A2. Green Unionism

Sign On Letter Oppose Rollbacks to ZEV

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Chika Okoye discusses Movement Generation’s Just Transition Principle: If it’s not soulful, it’s not strategic.

  At the start of this year we decided to embark on a process of evolving MG frameworks, tools, and curriculum—including Just Transition, Resilience-Based Organizing, Three Circles and others—to reflect the more than 10 years of practice with our movement comrades and, most importantly, to meet this moment. We started by reaching out to beloved comrades from many, many organizations and have already received so much excellent feedback, critique, gaps, innovations, and offerings!   Please consider donating to Movement Generation to support our Frameworks Evolution project!   DONATE

Business and Human Rights Resource Centre: “The Centre invited the companies to respond to allegations of abuse at a reported supplier, to disclose what due diligence it has undertaken regarding the supplier, and any steps it has already, or plans to take, to investigate and remedy abuse of migrant workers in its supply chain. Neither Kroger nor Publix provided a response.”

Just a few weeks ago, we revealed that two holdouts from the Presidential Medal-winning Fair Food Program — Kroger and Publix — have both sourced from a farming operation currently being sued by farmworkers for forced labor.

Farmworker plaintiffs in the lawsuit allege a shocking pattern of human rights abuses, including wage theft, threats, confiscation of passports, predatory recruitment fees, and the denial of basic necessities such as bathrooms, clean drinking water, and appropriate care when workers suffered debilitating heat stress. The North Carolina-based farm where they say these abuses occurred, Jackson Farming Company, also has a long, publicly-documented history of lawsuits alleging similarly abusive conditions.

We asked both companies a simple question: How many more farmworkers in their supply chains must endure extreme exploitation before Kroger and Publix join the Fair Food Program — the only human rights program with a proven record of preventing these abuses?

The widely respected, London-based Business and Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) brought these allegations directly to both corporations, requesting a response. Faced with yet another example of preventable human rights abuse in agriculture, the only responsible course of action should have been clear: commit to joining the Fair Food Program and work alongside industry leaders to ensure these abuses never happen again.

Instead, the BHRRC was met with deafening silence from both Kroger and Publix. However, Kroger’s subsidiary, Harris Teeter,  has now removed most mentions of Jackson Farming Company from its website.

Silence in the face of injustice is egregious enough. But silence when presented with a practical, proven solution is nothing short of unconscionable. That silence — the refusal to accept responsibility despite the existence of an effective remedy — is what allows exploitation to continue unabated in the fields beyond the protections of the Fair Food Program. As long as Kroger and Publix continue to turn away from this solution, workers in their supply chains remain vulnerable to abuse that is entirely preventable.

Every season Kroger and Publix delay is another season in which farmworkers remain exposed to dangerous, exploitative conditions that the Fair Food Program was specifically designed to prevent, and has been successfully preventing on farms across the country. Kroger and Publix have no excuse to remain on the sidelines.

In the coming days, we will share a digital action toolkit with easy ways for you to demand that Kroger and Publix do the right thing for the farmworkers whose labor drives their profits. Until then, help us spread the word: Share this newsletter with anyone who believes in human rights, farmworker justice, and corporate accountability so they can join the growing call for Kroger and Publix to finally join the Fair Food Program when we share the action toolkit.

Below, you can find the BHRRC’s full report on the forced labor allegations, including additional details on Kroger and Publix’s inexcusable silence in the face of preventable abuse.

USA: Supermarkets Kroger & Publix fail to respond to allegations of worker abuse in lawsuit against supplier Jackson Farming Company

In May 2026, the Centre invited US-headquartered retailers Kroger and Publix to respond to allegations of “extreme abuse” at a reported supplier, Jackson Farming Company.

A lawsuit filed against Jackson Farming Company alleges a series of labour violations, including wage theft, intimidation and threats, confiscation of passports, recruitment fee-charging, poor and inadequate living conditions – including a lack of bathrooms and potable water – and a lack of medical care in response to suspected heat stress.

Coalition of Immokalee Workers have linked Kroger and Publix to the supplier through a 2020 North Carolina Department of Agriculture post which profiles the supplier and states its produce is sold in Harris Tweeter (Kroger’s regional subsidiary) and Publix. CIW alleges “Because the civil suit’s time span includes those farmworkers with Jackson Farming Company during the 2020 harvest season up until 2025, there is a risk that crops harvested under conditions of extreme abuse have, for at least half a decade, been bought by both Kroger and Publix, and sold to unsuspecting customers”.

The Centre invited the companies to respond to allegations of abuse at a reported supplier, to disclose what due diligence it has undertaken regarding the supplier, and any steps it has already, or plans to take, to investigate and remedy abuse of migrant workers in its supply chain. Neither Kroger nor Publix provided a response.

By Jeremy Brecher,
Senior Strategic Advisor, LNS Co-Founder

Listen to the audio version >>

From the day of his inauguration until long after the closing of the Straits of Hormuz, President Donald Trump and his fossil fuel supporters have conducted an unrelenting war against the Greentech revolution and fossil free energy.

President Trump signed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” (OBBBA) into law on July 4, 2025. The law rolls back many parts of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act by ending tax credits for wind and solar energy, removing incentives for electric vehicles and home energy efficiency, and increasing support for fossil fuels, nuclear energy, and traditional agriculture. Photo credit: The White House, Public Domain

The Greentech revolution includes ways of producing energy like solar and wind power; ways of distributing it in time and space like energy storage and energy grids; and ways of using it like electric vehicles (EVs) and carbon neutral buildings. The Greentech revolution is a dagger pointed at the heart of the fossil fuel industry and the political, social, and economic ecosystem in which it is embedded. Donald Trump, MAGA, and the fossil fuel industry are conducting a systematic counter-revolution to halt and destroy the Greentech revolution in all its forms.

The roots of opposition to climate protection and fossil free energy in particular run deep. The fossil fuel industry has spent large sums trying to debunk the reality of climate change and fossil fuel burning as its leading cause. Political forces – left, right, and center — have long seen the expansion of fossil fuel extraction and burning as a key to prosperity and national power. With the rise of fascist-style movements, parties, and governments around the world, denial of climate change and attacks on climate protection became ubiquitous, promulgated by forces far beyond the fossil fuel interests. Trump’s anti-Greentech campaign is backed by an army of economic and ideological allies who are attempting to block the Greentech revolution at every level, from municipalities and states to corporations and the public mind.

While Donald Trump vacillates on many fronts, his personal climate denialism and hostility to fossil free energy have been consistent for much of his career. In his first term, Donald Trump withdrew the US from the Paris climate change agreement; authorized leasing federal land for new coal mines; unblocked nearly the entire American continental shelf for offshore drilling; and opened the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and national monuments such as Bears Ears in Utah to fossil fuel extraction. By the end of 2018, Trump had eliminated 76 environmental regulations, most related to climate.

The second Trump administration represented a new phase in the attack on climate safety and fossil free energy. Of course, like most presidents before him, Trump is trying to increase fossil fuel extraction and burning. But beyond that he is trying to restrict and if possible, abolish Greentech industry. Trump portrays his energy policy as a search for energy dominance for the US. But the facts belie that claim. In fact, Trump’s efforts to destroy Greentech energy are systematically reducing America’s energy resources and thereby decreasing US power.

Trump’s intent is not primarily to augment US power, but to reverse the Greentech revolution and the global transition to fossil-free energy. It is first and foremost devoted to eliminating the existential threat that the Greentech revolution poses to the fossil fuel industry and the entire economic, political, and social ecosystem that depends on it and on which it depends. If the Greentech revolution is a dagger pointed at their heart, then it is a matter of survival for these forces to attempt in turn to stab it to death. That is the attempt we are seeing from MAGA, the Trump administration, and their allies.

(Left to Right) Chris Wright, U.S. Secretary of Energy (Photo credit: Donica Payne, United States Department of Energy, Public Domain); Jessica Kramer, head of the EPA’s Office of Water (Photo credit: Congress.gov, Public Domain); Audrey Robertson, head of the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (Photo credit: Energy.gov, Public Domain)

While Trump often seems to be flying wild, it would be a mistake to think that his administration doesn’t know what it is doing. Its key energy and climate related positions are held by top fossil fuel executives and lobbyists who are well aware of the Greentech threat to their industry. Trump’s energy secretary Chris Wright is a longtime fossil fuel executive and a former director of an oil-industry lobbying group. Jessica Kramer, head of the EPA’s Office of Water, previously represented major energy companies, mining companies, and a water trade group working against regulations under the Clean Water Act. Audrey Robertson, head of the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, was the co-founder of fracking company Franklin Mountain Energy and served on the board of three other fossil fuel companies, including Liberty Energy, founded by Energy Secretary Chris Wright. As Matthew Davis of the League of Conservation Voters put it, “Nominating another oil and gas executive continues the Trump administration’s actions to effectively ban clean energy like wind and solar, and advance dirty energy only policies across the board.”

Smashing Greentech energy production

On day one of his presidency, Trump issued an Executive Order freezing unspent funds from the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. It aimed to halt every form of Greentech, from production of solar and wind energy to domestic manufacture of EVs. In February 2025, the Army Corps of Engineers halted approval of renewable energy projects on private land; out of about 11,000 pending permits it singled out the 168 that focused on renewable energy. In March, Trump signed an executive order rescinding a Biden-era proclamation permitting the Department of Energy to fund production of renewable technologies through the Defense Production Act.

There followed a series of actions specifically designed to block solar and wind energy production. The Treasury Department issued new guidance limiting wind and solar energy projects’ eligibility for federal tax credits. Then the Interior Department issued a new “project density” policy requiring wind and solar energy projects on federal land to match the energy output per acre of fossil fuels, disqualifying many renewable projects from receiving permits. In June, Trump signed an executive order directing the Treasury to severely restrict the eligibility of wind and solar projects to qualify for tax credits. According to Bloomberg NEF, the removal of federal subsidies means that over the next five years new wind energy will be 50% lower and new solar energy 23% lower than previously projected.

The attack on Greentech energy mobilized departments across the government and obscure opportunities for bureaucratic obstruction. On August 7, the New York Times reported,

“The Trump administration has sharply escalated its attacks on wind and solar power in recent days, issuing a barrage of policies that could halt the construction of renewable energy projects on public and private lands across the country. The Interior Department is now requiring dozens of formerly routine consultations and approvals for wind and solar projects to undergo new layers of political review by the interior secretary’s office, a policy that is causing significant permitting delays. The agency is also opening investigations into bird deaths caused by wind farms and withdrawing millions of acres of federal waters previously available for leasing by offshore wind companies.

At the same time, the Transportation Department is recommending minimum setback requirements for wind farms near federal highways and railroads, requiring them to be placed 1.2 miles away. And it ordered the Federal Aviation Administration to re-evaluate whether wind farms pose a danger to aviation, a potentially momentous step since nearly every wind farm in the country requires height clearance approvals from the agency. Taken together, the policies amount to a far-reaching crackdown on wind and solar power.”

Bureaucratic obstruction has become ubiquitous for solar projects. Late in 2025, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) revealed that more than 500 solar projects in the pipeline across the country are in danger of delays or cancellation “as a result of political attacks.” One planned solar facility on private land in the Upper Midwest is currently delayed because federal agencies have halted all discussions over a needed water permit. Another large solar farm on private land in the West is being held up because it must now undergo three layers of political review.

Trump says ‘We don’t allow windmills’ after cancelling nearly complete offshore wind project. Video: PBS News

Donald Trump’s well-known personal antagonism to wind power goes back to the time he unsuccessfully tried to stop an offshore wind farm from being built in view of one of his Scottish golf courses. On a recent trip to Scotland, he called wind turbines “ugly monsters” that “destroy the beauty of your fields, your plains and your waterways.” On inauguration day, he issued a sweeping executive order halting all leasing for new wind farms on federal lands and waters. On July 30, the Interior Department revoked over 3.5 million acres of federal waters previously designated for offshore wind development, effectively eliminating federal offshore wind leasing. Then the Trump administration ordered a halt to Revolution Wind, a nearly-completed wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island.

But that was just a love tap. Just before Christmas, the Trump administration announced that it would “pause” leases for five East Coast wind farms, “essentially gutting the country’s nascent offshore wind industry.” Together the projects were expected to power more than 2.5 million homes and businesses across the Eastern United States. The reason given was national security concerns, but those concerns were never stated. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said in a statement that “the prime duty of the United States government is to protect the American people.” He said the decision “addresses emerging national security risks” as well as “vulnerabilities created by large-scale offshore wind projects with proximity near our East Coast population centers.” Nobel-prize-winning economist Paul Krugman described Trump’s wind policy as “an effort to shut down 10 percent of U.S. electricity production — even as electricity prices are soaring.”

The overall objective of the Trump administration is clear – to reverse the Greentech revolution. As the New York Times summed up with considerable understatement, “Instead of simply lifting restrictions on fossil-fuel development and removing subsidies for renewable energy, the Trump administration is creating new roadblocks for wind and solar projects.”

Smashing Greentech energy consumption

CATL batteries power many electric vehicles in China and internationally. Photo Credit: Matti Blume, Wikipedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Trump’s attack on Greentech does not just aim to dismantle fossil free energy; it also aims to undermine the innovations that are making energy consumption greener and more efficient.

The rapid development of energy storage technology has been central to the Greentech revolution. Trump has taken direct aim at the attempt to develop a domestic battery industry in the US.

In 2024, China made 99 percent of the world’s lithium phosphate cells, the kind most often used for energy storage. It also made more than 90 percent of the main battery components like cathodes and anodes and dominated the refining of raw materials like lithium and graphite. Batteries are essential not only for Greentech, but also to provide electricity for AI and to manufacture drones and other weapons of modern warfare.

Soon after coming into office, President Trump froze billions of dollars in Biden-era federal grants for battery manufacturing. His animus to anything he associated with Greentech was such that he lumped batteries in with electric vehicles, solar farms, wind turbines, and other clean energy technologies, notwithstanding their critical role in both military and industrial production. He boasted that by ending the “Green New Scam” his budget cancelled over $15 billion in Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act “Green New Deal” funds. That included ending “taxpayer handouts to electric vehicle and battery makers” and canceling $6 billion in Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funds for “wasteful and ineffective EV charger programs.” So much for an energy policy purported to increase America’s power!

The attack on Greentech also includes blocking transmission lines for renewable energy. For example, the Department of Energy had granted a conditional loan guarantee for an $11 billion transmission line in the Midwest, known as the Grain Belt Express, which would transport electricity generated by wind farms in Kansas to more densely populated regions in Indiana and Illinois. It would have been the largest privately funded transmission line in the country’s history. In July, the DOE cancelled the loan guarantee, halting the project just as it was ready to begin construction.

A particular objective of the war on Greentech consumption is the multifaceted destruction of the electric vehicle industry. Less than a month after Trump’s inauguration, a Transportation Department memo ordered the suspension of $5 billion in federal funding, authorized by Congress under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, for states to build electric vehicle chargers. The budget proposed by congressional Republicans eliminated tax credits of up to $7,500 for electric vehicle buyers, clawed back money for fast chargers, and phased out subsidies for companies that set up battery factories and lithium mines. According to the New York Times, “Killing those programs would endanger more than $200 billion that auto companies, battery makers, mining companies and others have invested to create a U.S. electric vehicle supply chain not dependent on China.” In December, Trump reduced the average gas milage automakers are required to achieve by 3031from 50 miles per gallon to 35 miles per gallon and thereby, as the New York Times wrote, “threw the weight of the federal government behind vehicles that burn gasoline rather than electric cars.”

The attack on Greentech went into many corners of energy production and consumption. For example, agrivoltaics, which combine energy production with agriculture, is an emerging form of Greentech. the US Department of Agriculture issued a report calling for disincentivizing solar development on farms. It then announced that it will stop funding wind and solar energy on farmland.

The Trump administration has particularly targeted Green New Deal-style programs that combine Greentech and social justice goals. For example, in its first month in office, Trump’s EPA halted $7 billion in contractually obligated grants for Solar For All, an Inflation Reduction Act program that delivered clean energy and lower prices to vulnerable communities. Arizona attorney general Kris Mayes, who sued to block cancellation of the program, said it would affect 900,000 low-income households nationwide; 11,000 low-income households in Arizona would face a 20% spike in energy bills. And in June the Department of Agriculture announced the termination of $148.6 million in federal grants related to environmental justice and DEI, including funds for disadvantaged farmers using conservation practices.

Trump has not limited his anti-Greentech counterrevolution to the domestic economy; he has also taken it global. Early in the administration Energy Secretary Wright told an international conference that net zero carbon emissions was a “sinister goal” and criticized a British law to reach net zero by 2050. In his first month as president, Trump ordered tariffs against trading partners, “with severe implications for the supply chains for wind turbines, solar panels, and electric vehicles.” Then Trump used tariff threats to demand that US exports be exempt from the EU law requiring that importers report on the carbon footprint of their factories overseas and pay a fine for each unit of carbon emitted before the product gets to the EU. The Trump administration demanded that the EU exempt US companies from a law that requires them to monitor and report methane emissions and to repair methane leaks in their facilities. More recently, the US has demanded that the EU cut back or repeal its new “corporate sustainability due diligence directive” which provides substantial fines for companies exporting gas to the EU unless they show they protect human rights and are cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

The damn fool says “push on”

Gas prices in Sonoma, California April 7 2026. Photo credit: Sarah Stierch, Flickr, CC0 1.0.

Even as Trump’s war on Iran initiated the most severe energy crisis in world history, he continued his war on fossil free energy well into 2026. Consider these examples from April alone:

• Trump released his 2027 budget request proposing tens of billions of dollars in cuts to energy and environmental programs, including everything from electric vehicle chargers to prosecution of environmental crimes. At the same time, he proposed increased funding for oil and gas production, mining, manufacturing, and AI development. A White House fact sheet titled “Ending the New Green Scam” said, “President Trump is committed to eliminating funding for the globalist climate agenda while unleashing American energy production.”
• When several federal judges overruled Trump’s blockage of offshore wind farms, Trump did the almost unimaginable and paid roughly $1.8 billion to companies to abandon leases for four offshore wind farms in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
• The US “Department of War” began blocking more than 150 onshore wind farms across the United States by delaying military reviews that were once considered routine. According to Jason Grumet, chief executive of the American Clean Power Association, “The Department of War is currently making it almost impossible to build a new wind project in the United States.” Trump had stated in January that “My goal is to not let any windmill be built.”
• And Donald Trump released a series of memos that doubled down on his support of increased domestic fossil fuel production for purported “defense readiness.” The memos said US-based oil, coal, and natural gas production must expand “to avert an industrial resource or critical technology item shortfall that would severely impair national defense capability.” Invoking the Defense Production Act, the memos authorized “making necessary purchases, commitments, and financial instruments to enable these projects.”

The Greentech revolution can provide enormous benefits to the American people. The US system of fossil fuel energy production and consumption is, conversely, a dead man walking. Trump, MAGA, and the fossil fuel industry are making extraordinary efforts to keep fossil fuels alive by destroying all Greentech alternatives. But, as we will see in subsequent commentaries in this series, this fossil fuel counter-revolution is bound to fail.

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The post Trump’s Anti-Greentech Counter-Revolution first appeared on Labor Network for Sustainability.

Millions of Canadians continue to struggle to pay the bills for the necessities of life, and with Donald Trump’s trade war and his new conflict in the Middle East, things are getting worse. Meanwhile, the stock market sets record highs and financial wealth become increasingly concentrated in the hands of a small minority. Based on income tax data, the richest 1.5% of Canadians own over half of all net financial wealth (based on distribution of capital gains).

The striking gap in economic trajectory between a lucky elite at the top, and the challenges faced by the majority of society, has given rise to the term ‘K-shaped economy.’ The term first became popular in describing the growing gap in U.S. society, but it is increasingly applicable in Canada, as well.

In this 25 minute podcast for CityNews’ In This Economy program, Centre for Future Work Director Jim Stanford spoke with host Kris McCusker about the K-shaped economy, its causes and consequences.

Narrowing the gap between the two parts of the ‘K’ requires addressing both the ‘predistribution’ of income (empowering workers to capture a larger share of value-added in the first place) and the ‘redistribution’ of income (using government taxes and transfer programs to achieve greater equality in after-tax incomes).

The post The K-Shaped Economy appeared first on Centre for Future Work.

Thousands of potentially unsafe, addictive, and cancer-linked chemicals have been introduced into the nation’s food supply through “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS) pathway loopholes including voluntary notification. This allows food and chemical companies to self-determine the safety of food chemicals without premarket review by the Food and Drug Administration. Of the 756 voluntary GRAS notifications submitted to the FDA since 2000, just 10 chemicals underwent federal review. Yet, experts estimate that hundreds of other additives entered the food supply without federal notice.

As federal inaction continues, nurses and communities across the country are pushing for regulation and oversight. These grassroots movements have led to twenty-eight states introducing or passing bills banning cancer-linked food chemicals including Red 3, potassium bromate, and propylparaben.

Pressure is mounting on federal legislators to act. Recently, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce held a hearing to review legislative proposals for food chemical regulation and oversight. Witnesses and lawmakers raised concern that FDA lacks sufficient staffing, funding, and authority to evaluate chemical harms and emerging risk factors. However, proposed legislation like the FDA Review and Evaluation for Safe, Healthy, and Affordable Foods (FRESH) Act of 2026 aims to correct the issue by limiting states’ ability to act and further undermining FDA’s premarket review authority. 

This continued and rampant addition of unvetted chemicals to the food supply directly harms our community’s health. The burden falls on those already facing higher health risks and deepens inequities that nurses confront every day. That is why nurses are urging Congress to strengthen FDA’s oversight of food chemicals and support clear, science-based safeguards that translate into healthier outcomes in the communities they serve.

Author

Short-form

Hailey Kufner, RN, is a critical care nurse and student at the University of Maryland. She currently resides in the Washington, D.C. metro area, with her partner, three cats, a school of fish, and an extensive plant collection.

Long-form

Hailey Kufner is a registered nurse and student at the University of Maryland. Her diverse professional background spans public health, marketing and communications, and critical care nursing.

She currently resides in the Washington, D.C. metro area, with her partner, three cats, a school of fish, and an extensive plant collection. In her free time, Hailey enjoys exploring the many natural hiking and biking trails the region has to offer.

The post House Committee on Energy and Commerce Health Hearing: Healthier America: Legislative Proposals on the Regulation and Oversight of Food appeared first on ANHE.

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 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.

###

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.

**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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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

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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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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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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. 

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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/

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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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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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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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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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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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