Great New Sunrise Pitch for Bernie and Building a Movement

Stop Airport Expansion

The Airport expansion is a gift to the wine and tourism industries -- two low wage extraction industries increasingly owned by outside investors. This and all fossil fuel new infrastructure is a climate issue. This is the wrong direction and must be stopped.  Sign the petition here

We are in a Climate Crisis.

• Locally we are already experiencing impacts of the climate crisis including record high winds, wildfires, floods, and the loss of health, homes and lives.  
• In recognition of this, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors has passed a Climate Emergency Resolution.

Air travel emits significant CO2 which worsens the Climate Crisis.

• A round-trip flight from New York to London generates an average of 986 kg of CO2 per passenger. There are 56 countries where the average person's carbon footprint is less than that for an entire year.
• Increasing CO2 would prevent future generations from having the opportunities prior generations have had to live and thrive.

There is a proposal to increase air travel at the Sonoma County Airport with plans to begin construction this summer on expansion of the airport terminal.  

• It is expected to cost $25 Million to expand the terminal (half of the funds have been obtained).  Instead, our community needs to utilize our resources to address the Climate Crisis, increase fire safety, reduce power outages, and develop economic justice by creating green jobs that are not dependent upon fossil fuels.
• Increasing the number of flights will increase noise pollution, air pollution and health challenges, especially for those with asthma.

We need public support to STOP expansion of the Sonoma County Airport.  

PLEASE SIGN OUR PETITION TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:

Dear Supervisors,

We urge you to please stop any plans to increase flights at the Sonoma County Airport and to not put any resources into expansion of the airport terminal.

Signed,

Global Warming Narrated Video

We Don't Have 12 More Years

 

...and that means across the globe!

Why We Can’t Just #PlantATree

"Plant a Tree and Save the Planet" can now join recycle plastic and change your light bulbs in the dust bin of destructive memes foisted on us for 30 years.  We must overcome the industrial and financial system and stop exploiting mother earth.

Not Every Forest Is a Forest

The most recent publication of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization’s Forest Terms and Definitions paper defines a forest as any land above 0.5 hectares (roughly 1.2 acres) with a canopy cover of 10 percent or more. This includes land that has been clear cut but that is expected to regenerate within five years. It also includes certain types of tree plantations, including Christmas Tree plantations.

Ultimately, the UN definition of forests misses a lot of points. Be it the damage done by so-called sustainable forestry practices, biodiversity or real climate change mitigation, this definition side-steps reality and misguides the well-meaning plant-a-tree movement.

This is a short read and basic but we should understand that current popular remedies and international initiatives as well are out of step with science and are just covering for the convenience and profit of self interested industrial extraction industry.

https://truthout.org/articles/why-we-cant-just-plantatree/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=a03eed1b-ca2e-4aa7-b41c-c307023a2499

Climate Resolution: North Bay Governments Grapple with Climate Change

Thanks to Will Carruthers at the Pacific Sun for this great reporting on climate activism and specifically the Emergency Climate Declarations.  It is clearly time to escalate our demand.

But activists ask: Will the declarations change anything? Not fast enough, according to Dr. José Hernández Ayala. 

Hernández Ayala, a climate scientist at Sonoma State University, compared the county’s recent emergency declaration to a New Years Resolution and noted the goals set are not sufficiently urgent. 

“We’re saying we’re not going to eat as much and we’re going to do a lot of exercise,” he says. “We make all of these promises that we really want to be reality but, at the end of the day, there’s nothing really forcing us to actually achieve those things.”

The Sunrise Movement, a national organization with regional chapters which organized strikes nationwide, advances the idea of shaming politicians into taking immediate action on climate change. Politicians, they argue, are negligent in sitting idly by while the earth continues to heat, setting off a chain of negative consequences. 

Christine Byrne, organizer of the Sunrise Movement’s Sonoma County Hub, says the current crop of climate activists is more prone to anger than previous generations of activists. 

Byrne says they should keep the focus on systemic change, with a focus on those profiting from carbon emissions. 

In 2017, a report by the nonprofit CDP concluded that just 100 companies are accountable for 71 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions since 1988. 

“It’s good for us in our individual lives to take some ownership [for our lifestyles.] … but more and more, especially young people, are recognizing that they as individuals did not create this problem,” Byrne says. Instead, a select group of businesses and the politicians who enable them are to blame. 

That causes anger among young people who realize they will live with the cascading damage of climate change for the rest of their lives.

https://pacificsun.com/climate-resolution/

Love the Earth | Protect the Earth | Make Ecocide a Crime Now!

This is clear and logical. Ecocide is a crime against humanity. Allowing and subsidizing corporations and states to destroy our world for profit and power must end. A new initiative has just been launched to make ecocide a crime. Go here, join, donate and stay connected.

 

 This is a transformative, heart felt call for a new criminal law to address global warming and the story of an elder, Polly Higgins, a hero of our time a and friend of XR who recently died and is celebrated here wth the launch of large scale effort to make ecocide a crime.

 

Naomi Klein on the Green New Deal & the Working Class: "We cannot trust our elites"

Great political framing in 5 minutes.

Cooperative ownership of community solar

This new project is a great model for equitable solarization This video is short and worth watching

Protesters dragged off tube train as Extinction Rebellion delay commuters in London

A letter was published today by XR after the "tube" action met with violent response by commuters.  This is an important moment to remember.  The media has been pressing this questions ever since the first XR actions in April, "won't inconveniencing the public alienate them from your cause".  The answer of course has been "but we must because otherwise the issue is completely ignored".  Both are true by measure but the letter holds to the necessity of disruption. This is why the framing of this letter is important. Also see the clip at the bottom as an example of how these questions from the media are framed and a good example of XR spokesperson staying on point.



It is regrettable that there was violence at today’s action at Canning Town tube station. We would like to express our sadness that events escalated this way.

We are aware that one of our activists responded in self defence in a moment of panic when confronted by a threatening situation. He acknowledges his accountability for this action and we offer gratitude for members of the public who helped to protect him.

To those that engaged in violence, we acknowledge that we disrupted your life today.

Rather than let this incident divide – at this moment of heightened attention – we think it is right to reach out to you, to invite you to have a conversation about what happened today. [1]

In light of today’s events, Extinction Rebellion will be looking at ways to bring people together rather than create an unnecessary division.

The people involved today did not take this action lightly. They were a grandfather, an ex-buddhist teacher, a vicar and a former GP among others who acted out of rational fear for the future as this crisis deepens.

We are aware that this action was divisive. We are a broad and diverse movement with a wide range of views, and are aware that many people were not for this action. Those that acted this morning planned their action autonomously, within Extinction Rebellion’s principles and values, centred around nonviolence and compassion.

Extinction Rebellion remains fully committed to nonviolence and will continue to put ourselves in vulnerable situations to highlight the climate and ecological emergency we face. It is unfortunate that something like this has to happen for this to become ‘newsworthy’.

This follows 10 days of peaceful actions in London. Extinction Rebellion’s supporters are ordinary people who are trying desperately to preserve the safety and security of all life on earth.




Her is another good article.

Extinction Rebellion has been clear that its primary goal is not to secure majority support for taking the necessary action to tackle climate change. 

Instead, XR’s goal is to cause enough disruption to the economy and the functioning of society that governments are forced to do what is needed to make a dent in global warming. If the cost of their protests and direct action outweighs the investment needed to turn us into a zero-carbon economy, the economic arguments should succeed where the existential and moral ones haven’t.

 https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/environment/2019/10/extinction-rebellion-may-enrage-commuters-it-doesnt-rely-majority

It's All Your Fault -- BBC

I have trouble with this video.  I did not build this world.  I understand that inaction can be a form of complicity but we did not consent even if many were duped into thinking they agreed to it.  Nonetheless hearing this is useful to understand that as we organize to change the world we know that we are not saintly or better than ordinary people. Corporate media blaming ordinary people is a deceitful share the blame game.

XR Mothers and Children - "Nurse-In" outside Downing Street

This is a brilliant tactic and again reported on ITV UK independent station.  I wish we had independent television

1000's Join Peaceful Protests - 200+ Arrested

I have never see such good reporting on television but this one was on UK's ITV news.