I typically hate these cheesy, often-pretentious, holier-than-thou lists of things people should commit to doing if only they were smart/benevolent/disciplined/healthy enough. I promise that this one is different.
When 2009 begun, it seemed to many of us that all cards were stacked in our favor. We had a President and a congress that fully understood the problem of the climate crisis and had plans to do something about it right away. But after one year of running against the wind and getting all of our progressive hopes and dreams shattered by ConservaDems and suicide-pact-signing Republicans, we need to send a message to Congress that young people don’t just turn out to vote for a charismatic president, but we turn out for the issues that define the survival of our species.
So here are my top 5 Green/Sustainability/Climate Resolutions for 2010 that have the highest effort-to-outcome ratio:
Register to vote! (If you are a fellon and/or not a citizen skip to step #2)
Register everyone you know and everyone in your community to vote.
Have everyone you register send a letter to all the candidates running in your district saying “I’m voting for environmental justice/renewable energy/an end to the climate crisis” .
Campaign for your most climate friendly* candidates and let them know that’s why you picked them.
Vote and take 5 friends who wouldn’t have gone otherwise to the polls with you!
As Brad Johnson from the Wonk Room says, it took 30 years for the radical right to make their issues something few moderates would ever dare oppose (i.e. eliminating the right to choose, allowing just about anyone to carry weapons, etc). Electoral engagement isn’t a one-time fling that was cool last year cause we elected a charismatic dude, it’s a long-term effort to make our issues something that most candidates can’t get elected without supporting.
Commit to doing these 5 things in 2010 and you will help build a system that takes the urgency of the climate crisis seriously, but if you choose to ignore these resolutions and go for this list instead you’ll just be an environmentally friendly person living in a VERY warm world (do both and you are a trooper!).
* Climate friendly doesn’t necessarily mean that their platform is equal to ours, it means that they understand the issue and are committed to doing something about it. We can’t expect everyone to be on our same page, especially given the current atmosphere of confusion and distrust brewed by fossil fuel operatives and our gullible media. Even though it seems like an unfair burden, it’s up to us to educate people around us about the urgency of the climate crisis with out passion and hard work. If there are no candidates that come close to being climate friendly, find someone you support in your community (including yourself) and encourage them to run for office. It might be crazy, but you can influence the dialogue on the local level, build up local support, and maybe even get elected!
Over at the Quick and the Ed–by far the best named education policy blog in the world–Ben Miller has crunched some numbersand made yet another lender myth about student loan reform implode. Loan companies have been arguing that, by cutting them out of the federal student loan program to save billions (which will be invested in education), students will be loosing the world-class default prevention programs provided by guarantee agencies.
As it turns out, borrowers the Direct Loan Program (DLP)–who do not “benefit” from the activities of these guarantee agencies–have lower chance of defaulting on their loans in all but one (very small) category of school. If the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA) passes, all federal student loams will be awarded through the DLP. (more…)
Today is the last official day of the negotiations and I, along with the rest of Civil Society, am still unable to enter the Bella Center where hundreds of world leaders are gathering to determine the survival of millions of people.
As of Tuesday the United Nations started restricting access to non-governmental and non-press groups, severely limiting the transparency and inclusivity of the talks. This last-minute (though long rumored) announcement caught NGO groups off guard, forcing us to scramble and try to continue our work from cold attics, coffee shops, and improvised spaces with a spotty internet connection. Since few of us have been able to get in the Bella Center, large action to demonstrate support for the Island States, Africa and other constituencies deeply affected by the climate crisis has largely been hindered. Even Friends of the Earth, Avaaz.org, and other allies of ours have been blocked from entering the center despite having the special passes that were supposed to grant access:
But our persistance and commitment hasn’t wavered. A group of 40 international organizers spent Monday night planning an action to take a last stance inside the negotiating space. We pooled the few entry permits we were assigned and sent in 30 international youth on Tuesday. These 30 climate activists sat in the middle of the main hall and started reading the names of 11 million people from around the world that signed a petition asking for a fair, ambitious, and binding (FAB) deal. They set up a livecam and liveblog to show their allies all around the world the undemocratic processes of the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The young activists said they wouldn’t move until the negotiators would agree to a fair and binding deal, but where blackmailed by the United Nations Secretariat and forced to leave. The threat was that all 300 passes for Civil Society to attend would be rescinded if the protestors had chosen to get arrested. That is 300 passes out of thousands of people that came here to document and push the negotiations. Fearing backlash from other NGOs and not wanting to be scapegoated for the United Nation’s lack of transparency and undemocratic practices, the protestors left peacefully while encouraging their peers all over the world to organize solidarity actions wherever they are. We’ve already heard of a couple, and more are coming in every day.
At this time the negotiations aren’t going in the direction they need to be to guarantee the survival of human civilization. Despite the urgent threat, too many countries still seem incapable of accepting the dire situation we are facing. It is time for people in all countries to stand up. The energy action coalition just sent out an ask to the PowerShift list to organize sit-ins like the one that happened a couple of days ago at the Bella Center in their own senators’ offices. Only by scaling up our public pressure will we be able to push our governments to take survival more seriously!
One of the biggest sticking points against reform has been the fear that the government couldn’t handle the increase in loan volume and that schools would have a hard time switching over to the Direct Loan Program. Duncan sets the record straight:
By working with private sector companies with expertise in the field, we are prepared to initiate all new student loans in the existing federal Direct Loan program. Right now, the Education Department already owns and services 80% of the student loans made last year. It owns such a high volume of loans chiefly because it had to take emergency action in 2008 to ensure students had access to loans when lending in the nation’s credit markets was frozen.
Our experience handling the bulk of student loans makes me confident in our capability. This year alone, an additional 500 colleges and universities joined the Direct Loan program. Just last month, the department’s independent inspector general’s office issued a report documenting that the Education Department had taken the right management steps so that all loans can be serviced by the Direct Loan program.
In a recent survey by the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, schools that have made the switch to direct lending overwhelmingly reported the conversion was easy and quick. That is just one reason why that association of financial aid experts, along with organizations representing the nation’s largest public and private universities, community colleges and college students, support the department’s Direct Loan proposal.
By working with private sector companies with expertise in the field, we are prepared to initiate all new student loans in the existing federal Direct Loan program. Right now, the Education Department already owns and services 80% of the student loans made last year. It owns such a high volume of loans chiefly because it had to take emergency action in 2008 to ensure students had access to loans when lending in the nation’s credit markets was frozen. (more…)
It’s unfortunate that Professor Laura Stark and her students at Wesleyan, as they state in their article, “Where are the Students?” don’t think that young people are involved in the health care debate. If they had done a little bit of research they would have found that young people are in fact very active in the health care debate, that we are informed citizens who are well aware that the health care crisis is our crisis.
They would have read about the Y.I. Want Change Coalition – a group of over 20 national youth organizations including us, Rock the Vote, 80 Million Strong, Choice USA, the Student PIRGs and others that are working to ensure that young people are not only heard in this debate, but that they also have a voice in crafting a solution. Had they done a little digging, they probably would have discovered that the Coalition has been pushing specific policy priorities and is working with Congress to ensure that these priorities are included in the final legislation.
Stark outlines a lot of good points in her essay- including the fact that young people are not likely to take a traditional job right out of college. That’s why the Y.I. Want Change Coalition, with the support of young people across the country, successfully lobbied to have an amendment included in the House health care reform legislation that will allow young people to stay on their parent’s health insurance until their 27 birthday. In addition, young people are mobilizing, hosting events and rallies on their campuses and communities, collecting petitions, and writing letters to their local newspapers. Come to think of it, Stark probably should have called her article, “Students Are Active Participants In The Health Care Debate.’
Stark is right about one thing—college students do have a major stake in the health care debate. But she’s wrong to say that young people should ‘wise’ up and start thinking about the issues. We are proud of the work that young people across the country are doing to advance real, comprehensive, affordable health care reform. Now it’s time for Congress wise up and pass legislation that takes the needs of young people into account.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/matmcdermott/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
One of the most exciting aspects of the international negotiations is the level of solidarity between international youth and other under-represented groups. A couple of days ago I reported on the solidarity action with the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), a negotiating block of nations whose existence is currently and increasingly threatened by sea level rise. For these nations and for young people it’s all about survival. None of the delaying arguments and economic excuses brought up by developed and developing nations make sense to us when survival is at stake.
Another amazing display of solidarity came with the issue of tar sands. Tar sands are the most destructive industrial project on earth and consist of massive deforestation, excavation, and toxic refining in order to extract oil from the oil-drenched soil. All of these steps take place in indigenous lands and are a key factor in Canada’s continued obstructionism to the climate treaty. Check out this video of an exciting action organized in collaboration between the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition, the Indigenous Environmental Network, and some american youth:
Canada’s Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, hails from the tar sands province of Alberta and has a long history of association with the oil industry. Tar sands are to Canada what Appalachia is to the United States. Both are regions where local rights are trampled for the sake of the short term profits of fossil corporations and where local politics have a history of intimidation to dissenters, misinformation of the public, and extreme corruption.
But this isn’t only our northern neighbor’s problem. Canada has repeatedly used U.S. inaction and demand for oil as an excuse for their continued development of this destructive project that is visible from space. Without stronger action on climate and voiced opposition to the tar sands from the United States, Canada will continue to have a handy excuse for their continued poisoning and exploitation of indigenous communities.
Check out Tar Sands Blow for more information. A call to your senators saying that you oppose our use of tar sands oil would also be appreciated by all of those communities directly impacted by our continued addiction to fossil fuels.
The push for health care reform is moving (or is it?) so I thought it’d be helpful to have semi-daily “Health on the Hill” updates that should help you keep track of the reform debate and get to the meat of the issue. Enjoy!
Today’s Updates – 12/15/09:
If it were up to Joe Lieberman, this is all we would have out of the health care reform bill: Free Band-Aids for All, courtesy of ol’ Joe, your favorite Senator. I mean, really?! What is the Obama Administration thinking? Cutting a deal with this (insert your favorite word here) to get a reform bill that has absolutely no public option, no wanna-be public option, no triggers; it is unfair and quite sad that our legislative process has come to this.
For those that don’t follow this health care drama regularly, this is where we are at: the Senate has one week to pass its health care bill, as the White House would like to see a bill before Christmas. However, in order to accomplish that, with all the crazy procedural steps it takes to pass a bill out of Senate, they would have to start voting to end debate this Thursday and hold the final vote on the bill on Christmas Day. Probably not gonna happen.
That just means the debate will continue into January, further prolonging the other equally as important pieces of legislation that Congress needs to focus on, such as the climate bill and the SAFRA bill, to name a few. On top of time line obstacles, the Senate is also being held up by a handful of senators who refuse to give health coverage to millions of Americans and instead just want their way. Like Joe Lieberman, who now looks to be getting his way, because in order to pass anything, the Senate needs 60 votes, and he is the lucky number 60.
This will be my last Health on the Hill update for 2009 – I am leaving the country, but will be back after the New Year — hopefully to a country that has decided to pass real health care reform for the good of its people instead of for one (insert your second favorite word here) from Maine.
Reid indicated at a closed-door Democratic Conference meeting on Monday that he would drop a controversial Medicare buy-in provision, which was offered as a replacement to the government-run health insurance option, to win the votes of Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Ben Nelson (D-Neb.).
White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer told POLITICO: “If President Obama doesn’t pass health reform, it’s hard to imagine another president ever taking on this Herculean task. For those whose life’s work is reforming health care, this may be the last train leaving the station.”
Lieberman has now invented a new excuse for his intransigence every month since June, and this latest act of duplicity has left many observers musing about what motivates him. The hypotheses include spite for the left, “sociopathic indifference” to the consequences of his actions, and plain lack of intelligence. But it’s also worth noting once again that Lieberman has friends in the insurance industry who will benefit from his obstructionism.
New video on actions in Copenhagen in support of the island states and the least developed countries. These courageous negotiators are standing up to the weak commitments proposed by the ‘global north’ that are far from what required by the science.
Under current commitments, warming of more than 2 degrees celsius is certain. Such warming would drawn small island states and seriously weaken the already small agricultural output of in sub-Saharan Africa.
The WonkRoom posted the video of the Tuvalu negotiator’s plea for developed nations to reduce their emissions fast enough to guarantee the survival of his people. I highly recommend it!
I saw two videos this morning from yesterday, the Youth and Future Generation day, that exemplify the challenges that we face as young people in trying to shape the negotiations. These videos convey the frustrations, hopes, anger, and compassion that young people from the developing world are facing as they see their negotiators and their nations’ mainstream media delay and misinform. If you do one thing today to stay on track with what’s happening in Copenhagen today, watch these videos.
The first one is a follow-up to the action that U.S. youth organized to disrupt climate denier and AIDS-detention-camp advocate Chris Monkton (he likes to be called Lord, but I don’t care). You can see a video of that action here.
The second video is from the Canadian Youth Delegation. Canada is one of the contries with the worst emissions reduction targets, commitments to financing sustainable development, and overall attitude. Check out this courageous young person giving an emotional appeal to her country’s lead negotiator:
Young people from across the world are united in demanding that their respective nations set aside their ego and agree to a fair, ambitious, and binding climate treaty. Unfortunately many nations are still under the tight grip of Big Oil and King Coal and are unwilling to take a stance for their people and against the destructive ways of the past. It is inspiring to know that the Millennial generation is united in this, but saddening to think that by the time we take over it might be too late to save millions of lives of people in the developing world.
Missed a day on my daily blogs due to the sheer amount of things that have been happening here. Some of the highlights:
- Kyle Gracey, Campus Progress network member and Chair of the SustainUS steering committee, facilitated a youth briefing featuring the the Chairs of the negotiation working groups (Kyoto Protocol and Long Term Cooperative Action Working Groups) – two of the most important people at the summit.
- Youth made up over 80% of the audience at an off the record briefing with the U.S. negotiators featuring U.S. Climate Envoy John Pershing and E.P.A. Administrator Lisa Jackson. Out of 9 questions asked, about 6 were from youth. Obviously cannot comment on the content of the questions, but it was amazing to see such a presence from U.S. youth.
- On Wednesday morning we heard word that Lisa Jackson requested a meeting with 10 international youth. U.S. youth helped brief them about Administrator Jackson’s role as a champion within the administration.
- As soon as the Canadian youth event ended, word got around that the small island state of Tuvalu took a courageous stand during the negotiations to force the process towards crafting a binding and enforceable agreement. This caused an impromptu uprising of over 200 young people and others from civil society (the Copenhagen term for non-governmental folks). Check out a great post about it on ItsGettingHotInHere.
- Enforcement has become one of the hot issues discussed here and various Fossil friendly countries rejected Tuvalu’s attempts to address the issue head on. Among them is Saudi Arabia that spent the day yesterday trying to convince the rest of the least developed countries that the science behing the climate crisis isn’t sound(confused about the fake debate waged by neocons to discredit scientists? Check out this great illustration!)
- As the day wound down, word spread about a side event happening outside of the center organized by ‘Americans for Prosperity’ featuring climate denier Chris Monkton (who is well known for publicly advocating that all HIV-positive people be “corralled in a giant quarantine facility for life”). U.S. Youth quickly organized and send a bunch of undercover young people with banners to disrupt the fossil fuel funded astroturfers. Their action was an absolute success, check out their posts here and here. Check out this amazing video from the action.
- While much of the U.S. Youth delegation was off disrupting the work of oil company propagandists, the ones that stayed behind called over 100 people and sent out over 200 e-mails to rapid responders in the U.S. urging them to call President Obama. The U.S. negotiators have been trying to remove wording about 350 parts per million from the negotiating texts and we need to make sure that the White House knows that young people cannot have a stable and prosperous future if the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere stays above 350 parts per million.
- Finally, the Fossil of the Day awards took an interesting twist yesterday. Instead of declaring a 1st place fossil winner, the island state of Tuvalu won the first ever Ray of the Day award in the 10 year history of the Fossil of the Day tradition while Canada, Croatia and Russia were awarded with the coal-laden cup. Today Poland and Germany entered the ranking due to their obstruction within the European Union delegation and New Zealand was awarded the third place for proposing ridiculous targets. Another Ray of the Day was awarded to France for standing up to the fossils.
That’s it for now, need to run to another off-the record briefing! If you are interested in more policy heavy updates check out the Wonkroom, ClimateProgress, and CAN international’s videos.
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for December, 2009.
I typically hate these cheesy, often-pretentious, holier-than-thou lists of things people should commit to doing if only they were smart/benevolent/disciplined/healthy enough. I promise that this one is different.
Over at the Quick and the Ed–by far the best named education policy blog in the world–Ben Miller has 
Missed a day on my daily blogs due to the sheer amount of things that have been happening here. Some of the highlights:
- As the day wound down, word spread about a side event happening outside of the center organized by ‘Americans for Prosperity’ featuring climate denier Chris Monkton (who is well known for publicly advocating that all HIV-positive people be “corralled in a giant quarantine facility for life”). U.S. Youth quickly organized and send a bunch of undercover young people with banners to disrupt the fossil fuel funded astroturfers. Their action was an absolute success, check out their posts here and here.