agroecology

By Colin Todhunter - CounterPunch, December 12, 2016

By Maywa Montenegro and Alastair Iles - Ensia, July 25, 2016

This Voices piece is published in collaboration with the academic journal Elementa. It is based on “Toward thick legitimacy: Creating a web of legitimacy for agroecology,” a peer-reviewed article published July 20 as part of Elementa’s New Pathways to Sustainability in Agroecological Systems forum.

The industrialized food system, studies have shown, is linked to greenhouse gas emissions, algal blooms, pesticide pollution, soil erosion and biodiversity loss, to name a few ecological troubles. Add to this a long list of social ills, from escalating rates of obesity to the demise of the family farmer and deadening of rural landscapes and rural economies across much of the U.S.

In 2010, the National Academies of Science updated its seminal 1989 publication “Alternative Agriculture” with a fresh look at the state of food and farming in America. Its expert panel concluded, “Growing awareness of unintended impacts associated with some agricultural production practices has led to heightened societal expectations for improved environmental, community, labor, and animal welfare standards in agriculture.”

Yet that growing awareness and those heightened expectations haven’t led to alternative agricultural systems becoming the norm in the U.S. Organic has made some headway, but many organic growers have been forced to imitate industrial farming: grow bigger, resort to monocultures instead of truly diversified fields, and sell to large supermarkets — forgoing many of the benefits alternative agricultural systems offer, such as natural pest control, pollination from native bees, and a smaller production scale conducive to family farmers and local food economies.

So, what gives industrialized agriculture such staying power despite its adverse impacts, even as alternatives offer such benefits? And how can more wholesome food production methods such as agroecology become conventional instead of alternative? To achieve real change in how food is produced and eaten, we need to change people’s expectations of what “normal” agriculture should look like.

By Eugenia Izquierdo and IvanZigarán - La Via Campesina and GRAIN - December 2016

Based on the video Together we can cool the planet! co-produced by La Vía Campesina and GRAIN in 2015, we have created a comic book to support training activities of social movements and civil society organisations around climate change. This comic book looks at how the industrial food system impacts our climate and also explains what we can do to change course and start cooling the planet.

La Via Campesina and GRAIN have pointed out that the industrial food system is responsible for half of all greenhouse gas emissions. In the Americas, Asia, Europe and Africa, we have been denouncing the false solutions to climate change such as GMOs, the “green economy” and "climate-smart agriculture".

We say loud and clear: it is peasants and small farmers, along with consumers who choose agroecological products from local markets, who hold the solution to the climate crisis.

We must all rise to the challenge!

Read the report (PDF).

Watch the video, too:

By Brian Ashley, et. al. - One Million Climate Jobs - December 2016

The One Million Climate Jobs Campaign is an alliance of labour, social movements and popular organisations in South Africa that is campaigning for the creation of a million climate jobs as part of a collective approach to the crisis of unemployment and climate change. The Campaign was launched in 2011 and since then has been mobilising thousands of South Africans around real solutions to slowing down climate change, protecting the natural environment, improving the quality of life for all and moving towards a sustainable development path. Climate change will exacerbate inequality and poverty because it reduces access to food, water, energy and housing. Thus it is vital that social justice struggles around these issues incorporate struggles around climate change.

This booklet is a follow-up, six years later, to the first booklet that was produced in 2011. It is based on well- researched solutions for how South Africa can immediately begin a just transition, away from the Minerals-Energy Complex that continues to dominate the South African capitalist economy, to a low carbon economy in which the basic needs of communities are met in an equitable, sustainable and affordable way.

It recognizes that in these six years there have been many developments – for instance, renewable energy is now firmly established as part of the energy mix (although still a minor part); retrofitting buildings, and the development of environmentally friendly construction methods, is being developed, and the Rapid Bus Transit system is being slowly implemented in some municipalities.

But most of these solutions are being pursued within the logic of the market. It is not possible, we would argue, within these market parameters, to respond adequately to the enormous challenges facing us – what is needed is a publicly-driven solution for the shift to a sustainable, low-carbon future. The research that this booklet is based on begins to set out what such a transition could look like. We hope that it will be an important contribution to the ongoing work of building a political movement to struggle around these issues.

Download (PDF).

By David Barkin - Climate and Capitalism, November 11, 2016

ABSTRACT:

Dominant approaches to rural development have proven unable to confront the structural challenges posed by a system where progress itself generates hunger and increasing environmental damage.

This article places its accent on the direct action of communities to organize themselves to satisfy their food and other basic needs and those of their regions with self-help strategies that could be applied in both rural and urban areas.

While generally applicable, this focus draws its inspiration from the experience of La Via Campesina, the largest social organization in the world, with chapters in more than 80 countries and 200 million members.

The food sovereignty approach offers a forward-looking strategy to social mobilization, confronting the scourge of rural disintegration while also addressing the pressing issue of environmental balance.

It proposes to direct political and social actions to the collective organization of communities to promote local mobilization and cooperation within and among communities, on a regional as well as on a much broader geographic scale.

It functions by integrating experts into a well-proven farmer-to-farmer approach for the exchange of information and materials conducive to improving productivity and promoting diversity in accordance with local customs while also creating possibilities for improving the quality of foods being produced and their nutritional impact.

Most organizations promoting food sovereignty consider agroecology to be the most effective approach to organizing production, emphasizing the use of locally available inputs and technologies as well as a diversity of cropping system adapted to local conditions.

By Api Podder - MySocialGoodNews, October 25, 2016

Leading Advocacy Group Evaluates Impact and Effectiveness of Seven Certification Programs in the Interest of Farmworker Justice

Press Release – PORTLAND, OR – Fair World Project, a project of the Organic Consumers Association, the nation’s largest network of green and ethical consumers, has released a new report titled, Justice in the Fields: A report on the Role of Farmworker Justice Certification and an Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Seven Labels. The new report evaluates seven certification programs that consumer brands use to provide a level of transparency to consumers on the social impact of their supply chain on workers. The findings in the report are based on the criteria farms must meet, how these standards are enforced and what role farmworkers and their representatives play in both program development and on-farm enforcement.

To read the Justice in the Fields report, go to: http://fairworldproject.org/campaigns/farmworker-justice/

The report details the realities of agricultural work globally: it’s difficult, dangerous, and can be poorly compensated. Farmworkers are often excluded from laws that protect other workers and even when they are included, the laws are often not well enforced. Labor unions can provide the function of negotiating better pay and conditions on behalf of workers they represent, but in reality union membership on farms is low, in part because of anti-union organizing. The report illuminates how, in recent years, certification programs have stepped in to fill the void and ensure justice and fair treatment for farmworkers on farms.

“It is tempting to see certification as a silver bullet,” says Kerstin Lindgren, Campaign Director of Fair World Project, “but any certification is only as good as its standards and enforcement mechanisms. Ultimately, any good program empowers farmworkers and works together with existing regulations and unions to strengthen their voice.”

Of the seven certification labels evaluated in the report, Fair World Project strongly recommends two of them: Agricultural Justice Project’s Food Justice Certified and Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ Fair Food Program. Two others are recommended with qualifications: Equitable Food Initiative’s Responsible Grown, Farmworker Assured, and Fairtrade International’s Fairtrade Certified.

“At their best, certification labels can raise the bar for worker justice on farms and lead consumers to purchase products that empower farmworkers,” said Dana Geffner, Executive Director of Fair World Project. “But conscious consumerism is just a small part of what’s needed—we hope that this report can inform and inspire people to engage in activism on behalf of all the people who grow our food, whether they work on a certified farm or not,” continues Geffner.

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, August 31, 2016

The following news items feature issues, discussions, campaigns, or information potentially relevant to green unionists:

Lead Stories:

• This. Means. WAR. – By Chris Dragon, Clean Technica, August 25, 2016
• Day After Obama Tours Louisiana Flood Damage, Gov't Holds Massive Gulf Oil & Gas Lease Auction – Antonia Juhasz interviewed by Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!, August 24, 2016; [related]: Historic Louisiana Flooding, Katrina Anniversary Serve as Stark Reminders of Need for Increased Resilience – By staff, Restore the Mississipi River Delta, August 25, 2016 | Bill Nye takes CNN to task on what really happened in Louisiana – By Katie Herzog, Grist, August 25, 2016 | Flood-Ravaged Gulf Coast Residents Ask President Obama To Cancel Federal Offshore Drilling Lease Auction – By Julie Dermansky, DeSmog Blog, August 24, 2016 | Four Arrested In Protest, But Feds Continue With Plan To Sell The Gulf To Oil Interests – By Samantha Page, Think Progress, August 24, 2016 | “President Obama: More Drilling = More Floods” – By Andy Rowell, Oil Change International, August 24, 2016 | Four Arrested at Louisiana BOEM Office Delivering Petitions Demanding President Obama Cancel Offshore Drilling Lease Sale – By Anne Rolfes, Louisiana Bucket Brigade, Dani Heffernan, 350.org, and Steve Jones, Center for Biological Diversity, August 23, 2016 | Gulf Residents Occupy BOEM office in Louisiana To Demand That President Obama Cancel Upcoming Fossil Fuel Lease Sale – By Jamie Henn, Common Dreams, August 23, 2016 | Louisiana Climate-Deniers Who Refused Sandy Victims Now Want Federal Flood Relief – By Lauren McCauley, Common Dreams, August 23, 2016 | Race and Class Gap Widening: Katrina Pain Index 2016 by the Numbers – By Bill Quigley, CounterPunch, August 23, 2016 | Louisiana’s flood couldn’t have been stopped, but it didn’t have to be so devastating – By Heather Smith, Grist, August 22, 2016
• Inaction on Climate Change Could Cost Millennials $8.8 Trillion in Lifetime Income – Heather McGhee interviewed by Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!, August 24, 2016
• Noam Chomsky Stars in New Documentary About the Major Risks Humanity Faces From Pesticides – By Alexandra Rosenmann, Alternet, August 22, 2016
• Beyond Social Movement Unionism – By Sam Gindin, Jacobin, August 2016
• Occupations, assemblies and direct action – a critique of ‘body politics’ – By Joseph A Todd, Red Pepper, August 22, 2016

Ongoing Mobilizations:

• Flush the TPP - Ongoing through 2016 | #FlushtheTPP
  Power Shift Southeast - Orlando, FL: September 9-11, 2016
• Wendy’s Boycott Summit - Immokalee, FL: September 22-25, 2016
• Nyéléni Europe Movemet for Food Sovereignty - Cluj Napoca, Romania, October 26-30, 2016
• Lucas Plan 40th Anniversary - November 2016

The Thin Green Line:

• Mining Company Behind Oakland Coal Terminal Withdraws IPO Plans, Bogged Down in Lawsuit – By Darwin BondGraham, East Bay Express, August 23, 2016

Just Transition:

• Canadians are demanding a bold new future for our public postal system – By staff, Rabble.Ca, August 26, 2016
• New B.C. Climate Leadership Plan leaves carbon tax untouched – By Elizabeth Perry, Work and Climate Change Report, August 26, 2016
• Geothermal Picks Up Steam With Alberta Proposal to Retrofit Abandoned Oil Wells – By James Wilt, DeSmog Canada, August 25, 2016
• Queensland solar projects that could create 2,600 jobs at risk in federal cuts – By Michael Slezak, The Guardian, August 24, 2016
• Ukraine Crisis Can Be Solved With Its Own Energiewende – By Karel Beckman, Energy Post, August 22, 2016
• Bigger, better, cheaper: wind power is flourishing in the US – By David Roberts, Vox, August 19, 2016

Bread and Roses:

• 420 SAKUMA FARMWORKERS VOTE FOR FUJ UNION WITH THEIR VOICES & FEET – By staff, Boycott Sakuma Berries, August 28, 2016; [related]: Unrest Continues at Sakuma Berry Farm – By staff, Boycott Sakuma Berries, August 24, 2016 | With Berries in Demand, Local Co-ops Won't Budge to Support Driscoll's Boycott – By Victoria Bouloubasis, Indyweek, August 12, 2016
• Dicamba may threaten Missouri peach farm – By Bryce Gray, Missouri Farmer Today, August 26, 2016
• Over 15 years’ struggle for the recognition of peasants in the international human rights system – By Sandra Moreno Cadena, La Via Campesina, August 26, 2016
• Key Democrats Could Deny Farm Workers Overtime Pay as Battle Goes Down to the Wire – By David Bacon, Capital and Main, August 25, 2016; [related]: Emotions flare over legislation to expand overtime pay for California farmworkers – By Jazmine Ulloa, Los Angeles Times, August 25, 2016 | Is California really progressive? The vote on farmworker overtime is a test of our values – By Marcos Breton, Sacramento Bee, August 24, 2016
• Summer campers join Wendy’s Boycott, gather 100+ signatures to send to fast food hold-out! – By staff, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, August 25, 2016
• Dark days ahead for British agriculture? Or green shoots of a brighter future? – By Keith Tyrell, The Ecologist, August 25, 2016
• The Struggle for Democratic Representation in Quebec Gets a Boost at the 2016 World Social Forum – By Debbie Grunbaum, La Via Campesina, August 24, 2016
• Why Do Farmers Care About Climate Change: Extreme Precipitation – By Tom Driscoll, Ohio Farmers Union, August 24, 2016
• How the GE Food Venture Has Been Chronically Dependent on Deception – By Steven M. Druker, J.D, Independent Science News, August 21, 2016

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, August 24, 2016

The following news items feature issues, discussions, campaigns, or information potentially relevant to green unionists:

Lead Stories:

• Beyond Coal: Imagining Appalachia’s Future – By Sheryl Gay Stolberg, New York Times, August 17, 2016
• A World at War: We’re under attack from climate change—and our only hope is to mobilize like we did in WWII – By Bill McKibben, New Republic, August 15, 2016; [related]: Clean, Green, Class War: Bill McKibben’s Shortsighted ‘War on Climate Change’ – By Elliot Sperber, Counterpunch, August 22, 2016
• [Trigger Warning] Whipped, kicked, beaten: Illinois workers describe abuse of hogs – By David Jackson and Gary Marx, Chicago Tribune, August 4, 2016

Ongoing Mobilizations:

• Flush the TPP - Ongoing through 2016 | #FlushtheTPP
  Power Shift Southeast - Orlando, FL: September 9-11, 2016
• Wendy’s Boycott Summit - Immokalee, FL: September 22-25, 2016
• Lucas Plan 40th Anniversary - November 2016

The Thin Green Line:

• Judge Upholds Oregon Denial of Coal Export Permit – By Gillian Flaccus, Associated Press, August 15, 2016

Just Transition:

• California Climate Policies a $48 Billion Boon for State’s Economy, Analysis Finds – By Mike Gaworecki, DeSmog Blog, August 19, 2016
• The Fight for a Six Hour Workday – By Alex Richardson-Price, Counterpunch, August 19, 2016
• Alberta's solar-power sector can't keep up with demand for training courses – By Emma Graney, Edmonton Sun, August 15, 2016
• The End Is Nigh — Advocacy, Climate Change and Renewables Growth – By Joel B. Stronberg, Renewable Energy World, August 15, 2016
• Iron & Earth East to build renewable energy demonstration greenhouse in St. John’s – By Lyndsey Easton, Iron & Earth, August 15, 2016
• Work program trains unemployed oil and gas workers in solar technology – By Danika Worthington, Denver Post, August 14, 2016; [related]: Declining energy sector jobs switching to solar power – By staff, Associated Press, August 14, 2016

Bread and Roses:

• Rooted in the soil: the birth of agro-resistance in Palestine – By Jonathan Cook, The Ecologist, August 19, 2016
• The People of Vermont vs Monsanto and the Feds – By Paul Cienfuegos, Counterpunch, August 19, 2016
• Peasants are making a comeback – By Wayne Roberts, Rabble.Ca, August 17, 2016
• This Region Is Twice Flint’s Size—And Its Water Is Also Poisoned – By Tom Philpott, Monther Jones, August 17, 2016
• Change.org launches Wendy’s Boycott petition! – By staff, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, August 15, 2016

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• Citywide Ferry Operator Hornblower Has 'Pathetic' Labor Record, Union Says – By James Fanelli, DNA Info, August 17, 2016
• Railroads show little progress on key safety technology – By Joan Lowy, Phys.Org, August 17, 2016
• Tyson Foods Fined $263,000 Over Unsafe Working Conditions In Poultry Plant – By Bryce Covert, Think Progress, August 17, 2016
• Don Blankenship’s defense, appeal based on ‘intricate fantasies’ – By Ken Ward Jr., Charleston Gazette-Mail, August 16, 2016; Federal prosecutors defend Blankenship conviction – By Ken Ward Jr., Charleston Gazette-Mail, August 15, 2016
• How Massachusetts Nurses Are Reducing Workplace Violence – By Cady Spencer, and Erin Johnson, Labor Notes, August 16, 2016
• South Africa’s Marikana Massacre: Prompting the Longest Strike in the Country’s Mining History – By Luke Sinwell and Siphiwe Mbatha, Counterpunch, August 16, 2016; [related]: Amnesty International releases report on Lonmin’s broken promises for 4th anniversary of Marikana massacre – By Richard, London Mining Network, August 16, 2016
• Muni operator says she was beaten, but fended off attacker – By Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, San Francisco Examiner, August 15, 2016

Whistle Blowers:

• Mitsubishi Execs Were Warned By Employee About Fuel-Economy Fraud Back In 2005 – By James Ayre, Clean Technica, August 16, 2016; [related]: Employee warned Mitsubishi execs about mileage cheating in 2005 – By Brandon Turkus, AutoBlog, August 5, 2016
• Park Service Pours Bucket of Mush on Effigy Mounds Scandal – By Kirsten Stade, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, August 15, 2016
• Top U.S. Scientist Resigns & Announces GOP Water Poison Cover-Up Scandal – By Georgia Bristow, Bipartisan Report, August 15, 2016

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, August 17, 2016

The following news items feature issues, discussions, campaigns, or information potentially relevant to green unionists:

Lead Stories:

• Thousands gather in Montreal for World Social Forum – By Pierre Beaudet, Rabble.Ca, August 10, 2016; [related]: CKUT-FM Interviews GJEP on Corporatist Solutions to Climate Crisis – By staff, Global Justice Ecology Project, August 12, 2016 | Ears on the earth: Taking the next leap – By Victoria Fenner, Rabble.Ca, August 12, 2016 | (Sojourner Truth Radio) Earth Watch: Njoki Njoroge Njehu from the World Social Forum – By staff, Global Justice Ecology Project, August 12, 2016 | World Social Forum creates community, activism, and controversy – By Emily Blake, Rabble.Ca, August 12, 2016 | Here's a quick list of everything happening at the World Social Forum – By staff, Rabble.Ca, August 11, 2016 | Leap Manifesto stars at World Social Forum – By Emily Blake, Rabble.Ca, August 11, 2016 | World Social Forum 2016: Day 1 Highlights – By staff, La Via Campesina, August 11, 2016 | Ears on the earth: Releasing the corporate stranglehold – By Victoria Fenner, Rabble.Ca, August 10, 2016 | The 2016 World Social Forum begins in Montreal – By Emily Blake, Rabble.Ca, August 10, 2016 | Candidate for UN secretary general among those denied visa to Montreal's World Social Forum – By Melissa Fundira, CBC News, August 9, 2016 | Ears on the earth: The World Social Forum begins – By Victoria Fenner, Rabble.Ca, August 9, 2016 | World Social Forum in Montreal: "Another World Is Once Again Being Constructed Without Africa" – By Danica Jorden, ZNet, August 9, 2016 | Will World Social Forum become leader the Left needs? – By Nick Fillmore, A Different Point of View..., August 8, 2016
• What If All U.S. Coal Workers Were Retrained to Work in Solar? – By Joshua M. Pearce, Harvard Business Review, August 8, 2016 [related]: US solar industry hailed as ‘light at end of tunnel’ for jobless coal miners – By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, August 12, 2016 | One Year of a Coal CEO's Salary Could Transition U.S. Coal Miners to Work in Solar Industry – By Lorraine Chow, EcoWatch, August 11, 2016 | What to do with coal workers? Retrain them for solar, says study – By Heather Smith, Grist, August 10, 2016 | Relatively Minor Retraining Investment Could Transition All Coal Workers To Solar Jobs – By Derek Markham, Clean Technica, August 10, 2016 | What to do with coal workers? Retrain them for solar, says study – By Sophie Vorrath, REnew Economy, August 10, 2016 | One Year of Coal CEO Pay Could Retrain Every US Miner to Work in the Solar Industry – By Katherine Tweed, GreenTechMedia, August 9, 2016

Ongoing Mobilizations:

• Flush the TPP - Ongoing through 2016 | #FlushtheTPP
  
• Climate Camp and Degrowth Summer - Rheinland, August 19-29, 2016
• Power Shift Southeast - Orlando, FL: September 9-11, 2016
• Wendy’s Boycott Summit - Immokalee, FL: September 22-25, 2016
• Lucas Plan 40th Anniversary - November 2016

The Thin Green Line:

• Judge: No Constitutional Problem in Oregon’s Denial of Columbia River Coal Export Terminal – By staff, Columbia Riverkeeper, August 12, 2016
• Whatcom County puts new unrefined fossil fuel exports on hold – By Samantha Wohlfeil, The Bellingham Herald, August 10, 2016; [related]: Here’s the latest community to crack down on fossil fuel shipments – By Katie Herzog, Grist, August 11, 2016 | Cherry Point Coal, Oil and Gas Exports Would Create Massive New Carbon Pollution – By Alex Ramel, Stand, August 10, 2016 | Emergency Moratorium Stops All Unrefined Oil, Coal, and LNG Export Infrastructure Projects in Whatcom County, WA – By Eddie Scher, Stand, August 10, 2016 | Whatcom County Imposed 60 Day Moratorium On Unrefined Oil Projects – By Roy L Hales, The ECOReport, August 10, 2016

Just Transition:

• Basic Income vs. Job Guarantee – By Josh Davis, Grassroots Economic Organizing, August 11, 2016
• Dual Power as the Route to Democratic Socialism, Sanders or No Sanders – By Andrew Stewart, CounterPunch, August 11, 2016
• A vision of democratic ecosocialism – By Hans Baer, Climate and Capitalism, August 10, 2016
• Crude oil to carrots: Geothermal makeover eyed for Alberta’s old wells – By Reuters, Toronto Globe and Mail, August 9, 2016
• Renewables offer “unrivalled opportunity” to grow rural jobs, economies – By Sophie Vorrath, REnew Economy, August 9, 2016
• U.S. must bury coal to save miner jobs: Interior secretary – By Valerie Volcovici, Reuters, August 9, 2016
• When Systems Crumble: Looking Beyond Global Capitalism – By Richard D. Wolff, Truthout, August 9, 2016
• Why I spoke at the Clean Energy Incentive Program Rally in Chicago – By Dick Breckenridge, BlueGreen Alliance, August 9, 2016

Bread and Roses:

• Millions spent, no one served: who is to blame for the failure of GMO Golden Rice? – By Angelika Hilbeck and Hans Herren, The Ecologist, August 15, 2016
• Monsanto in retreat: movement from the grassroots – By Silvia Ribeiro, Alainet, August 11, 2016
• Sakuma Workers Walk Out of Fields Again to Fight for a Fair Wage – By staff, Boycott Sakuma Berries, August 11, 2016
• In South Texas, Fair Wages Elude Farmworkers, 50 Years After Historic Strike – By John Burnett, NPR, August 11, 2016
• Statement from the Popular University of Social Movements Workshop held at Harare – By staff, La Via Campesina, August 11, 2016
• Tribunal Monsanto in The Hague: 14th-16th of October 2016 – By staff, La Via Campesina, August 10, 2016
• Take Action: Demand justice for Baek Nam-gi – By staff, La Via Campesina, August 10, 2016
• Farmers Dealing with Fall-Out from Monsanto’s New GE Crops – By staff, Beyond Pesticides, August 9, 2016
• Karnataka, India: Workshop on agroecology at Amritabhoomi – By staff, La Via Campesina, August 9, 2016
• Urgent Appeal and Call for Action from Korea – By staff, La Via Campesina, August 9, 2016
• “Dear Wendy’s: I’m Boycotting You, but I’m Not the One You Should Be Worried About…” – By staff, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, August 8, 2016
• Contractual, ‘pakyawan’ workers in Mindanao plantations urge DOLE to act on labor rights violations – By Marya Salamat, Bulatat, July 29, 2016

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, July 6, 2016

The following news items feature issues, discussions, campaigns, or information potentially relevant to green unionists:

Lead Stories:

• How Oakland Defeated Coal - By Brentin Mock, CityLab, July 1, 2016
• The Remaking of the Global Working Class - By Beverly Silver, ROARMag, July 1, 2016
• From Livelihoods to Deadlihoods - By Ashish Kothari, Local Futures, June 30, 2016
• Gulf Coast Activists Tell 'Big Green' to Quit Exploiting Their Disasters for Financial Gain - By Yessenia Funes, Colorlines, June 30, 2016; [related]: An open letter demanding respect and solidarity - By Alicia Cooke, et. al., Radical Arts & Healing (RAHC) Collective, June 27, 2016
• Stopping a Climate Change and Pollution Nightmare in the East Bay - By Will Parrish, East Bay Express, June 28, 2016

Ongoing Mobilizations:

• In Defense of Mother Earth and Land - Oaxaca, MX: July 21-22, 2016
• Flush the TPP - Ongoing through 2016 | #FlushtheTPP
• March for a Clean Energy Revolution - July 24, 2016, Philadelphia | #CleanEnergyMarch
• Power Shift Southeast - Orlando, FL: September 9-11, 2016
• International Resistance Gathering Against Extractivism - July 28-30, Mexico
• TWAC Cascadia 2016 - August 8th-15th 2016

The Thin Green Line:

• Record-Breaking Opposition to Coal - By Jasmine Zimmer-Stucky, Columbia Riverkeeper, July 1, 2016
• Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline bites the dust - By Gregory Smith, EcoJustice, June 30, 2016; [related]: Northern Gateway Ruling Puts Tar Sands "At Risk" - By Andy Rowell, Oil Change International, July 4, 2016 | Victory for First Nations in Northern Gateway Fight - By Andy Rowell, Oil Change International, July 1, 2016 | Federal court overturns Northern Gateway pipeline approval - By Sophia Reuss, Rabble.Ca, June 30, 2016 | Northern Gateway pipeline approval overturned - By Jason Proctor, CBC News, June 30, 2016
• Oakland City Council Votes to Ban Coal Exports in Big Win for Local Advocates - By Zoe Loftus-Farren, Earth Island Journal, June 28, 2016; [related]: In our opinion: 2 initiatives mark Utah's energy upheaval - Editorial, Deseret News, June 30, 2016 | Oakland City Council unanimously supports ban on coal exports - By staff, Sierra Club Yodeler, June 29, 2016 | Oakland says no thanks to coal exports - By Katie Herzog, Grist, June 29, 2016 | Oakland council bans coal - By Erin Baldassari, San Jose Mercury News, June 28, 2016 | Oakland council bans coal shipments, citing health risks - By staff, Associated Press, June 28, 2016

Just Transition:

• Oil Sands Worker Inspires Calgarians to Embrace Renewables - By staff, Iron and Earth, July 5, 2016
• ISEA: Solar Energy Can Generate 7,300 Jobs & Slash EU Fines €300 Million A Year - By James Ayre, CleanTechnica, July 4, 2016
• The Stupid Thing About Politics & Jobs - By Zachary Shahan, CleanTechnica, July 1, 2016
• Swollen solar pipeline could make Texas 2nd largest utility-scale market in US - By Robert Walton, Utility Dive, June 30, 2016
• Teleseminar: Just Transition with Mateo Nube of Movement Generation [seminar] - By Mateo Nube, Resilience, June 30, 2016
• A new danger descends on Canada - By the Leap Manifesto, Rabble.Ca, June 28, 2016
• Alberta Coal Communities Worry For Their Future - By Ian Bickis, Huffington Post, June 22, 2016

Bread and Roses:

• North Carolina: "We will keep fighting until Publix comes on board!" - By staff, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, July 5, 2016
• Mother-of-Three Sues Monsanto Claiming Roundup Caused Her Cancer - By Lorraine Chow, EcoWatch, July 1, 2016
• New Film about the Boycott of Driscoll’s & Familias Unidas por la Justicia - By staff, Boycott Sakuma Berries, July 1, 2016
• Opinion: Traditional crops keep our culture alive - By Elizabeth Mpofu, La Via Campesina, July 1, 2016
• "We aren’t asking you to create the solution; The solution already exists…" - By staff, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, June 29, 2016
• More rain, less freshwater: Why the government of Ghana needs to stop coal expansion - By lerato, 350.org, June 28, 2016
• Herbicide, chemical fertilizer use doubled on Vermont dairy farms in a decade - By Anne Galloway, VTDigger, June 27, 2016
• The Fight Isn’t Over for Farm Worker Overtime - By David Bacon, Capital and Main, June 16, 2016