#Climate Change Legislation

[pebblegalaxy]

The Inflation Reduction Act: A Green Facade Masking Protectionism and Global Inequality

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), signed into law by President Biden on August 16, 2022, has been lauded by its proponents as a monumental step in addressing economic and environmental issues in the United States. But let’s peel back the polished rhetoric, and what do we find? A web of contradictions, protectionism disguised as progress, and a policy framework that, despite its lofty…

[spooky-spextre-arts]

Hi, if you're interested in helping create effective climate action, one of the first and easiest ways to do so is through signing petitions and writing to Congress.

Citizens' Climate Lobby is one such service which automatically writes and sends messages to your state Representatives, urging them to take further action on creating/supporting climate action.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Changes to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act enshrining the right to a healthy environment have passed into law. The federal government has been working on the legislation for several years, and introduced the latest version in the Senate in February. It also adds a sentence to the act guaranteeing that every Canadian has the right to a healthy environment and makes it a duty of the government to protect that right. The government now has up to two more years to define how that right will be implemented when it comes to enforcing the act. Critics have said the law would be stronger if that right were enshrined in the Constitution, but the government is not interested in that change. [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[milesobrein]

After Election Day We Roll Our Sleeves Up.

I won’t lie, I’ve had some kind of hard times (small in comparison to so many other peoples in the world) but in comparison to my hard times, I think Trump being elected has been the hardest. I remember the speeches I made while phone banking most of them sent to voice mail about why Trump never could go to office, about all the people who would be hurt if Trump got elected and how with Trump even the fate of the world we leave behind for future generations is at stake. For every day Trump is in office, when I let my head go silent, my head starts to bring to mind each of the people at stake, each of the ways we are in danger. Everyone’s heart is broken, including those close to me, and I can’t help feeling like I failed them all, and I’m so sorry I didn’t do more to ensure this man didn’t get into office. To all those affected by Trumps legislation, I am so so sorry. I am so sorry I only started trying to make a difference the last few days before Election Day. But. now Kamala in her concession speech was right, she conceded in the election, but the fight for social justice is not by any means over. As she said, (man this woman is a woman of steel) we just gotta roll our sleeves us. Heck, the right is passing an overwhelming wave of conservative legislation, but that’s only in response that we shine so brightly. They are afraid of us, of our beauty of uniting together, and their doing everything they can to demoralize us, so we don’t see our own power. But it’s only because we are so powerful that there is so much anti us e. We are strong and that is why they are fighting so hard to break us down, and that is because we scare them, that is because the world we dream of us revolutionary and it is possible to see it in our lifetimes. But you know what, these next four years we got to do what the administration is not, we have to stand together to fight every person that Trumps legislation will be targeting, we have to stand with Trans people, gay people, queer people black people, native people, disabled people, Palestinian people, immigrants , people with uterus’s who do as a matter of fact have the right to choose, despite the right’s audacity to think otherwise, and if we stand together we person by person can make the country we want. We The People Do Have power, and if the presidents not the leader we want, we have to be leaders and stand for eachother, and our example will burn bright all the way to the White House. And send the message that in four years, the White House will be blue. Tomorrow, despite my depression and agoraphobia I’m going to challenge myself to go to the food pantry. If any of yall share any ways that your going to fight for the people targeted by Drump’s legislation, I’ll do an art peace for them (it goes without saying no charge) and the fighting back can be big or small too, just some personal way of (peacefully) saying fuck you to the president. Hopefully in four years when the nightmares over we will have an art gallery that spans across multiple buildings. With love and great sorrow but also hope for the America of some day, that is good. -Levian

[harriswalz4usabybr]

Speech Kamala Harris gave at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa!

~BR~

[mima-sama]

Milton was a category 1 last night.

It's a CATEGORY 5 now.

Please keep the Yucatan in your thoughts, because it's staring to look like they're going to be taking the brunt of that wrath.

[regulationlistener]

its really so absurd to me that even among people that believe climate change is real the popular belief seems to be "and anyone that tries to do anything to mitigate it is annoying and an idiot" like what are you talking about

[ivygorgon]

AN OPEN LETTER to THE PRESIDENT & U.S. CONGRESS; STATE GOVERNORS & LEGISLATURES

Act Now: Save Public Transit from Extinction!

2 so far! Help us get to 5 signers!

I am writing to highlight the critical state of public transit in the United States and urge your support increased investment in this essential service. The challenges facing public transit—under-investment, over-reliance on car ownership, and racial disparities—have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is imperative that we take bold action to address these issues for the benefit of our communities and our future.

Investing in public transit is not merely a matter of convenience; it is a necessity for tackling climate change, advancing equity, supporting essential workers, and fostering economic recovery. The largest source of carbon emissions in the U.S. stems from transportation, and increased investment in public transit can significantly reduce this impact. Furthermore, public transit plays a crucial role in providing equitable access to jobs, schools, and services, especially for those who cannot afford or do not have access to private vehicles.

With over 2.8 million essential workers relying on public transit, our pandemic response and economic recovery hinge on the strength and viability of our transit systems. According to studies, sustained investment in public transportation yields substantial economic returns, with every $1 billion invested annually resulting in approximately $5 billion in additional GDP.

I commend initiatives like the Green New Deal for Transportation and efforts by organizations such as the CHARGE coalition to electrify and expand public transportation. These initiatives are pivotal in shaping a more sustainable and equitable transportation system for all Americans.

Therefore, I urge you to support emergency relief funding for public transit and join the movement to rebuild and improve our public transit system. This is not just an investment in infrastructure; it is an investment in our collective future.

Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter. I look forward to your support in advancing policies that will ensure a robust and accessible public transit system for all.

📱 Text SIGN PZHBAF to 50409

🤯 Liked it? Text FOLLOW IVYPETITIONS to 50409

💘 Q'u lach' shughu deshni da. 🏹 "What I say is true" in Dena'ina Qenaga

[ttpd-chair]

Kinda crazy that young people are asking for laws and policies that ensure that we won’t die in a horrific or violent way and the response of the Republican party is to essentially give us the middle finger and say we shouldn’t be allowed to vote.

[aldieb]

but you guys i was balling [sic] so hard. after she opened with “augustine” she said people could yell out songs they wanted to hear and the first one was “city hall” and everyone went bananas at the lines “they can take it away again some day/ this beautiful thing won’t change.” i could see the person who yelled it first and the whole song they were doing a thing i do with my hands (but can’t bring myself to do in public [yet?]) where you’re just like wiggling your fingers furiously to the music like you’re conducting and playing a piano at the same time and i could see what looked like their wedding ring flashing in the stage lights. perfection

[harriswalz4usabybr]

Friday, September 20, 2024 - Kamala Harris

The Vice President landed in American Samoa for a few days of campaigning in the pacific territories prior to a state visit to the Philippines. On this stretch of campaigning she is joined by US Senator Mazie Hirono, Secretary Deb Harland, Governor Jay Inslee, and US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

We believe this swing through the three territories is critical to the success of our campaign. While we know that the territories do not carry electoral college votes, we believe their voices carry critical weight in developing a set of policies that will make us successful on our path to the White House and in our administration.

Pago Pago, American Samoa Event Location: Emelio's Restaurant Event Type: Breakfast Meet & Greet Event Time: 8:30-11:00 SST

Fagatogo, American Samoa Event Location: Tauese P. F. Sunia Ocean Center Event Type: Town Hall Event Event Time: 13:00-15:00 SST *Speech from kickoff of the event will be shared shortly. Below is two questions that were asked and the response by the Vice President.

Tafuna, American Samoa Event Location: Nina's Restaurant Event Type: Dinner with Local Leaders Event Time: 17:00-19:00 SST

Pago Pago During this event the campaign welcomed locals to come have a chat with them and discuss ways the island has been impacted by policies in past administrations.

Fagatogo The full-text of this speech will be shared shortly. However, during the town hall event the Vice President took questions, two of which are below:

Q: "Vice President Harris, we’re already seeing the impacts of climate change here in American Samoa, from rising sea levels to changing weather patterns that affect our food supply. What will your administration do to address the unique climate challenges we face here?” A: “Thank you for your question. Climate change is one of the most pressing issues facing our world today, and for island territories like American Samoa, the stakes are incredibly high. Rising sea levels and more extreme weather patterns are not just environmental issues—they’re economic and human issues. We need to ensure that communities like yours are protected. Our campaign is committed to investing in research and development that focuses on climate resilience. We will prioritize innovation in renewable energy, sustainable fishing practices, and coastal protection projects that help mitigate the effects of climate change right here. Additionally, we will fight for policies that support international climate agreements, while investing in green jobs that create local opportunities in industries designed to fight climate change. You are on the front lines, and our administration will make sure you are equipped with the tools to safeguard your home for future generations.”

Q: “Affordable housing is a growing concern here in American Samoa, especially for families trying to make ends meet. How would your administration ensure housing security for American Samoans?” A: “You’ve raised such an important issue. Housing is a fundamental human right, and we need to ensure that every family in American Samoa has access to safe, affordable housing. Our administration plans to invest heavily in affordable housing, both here in the territories and across the mainland. But for American Samoa, we know that housing must not only be affordable but also resilient to the impacts of climate change. We are going to push for policies that ensure housing is built with sustainability in mind—using materials that can withstand more extreme weather, and ensuring that new developments are energy efficient. We’ll also invest in infrastructure that supports housing, like access to reliable utilities and transportation, while working with local leaders to design housing that meets the specific needs of American Samoa’s communities. Safe, affordable housing is the foundation of a strong society, and we are committed to making that a reality here.”

Tafuna This event was a dinner with local leaders including Governor Lemanu Peleti Mauga and several members of the Fono. We look forward to including these local leaders in crafting of future policies.

~BR~

[sapphia]

USA please listen to me: the price of “teaching them a lesson” is too high. take it from New Zealand, who voted our Labour government out in the last election because they weren’t doing exactly what we wanted and got facism instead.

Trans rights are being attacked, public transport has been defunded, tax cuts issued for the wealthy, they've mass-defunded public services, cut and attacked the disability funding model, cut benefits, diverted transport funding to roads, cut all recent public transport subsidies, cancelled massive important infrastructure projects like damns and ferries (we are three ISLANDS), fast tracked mining, oil, and other massive environmentally detrimental projects and gave the power the to approve these projects singularly to three ministers who have been wined and dined by lobbyists of the companies that have put the bids in to approve them while one of the main minister infers he will not prioritise the protection of endangered species like the archeys frog over mining projects that do massive environmental harm. They have attacked indigenous rights in an attempt to negate the Treaty of Waitangi by “redefining it”; as a backup, they are also trying to remove all mentions of the treaty from legislation starting with our Child Protection laws no longer requiring social workers to consider the importance of Maori children’s culture when placing those children; when the Waitangi Tribunal who oversees indigenous matters sought to enquire about this, the Minister for Children blocked their enquiry in a breach of comity that was condemned in a ruling — too late to do anything — by our Supreme Court. They have repealed labour protections around pay and 90 day trials, reversed our smoking ban, cancelled our EV subsidy, cancelled our water infrastructure scheme that would have given Maori iwi a say in water asset management, cancelled our biggest city’s fuel tax, made our treasury and inland revenue departments less accountable, dispensed of our Productivity Commission, begun work on charter schools and military boot camps in an obvious push towards privatisation, cancelled grants for first home buyers, reduced access to emergency housing, allowed no cause evictions, cancelled our Maori health system that would have given Maori control over their own public medical care and funding, cut funding of services like budgeting advice and food banks, cancelled the consumer advocacy council, cancelled our medicine regulations, repealed free prescriptions, deferred multiple hospital builds, failed to deliver on pre-election medical promises, reversed a gun ban created in response to the mosque shootings, brought back three strikes = life sentence policy, increased minimum wage by half the recommended amount, cancelled fair pay for disabled workers, reduced wheelchair services, reversed our oil and gas exploration ban, cancelled our climate emergency fund, cut science research funding including climate research, removed limits on killing sea lions, cut funding for the climate change commission, weakened our methane targets, cancelled Significant National Areas protections, have begun reversing our ban on live exports. Much of this was passed under urgency.

It’s been six months.

[ceilidhtransing]

The discussions around whether or not to vote for Kamala keep being dominated by very loud voices shouting that anyone who advocates for her “just doesn't care about Palestine!” and “is willing to overlook genocide!” and “has no moral backbone at all!” And while some of these voices will be bots, trolls, psyops - we know that this happens; we know that trying to persuade progressives to split the vote or not vote at all is a strategy employed by hostile actors - of course many of them won't be. But what this rhetoric does is continually force the “you should vote for her” crowd onto the back foot of having to go to great lengths writing entire essays justifying their choice, while the “don't vote/vote third party” crowd is basically never asked to justify their choice. It frames voting for Kamala as a deeply morally compromised position that requires extensive justification while framing not voting or voting third party as the neutral and morally clean stance.

So here's another way of looking at it. How much are you willing to accept in order to feel like you're not compromising your morals on one issue?

Are you willing to accept the 24% rise in maternal deaths - and 39% increase for Black women - that is expected under a federal abortion ban, according to the Centre for American Progress? Those percentages represent real people who are alive now who would die if the folks behind Project 2025 get their way with reproductive healthcare.

Are you willing to accept the massive acceleration of climate change that would result from the scrapping of all climate legislation? We don't have time to fuck around with the environment. A gutting of climate policy and a prioritisation of fossil fuel profits, which is explicitly promised by Trump, would set the entire world back years - years that we don't have.

Are you willing to accept the classification of transgender visibility as inherently “pornographic” and thus the removal of trans people from public life? Are you willing to accept the total elimination of legal routes for gender-affirming care? The people behind the Trump campaign want to drive queer and trans people back underground, back into the closet, back into “criminality”. This will kill people. And it's maddening that caring about this gets called “prioritising white gays over brown people abroad” as if it's not BIPOC queer and trans Americans who will suffer the most from legislative queer- and transphobia, as they always do.

Are you willing to accept the domestic deployment of the military to crack down on protests and enforce racist immigration policy? I'm sure it's going to be very easy to convince huge numbers of normal people to turn up to protests and get involved in political organising when doing so may well involve facing down an army deployed by a hardcore authoritarian operating under the precedent that nothing he does as president can ever be illegal.

Are you willing to accept a president who openly talks about wanting to be a dictator, plans on massively expanding presidential powers, dehumanises his political enemies and wants the DOJ to “go after them”, and assures his supporters they won't have to vote again? If you can't see the danger of this staring you right in the face, I don't know what to tell you. Allowing a wannabe dictator to take control of the most powerful country on earth would be absolutely disastrous for the entire world.

Are you willing to accept an enormous uptick in fascism and far-right authoritarianism worldwide? The far right in America has huge influence over an entire international network of “anti-globalists”, hardcore anti-immigrant xenophobes, transphobic extremists, and straight-up fascists. Success in America aids and emboldens these people everywhere.

Are you willing to accept an enormous number of preventable deaths if America faces a crisis in the next four years: a public health emergency, a natural disaster, an ecological catastrophe? We all saw how Trump handled Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. We all saw how Trump handled Covid-19. He fanned the flames of disaster with a constant flow of medical misinformation and an unspeakably dangerous undermining of public health experts. It's estimated that 40% of US pandemic deaths could have been avoided if the death rates had corresponded to those in other high-income countries. That amounts to nearly half a million people. One study from January 2021 estimated between around 4,200 and 12,200 preventable deaths attributable purely to Trump's statements about masks. We're highly unlikely to face another global pandemic in the next few years but who knows what crises are coming down the pipeline?

Are you willing to accept the attempted deportation of millions - millions - of undocumented people? This is “rounding people up and throwing them into camps where no one ever hears from them again” territory. That's a blueprint for genocide right there and it's a core tenet of both Trump's personal policy and Project 2025. And of course they wouldn't be going after white people. They most likely wouldn't even restrict their tyranny to people who are actually undocumented. Anyone racially othered as an “immigrant” would be at risk from this.

Are you willing to accept not just the continuation of the current situation in Palestine, but the absolute annihilation of Gaza and the obliteration of any hope for imminent peace? There is no way that Trump and the people behind him would not be catastrophically worse for Gaza than Kamala or even Biden. Only recently he was telling donors behind closed doors that he wanted to “set the [Palestinian] movement back 25 or 30 years” and that “any student that protests, I throw them out of the country”. This is not a man who can be pushed in a direction more conducive to peace and justice. This is a man who listens to his wealthy donors, his Christian nationalist Republican allies, and himself.

Are you willing to accept a much heightened risk of nuclear war? Obviously this is hardly a Trump policy promise. But I can't think of a single president since the Cold War who is more likely to deploy nuclear weapons, given how casually he talks about wanting to use them and how erratic and unstable he can be in his dealings with foreign leaders. To quote Foreign Policy only this year, “Trump told a crowd in January that one of the reasons he needed immunity was so that he couldn’t be indicted for using nuclear weapons on a city.” That's reassuring. I'm not even in the US and I remember four years of constant background low-level terror that Trump would take offence at something some foreign leader said or think that he needs to personally intervene in some military situation to “sort it out” and decide to launch the entire world into nuclear war. No one sane on earth wants the most powerful person on the planet to be as trigger-happy and careless with human life as he is, especially if he's running the White House like a dictator with no one ever telling him no. But depending on what Americans do in November, he may well be inflicted again on all of us, and I guess we'll all just have to hope that he doesn't do the worst thing imaginable.

“But I don't want those things! Stop accusing me of supporting things I don't support!” Yes, of course you don't want those things. None of us does. No one's saying that you actively support them. No one's accusing you of wanting Black women to die from ectopic pregnancies or of wanting to throw Hispanic people in immigrant detention centres or of wanting trans people to be outlawed (unlike, I must point out, the extremely emotive and personal accusations that get thrown around about “wanting Palestinian children to die” if you encourage people to vote for Kamala).

But if you're advocating against voting for Kamala, you are clearly willing to accept them as possible consequences of your actions. That is the deal you're making. If a terrible thing happening is the clear and easily foreseeable outcome of your action (or in the case of not voting, inaction), in a way that could have been prevented by taking a different and just as easy action, you are partly responsible for that consequence. (And no, it's not “a fear campaign” to warn people about things he's said, things he wants to do, and plans drawn up by his close allies. This is not “oooh the Democrats are trying to bully you into voting for them by making him out to be really bad so you'll feel scared and vote for Kamala!” He is really bad, in obvious and documented and irrefutable ways.)

And if you believe that “both parties are the same on Gaza” (which, you know, they really aren't, but let's just pretend that they are) then presumably you accept that the horrors being committed there will continue, in the immediate term anyway, regardless of who wins the presidency. Because there really isn't some third option that will appear and do everything we want. It's going to be one of those two. And we can talk all day about wanting a better system or how unfair it is that every presidential election only ever has two viable candidates and how small the Overton window is and all that but hell, we are less than eighty days out from the election; none of that is going to get fixed between now and November. Electoral reform is a long-term (but important!) goal, not something that can be effected in the span of a couple of months by telling people online to vote third party. There is no “instant ceasefire and peace negotiation” button that we're callously overlooking by encouraging people to vote for Kamala. (My god, if there was, we would all be pressing it.)

If we're suggesting people vote for her, it's not that we “are willing to overlook genocide” or “don't care about sacrificing brown people abroad” or whatever. Nothing is being “overlooked” here. It's that we're simply not willing to accept everything else in this post and more on top of continued atrocities in Gaza. We're not willing to take Trump and his godawful far-right authoritarian agenda as an acceptable consequence of feeling like we have the moral high ground on Palestine. I cannot stress enough that if Kamala doesn't win, we - we all, in the whole world - get Trump. Are you willing to accept that?

And one more point to address: I've seen too many people act frighteningly flippant and naïve about terrible things Trump or his campaign want to do, with the idea that people will simply be able to prevent all these bad things by “organising” and “protesting” and “collective action”. “I'm not willing to accept these things; that's why I'll fight them tooth and nail every day of their administration” - OK but if you're not even willing to cast a vote then I have doubts about your ability to form “the Resistance”, which by the way would have to involve cooperation with people of lots of progressive political stripes in order to have the manpower to be effective, and if you're so committed to political purity that you view temporarily lending your support to Kamala at the ballot box as an untenable betrayal of everything you stand for then forgive me for also doubting your ability to productively cooperate with allies on the ground with whom you don't 100% agree. Plus, if the Trump campaign gets its way, American progressives would be kept so busy trying to put out about twenty different fires at once that you'd be able to accomplish very little. Maybe you get them to soften their stance on trans healthcare but oh shit, the climate policies are still in place. But more importantly, how many people do you think will protest for abortion rights if doing so means staring down a gun? Or organise to protect their neighbours from deportation if doing so means being thrown in prison yourself? And OK, maybe you're sure that you will, but history has shown us time and time again that most people won't. Most people aren't willing to face that kind of personal risk. And a tiny number of lefties willing to risk incarceration or death to protect undocumented people or trans people or whatever other groups are targeted is sadly not enough to prevent the horrors from happening. That is small fry compared to the full might of a determined state. Of course if the worst happens and Trump wins then you should do what you can to mitigate the harm; I'm not saying you shouldn't. But really the time to act is now. You have an opportunity right here to mitigate the harm and it's called “not letting him get elected”. Act now to prevent that kind of horrific authoritarian situation from developing in the first place; don't sit this one out under the naïve belief that “we'll be able to stop it if it happens”. You won't.