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Un-Trump the Climate Talks

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Did you see this? Donald Trump gave a rambling, incoherent, interview to the Washington post in which he (amongst other things) once again denies the science of climate change — including the report from his own administration released last Friday which shows that the climate crisis is already hurting and killing Americans. It’s got to stop. And you can help deliver a clear, unambiguous rebuke to Trump at next week’s climate talks – called the COP24. Here’s how: Trump’s team is planning a sideshow event that actually promotes fossil fuels at world’s biggest meeting on how to fight climate change. While everyone else is talking about the new US and UN reports on climate change and how we only have 12 years to fix the problem Trump wants to talk about how to pollute more and get rich off the resulting death and destruction. But we’re ready for him – Trump did the same thing at last year’s talks, and a brave delegation of youth, indigenous and frontline climate activists shut him down. Now, that same delegation is headed to the …

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Elections and consequences

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You may have heard that the 2018 midterms were more of a blue puddle or a blue splash than a Blue wave, but I disagree. In fact, I’m with Alexandra Petri who wrote the day after that if Pundits covered star wars like they covered the Blue Wave their headline would have been: Disappointing Night for Rebels Who Only Manage to Destroy Death Star, Dashing Hopes They Might Also Have Engaged and Defeated Entire Imperial Navy And I know that it can be hard to pay attention or find the silver lining since the next day Trump replaced Jeff Sessions (good riddance) with the even more nakedly corrupt and cowardly Matt Whitaker — kicking off a constitutional crisis in an attempt to end the Mueller investigation and declare himself above the law. But it’s important – not just to those of us who worked on the election but to all of us who care about climate change –  to pause for a second and remember that we fought like hell and actually WON an amazing thing. Let the Blue Wave …

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What really happened at the Global Climate Action Summit

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Our final day in San Francisco was for the #CommunitiesNotCorporations action at the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS/ #GCAS2018). We’d already attended the Rise for Climate Jobs and Justice on Saturday, and an occupation of Gov. Jerry Brown’s forest advisory board before the summit. At this last event, I was embedded with a group of frontline fighters during a tense stand off with police where we blocked the doors to the summit, and I had a front-row seat to the indigenous, frontline, and communities of color who were locked out of a summit where billionaires and mayors rubbed shoulders to congratulate each other on their elevated climate consciousness. Before you celebrate the commitments made by Mayors of New York and London, or by corporations with billions in profits, check out our wrap up video – filmed live on the streets outside the Global Climate Action Summit, and edited in South Carolina as hurricane Florence makes landfall. And if you’re moved by our argument about what works, and doesn’t work about Jerry Brown’s market-based approach to climate change. Then chip in to …

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Pruitt’s trying to over up this cancer-causing chemical report

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Last week, hundreds of 198 supporters joined more than 300,000 petition signers and 100 environmental and social justice organizations in calling on Congress to fire EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. But today, he still has a job. What’s more, just today Pruitt abused his power (again) to bodily remove a reporter from a meeting on toxic chemicals. I’ve said it before, but ANY other EPA administrator would have been fired already. But Trump won’t do it. And so far, it seems like it’s going to take more pressure to get Congress to act. So here’s what you can do to help: Don’t normalize this latest scandal with your silence. Share the news on social media using the links below, or forward this to friends on email. Share on Facebook. Share on Twitter. Chip in to support our ongoing work on this campaign. Last week more than 100 of us participated in petition deliveries from coast to coast. But Congress hasn’t responded to our demands. We need your support to keep planning escalating actions and protests that compel them to #FirePruitt. The …

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Sign here to Fire Pruitt as head of the EPA

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It’s past time to fire Scott Pruitt, Trump’s head of the EPA. Whether he’s tearing apart climate change regulations or making it easier to spread toxic pesticides, Pruitt stands out as the most dangerous, and effective, members of Trump’s cabinet. Your Representative can demand that Pruitt resign, and even fire him using the same impeachment process as for a President. But they won’t act unless and until we demand it. That’s why we’ve teamed up with a host of other groups to demand Congress take action NOW. Will you sign on in support so we can deliver your name to Congress while the headlines are still fresh? Pruitt’s been under fire for months over his bigoted, corrupt, and hurtful administration of our nation’s top Environmental Agency. But in the last week, it’s gotten really intense. The news has been so bad in the last week that when I confronted Republican Chair of the House oversight Committee Trey Gowdy (SC) — he of the Benghazi witch hunt — if he’d ask Pruitt to testify in his on-going investigation, Gowdy said “I’m …

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Last week before comments go BOEM!

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I recorded a short video to explain what we’ve been doing for the last 50+ days as part of the comment on the Bureau of Ocean Energy management (BOEM) comment period on the Trump administration’s proposal to open more than 90% of US Coastal waters to offshore oil and gas drilling. I wanted to explain what we’ve been doing for two reasons: the first is that there’s still time to submit a comment to BOEM (before March 9, 2018), and we’ve got a new way for you to do it that ensures you comment gets heard when you submit it through this super cool new action portal we set up with friends. The second reason is that this is a really great example of the kind of work 198 methods does, how we’re different from other environmental groups, and why it matters. A quick recap Early this year, Ryan Zinke, Trump’s Interior Secretary, announced a new plan that would open more than 90% of US coastal waters to oil and gas drilling. It’s a really really bad plan, since offshore …

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BOEM goes the dynamite – your comments in action

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When the Bureau of Ocean Energy management (BOEM) came to my town, there was already a great plan in place with rallies, lobby days,and speak outs planned by partners. But I wanted to make sure we did more than show up and record your comments (and mine) as opposed to the Trump administration’s plan. There’s an important role for direct action in moments like these. First it’s an important way to withhold consent – a critical strategy in the Gene Sharp model of anti-authoritarian organizing we ascribe to. Second, it helps inspire people to realize they don’t have to obey unjust and destructive dictates from the Trump administration. Across the country, people have been showing up at these BOEM events to speak out and demand a full retraction of this plan. The louder, less orderly, and more disruptive we get, the more Zinke and his team withdrawal. Some in the media are already saying that it looks more like a political stunt than a serious energy plan. And finally, it helps to correct the media narrative, which tends towards “both side-ism” and …

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Trump’s first SOTU

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Donald Trump gives his first official State of the Union address on Tuesday, January 30, at 9pm Eastern | 6pm Pacific. Even if you hate the guy (and you should), somebody needs to listed to make sure he doesn’t announce any stupid new ideas (like drilling for oil on the moon, or requiring every citizen to genuflect and donate $5 every time the pass an Exxon station). Our team will be listening in (and providing live color-commentary via twitter). And you can tune in with us! RSVP here and/or come back just before the speech starts Tuesday night and we’ll host a live stream of the speech, with running commentary from our team and a range of climate journalists, activists Climate Justice Warriors and more.  Live Blog State of the Union hate Watching party Trouble viewing the RSVP/Iframe? Click Here What to watch for: the Pre Game. Here’s some links and hot-takes before the big speech to give you an idea what to listen for. The Washington Posts pre-speech “what to listen for” isn’t bad The NPR politics podcast is a …

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Get up, get down, get local to keep fossil fuels in the ground

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One of the best places to make progress for our climate and our communities is at the local level. Already Mayors and city councils from Seattle, WA, to Columbia, SC, where I live are stepping up and taking action by calling for a switch to 100% clean energy, divesting from Exxon and other Big Oil baddies, or refusing to do business with the big banks that fund pipelines. Next Wednesday, January 31st, the day after Trump’s first State of the Union, our friends at 350.org are throwing a party with partner organizations, movement leaders and community organizers in Washington D.C. They’ve got a plan for howe we can ALL win at the local level, and I think you should give it a listen. If you’re interested, click here to tune in & watch Fossil Free Fast: The Climate Resistance via livestream on January 31st in your town or city — join a watch party near you or sign up to host one. The list of speakers includes Senator Bernie Sanders, Bill McKibben, Rev. Lennox Yearwood from Hip Hop Caucus, Jacqueline …

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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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