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Sign Here: Forward on climate, not one step back on Clean Power Plan

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It’s no secret that Trump and his EPA toady Scott Pruitt are climate deniers. They’ll do (and have done) anything to give more power to the coal, oil and gas industry in their relentless pursuit of a more polluted and unequal union. Now Pruitt’s EPA wants to repeal the Clean Power Plan — Obama’s signature rule to reduce global warming pollution from power plants. But you can stop them: Sign here and we’ll deliver your comments to the EPA before their deadline on the 16th. The CPP is far from perfect — giving way too many benefits to fracked gas and way too little emphasis to changing the power structure of how we generate electricity, among other flaws — but it DOES have the effect of incentivizing states not to burn coal. More importantly, it’s a step in the direction of climate action. And without this step the United States will have basically no chance of meeting its promise to cut emissions under the Paris climate agreement. The EPA is taking comments on their reckless proposal until Jan. 16. And we’ve …

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Good riddance to 2017 – I like our chances next month

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It’s the last few days of 2017. And good riddance, I say, because we’ve got big plans for January 2018. It’s been a busy and mostly brutal year as the Trump team attacks one of our communities after the other. We end the year much as we began it – worried about deportations, awash in climate chaos, resolute in our desire to show up when and where we can to speak out and shut down fossil fuel projects and the political patsies that approve them. But in the face of all that, there is also hope: Major new divestments from big banks (and even the WORLD bank), opportunities to challenge the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)’s new leadership, and convergences and gatherings that will consolidate the strength of our movement to shut things down and renew your spirit to open new ideas up. Rebellions are built on hope, and two stories are giving me hope this week: A recent article in Reuters details how Canadian Tar Sands, the dirtiest oil on earth, are having a tough time getting to export …

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Darkest hour

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Happy winter solstice – if happy is what you want to call it. It’s been another rough week. Earlier this week the Republicans rammed through a disastrous tax bill that will (among many other bad things) give special tax breaks to pipeline builders, Arctic drillers, and other assorted fossil fueled ne’er do-wells. As I write this, they’re voting through a short term spending bill without doing anything about the DREAMers – who are at risk of being deported every week Congress refuses to act. All week long brave young people have risked arrest and deportation just to demand Congress vote on the issue. They shut down the Cafeteria today, in solidarity with seven other activists who went on hunger strike in jail. And still, Congress lacks the courage to protect people, not polluters.   One other wrinkle to this week’s tax bill that you might not haver heard about: The #GOPTaxScam effectively eliminates the tax deductibility of charitable donations, removing the incentive for most people to donate to groups like us. I know that a lot of you will still donate because you …

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Two pipelines a week

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Last week the Army Corps of Engineers gave preliminary approval to the Bayou Bridge Pipeline (BBP). A few days earlier, the Virginia Water Control Board (VaWCB) voted 4-3 to approve the fracked gas Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP), but required a final review of several environmental studies. That second one is actually considered a partial victory, since the week before the VaWCB had voted to approve the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) — another, shorter, fracked gas pipeline — with no such condition. This not to mention the FCC ripping apart #NetNeutrality and the Republican Congress poised to ram through a tax bill that will steal our healthcare, deport our neighbors and drop a depth charge on the middle class from a luxury yacht. So, yeah, the last week wasn’t great. But here’s the thing, in moments of crisis this climate justice movement rises to the occasion in ways that never fail to startle and inspire me. So, short version – Can you chip in to support what we’re doing? Even $1.98 helps a lot, and there’s a ton of other (including non-monetary) stuff …

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Break the internet in order to save it

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This Thursday, Trump’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) could destroy the open internet. Big cable and phone companies like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T have been lobbying for years to end net neutrality so they charge us extra fees, throttle the speed of content they don’t like or outright censor speech critical of corporations or the political elite. There’s no two ways about it, without an open internet, the Resistance is in trouble. But Congress can put a stop to all of this by demanding the FCC uphold the principle of net neutrality. Net neutrality is a basic concept: your internet provider cannot slow down your browsing on certain pages, block websites, or charge apps and sites extra fees to reach an audience. All legal content is treated the same. It’s been crucial to new movements around the world because it ensures activists can share news and ideas at the same speed as corporations and governments. If you streamed a video from Standing Rock, shared a photo of that Greenpeace RESIST banner over the white house, or just shared an online petition with …

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198 methods to [do what exactly?]

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Last week I told you about why I think it’s important to start 198 methods as another non-profit, environmental advocacy group (Missed it? Click here for the refresher, 5 charts and 2 maps). This week, I’m all about how we win. I lay out some specific examples, strategies, and ideas below. But the TL;DR is this: It costs about $100 a week to keep all this going, and we want to scale UP the project in 2018. So I’m looking for about 50 people to donate $1.98 a week for the next 6 months. Can you help​?

Call now to stop the Dirty Tax Bill

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You’ve probably heard about the Republican Tax Bill being debated in the Senate this week. There is a lot to DIS-like in the bill — from the way it raises taxes on the middle class to give tax breaks to the super-rich and corporations;1 to the way it’s being rushed through with no hearings or due-process;2 to the fact that it undercuts renewable energy, opens new land to oil and gas drilling and threatens our climate.3 It’s a seriously dirty, dangerous, and ugly piece of work. And it’s about to get a final vote in the Senate. Mitch McConnell says he has the votes to pass the bill.4 But it’s incredibly close. So close that the Vice President is standing by to break a tie if even ONE Senator changes his or her mind. Can you make a quick call to tell your Senators to vote no? Click here for the number and some help on what to say. There’s still a chance to stop this bill today. And that’s why we should all call now. But even if they DO vote to …

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The pipelines and the wave

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One of the things I’ve done for years now is help progressive, climate-action groups and people raise money online. Today is #GivingTuesday, so you can imagine that it’s been a bit of a whirl here at 198 methods. The idea of #GivingTuesday is nice – we all take a day out at the start of December, proximate to black Friday, cyber Monday, and other major moments in late America’s capitalist over-consumption, and we just … give. People donate to charities and non-profits of all sizes and kinds. Billions are raised on this day every year. And most of the groups I work with or know will ask for your help and raise some needed operating cash today. I’m doing that too – because we’re just getting our bylaws ready and filing as an official non-profit organization. And so, yes, it would be great if you can chip in a few dollars and help us expand our work in 2018. But I also want to do something a little different – because I think 198 methods is a little different. So I’m …

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Taking action while waiting for Keystone.

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I hate waiting for news. And this morning, we were waiting on a doozy of an update: A few days after a massive oil spill on the keystone 1 pipeline, the the Nebraska Public Service Commissions (PSC) was to decide whether or not to approve the Keystone XL pipeline route. (See this post if you want to catch up on the spill.) They did, with a really important caveat. And now I’m thinking about what’s next. But as fortune would have it, I wasn’t stuck home alone, worrying about the vote; Or out at work trying to stay busy while clicking the refresh button on my news feed every few minutes. I was in Pittsburgh at the People Vs Oil & Gas conference, surrounded by pipeline fighters from British Columbia, Canada, South Texas, New York, California and everywhere in between. So when a couple friends from the local Rising Tide chapter asked me to pitch in (and do what 198 methods does — digital communications support for direct action campaigns), I said yes in a heartbeat; Even if it meant …

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The Keystone spill and what comes after

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By now, I expect you’ve heard about the massive oil spill in Keystone 1 – the older tar sands Pipeline that Keystone XL is meant to expand and replace.1 More than 200,000 gallons of oil are still on the ground just miles from the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate reservation.2 This is all happening at a critical moment. On Monday, the Nebraska Public Service Commission will decide a crucial local permit for Keystone XL. A denial of that permit, or even a decision to permit it with significant restrictions or re-routing could make the Pipeline too expensive to build, or create years of additional delay we can exploit to protest, organize, and eventually stop this disastrous project. I don’t know what will happen on Monday. But I’ve spent the whole weekend with an amazing coalition of frontline activists and pipeline fighters, fossil fuel export exterminators and other fabulous people at the #PeoplevsOilGas summit. It’s given me hope and made me believe that together we can stop these pipelines — all of them. From the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipelines (and others) in the East; …

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