2020 Action

Eliminate Human Caused Emissions of Methane

May 2021 - After carbon dioxide, methane is the largest contributor to global warming. The need for deep cuts in methane emissions is made clear in a 2018 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. It warns that only with drastic cuts in methane emissions can we avoid a rise in global warming above 1.5 deg C, a cap needed to avoid catastrophic changes in the climate. Human-caused emissions of methane enter the atmosphere in several ways.

1. Methane is leaked, burned off, or just vented into the air from operating oil and gas wells. In the Obama years, the EPA had established regulations to greatly reduce such emissions, but just before Pres. Trump left office, he canceled all these regulations. However, the Congressional Review Act enables Congress to reinstate the EPA regulations if it acts in time. The exact date of their decision is unsure, but it will likely be before the end of May.
2. Methane is continually leaking from an EPA estimated 2.1 million abandoned “orphan” oil and gas wells. Many date from the 1800s. Many others are registered to companies that no longer exist or are insolvent. Pres. Biden’s Infrastructure Proposal contains $16 Billion for states to hire unemployed oil and gas workers to permanently cap these wells. 

TAKE ACTION:  Immediately contact your Representatives and Senators and urge them to:

1. Ask your Representative to sponsor and press for H. J. Res. 34, a Resolution to reinstate the EPA regulations to greatly reduce methane leaks. The Senate just passed its version of the Resolution, S. J. Res. 14, with 3 Republicans and all Democrats voting for it.
2. See that the $16 Billion in the President’s Infrastructure Proposal for states to hire unemployed oil and gas workers to permanently cap ‘orphaned’ and abandoned oil and gas wells remains in the Infrastructure Bills that are passed in the House and Senate.

CONTACT: Your Representatives and Senators in Congress

• Web: Find their names and links to their websites at senate.gov, www.house.gov; send an email or leave a message via ‘Contact’ on his/her website
• Tel: 202 224-3121 (Capitol switchboard-ask for his/her office & leave a message)
• Mail: Senator or Representative (first & last name) U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.20510, or U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515

Please write a letter-to-the-editor on this important issue

Support the National Climate Emergency Act

March 2021 - Climate-related natural disasters have increased exponentially over the past decade—the current calamity in Texas is the most recent example. These disasters cost the US approx. $100 billion per year from 2014 through 2018. This fact is pointed out in a bill introduced in the House in February by Rep. Earl Blumenauer and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. A companion bill in the Senate is in process.

This legislation, H.R.794, requires the President to declare a national climate emergency under the National Emergencies Act of 1976, and would mobilize every resource to halt, reverse, prepare for and mitigate the effects of the crisis. It would require an annual report on actions taken to deal with this crisis.

The legislation calls for investments in large scale mitigation and resiliency projects and public health; upgrades to public infrastructure; modernization of millions of buildings to cut pollution; protections for public lands; support for regenerative agriculture linked to local and regional food systems, and more.

The bills point out that the US, as a primary driver of climate change, has a responsibility to mobilize a response at home and around the world, particularly in frontline communities that have contributed least to the crisis but are already dealing with its consequences.

If the National Climate Emergency Act is signed into law, the United States would join over 38 countries and 1,800 communities worldwide that have formally recognized the climate emergency we all face.

TAKE ACTION: Urge your Representative and Senators to co-sponsor these important bills that call for climate change to be declared a ‘National Emergency’.

CONTACT: Your Representative & Senators in Congress

• Web: Find their names and links to their websites at gov, www.house.gov; send an email or leave a message via ‘Contact’ on his/her website
• Tel: 202 224-3121 (Capitol switchboard-ask for his/her office & leave a message)
• Mail: Senator or Representative (first & last name) U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. 20510, or U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515

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A New Sheriff - A New Beginning

February 2021 - With Joe Biden as our new President, we have a brand-new chance to finally address the worldwide nuclear weapons threat that is getting more threatening of late. All 9 nuclear nations are currently in a mad arms race, modernizing their nuclear weapons, making new smaller “more usable” ones, and speeding up their delivery systems. All this unfortunately leaves less time to determine whether what looks like a massive attack is not actually the moon’s reflections off clouds. No joke—that happened!

This is a unique opportunity to finally make preparations for global elimination of nuclear weapons, which every nation on earth has said it favors. The 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is a grand bargain: the non-nuclear nations committed to forgo nuclear weapons, while the nuclear nations at the time, China, France, Russia, U.K., and the U.S. committed to negotiate to eliminate theirs. The U.S. Constitution declares that Treaties are “the Supreme Law of the Land”, so it’s time to move on this. In addition, 122 nations have now voted for the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons which entered into force on January 22 of this year.

TAKE ACTION:

Congratulate President Biden and tell him that you strongly support his aim to re-enter the Open Skies Treaty (allowing limited overflights over Russia, Europe, and the U.S.), the Iran Deal (to prevent Iran from making a nuclear bomb), and the New START Treaty (limiting U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear weapon deployments at 1,550 each, with checks against cheating).

Urge him in the strongest terms to invite the nuclear nations to lay the groundwork for negotiations to eliminate nuclear weapons worldwide, as we solemnly committed to do in the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The UN NPT Review Conference planned for this August would be a perfect time to do this.

CONTACT: President Biden

• Web: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
• Tel: 1-202-456-1414 Leave a message
• Mail: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC 20500

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Nicaragua Hit By 2 Major Hurricanes in 2 Weeks

December 2020 - We know that hotter ocean temperatures produce more violent hurricanes. We also know that the gasoline we burn in our cars, and the oil, coal, natural gas, and jet fuel that we pay for and use, is not paid for entirely when we pay for it. There is what economists call the "external cost", the cost we don't pay for. That's the cost of the damages we cause others for using that fuel. These damages are not paid for by us, but rather are paid, for example, by people in Nicaragua, whose houses are washed away in those hurricanes, often with many deaths of fathers, mothers, and children.

We owe the Nicaraguans for the damages we've caused them. How big is the external cost, the part that we are not paying for?  The Obama administration used $40 per ton of CO2 emitted in its calculations of external costs. The average US family of four puts out 70 tons of CO2 per year—that’s $2,800. 

TAKE ACTION:

With those numbers in mind, contact Save The Children (US branch). They are highly rated and have ongoing programs to help in Nicaragua. What they need is additional funds to help people in their hour of direst need. This is great at this holiday time, but remember that this is just what we owe them.

CONTACT:

Save the Children—Click on their Donate button, or send them a check.

Website page on Nicaragua:
 https://www.savethechildren.org/us/charity-stories/hurricane-iota-how-to-help-facts-faq

Mail: 501 Kings Highway East, Suite 400, Fairfield, CT 06825
Tel:  203 221 4000

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Extend the New START Treaty

November 2020 - The New START Treaty of 2011, between Russia and the US, is set to expire on Feb. 5, 2021, unless it is extended. This treaty caps the number of deployed nuclear warheads at 1,550 each, with intrusive inspections to prevent cheating. This produces a measure of the all-important nuclear stability, which reduces the threat of an arms race spiraling ever higher, with increased complexity and danger of unintended nuclear war. Extending the treaty for 5 years requires only the signatures of the two presidents. There is no congressional nor parliamentary involvement needed.

We congratulate Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on their history-changing victory. We send him our appreciation of his statement:  "I'll pursue an extension of the New START Treaty, an anchor of strategic stability between the United States and Russia."

TAKE ACTION:

Contact President-Elect Joe Biden, and send him your congratulations and your support and encouragement to work immediately to extend the New START Treaty. 

CONTACT:   President-Elect Joe Biden

Website to leave a message: go.joebiden.com/page/s/contact-us

Mail:     918 Pennsylvania Avenue S.E., Wash. DC 20003

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Our Best Chance to Renew America

October 2020 - The election this fall offers the most significant opportunity in our lifetime to advance the environmental and peace values we hold dear. The next few weeks offer us the very last chance to impact this election at every level. 

Vote: If you have any questions about voting in your state concerning  absentee, early, or regular voting, votesaveamerica.com will answer them. This site also offers an instant way to make sure that you are indeed registered to vote. This site will be useful as well if you want to support friends in registering and voting.  

Volunteer: If you want to do more than vote, votesaveamerica.com provides excellent suggestions for volunteering in your state and for volunteer activities aimed at swing states.

TAKE ACTION:

Finalize your plan of exactly how and when you are going to vote. Redouble your election-related volunteer activities; volunteer to be a poll worker, or find engaging new ways to volunteer at votesaveamerica.com

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Make a Difference in the Fall Elections

September 2020 - Impacting fall elections is far and away the most powerful way to advance peace and environmental concerns this year. Choose one of these two proven ways to do your part.

Contribute to and volunteer for critical House and Senate races. The Council for a Livable World (CLW) has decades of experience in identifying key races in the House and Senate where candidates that support peace issues need support to win. Contributing and volunteering to candidates backed by CLW will insure that your money and time is strategically spent to advance peace issues. Contact each candidate’s website or local office to volunteer. 

Write personalized letters to key voters in swing districts. Writing letters through VoteForward is an engaging way to reach out to potential progressive voters in swing states. No matter where you live you can reach out to individual voters in the twelve swing states that will affect the outcome of the Presidential race, enable flipping the Senate, and impact redistricting for the next decade. VoteForward has a step-by-step process that enables you to write and mail personalized letters to a list of progressive voters who need encouragement. This is an easy, rewarding and effective way to make a difference in the fall elections.

CONTACT:

Council for a Livable World:                                

Web:   https://livableworld.org/meet-the-candidates/

Tel:     202-543-4100

Mail:   20 1st Street NE, Suite LL-180, Washington, DC 20003                                 

VoteForward: Register at the site, request a letter writing kit, and after a brief waiting period you will receive letters to personalize, addresses and instructions.  

Web:   https://votefwd.org/indivisible
Mail:   611 Pennsylvania Ave SE #192, Washington, DC 20004

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Let’s Get Non-Voting Environmentalists to Vote

August 2020 - A distressingly large number of people who are seriously concerned about the environment turn out not to register and not to vote. The Environmental Voter Project aims to significantly change this. It works to first identify non-voting environmentalists and then turn them into consistent activists and voters. To date, they have personally contacted over 4 million US environmentalists who are potential new voters.

The problem is politicians listen to voters, and if environmental issues are a low priority for voters, they will be a low priority for policy makers. Yet, polls show that tens of millions of Americans strongly prioritize progressive environmental policies—the real problem is that too many of them do not vote. Indeed, even in recent nation-wide elections, over 15 million identifiable environmentalists have stayed at home on Election Day. 

The key to getting powerful environmental policies in place might not be to persuade more Americans to be environmentalists; it may be as simple as getting more of our existing environmentalists to vote. The Environmental Voter Project is a new, powerful concept that (1) uses analytics to identify inactive environmentalists, and (2), applies targeted cutting-edge technology to turn them into registered voters.

TAKE ACTION: Across the country, the Environmental Voter Project is running sophisticated Get-Out-The-Vote campaigns with canvassers, phone-banks, text-banks, and direct mail. Their messages are specifically designed to get non-registered environmentalists to register and then to vote—specifically to vote for candidates who will protect the environment. We encourage you to become part of and support their efforts.

CONTACT: The Environmental Voter Project

• Web: org  - Scroll way down the page and click, “Get Involved”
• Tel: (952) 992-9393

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June 2020

 

June 2020 - The oil industry, deep in debt due to reckless drilling expansion, is lobbying federal allies to put them in the front of the line for more Covid-19 assistance funds, squeezing out struggling Americans who are desperate for help to feed their families. 

These companies are also putting pressure on the Bureau of Land Management to create a fire sale on oil and gas leases and an increase of drilling permits, and to open up drilling on thousands of acres in Montana near Yellowstone National Park and vast new areas of public land in Colorado and Wyoming. In Utah, new leases are proposed right outside Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, and Bears Ears National Monument.

A group of over 40 environmentally minded lawmakers is backing the ‘Resources for Workforce Investments, Not Drilling (ReWIND) Act’. This bill aims to prevent fossil fuel companies from receiving funds provided for under previous coronavirus aid packages, halt the sale of new fossil fuel leases, and prevent the Trump administration from enriching fossil fuel companies in a number of other ways.

Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.), co-sponsor of the legislation, said: “The CARES Act passed to help Americans struggling to make it through the COVID-19 public health crisis—not to make it easier for fossil fuel companies to drive us closer to climate catastrophe,”

ACTION: Contact your Representative and Senators and urge them to co-sponsor the ReWIND Bill (House Bill H.R. 6707 and Senate Bill S. 3611).  

CONTACT: Your Representative & Senators in Congress

• Web: Find their names and links to their websites at senate.gov, www.house.gov; send an email or leave a message via ‘Contact’ on his/her website
• Tel: 202 224-3121 (Capitol switchboard-ask for his/her office & leave a message)
• Mail: Senator or Representative (first & last name) U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. 20510
or
  S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515

Good News: The US Energy Information Administration projects that this year, for the first time, there will be more electricity generated by renewables than by coal. Renewables are just cheaper!

Methane - The Badly Overlooked Greenhouse Gas (GHG)

April - While we've been reducing, insulating, changing windows and light bulbs to reduce our CO2 footprints, we have ignored the 18% contribution that methane makes to global warming. Recent research shows that natural seepage of methane into the air, as from melting permafrost, contributes only about 1/2 %, while methane emissions from oil and gas drilling, and from meat production, each contribute about 8%.

If we ate half as much meat and switched to poultry, we could save 6%. If we tightened the rules on methane venting, flaring, and leaking, we could save another 6%. Compared to the disappointing 1% the US has reduced since the 1992 Kyoto Protocol, these numbers are HUGE! 

While the Trump administration is seeking to weaken even the too-weak existing regulations, House Bill HR 2711 addresses these drilling issues. It would forbid intentionally venting methane into the air, drastically reduce flaring, and require measuring and reporting the amounts vented, flared, and leaked. 

TAKE ACTION: Encourage your Representative to co-sponsor HR 2711, and urge your Senators to file a companion bill. COVID-19 has shown us that we cannot successfully bully Mother Nature, neither in this virus, nor in global warming!!!

CONTACT: Your Representative & Senators in Congress

• Web: Find their names and links to their websites at senate.gov, www.house.gov; send an email or leave a message via ‘Contact’ on his/her website
• Tel: 202 224-3121 (Capitol switchboard-ask for his/her office & leave a message)
• Mail: Senator or Representative (first & last name) U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. 20510
  or U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515

P.S. The anti-nuclear weapons march and conference in NYC on April 24-26 is canceled due to the virus.

P.P.S.  Some Great News: Proposals for 95% of new electrical capacity construction in New England are from wind (68%), solar (15%), and grid-scale storage (11%), with only 5% from natural gas. Because renewables electricity is intrinsically cheaper than fossil or nuclear!!!

Multiply this Message: Write a letter to the editor about this important & timely issue. This is a powerful way to educate and mobilize others.