just transition

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

By Michael Gasser - Santa Cruz Ecological Justice, August 22, 2016

In a new article in the New Republic, 350.org founder Bill McKibben, probably the world’s most influential climate activist, argues that World War III has begun and that the enemy is climate change.

He goes on to say that we are losing the war, that we should learn from the experience of World War II, that by retooling industry as we did then we can win the war. In making this case, he is largely adopting the position that has been promoted since 2014 by The Climate Mobilization (TCM). A few days after McKibben’s article appeared, TCM’s co-founder Ezra Silk published an extensive “Victory Plan”, which outlines the steps needed to “restore a safe and stable climate”, “reverse ecological overshoot”, and “halt the 6th mass extinction”.

Before going on to say what I think is wrong with McKibben’s and TCM’s position, I want to make it clear that there is much that is certainly right about it. Above all, they recognize the seriousness of the crisis, the fact that many people who are aware of climate change under-estimate the seriousness, and the need for drastic action to solve the crisis.

The problem is that what they are arguing for is not nearly drastic enough. This is because their “war” is against nature, and as such it ultimately relies on technological fixes, rather than challenges to the political and economic system. McKibben rests much of his case on the well-known work of Stanford University engineer Mark Z. Jacobson and his colleagues, who have argued that renewable technologies could replace those based on fossil fuels in the United States within decades. While Jacobson has his critics, his work is undeniably important. What his work shows — and he himself agrees — is that the main obstacles to solving the crisis are not technological but rather political and economic. The question is who controls the technology.

If this is so, then we must look for the enemy elsewhere. In what must be the best-known of all books written on the climate crisis and its causes, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate, author Naomi Klein spells it out pretty clearly. The enemy (of the climate and hence of us) is capitalism. Although Klein does not go into much detail about what she actually means by “capitalism”, a number of ecosocialist writers have filled this gap. For an excellent overview, suitable for those who know little about the science of climate change and/or little about capitalism, see David Klein and Stephanie McMillan’s  Capitalism and Climate Change: the Science and Politics of Global Warming. A common theme in this work and others, especially Richard Smith’s Green Capitalism: the God that Failed and Daniel Tanuro’s Green Capitalism: Why It Can’t Work, is that capitalism, by its very nature, is completely incompatible with a just and sustainable future. If capitalism has a “solution” for the climate crisis, one can only imagine a dystopian world where elites survive in isolated islands of livability, protected from the masses of climate refugees on the outside.

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

By Christine Marie - Socialist Action, August 17, 2016

“People gonna rise like the water,” the most poignant of the new songs of the climate justice movement, makes a strong prediction. And the potential breadth and power of that people was on display in a new way on July 24, as close to 10,000 marchers took to the streets on a sweltering day (97 degrees) before the opening of the Democratic Party Convention in Philadelphia.

The march began at City Hall after a press conference anchored by front-line activists from communities devastated by extreme extraction from Pennsylvania to Honduras. There Teresa Hill of ACTION United condemned the plans to turn Philadelphia into a major “energy hub” for fracked gas, whose methane emissions are alone capable of taking us to a climate tipping point. Laura Zuñiga Cáceres, daughter of the slain Honduran environmental and Lenca warrior Berta Cáceres, closed with the now immortal words of her famous mother, “Wake up Humanity! Time is running out!”

While there have been larger marches, the July 24 “March for a Clean Energy Revolution” focused more pointedly on the immediate dangers of the fracking process and the massive infrastructure that is being constructed around the United States for fracked gas, which is obstructing the effort for an emergency transition to renewable energy. The unequivocal demands for a ban on fracking, keeping fossil fuels in the ground, and a quick and just transition to 100% renewable energy represent the vanguard of the movement and the terms on which the growing movement will be most effectively mobilized.

The insistence that both political parties were failing humanity on the climate front came through loud and clear. Mark Schlosberg, the organizing director for Food & Water Watch, the group that leads Americans Against Fracking and brought 900 national and local groups to endorse the march, built the demonstration by forcefully arguing, “both parties’ platforms fall far short of addressing the climate emergency we are in.”

These principled demands and the unwillingness to subordinate the movement to the Democratic Party agenda brought together a large number of activists from front-line communities in a display of determination to take back the earth from those who would sacrifice them and the land for profit. Participants included those struggling against the assault on their health in the Pennsylvania gas fields; those living next to the radioactive tailings ponds of the Southwest and the potential storage sites at Seneca Falls, N.Y.; and those from the urban centers where parked oil trains deprive their children of breath.

At the final rally, in front of Independence Hall, Theresa Hill of the Green Justice Philadelphia Coalition pointed out that the local refineries are located exclusively in economically depressed neighborhoods: “And they think that people of color and low-income people won’t fight back. But as we said to the CEO of this oil refinery, who still hopes to expand the refinery, we are saying NO! … We will fight! Fight for our right to breathe!” Marchers reflected the understanding of the enormity of this struggle in chants such as “Hydo-fracking: Shut it Down!; Oil Pipelines: Shut it Down!; the Whole Damn System: Shut it Down!”

One of the constituencies that were most warmly welcomed was that of public health advocates and workers. The organizer of the health contingent, Karuna Jagger of Breast Cancer Action, rallied the crowd at the final rally when she said, “We are marching to demand an end to fracking and other dangerous drilling practices that rely on toxic chemicals and are linked to an array of deadly diseases and disorders.”

The devastating impact of the fracking on working-class lives is now documented in rising number of white papers. Sandra Steingraber, the science adviser to Food & Water Watch, wrote in the wake of the march that the number of premature births—premature birth being the number one predictor of infant mortality—rose 40% if one was forced by economic circumstances to live amidst the drilling pads despoiling large swaths of the U.S.

Labor organizers who have stepped up to help combat the climate crisis very visibly built the demonstration. Joe Uhlein of the Labor Sustainability Network and the convener of the Labor Climate Convergence in January of this year, urged trade unionists to attend. “It is time for those of us in the labor movement to rise to the challenge and become a central player in the movement to build a sustainable future for the planet and its people—not only for the survival and wellbeing of all, but also for organized labor’s own self-interest,” he wrote in a blog post called “Why Trade Unionists Should March for a Clean Energy Revolution.”

The labor contingent at the march, which included groups from AFSCME and the postal workers union was modestly impressive and reflected the patient and systematic outreach and education being carried out in labor councils, union locals, and other labor bodies from one coast to another.

A Peace and Climate Justice contingent, initiated by Peace Action and built by Code Pink, organized its members under the demands: Slash the Pentagon and world military budgets, provide strong aid to climate refugees, and fund green energy, targeting 100% clean by 2030. The adoption by the peace community of the latter demand is reflective of the now broad acceptance of the real science of climate change, a science that is unanimous in concluding that we must have an emergency transition that begins today and is extremely advanced just 14 years from now.

Fortunately, Mark Jacobson and his team at Stanford have made it crystal clear that current technology will allow us to complete a transition to a 100% renewable energy grid by 2050. The only obstacle is the political elite who refuses to take responsibility for organizing this transition.

Front-line marchers included participants in the “Indigenous Leaders Protect Our Public Lands Caravan,” a group of youth activists and elders from Colorado, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona who traveled to Philadelphia on a nickel and hope. The 17 spokespeople for the Native American victims of extreme extraction by the fuel industry also anchored the impressive Summit for a Clean Energy Revolution, held the day before the march at the Friends Center in Philadelphia.

Other contingents included those organized by the faith community, by elders, by advocates of a nuclear-free transition from carbon, for those leading the drive to popularize local 100% renewable solutions, by SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice), and students. The success of this march, organized effectively despite the tremendous negative pressures of the bourgeois electoral season—bodes well for the next steps in our efforts to build a massive movement independent of the Democratic and Republican parties and reliant on its own power in the streets.

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, August 10, 2016

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

Lead Stories:

• Chicken Factory Owners Are Some of the Cruelest Employers in America: Workers Share Horror Stories as Campaign Builds to Fight Exploitation – By Michael Arria, AlterNet, August 4, 2016
• Death in The Fields – By Mauricio Peña, Desert Sun, August 4, 2016
• Oil Sands Workers Lead on Climate Action – By staff, People's Climate Plan, August 4, 2016
• Portland Teachers Expose Lead in Schools – By Samantha Winslow, Labor Notes, August 2, 2016; [related]: Book Review: Organizing against the Toxins Lurking in Our Schools – By Hyung Nam, Labor Notes, August 2, 2016
• Millions of people yearning for a "Brexit" from destructive trade deals – By Maude Barlow, Edmonton Journal, July 23, 2016

Ongoing Mobilizations:

• Flush the TPP - Ongoing through 2016 | #FlushtheTPP
  
• TWAC Cascadia 2016 - August 8th-15th 2016
• Unions Organizing around Energy Democracy, Climate Jobs and Just Transition - Montreal, August 9th-13th, 2016
• United Students Against Sweatshops Summer Convention - August 13-14, 2016, Silver Spring, MD
• 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:

• Finish line in sight in campaign to cap refinery emissions – By Steve Nadel, The Yodeler, August 3, 2016
• Canada needs further rail safety reforms – By staff, Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, July 29, 2016
• “When an oil spill happens…that creates jobs”: Duck washers wanted – By Brett VandenHeuvel, Columbia Riverkeeper, July 29, 2016

Just Transition:

• Bullfrog Power joins oilsands workers in bringing green jobs to Newfoundland and Labrador – By Lyndsey Easton, Iron and Earth, August 8, 2016
• WSF Montreal: Record Union Participation, a Big Step for Both Labor and Social Movements – By Sean Sweeney, Trade Unions for Energy Democracy, August 5, 2016
• Latrobe Valley vision for a Just Transition – By staff, Yes 2 Renewables, August 4, 2016
• How Electrifying Railroads Could Help Us Transition from Fossil Fuels and Power Rural Economies – By Bill Moyer, In These Times, August 2, 2016
• Renewfoundland – By Adam Cormier, Iron and Earth, August 2, 2016
• The NY Times Got It Wrong: Renewable Energy Is Key to Fighting Climate Change – By Noah Long and Kevin Steinberger, EcoWatch, August 1, 2016
• Weighing Carbon WA’s Tax Swap Ballot Initiative – By Kristin Eberhard and Alan Durning, Sightline Institute, August 1, 2016
• In Conversation: Communities and Infrastructure in a 100% Renewable World – By Daniel Lerch, Warren Karlenzig, Hillary Brown, Post Carbon Institute, July 30, 2016
• Energy Voices Radio Show: Energy Systems in Transition – By Kali Taylor, Student Energy, July 26, 2016

Bread and Roses:

• Monsanto in India: Meet the New Boss – Same as the Old Boss? – By Colin Todhunter, CounterPunch, August 4, 2016; [related]: Holdi ng Monsanto to account: the People's Tribunal – By Heidi Chow, The Ecologist, August 4, 2016
• Via Campesina will join 2016 World Social Forum to strengthen and advance food sovereignty and peasants’ rights – By Carlos Marentes, et. al., La Via Campesina, August 4, 2016
• National Farm Worker Ministry endorses Wendy’s Boycott! – By staff, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, August 3, 2016
• Towards a People’s Food Policy – By staff, Landworkers Alliance, August 3, 2016
• Update of our work with the European Coordination of Via Campesina – By Jyoti Fernandes, Landworkers Alliance, August 3, 2016
• GMO Wheat Found in Washington State Could Hurt US Trade – By staff, Global Justice Ecology Project, August 1, 2016
• Why farmworkers are dying from extreme heat – By Nathanael Johnson, Grist, August 1, 2016
• Grass-Fed Nation – By Megan Perry, Sustainable Food Trust, July 29, 2016
• Avoid ‘miracle’ rice, just eat a carrot! – By Vandana Shiva, Asian Age, July 15, 2016
• ‘I will never give up my land’ – By Máxima Acuña, New Internationalist, July 2016

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, August 2, 2016

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

Lead Stories:

• World's largest carbon producers face landmark human rights case – By John Vidal, The Guardian, July 27, 2016; [related]: World’s Largest Carbon Producers Face Human Rights Abuse Allegations - By Joshua S Hill, Clean Technica, July 28, 2016
• Busting the Myths of a Workerless Future – By Chris Brooks and Kim Moody, Labor Notes, July 26, 2016
• North Sea Platform Workers Launch Biggest Strike in Decades – By Irina Slav, Oilprice.com, July 26, 2016; [related]: Surface tension—the battle against the North Sea oil bosses - By staff, Socialist Worker (UK), July 29, 2016 | ‘Our North Sea oil strike is for safety and is solid' – By Raymie Kiernan, Socialist Worker (UK), July 26, 2016
• 'You Cannot Explain it by Chance': Climate Crises Can Fuel Armed Conflict – By Nadia Prupis, Common Dreams, July 26, 2016; [related]: Weather disasters can fuel war in volatile countries, study finds – By John Upton, Salon, July 28, 2016 | Climate Change Can Cause Conflict - By Andy Rowell, Oil Change International, July 26, 2016

Ongoing Mobilizations:

• Flush the TPP - Ongoing through 2016 | #FlushtheTPP
• Mount Polley Mine Resistance Gathering - Canada, August 4, 2016 | #ImperialNoMore
  
• TWAC Cascadia 2016 - August 8th-15th 2016
• United Students Against Sweatshops Summer Convention - August 13-14, 2016, Silver Spring, MD
• 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:

• Vancouver Oil Terminal Hearings End with Overwhelming Testimony in Opposition and Attorney General Call for Denial – By staff, Columbia Riverkeeper, July 29, 2016; [related]: Month-Long Tesoro-Savage Oil Terminal Hearing Comes to a Close – By staff, Columbia Riverkeeper, July 28, 2016
• Cities turn to local action to block oil trains – By Associated Press, FuelFix, July 27, 2016

Just Transition:

• President Obama, the coalfields, and this election – By Ken Ward Jr, Charleston Gazette-Mail, July 28, 2016
• Oilsands workers supporting renewable energy (audio) – By Scott Neigh, Rabble.Ca, July 27, 2016

Bread and Roses:

• CIW Education team wraps up second summer of Fair Food Program education beyond Florida… – By staff, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, July 29, 2016
• Millions face drought and famine in Southern Africa – By UN Food and Agriculture Organization, Climate and Capitalism, July 29, 2016 
• Not just cruel to pigs; farmers are the other victims of intensive animal farming – By Tracy Worcester, The Ecologist, July 29, 2016
• Karnataka, India: Support prices sought by KRRS to bail out farmers – By Mangaluru, Deccan Herald, July 26, 2016

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• Battle over workers’ rights leaves the French government weakened – By Dave Sewell, Socialist Worker (UK), July 26, 2016
• 12,500 Solar Jobs Lost In The UK – By Joshua S Hill, Clean Technica, July 26, 2016
• Weymouth bus strikers speak out over bosses' lies and bullying – By Dave Sewell, Socialist Worker (UK), July 26, 2016

Whistleblowers:

• Ultra-High Radiation Coming to Your Drinking Water – By Kirsten Stade, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, July 26, 2016

Wobbles:

• Banner Drop at BNSF Rail Yard Warns of Explosive “Bomb” Trains – By staff, Rising Tide Chicago, July 29, 2016
• Day of Action Against Bank of America’s Enbridge Investments – By MICATS, Creative Resistance, July 29, 2016
• Anti-TPP Protests Break-Out Inside DNC: Obama & Others Protested – By Kevin Zeese, Popular Resistance, July 28, 2016
• Climate activists forcibly removed from American Petroleum Institute-sponsored Politico energy event at DNC in Philadelphia – By JL Stewct, Beyond Extreme Energy, July 28, 2016
• Migrant workers win equal pay at Fawley oil refinery – By Dave Sewell, Socialist Worker (UK), July 27, 2016
• Campaigners gear up for mass march against support for fracking in North Yorkshire – By Kim Hunter, Socialist Worker (UK), July 26, 2016
• Coalition Seeks Greater Public Access to Information About Chemicals Used in Fracking – By Katherine O’Brien, Margie Kelly, and Derf Johnson, Montana Environmental Information Center, July 26, 2016
• Mayor Of Amsterdam Pressures Dutch Pension Fund APB To Divest From Fossil Fuels – By Joshua S Hill, Clean Technica, July 26, 2016
• A report from Governor McAuliffe’s house – By Mike Tidwell, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, July 26, 2016
• Massive crowd, giant blimp, protests Trans-Pacific Partnership at Rock Against the TPP tour kick-off in Denver – By Evan Greer, Fight for the Future, July 23, 2016

Other News:

• Buzzwords will not save us from climate disaster – By Seble Samuel, Rabble.Ca, July 29, 2016
• Coal is not what raised me… – By Nick Mullins, The Thoughtful Coal Miner, July 28, 2016
• Interior drops appeal of Blair Mountain ruling – By Ken Ward Jr, Charleston Gazette-Mail, July 26, 2016

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC; Hashtags: #greenunionism #greensyndicalism #IWW. Please send suggested news items to include in this series to euc [at] iww.org.