arc of Justice Summer Fellowship opportunity for law students committed to advancing the legal and policy priorities of low-income African American communities in the Bay Area. The Arc of Justice Fellowship is a collaboration between Public Advocates and CHBA to help increase the number of law students of color who pursue careers in public interest law. The Arc of Justice Fellow will receive an additional summer stipend of $3,000. Find out more here.

Diversity Commitment

Public Advocates is committed to fostering a diverse staff and diversity in the legal profession. We encourage all interested individuals to apply — especially Black, Indigenous and People of Color; women; people from low-income backgrounds; people with disabilities; people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender; and anyone belonging to any other federal or state protected category. Read our Diversity Vision Statement here.

The post 2023 Summer Legal Clerkship appeared first on Public Advocates.

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Transitioning to clean energy means job growth, shared prosperity, and a safer, cleaner future for Western Pennsylvania. ORVI’s forthcoming decarbonization study, produced by Strategen Consulting, describes an energy transition pathway for the ten-county region of Western Pennsylvania that reduces emissions, cuts costs, and creates jobs more effectively than any fossil fuel-based pathway.

Key Takeaways:

• A renewables-based decarbonization pathway is the most cost-effective. Transitioning to a clean, renewable energy and maximizing energy efficiency will be much more cost-effective than continuing to rely on oil and gas, especially if expensive, unproven carbon capture is involved.
• A renewables-based pathway curbs climate-warming emissions. Our clean energy pathway will reduce carbon emissions by 94% by 2035 and at least 97% by 2050.
• A renewables-based pathway, which includes energy efficiency and grid-integrated distributed resources, will result in more jobs, more bill savings, and a greater economic impact than fossil fuelbased decarbonization.
• The renewables-based pathway leverages resources from throughout the PJM region to achieve maximum efficiency. About two-thirds of Western Pennsylvania’s energy will be produced locally; the rest will be imported through the PJM market.

 

The post A Clean Energy Pathway for Western Pennsylvania appeared first on Ohio River Valley Institute.

Continued reliance on locally sourced fossil fuels and carbon capture will be 12% more costly than a clean energy pathway that is focused on renewables and energy efficiency, and leverage imports from outside the 10-county region.

A new clean energy pathway developed by Strategen Consulting for the Ohio River Valley Institute would result in a 97% reduction in CO2 emissions from the power sector by 2050, resulting in annual benefits of $2.69B, higher than those associated with a pathway dependent on natural gas and carbon capture and storage technology.

Additionally, energy efficiency combined with electrification of the buildings and transportation sectors results in load growth totaling 33% over the period.

The post Western PA Decarbonization Study appeared first on Ohio River Valley Institute.

Register at: earthuniversity@navdanya.net ; +91 (0) 135-2693025
Check this page for more details on programmes, courses, internship opportunities, visitors guide, application forms. Upcoming

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Return to Earth – A-Z of Biodiversity, Agroecology, Regenerative Organic Food Systems

Course of Navdanya

1 – 12 October 2022

 

 

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Gandhi, Globalisation and Earth Democracy

With Dr Vandana Shiva and Satish Kumar

21st to 24th November 2022

 

Youth leadership for Earth Democracy

A year long program with Navdanya.
Age: from 18 to 25 years old

August, 2021 – August 2022

 

 

 

Register at: earthuniversity@navdanya.net ; +91 (0) 135-2693025
Check this page for more details on programmes, courses, internship opportunities, visitors guide, application forms. Past Events

 

Staying Alive

Cultivating Hope in times of Chaostrophy

Course of Navdanya

with Dr Vandana Shiva

19 – 20 August 2022

 

 

 

Trees and Forest

The foundation of Ecological Happiness – Aranya Sanskriti

Course of Navdanya

3 July 2022

 

 

 

Education for Making peace with the Earth

Course of Navdanya

With Dr Vandana Shiva and Satish Kumar

3 – 5 June 2022

 

 

 

Biodiversity as a bridge to happiness – International Happiness Day

With Dr Vandana Shiva, Dr M.K. Mandal and Dr Saamdu Chetri

18 – 20 March 2022

 

 

 

 

Annam – ‘Food As Health’: Health as a continuum from the soil to our body

3 – 7 April 2022

 

 

Ecofeminism : The Creative Power of Nature & Women

With Dr Vandana Shiva

6 – 8 March 2022

 

 

 

The Living Earth & Climate Change Regenerating Biodiversity and Soil to Regenerate our Future

With Dr Vandana Shiva

9 January 2022
7.30pm IST – 4pm CET – 7am PT

 

 

 

Soil not Oil

1st – 5th December 2021

All sessions at 5.30pm IST for one hour and half

 

 

 

 

 

Gandhi, Globalisation and Earth Democracy

21st to 24th November 2021
All sessions at 5.30pm IST for one hour and half

 

 

 

 

 

Ecological Happiness

Protecting the Planet, our Health and our Future Generations by transforming the Food System

12th August, 2021 – 5pm IST – 1.30pm CEST – 7.30am ET

 

 

 

 

Return to Earth: A-Z of Biodiversity, Agroecology, Regenerative Organic Food System

1st – 14 October 2021

 

 

 

 

Education for Making Peace with the Earth

5th June 2021
World Environment Day

With Dr Vandana Shiva and Satish Kumar

 

 

 

 

 

Soil not oil: regenerating Biodiversity and soil to address Climate change

15th to 17th April 2021

 

 

 

Earth’s Health, Women’s Health

27th – 28th May 2021

With Dr Mira Shiva and Dr Anna Powar

 

 

 

 

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Annam ‘Food as Health’

3rd – 7th April 2021

 

 

 

 

 

Biodiversity as a Bridge to Happiness

20 March 2021

Online

 

 

Organic School – Rabi

 

15 – 21 March 2021

Navdanya Earth University/Bija Vidyapeeth

 

 

 

 

Earth Rising, Women Rising – Regenerating the earth, Seeding the future: A conversation with Dr Vandana Shiva

to Celebrate Shakti
Women’s creative power in non violent form on

8th March 2021
International Women’s Day
6pm IST – 7.30am EST – 1.30pm CET

Register at earthuniversity@navdanya.net

Diverse Women for Diversity
Navdanya

 

 

Earth Democracy & Ecofeminism: The Creative Power of Nature & Women

6th to 8th March 2021

Online

 

 

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From Water Wars to Water Peace: Ecological Solution to Water Emergency

1st to 3rd March 2021

Online

 

 

 

Earth Democracy, Biodiversity and Rights of Seeds

13th – 15th February 2021

Online

 

 

 

Join us – online course on Biodiversity & Rights of Seeds with @drvandanashiva 13th – 14th feb. for more information earthuniversity@navdanya.net https://t.co/GPyQLbHEax pic.twitter.com/AD76GDavpf

— Navdanya (@NavdanyaBija) January 30, 2021

 

The Future of Diversity, Justice and Freedom

7th February

Online

 

 

 

 

Earth Democracy, Living Soil & Rights of the Land

12th to 14th January, 2021

At Navdanya Bija Vidyapeeth – Earth University

 

 

 

 

Earth Democracy School
Creating Living Economies, Living Democracy and Living Cultures

17th to 19th December, 2020

Online

 

 

 

Ahimsa : Non Violence, Compassion and Truth for Justice and Peace in Society and with the Earth

1st to 4th November 2020

Online

 

 

 

Return to Earth: A-Z of Earth Democracy, Agroecology and Regenerative Agriculture
Living Solutions to Health, Food and Climate Emergency

5th to 11th October, 2020

Online

 

Join us for- Return to Earth:
A-Z of Earth Democracy , Agroecology and Regenerative Agriculture
Living Solutions to Health, Food and Climate Emergency
5th to 11th, October, 2020 @drvandanashiva @NavdanyaBija https://t.co/Wyg7rulDeF@NavdanyaInt pic.twitter.com/yBxRWSrT3Q

— Navdanya (@NavdanyaBija) August 11, 2020

More information

Bija Vidyapeeth – Earth University

A multi-city series of curated seminars — ‘We speak too, by Sanitation Workers’, co-organised by Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) and the Alliance of Indian Waste Pickers, provides a platform for sanitation workers playing various roles in various urban contexts to come together to narrate their stories, challenges, and experiences for diverse audiences.

The first part of the seminar series was held in Bangalore, and it was a learning experience for all participants. We had the opportunity to hear about the workers’ unique experiences, their troubles, and their demands.

This seminar series now travels to Mumbai to bring forth the voices of the city’s sanitation workers and understand aspects of their lives from their own perspectives.

Stream the event at https://youtu.be/MAbFJNzoAEE on September 24th, 2022, Saturday from 4-6 pm (India Standard Time (IST), UTC +5:30).

Date: September 24th, 2022
Time: 4 – 6 pm IST
Venue: College of Home Science, Nirmala Niketan49, New Marine Lines, Mumbai

For more information, visit https://bit.ly/3DqrGZ8.

Profiles of participants Profile of Moderator

Kalpana Sharma is an independent journalist, columnist and author based in Mumbai, India. In almost five decades as a journalist specializing in developmental, environmental and gender issues, she has worked with Himmat Weekly, Indian Express, Times of India and The Hindu. She was Consulting Editor with Economic & Political Weekly and Readers’ Editor with Scroll.in. Her column on gender, “The Other Half” ran for 30 years first in Indian Express and then The Hindu. Currently, she writes a media column in Newslaundry.com. She has written two books and is the editor of four titles. Her latest book is “The Silence and the Storm: Narratives of violence against women in India” (2019).

Profile of Sushila Mokal

Sushila started waste picking when she was at the age of 10 along with her mother. Her father died when she was seven years old. Hence the responsibility of the family fell on her mother due to which she adopted waste picking as an occupation. Sushila got married at the age of 12. Her mother in law was also a waste picker. Sushila started waste picking by roaming on the streets. In 1998, Stree Mukti Sanghatana came into her life. She started participating in various trainings of Stree Mukti Sanghatana and she learned skills like gardening & composting. After learning the work of composting, she started working on a composting project in Tata Colony. For the last 15 years, she has been working as a supervisor in the composting project. Under her supervision, fifteen societies are doing composting in society premises. She also plays a crucial role in communication and outreach with the society members by taking awareness sessions to convince them to install composting pits. She is a secretary of Vasundhara Cooperative. Vasundhara Cooperative is a waste pickers cooperative formed by Stree Mukti Sanghatana. Vasundhara Cooperative takes the contracts of housekeeping work, composting work and waste management at various events.

Profile of Ramkala

Due to drought in 1972, Ramkala’s family migrated to Mumbai in search of work. Her mother and father adopted waste picking as an occupation. She studied up to 7th standard. She got married at the age of 17. Due to the abusive nature of her husband, she decided to live alone with her two daughters. When her child was 3 months old, she started picking waste at the Deonar dumping ground. For the last 25 years, she has been picking waste at Deonar and Diva Dumping. She taught her daughters well and now her elder daughter is a nurse and another daughter is a beautician. In 1999, she became a member of Stree Mukti Sanghatana. She attended various leadership training sessions of Stree Mukti Sanghatana which led to increased confidence and leadership qualities among her.
Currently she is a committee member of Parisar Bhagini Vikas Sangha. Parisar Bhagini Vikas Sangha is a federation of self-help groups of waste pickers. PBVS has a membership of around 2000 waste-pickers and runs 7 Dry Waste Collection Centres in Mumbai.

Profile of Sanjana Lavera:

Sanjana is working as a toilet cleaner in Bhandup region of Mumbai. When she was 10 years old, her father died and hence the responsibility of family fell on her. From the age of 10, she started the work of toilet cleaning. She has been cleaning the toilet which was built by the Municipality. She doesn’t have her own house. There is some space on the first floor of the toilets and she lives there. Municipality doesn’t give her payment, she gets payment from the Corporator. Monthly she earns Rs 6000 , But she told me that from the last six months she hasn’t received any payment. She also said that she does the work of toilet cleaning because she wants to live with self respect and earns money from her own efforts. As a trans person, she frequently faces abuse by men.

Profile of Ravi Kannan

Ravi Kannan belongs to Tamilnadu state and he came to Mumbai in 1989 in search of work. In the beginning, he was working on a debris vehicle on a contractual basis. From morning 6 o’clock to evening 9 o’clock, he was getting hardly Rs. 100. In 1996, ‘Kachra Vahtuk Shramik Sangh’ requested him to become a member of the union. ‘Kachra Vahtuk Shramik Sangh’ is a union of sanitation workers in Mumbai. In 1996, he became a member of the union. With the help of a union, sanitation workers filed a petition in the court demanding a permanent basis of employment. With lots of struggle and agitation, he became the permanent in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation in 2006. Along with him, a total of 1200 dumping workers became permanent in BMC. Now he is working on corporation vehicles and collecting waste from societies and open dumps. Before 2006 he was working as a dumping worker. When he became permanent in BMC then he received an identity card and now he is a ‘Motor Loader’ on BMC waste collection vehicle. He is also a joint secretary of Kachra Vahtuk Shramik Sangh-Maharashtra Municipal Kamgar Union.

Profile of Shivaji Badekar

For the last 13 years, Shivaji has been working as a drainage maintenance worker in the Storm Water Drain Department in Dadar. He studied up to 12th standard but due to extreme poverty, he left education and chose drainage maintenance work as an occupation. He is working on a contractual basis with Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. In the beginning, he was getting Rs. 70 for the whole day. In 2014, drainage workers formed the union named Maharashtra Municipal Kamgar Union. Due to the formation of a Union and workers ongoing struggles, drainage workers started receiving payment according to minimum wages. With the support of the union, drainage workers filed a case in a court for permanent basis of employment. This struggle is still ongoing. He also said that he is not getting the proper money for his overtime work. In the pandemic, he demanded for sanitizer but BMC hesitated in providing sanitizer and his work was stopped for 15 days. He also told , there is no social security in this work. Due to the support of the union, drainage workers got the strength to fight for their rights.

Profile of Sachin Gaikwad

Sachin Gaikwad 2007 septic tank/sewerage cleaner.

Sachin Gaikawad joined BMC as a sanitation worker back in 2007 and was immediately tasked with cleaning the open dumps in the city. Educated till 5th standard, there were very few employment opportunities with Sachin and this prompted him to adopt and continue working as a sanitation worker. However, with time, as his family grew, Sachin was left with no option to look for supplementary income. This brought him to work as a part time septic tank/ sewage blockage cleaner in the city. Sachin feels his job is challenging and his employers are non cooperative. With BMC, after repeated pleas of permanent employment were rejected, Sachin and his colleagues moved to court seeking for job security. Sachin feels his work could have been made easier if he could access PPE, which is denied by his employers and often too costly for him to purchase out of pocket. With 2 sons growing up, Sachin hopes they will study and be employed in professions less challenging from that of his own.