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Gemeinsam gegen die Teuerungen – Die solidarische Bike Kitchen kehrt zurück nach Salzburg!
We’re hiring!
The Alliance for Appalachia promotes a healthy, just Appalachia by supporting our member organizations in communities impacted by destructive resource extraction. Members of the Alliance for Appalachia are some of the most respected environmental justice organizations and leaders in the region. We come together around shared goals, regional strategy and a love for Appalachia.
We are looking for someone to support the vision of Alliance member organizations, and to coordinate operations, fundraising and digital communications for our regional coalition. The Development Coordinator will work in close partnership with the Alliance Engagement Coordinator to build community and capacity across the coalition. Link to job description.
To apply: Submit your resume along with materials that tell us who you are and why you’re excited about this position; this can be in the form of a cover letter, brief video submission, or as samples of your previous work. Email all materials to hello@theallianceforappalachia.org with ‘Development Coordinator’ in the subject line by Sept. 4th. We look forward to hearing from you!
Löhne Rauf – Arbeitszeit Runter!
Löhne Rauf – Arbeitszeit Runter! +20% Gehaltserhöhung und eine Arbeitszeitverkürzung auf 35 Stunden pro Woche bei vollem Lohn- und Personalausgleich! Das sind die Forderungen der Basisgruppe Obdach Wien bei den KV-Verhandlungen der FSW Unternehmensgruppe. Als IWW haben wir die Beschäftigten bei ihrer gestrigen Protestkundgebung unterstützt. Die Wut auf die FSW Geschäftsführung war deutlich spührbar, verdienen die Beschäftigten beim FSW doch deutlich weniger als ihr Kolleg:innen im SWÖ Kollektivvertrag. Wir freuen uns das es bei FSW Obdach eine aktive Basisgruppe gibt die sich für bessere Arbeitsbedingungen einsetzt und werden diese Tatkräftig unterstützen.
Wien: Kundgebung für bessere Arbeitsbedingungen beim FSW
“Am 14.06. findet die Abschlussrunde der Kollektivvertragsverhandlungen des Fonds Soziales Wien (FSW) statt und wir als Basisgruppe von Obdach Wien nehmen diesen Tag zum Anlass um gegen die ausbeuterischen, neoliberalen Arbeitsbedingungen des FSW und dessen Sozialpolitik zu protestieren.
Die untragbaren Arbeitsbedingungen mit 6-Tage-Wochen und Unterbesetzung in einem ohnehin schon sehr fordernden Arbeitsbereich führen zu ständiger Fluktuation und Krankenständen – und werden dafür nicht einmal angemessen entlohnt. Stattdessen bewerten unsere Führungskräfte anhand von Kategorien wie „Umgang mit persönlichen Ressourcen” unsere „Arbeits“leistung und entscheiden somit, ob wir eine Leistungsprämie verdient haben oder nicht. Der FSW ist als Träger nicht nur für die miesen Arbeitsbedingungen der direkten Mitarbeiter*innen verantwortlich, sondern hat als bedeutendste Förderer sozialer Einrichtungen in Wien Einfluss auf den Großteil des Sozialbereichs in Wien.
Wir sind wütend und wir lassen uns das nicht mehr gefallen!
Kommt alle und bringt eure Wut auf die Sozialpolitik Wiens zu denen, die dafür verantwortlich sind!!”
Build Back Fossil Free Coalition Condemns Biden Decision to Resume Drilling on Public Lands
Washington D.C.- Build Back Fossil Free, a coalition of over 1,100 groups pressuring the Biden Administration to declare a climate emergency and end the federal approval of new fossil fuel projects, released the following statement in response to the Biden Administration’s plans to release resume onshore oil and gas leasing:
“Today, President Biden violated his promise to end drilling on public lands with yet another handout to the fossil fuel industry. Black, Indigenous, communities of the global majority and poor communities are being left devastated from climate chaos and we are tired of the excuses and inaction from this Administration. The reality is simple: they said they would act to curb the climate crisis, yet they fail to do so at every crucial opportunity that is presented to them. Scientists continue to ring the alarm, there is no time to waste.
“Families are already paying the price of decades of fossil fuel dependence, creating record profits for oil and gas CEOs who exploit the current crisis. Minor changes will do little to break Big Oil’s stranglehold on our economy and our communities. This decision sacrifices the health and future of Black and Indigenous people, and communities of the global majority – all while doing nothing to lower gas prices. Meanwhile, more drilling will poison frontline communities and deepen the climate crisis.
“If Biden truly wants to help families and communities, he can use his executive authority to declare a climate emergency, end the federal approval of new fossil fuel projects, and deploy major investments in delivering 100% renewable energy for all. Until then, the proof is in his actions, not his words. And his actions are putting the fossil fuel industry’s profits before the health and safety of our families and communities over and over again.”
The oil and gas industry continues raking in record profits while communities pay the price. The watchdog organization Accountable.US reported in February that Shell, Chevron, BP and Exxon made more than $75.5 billion in profits in 2021, some of their highest profits in the past decade.
The communities most at risk from new fossil fuel extraction are primarily Black, Brown and Indigenous peoples, people of the global majority and those on the frontlines of fossil fuel industry expansion. These are the same communities that turned out in record numbers to get Biden elected in 2020 and who have since been urging Biden to use his executive authority to fulfill his campaign promise and ban new federal fossil fuel projects. In March, these communities were joined by the Congressional Progressive Caucus in urging the President to ban new federal fossil fuel leases.
Several analyses show that climate pollution from the world’s already-producing fossil fuel developments, if fully developed, would push warming past 1.5 degrees Celsius, and that avoiding such warming requires ending new investment in fossil fuel projects. Thousands of organizations and communities from across the U.S. have called on Biden to halt federal fossil fuel expansion and phase out production consistent with limiting global warming to 1.5 Celsius.
Additional statements from climate, social justice and environmental organizations on moves by the Biden Administration and BLM to restart drilling:
“As frontline community members in the Permian Basin that have been advocating for putting a stop to new oil and gas leasing on federal lands, Citizens Caring for the Future finds it extremely disheartening that BLM is going forward with these lease sales,” said Kayley Shoup of Citizens Caring for the Future. “Our day-to-day life and health is directly affected by these sales and the subsequent production that comes along with them. It would take a small army to truly enforce regulation here in the Permian, and we know that is the reality in oil and gas regions around the country. We live our lives surrounded by the industry and we understand that in order to take on climate change and make a meaningful dent in emissions the Biden administration must take action that puts a stop to new development.”
“The West is drying up and going up in flames. Between extreme drought, the shrinking of the Colorado River, and now urban wildfires in the winter, how much more death, destruction and devastation do we have to see before this administration takes action?” said Natasha Léger, executive director of Citizens for a Healthy Community. “It’s time for climate leadership and to stop leasing our public lands for oil and gas development. We need heroes to break through the political and economic inertia that has us on a collision course to inhabitability.”
“As the Interior Department announces that it plans on continuing oil and gas leasing on federal land, Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic condemns any further extraction, especially within the Arctic,” said Siqiniq Maupin, executive director of Sovereign Inupiat for a Living Arctic. “Our lands are warming at a higher rate than anywhere else in the world, causing detrimental impact to the fragile ecosystems that call it home and directly impacting the rest of the world, as well. With conservative climate models predicting that we have less than 30 years to radically change our relationship with oil and gas, the future rests in the United States’ hands. We can no longer commodify our land and water, especially at the rate climate change is occurring. We are nature fighting back.”
“It is unconscionable that the BLM will go forward with these oil and gas lease sales as we continue to see the devastating effects of climate change, particularly in the Southwestern United States,” said Deborah McNamara, campaigns director at 350 Colorado. “According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s August 2021 assessment, there is ‘high confidence’ that human-influenced rising temperatures are a direct cause of the extension of the wildfire season, increased drought, and decreased precipitation in the southwest United States. In order to curb emissions and do what scientists are telling us we must do in order to avert the absolute worst climate impacts, we need a rapid phase out of fossil fuel production by 2030. Continuing business as usual at the BLM with ongoing oil and gas lease sales will not get us where we need to be in order to solve the climate crisis and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
“How much more can Gulf Coast states endure? Most of us weren’t born with a silver spoon to get lawyers all the time to fight these civil laws aka ‘environmental acts,’ or have the luxury of property rights because it was all taken from us so long ago,” said Love Sanchez of Indigenous Peoples of the Coastal Bend. “Now here we are, working class people, simple people, 95% of the time BIPOC people, that just want to protect our land and water. Then, I’m not surprised, we now have the Interior, who decides they want to continue their projects in the Gulf Coast. It’s a very disappointing thing to hear. Fortunately, we will continue to be persistent in protecting these waters.”
“The Biden administration’s claim that it must hold these lease sales is pure fiction and a reckless failure of climate leadership,” said Randi Spivak, public lands director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s as if they’re ignoring the horror of firestorms, floods and megadroughts, and accepting climate catastrophes as business as usual. These so-called reforms are 20 years too late and will only continue to fuel the climate emergency. These lease sales should be shelved and the climate-destroying federal fossil fuel programs brought to an end.”
“We have heard a lot of rhetoric from President Biden and his administration about the need to take action on climate,” said Kyle Tisdel, climate and energy program director with the Western Environmental Law Center. “But not only is the administration not doing everything it could — it is not really doing anything. Climate action was a pillar of President Biden’s campaign, and his promises on this existential issue were a major reason the public elected him. Achieving results on climate is not a matter of domestic politics. It’s life and death.”
“Candidate Biden promised to end new oil and gas leasing on public lands, but President Biden is prioritizing oil executive profits over future generations,” said Nicole Ghio, senior fossil fuels program manager at Friends of the Earth. “Biden’s Interior Department has even issued permits to drill at a rate faster than the Trump administration. Now, the Bureau of Land Management is preparing to hold its first public lands lease sale, despite having no legal obligation to do so. If Biden wants to be a climate leader, he must stop auctioning off our public lands to Big Oil.”
“This is pure climate denial,” said Jeremy Nichols, climate and energy program director for WildEarth Guardians. “While the Biden administration talks a good talk on climate action, the reality is, they’re in bed with the oil and gas industry. Rest assured, with the climate crisis raging, we can and will fight back. We can’t afford not to.”
“The Biden administration fiddles while Rome burns,” said Shelley Silbert, executive director at Great Old Broads for Wilderness. “The most destructive fire in Colorado history consumed over a thousand homes last December. When your house is on fire, you act immediately. Climate disasters hit us harder each day and we’re out of time. The Biden administration must address the climate crisis now, and a vital step is stopping oil and gas leasing on public lands immediately. There is no other option.”
“Right now, fossil fuel extraction on public lands and waters make up a quarter of our greenhouse gas emissions at a time scientists are saying we must move urgently to cut emissions by at least half. Not only does it devastate our planet, it’s a handout to Big Oil at the expense of average Americans, who will bear the brunt of its societal, health, and financial ramifications,” said Dan Ritzman, Lands Water Wildlife director at the Sierra Club. “We urge the Biden administration to take advantage of this historic opportunity to make good on campaign promises, fulfill a global commitment to acting on climate, and serve American communities by phasing out oil and gas production on public lands and oceans.”
“Let’s set aside all the niceties and speak plainly on this: even people in positions of power and authority are fully aware that nothing goes unscathed in the aftermath of creating and maintaining fossil fuel infrastructures,” said Sha Merirei Ongelungel, executive director of Pasifika Uprising. “So whether you’re trying to reopen the Palau National Marine Sanctuary for commercial fishing and potential exploratory drilling or in the United States pushing to resume oil and gas leasing on public lands, the only safe inference is that our leaders are dishonest and hungry for more money and more power. And that is wholly unconscionable. What’s legal isn’t always ethical and too many leaders, the world-over, are demonstrating this with their utter disregard for their communities and the climate. Frankly, I’m embarrassed for these so-called leaders. For all their power and authority, they will never have the true power and solidarity needed to lead us into a safer future like grassroots movements.”
“Ramping up exports of liquified natural gas to Europe in response to the invasion of Ukraine is a losing proposition that will take too long to implement to address current energy demands,” said Erik Molvar, executive director of Western Watersheds Project. “Instead of taking decades to build the necessary export terminals so we can keep burning fossil fuels and turning the Earth into a fiery hellscape, we should be investing in solar production in urban settings where the energy is being used, on rooftops and parking lot awnings, so Europe and the United States can both transition to clean power sources and get that production online a whole lot faster.”
“The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change could not be more clear. It is time to rapidly transition off of fossil fuels. Increasing leasing for fossil fuels on public lands is grossly misaligned with limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and ensuring that young people inherit a habitable planet,” said Zanagee Artis, executive director of Zero Hour
###
Congressional Progressives Call on Biden to Declare a Climate Emergency and End Fossil Fuel Development
Congressional Progressive Caucus Calls on Biden to Declare a Climate Emergency and Ban Fossil Fuel Leasing on Federal Lands and Waters
Congressional Progressives follow the lead of climate, frontline, and progressive groups who have been making the same demands
Washington, D.C. – The Congressional Progressive Caucus today called on President Biden to declare a climate emergency, jumpstart just renewable energy production, ban federal fossil fuel leasing, end fossil fuel subsidies, and take executive actions aimed at advancing environmental justice and making clean air and water accessible for all.
Since Biden’s inauguration, declaring a climate emergency, igniting a just renewable energy revolution, and ending fossil fuel expansion have been the top demands from climate, Indigenous, social justice, and progressive groups, including the Build Back Fossil Free Coalition. The growing coalition of more than a thousand groups is dedicated to pushing Biden to use his executive authority to act on climate and fossil fuels.
In October 2021, the Build Back Fossil Free coalition organized a weeklong mobilization at the White House where thousands of Indigenous, frontline, and allied activists put their bodies on the line to demand Biden declare a climate emergency and stop permitting fossil fuel projects.
Earlier this year, the coalition sent a letter, signed by more than 1,100 organizations, to Biden urging him to quickly deliver on his campaign promises by declaring a climate emergency, stopping the federal approval of new fossil fuel projects, and initiating a just transition to a distributed, renewable energy future.
Ahead of the State of the Union, organizers gathered at the White House with an art piece depicting a giant pen and executive order, urging Biden to act on climate “with the stroke of a pen. And last week, groups in the coalition sent another letter to Biden urging him to use the Defense Production Act to jumpstart the deployment of clean energy solutions, like heat pumps, across the country as a response to the crisis in Ukraine.
President Biden has the authority today to use the Defense Production Act to create well-paying, union jobs building just, renewable energy technologies; begin to phase out the quarter of U.S. greenhouse gas pollution created by fossil fuel production on federal lands and waters; and declare a climate emergency to reinstate the ban on crude oil exports, which would have health and climate gains equivalent to shutting down 42 coal plants.
Below are statements from leading climate, social justice, and environmental organizations:
Quotes:
Grassroots/Frontline Groups
“Biden must take bold action by declaring a climate emergency and investing in real clean energy and actually sever the dependence of fossil fuel economy. Indigenous, frontline, youth and grassroot led movements have been demanding that the federal fossil fuel leasing program be reformed to ensure that communities have equity access to clean energy grids and participation in planning processes. It’s important for this administration to adopt the principles Environmental justice movements have thoroughly implemented as their center frontline communities and equity to further meaningful climate solutions,” Julia Bernal, Executive Director for Pueblo Action Alliance
“Those living in the Arctic are on the cutting edge of the climate crisis. The CPC agrees with us, thousands of organizations agree with us, now is the time to declare a climate emergency and stop the expansion of fossil fuels. The Biden Administration needs to follow this grassroots-led movement and the science backing us and stop approving fossil fuel projects like the Willow Master development plan,” Siqiniq Maupin, Executive Director of Sovereign Inupiat for a Living Arctic
“Biden is failing to support Tribal sovereignty each day he allows the Dakota Access pipeline to flow. This CPC announcement is another reminder for Biden to stand with the people, declare a climate emergency, uphold Indigenous rights and protect the water.” Waniya Locke, Standing Rock Grassroots
“The climate crisis is rooted in lack of oversight of extraction that is happening in frontline communities. It is time for Biden to go beyond performative politics and show communities of color that we will be represented. He needs to declare a climate emergency and stop fossil fuel destruction, including extraction on federal fossil fuel leases that pollute in communities like ours.” Cesar Aguirre, Senior community organizer, Central California Environmental Justice Network
National Organizations:
“President Biden has demonstrated his lack of commitment to the very communities who elected him to office. He has stalled on climate action, abandoning Black, Indigenous, communities of the global majority, and other frontline communities who don’t have time to negotiate with neoliberals, capitalists, and white supremacists because their very existences are at stake. This is why we stand alongside the CPC to demand Biden use his executive powers to declare a Climate Emergency and ban drilling on federal lands and waters. Our collective futures depend on bold climate action now.” Ashley McCray, Green New Deal Network Organizer, Indigenous Environmental Network
“There’s no question that we’re in a climate emergency. The caucus is absolutely right that President Biden should declare it so we can build the energy security that only renewable energy can bring,” said Jean Su, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s energy justice program. “Biden can act quickly, without Congress and without Joe Manchin, to stop oil and gas drilling on public lands and unlock his emergency powers to end the era of deadly fossil fuels. He must answer the caucus’s call and turbo-charge the renewable energy transition with the Defense Production Act.” Jean Su, director, Energy Justice Program, Center for Biological Diversity.
“As communities across this country are facing the realities of a rigged economy, a public health crisis, racial injustice, and climate change, Congress and the Biden Administration must use every tool at their disposal to deliver comprehensive, transformative, and immediate change. The announcement of the CPC Executive Action slate is a bold and exciting phase of progressive power that demonstrates Progressives understand there is no time to waste. Declaring a national climate emergency and working to end our reliance on fossil fuels are two critical steps in addressing the climate crisis our communities are facing and Indivisible is thrilled to see these priorities included in a slate that works to address climate change, invest in good paying union jobs, and prioritize a just and equitable society.” Ann Clancy, Associate Director of Climate Policy, Indivisible
For more information or to be connected with experts and spokespeople reach out to Cassidy DiPaola, cassidy@fossilfree.media.
###
Our Letter To President Biden
For a PDF of this letter click here.
February 24, 2021
Dear President Biden,
As 1,140 organizations collectively representing millions of members and supporters, including Indigenous, Black, Brown, and frontline communities, we urge you to use your executive authority to speed the end of the fossil fuel era, protect our communities from the climate emergency, and address the severe harms caused by fossil fuels.
Your first year in office was marked by historic climate disasters, another alarming surge in domestic greenhouse gas emissions, and increasingly dire warnings from the leading scientists around the world. From hurricanes and floods, to wildfires and droughts, tens of millions of Americans are directly confronting the dangerous consequences of a warming world. Indigenous, Black, Brown, AAPI and working-class communities are disproportionately harmed not only by fossil-fueled extreme weather, but also targeted by oil, gas, and coal corporations and suffer from toxic pollution and ongoing environmental injustices.
You have repeatedly identified the existential threat posed by climate change, calling it a “code red” for humanity, and stated in your first week in office, “In my view, we’ve already waited too long to deal with this climate crisis. We can’t wait any longer.”
You further promised “environmental justice will be at the center of all we do addressing the disproportionate health and environmental and economic impacts on communities of color — so-called ‘fenceline communities’.” And you elevated the respect of Indigenous sovereignty and ordered federal agencies to strengthen nation-to-nation relationships with Tribes.
These statements must be backed up by bolder action. You have the authority under existing law to wind down fossil fuel production and catalyze a just, renewable energy revolution to deliver healthier communities, a livable future, and millions of good-paying jobs. It’s critical that you use that authority as quickly and broadly as possible.
Together, we call on you to take these steps:
- Follow through on your promise to ban all new oil and gas leasing, drilling, and fracking on federal lands and waters.
- Direct federal agencies to stop approving fossil fuel projects, including pipelines, import and export terminals, storage facilities, refineries, and petrochemical plants. Direct the Department of Energy to halt gas exports to the full extent authorized by law.
- Declare a climate emergency under the National Emergencies Act, unlocking special powers to reinstate the crude oil export ban, redirect disaster relief funds toward distributed renewable energy construction in frontline communities, and marshal companies to fast-track renewable transportation and clean power generation, creating millions of high-quality union jobs.
The U.S. must contribute its fair share to the global effort to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius in line with what science, justice, and equity demand. Your administration’s legislative and regulatory climate proposals have not addressed limiting the production and burning of fossil fuels, the main driver of climate change. As fossil fuel lobbyists and politicians continue to block real climate action in Congress, bold executive action is desperately needed.
President Biden, you are the chief executive with immense powers to address our communities’ concerns.
You showed what serious climate leadership could look like in your first week in office when you canceled the Keystone XL pipeline and paused oil and gas leasing on federal lands. The urgency of the moment requires you to return to that original ambition. Fully deliver on your climate and environmental justice promises by using your executive authority to keep fossil fuels in the ground and build a resilient and affordable renewable energy system.
Sincerely,
For a full list of organizations see click here.
"There can be no socialism on a dead planet" Catching up with Councillor Jon Burke.
**Apologies for some of the audio issues, Andrew had a night off**
As the nights draw in and the GND team snuggle up in our cozy, retrofitted, zero carbon house of the future (powered entirely by the hot air supplied by Andrew) it's time for a catch up with the low traffic neighbourhood Santa Claus himself, Councillor Jon Burke of Hackney.
This week we discuss the on going campaign to make Hackneys streets for people not just cars, the climate impacts of catering the world to cars and we debunk myths about low traffic neighbourhoods.
Links
Jons' article in the Huffington Post on electric vehicles
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/electric-cars_uk_5fb64017c5b695be8300137c
The Hackney Citizen article on the journey from against to for LTNS
https://www.hackneycitizen.co.uk/2020/12/08/ltns-from-horror-to-acceptance/
Shout outs
Claire Stocks- XR and Walk Ride GM campaigner
@stocksyatlarge
Chris Stark- chief exec at the Climate Change Committee (UK)
@ChiefExecCCC
Scarlett West- Climate activist
@ScarlettOWest
Alice Toomer McAlpine - Manchester Meteor Co-editor
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"We have to clarify getting back to normal is not a good idea" The commodification of everything with Adrienne Buller
If there is one thing to be said about the last 40 years of Neoliberalism it's this. You can put a price on everything. If it can be quantified then it can be priced and sold. Even when it comes to the existential threat of climate breakdown and biodiversity destruction the strategy has been give it a price tag and then someone in the system can pay for the damage. Existence has turned into a game of who will pick up the insurance policy excess. Does the commodification of everything give us the tools to tackle climate change? Or are we green washing are way extinction?
This week we are joined on the show by Adrienne Buller (@adribuller) Senior Research Fellow at Common Wealth. We discuss how green finance is a cover for some of the markets ecological sins, could UBS be a pathway out climate breakdown and how should the labour party define its self, now the tories have supposedly become the big spenders?
Adriennes' article on attaching market value to life
https://novaramedia.com/2020/10/16/whats-the-value-of-a-whale/
Dealing with the commodification of housing.
https://www.common-wealth.co.uk/reports/charting-a-just-and-sustainable-recovery-for-scotland
Governing the Commons by Elinor Ostrum
https://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/political-theory/governing-commons-evolution-institutions-collective-action-1?format=PB
Progressive International
https://progressive.international/wire/2020-12-02-common-wealth-to-makeamazonpay-reimagine-the-platform-economy/en
Shout Outs
The Standsted 15, here's a short film on their story.
https://www.amnesty.org.uk/stansted-15-tell-their-story-through-film
Sophie Yeo - @some_yeo
https://inkcap.substack.com/
the Yard @theyard_mcr a fantastic venue/co working space in North Manchester
https://theyardmcr.com/
Luca Rudlin- Amazing Videographer, editor and all round amazing dude
@People_Staring
If you like the show tell your comrades!
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"Degrowth is Punk!" Combining GND and Degrowth with Riccardo Mastini
We find degrowth fascinating. For us as a show it really turns the world upside on what we should see a human progress. However, you'll be hard pressed to find its message front and center of any political parties commitments unlike the Green New Deal. So are these ideas compatible? Can parties stand on a platform of Degrowth? Or is political hope too tied to the idea of growth?
This week we are joined by Riccardo Mastini (@r_mastini) to discuss how the concept of degrowth fits inside a Green New Deal, the ideological frame work of Growth, is Modern Monetary Theory a boon for degrowthers? And are humans intrinsically good people?
Shout outs
The Trouble Webzine on eco-socialism
https://www.the-trouble.com/
@thetroublemag
Positive Money
@PositiveMoneyUK
The tragedy of Growth
https://positivemoney.org/publications/tragedy-of-growth/
Common Wealth- think tank specialising in new ownership models.
@Cmmonwealth
Retrofit Get in project Articles
Mancehster Meteor @nickjwprescott
https://themeteor.org/2020/11/12/theatre-workers-tackle-the-climate-crisis/
The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/nov/22/manchester-theatre-staff-upgrade-homes-covid-layoffs-retrofitting-scheme
Issac Rose from GM Housing Action
@_isaacrose
@gmhousingaction
Craft-D
@Craft_D
A letter to Corbyn
https://ditto.fm/letter-to-corbyn
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"Kill the Corporation before it kills us!" Ecocide with Prof. David Whyte
For decades, we were told that individual action was the best way to tackle the climate crisis. If only we would stop using plastic bags and straws, while taking care to recycle, through behavioural change we could prevent climate change.
Yet the rise of XR and the school climate strikers, and their clarion call “system change not climate change”, suggests climate breakdown is an economic crisis rather than a moral dilemma. To fight against climate change is to fight against capitalism. But if we want to fight the good fight, first we must understand how capitalism works.
Joining us on the podcast this week is Professor of Socio-legal Studies at the University of Liverpool, Professor David Whyte. We discuss David Whyte’s new book, ‘Ecocide: Kill the Corporation Before it Kills Us’, in which David makes the case that we must rid ourselves of the profit-making corporation altogether. We delve into the architecture and history of corporate capitalism, the shortcomings of regulatory approaches to curbing the corporation’s ecocidal tendencies, and the complex role played by organised labour in fighting climate breakdown and international injustice.
Links
David's book Ecocide: Kill the Corporation before it kills us
https://bit.ly/36WZ4F6
Green Peace oil and gas worker survey
https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Oil-Gas-Workers-Report-Final-Web.pdf
Shout outs
Tina Louise Rothery- Anti fracking activist
Anne Roy- David's mentor and colleague
All the people who love or live with people with learning disabilities in particular
@SEND_Action and Liz Crow
Conrad Bower- Editor of the meteor
@ConradBower1
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The Retrofit Get-in Project
www.retrofitgetinproject.com
It's been a pretty rough year to put it mildly. A planet ravaged by a pandemic and incompetent governance being the order of the day, hope has been hard to find. Politics has been listless at best. But being a member of the Labour Party isn't about waiting around for a CLP to tell you to go canvassing, it's not about waiting for a just government it's about taking on injustice and supporting each other. So instead of waiting for orders from on high, we got to work.
The Retrofit Get-in Project is a scheme setup by our own resident producer Andrew Glassford and Red Co-op (@RedCooperative) to support theatre and live events workers. The project takes the multi-skilled talents of theatre workers and puts them to use tackling the climate crisis by retrofitting homes. The Retrofit Get-in Project provides good green jobs to a sector that is on its knees.
This week we welcome back Charlie Baker from Red Co-op and give a warm welcome to Rebecca Slack one of the workers on the project.
"If your economy isn't supporting human flourishing, what's the point?" Interview with Prof. Julia Steinberger
Note: This episode was recorded before the results of the U.S election were published.
How do we define the success of a city? Or a country? Or human civilisation all together? The last 60 years we've been tied to GDP, growth, trade surpluses, amounts of debt, the strength of currency. Economic strength has been the barometer for the majority of the world to look to when we want to know how we're doing. If stock and shares are high surely there can't be any problems? When an economy bifurcates massively between the haves and the have nots, and to become a haver you need to extract from the environment considerably, measures of economic superiority really start to miss the point. So what's the alternative?
Joining us on the podcast this week is Professor Julia Steinberger ( @JKSteinberger). Julia is a Professor in social ecology and ecological economics at l'Université de Lausanne in Switzerland and is currently working on the next IPCC report on climate change . We discuss the links between consumption and capitalist affluence, how epicurean philosophy has informed economics of the past 50 years and the balancing act of extraction for a greener future.
Shout outs
Councillor Jon Burke
@jonburkeUK
Marcus Rashford
@MarcusRashford
Swiss campaign for corporate accountability
**LINKS**
Scientists warning on affluence (co-authored by Julia)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16941-y
The Flawed science of deep adaptation
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/faulty-science-doomism-and-flawed-conclusions-deep-adaptation/
"God isn't destroying the Earth, we're destroying the Earth" Religion and environmentalism with Rev. Grace Thomas.
As a blanket statement, Left politics is about establishing and maintaining mass movements, thousands hopefully millions of people into a cohesive group to fight back against concentration of power in the world. At the same time left wing politics is classically factious with splinter groups and offshoots starting regularly. Looking into a different sphere in 2011, 59 million people saw them selves as Christians in the UK. So what is religion getting so right that maybe we're getting wrong? What do Christians in the U.K think about climate change? And what do they want to do about it?
This week we are joined by Reverend Grace Thomas (@GraceREThomas) from Moss side to discuss, building communities, the christian approach to climate change and was Jesus really a socialist?
Shout outs
Inspired by grace blakeley's new podcast A World to Win, where she recently interviewed Cornell West on Christian Socialism. https://tribunemag.co.uk/a-world-to-win
Cornel West
@CornelWest
Grace Blakeley
@graceblakeley
Greater Manchester Savers network
@GMSavers
Moss Side Eco Squad
@moss_side_eco
Upping it
@UppingIt
Hannah Malcom - researching climate greif
@hannahmmalcolm
Christian Climate Action
@CClimateAction
Prestwich Environmental Forum
@PrestwichForum
Incredible edible
@IEPrestwich
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"It's not enough to win, we've got to save it forever" Interview with Save Ryebank Fields
After a technical hitch (some say Andrew tried to turn his whole house carbon zero with just a mirror and a kettle), we are back delivering high quality low carbon local environmental news!
This week we are joined by members from the campaign to save Ryebank Fields, an area of re-wilded land in south Manchester. Julie and Tara talk us through the work that themselves and there comrades have been doing to stop Manchester Metropolitan University from developing the land and destroying the green field site. We discuss the rare biodiversity in the area, the history of the land and if the arguments for housing stack up against saving city ecology.
https://www.saveryebankfields.org/
"Shout outs"
Dave Bishop- chair of Friends of Chorlton Meadows
Youth Strike for Climate Manchester
@Youthstrikemcr
research on rewilding to sequester CO2 by Rio de Janeiro University
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2784-9
Cambridge zero carbon campaign
@ZeroCarbonSoc
Marion Smith and Pooja Kishinani of Climate Emergency Manchester have developed a students guide to the climate crisis
https://climateemergencymanchester.net/student-climate-handbook/
@poojakishinani
@GoGoSuperMarion
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" Greater Manchester has had 2 Billion in cuts from the tories" interview with Councillor Sam Wheeler
City councils don't often get the same attention as the national political movers. Important decisions are still being made though when it comes to our environment and the impact we have on it. In hopefully the first of 96 interviews with Greater Manchester City Councillors we will delve into the heart of local politics and see what those who sit in power think about the climate emergency, the repercussions of our actions on the climate and what our elected representatives at a local level think the city can do to save us from environmental collapse. This is an exercise in good faith and activists listening to the problems our representatives face.
Joining us this week is Sam Wheeler, Labour Councillor for Piccadilly ward. Focusing on his patch, the city centre, we discuss the history of Manchester council, how to allocate carbon produced across the region and does Manchester need a 7th climate scrutiny committee?
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"Sometimes I think about it like video game design" Organising in the USA with the Sunrise Movement
Get involved with the Retrofit Get-in Project
https://vimeo.com/459003183
The Green New Deal has been around for just over a decade, with it's origins beginning in the U.K. It made it's first big splash in the US with the likes of AOC and Bernie Sanders calling for the fundamental decarbonising of the US economy and economic justice for all citizens. The support for the GND and these candidates doesn't come from wall street but a ever growing grass roots campaign that wants life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to be for all Americans.
This week we are joined by Guido Girgenti from the Sunrise Movement & the Justice Democrats (@guidogir) to discuss how the GND plays in in US politics, How do you organise in such a large nation, how to appeal to young voters and people Bernies age and what work progressives have to do if Joe Biden wins the presidential election.
links
Sunrise Movement
https://www.sunrisemovement.org/
We shine Bright- New book by the Sunrise Movement
https://bookshop.org/books/winning-the-green-new-deal-why-we-must-how-we-can/9781982142438
Gabriel Wienant Chronopolitics
https://nplusonemag.com/issue-37/politics/coronavirus-and-chronopolitics-2/
Swarm wise by Rick Falkvinge
https://falkvinge.net/files/2013/04/Swarmwise-2013-by-Rick-Falkvinge-v1.1-2013Sep01.pdf
Shout out
Jamall Bowman running for New York 16th district
@JamaalBowmanNY
Louie Beckett running the Moston miners community center
Progressive International and Pawel Wargan
@ProgIntl
Manchester Green Summit
@GMGreenCity
Our retrofit project
https://vimeo.com/459003183
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"Clarkson compared us to ISIS" Reflections on direct action with XR Manchester
Apologies for some of a the audio quality, will be back on form next week.
Over August bank holiday and early September Extinction Rebellion lead protests and direct actions in major cities in the U.K with the most news grabbing being the obstruction of printing presses outside Liverpool and London. How has this round of protests influenced the fight against climate breakdown and where is the movement going?
This week we are joined again by XR Manchester member Lizzy and Joel to debrief on the actions. We discuss how are police tactics changing towards XR? How has COVID disrupted their acts of disruption, the realities and impacts of direct action on ourselves and what the movement needs to do in the future.
Links
Reset Paper https://reset-uk.org/
Shout outs
Dianne Abbot
@HackneyAbbott
Greater Manchester Savers
@GMSavers
Palestine action
@Pal_action
US firefighters tackling the climate wildfires of the west coast
@CAL_FIRE
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"Trees aren't good long term carbon stores" plants, peat-lands and biodiversity with Joshua Styles
As wildfires ravage the U.S west coast it has never been more pertinent to think about what rising global temperatures are doing to our natural environments. The wild fires in Australia at the beginning of this year killed nearly 3 billion animals, our choices and the choices of our leaders and governments affect the world around us all. If we are to tackle the climate crisis how do we defend and reinvigorate the natural world? Are we putting too much emphasis on counting carbon instead of the costs on the natural world itself?
This week we are joined by Joshua Styles (@joshual951), from the North West Rare Plants Initiative (NWRPI). We discuss the current state of flora & fauna protections in the UK, how the slashing of planning regulation is endangering some of our rarest wild life and is planting trees the best solution to our carbon problem?
**Links**
North West Rare Planet Initiative
http://nwrpi.weebly.com/
plants before Pandas- the guardian documentary on Josh
https://youtu.be/qW_XnT-MjtU
Nick Moles episode on pesticides
https://www.buzzsprout.com/919177/4360112
**Shout Outs**
Chester Zoo
@chesterzoo
Lancashire Wildlife trust
@Lancswildlife
City of Trees
@CityofTreesMcr
Cladiators
@McrCladiators
Labour for a green new deal Legend Jill Axford
@JillAxford
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"I think we genuinely scare people in power" Youth Activism with Fridays for Futures
We are back, after a holiday break and with a new theme tune!
climate breakdown unlike other political and socio-economic crises has a tight deadline. If we don't tackle it within the next 10-25 years we're going to be heading to the Mad Max hellscape without the steam punk aesthetic. With a problem that is going to effect every generation and the ones yet to come it's no surprise people of all ages are stepping up to demand leadership on the climate.
This week on the show we are joined by Fridays for Futures' Emma Greenwood to discuss why the young are picking up this gauntlet, how education in the UK needs to be updated to deal with our climate realities and what's in store for the political future of youth movements.
Links
Fridays for Futures
https://fridaysforfuture.org/
Servern Cullis Suzuki's speech at the U.N in 1992
https://youtu.be/JGdS8ts63Ck
shout outs
Youth strike MCR
@Youthstrikemcr
Red Co-op retrofitters
@RedCooperative
If you want to get involved in retrofit jobs, fill out this form
https://forms.gle/xqykPojVCLwA4mqV7
Extinction Rebellion Manchester
@XR_MCR
Global Law Action Network who have taken the youth activists case the EU
@GLAN_LAW
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