By now, almost everyone has heard of the Credit CARD Act of 2009. This bill, which just went into effect, finally created some basic consumer protections for credit card borrowers. While these companies are doing their best to find new and creative ways to stick it to their customers, the bill stopped some of the worst abuses, and made sure that credit card companies could no longer treat college students, whom they courted aggressively, differently from the rest of the population.
There is a provision in the bill that many people have not heard about, however, and it could be a real help to student journalists, student government, and anyone else who is trying to make sure that colleges, credit card companies, and alumni associations are not taking advantage of students. This provision, championed by Pennsylvania Rep. Patrick Murphy, requires schools to disclose agreements that they have with credit card companies allowing them to market to students. It also allows any individual to request this information. (more…)
Yesterday at noon four dedicated health care reform activists left Philadelphia, PA on foot headed for Washington DC, 135 miles south. 150 people gathered at the center of the city to cheer them on and see them off, voicing their support for health care reform. The march is named in honor of Melanie Shouse, a volunteer for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, who suffered from breast cancer. She could not afford health care and therefore succumbed to the disease while fighting for others who shouldn’t have to endure the same tragedy.
President Obama’s healthcare forum on February 25th will be graced with the arrival of the marchers into Washington the preceding day. Anyone who feels that reform must be accomplished immediately is encouraged to join the march at any point along the way, especially the final mile from Union Station on Capitol Hill to their destination. A list of events along the trail is on the official website Melaniesmarch.com and you can follow the happenings through Twitter and Facebook as the marchers update their progress.
As the march’s finale is taking place there will also be a Virtual March for Real Health Care Reform on February 24th sponsored by MoveOn.org; a convergence on Washington of physical bodies demanding change and a mass influx of calls, tweets, emails, faxes, and facebook posts to represent the foundation of Americans who are in dire need of real action by Congress.
As the public presence of health care reform seems to dwindle every day we need to let our representatives know that we will not give up. Congress’s forum will be a good effort to bring the issue back to the forefront but that doesn’t mean they have a plan.
On Monday President Obama will be answering questions about his State of the Union address, how would you like for that question to be one submitted by young climate activists?
Right now, the most voted question is from someone promoting alternative fuels. Not clean energy. Not just energy. Not renewable energy. But alternative energy, and you know what that means right? If this question is still #1 by tomorrow, President Obama will have an open window to reiterate his support for dirty coal, nuclear, and offshore oil drilling and ignore the true solutions to our energy, national security, and climate crises.
Go to CitizenTube and upvote this question from Energy Action. We are only 120 votes away from the top, so every vote counts. Please spread the word and RT this:
RT @energyaction: Vote up youth leader question to #Obama! Why dirty energy when clean is smarter & creates more jobs? http://bit.ly/bGNR8R
It is hard to feel optimistic about solving the climate crisis these days. The media’s take on the Copenhagen international climate treaty negotiations is that they were an absolute failure. Their reporting on the federal climate bill is similarly macabre. Acc stuck somewhere between incompetence, cowardice, and straight-out corruption.
On the other hand, think tanks of ideologies continue releasing highly ideological analyses that are hard to believe. Nonetheless, somewhere between the mainstream media’s alarmism and the think tanks’ platitudes there is a grain of truth about the extremely challenging times ahead of us.
Is there any doubt left? The website where I found this cool image has more of these great visuals demonstrating the vast scientific consensus around climate action. As Van Jones said at the 2009 Campus Progress National Conference, if you went to 10 doctors because of a pierced lung and one of them (a Psychologist) told you you were fine while the other 9 said you desperately needed surgery, what would you do?
Unfortunately, scientific certainty isn’t the only contentious issue we are facing in the climate debate. Naysayers and fossil fuel enthusiasts consistently blurt out noise about how taking action on the climate crisis would bring about an economic disaster. Needless to say, those lies have no basis. To a certain extent, much of what is required in climate action (especially in the short term) is to level the playing field between energy efficiency and renewable energy and fossil fuels.
On New Year’s day, a small group of students started a their journey—on foot—from Miami, FL to Washington, DC to raise awareness about the DREAM Act and other progressive immigration reforms. These courageous students, who were brought to the US as children, did not want to see their futures, and those of their classmates, put in jeopardy because they lack a viable path to citizenship.
The students are working with a group called Students Working for Equal Rights (SWER), which is asking for help with this effort (especially if you live in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, or DC). They need people to organize a reception, donate, offer places to stay, etc.
SWER has received an Organizing Grant from Campus Progress as part of the Action Alliance program. The program awards $200-$1,500 to youth-led organizations that are working on progressive issue campaigns or projects that will help build the progressive youth movement.
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!
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 first day went fast and was extremely busy. While official national delegations were busy talking about decision making processes and approving agendas, young people were working on organizing fun and effective actions. Check out my video highlighting a couple of actions I attended!
I was also on a PodCast with Deputy Field Director of the Energy Action Coalition Whit Jones. Check it out here:
(sorry for my bad performance in this first video, I’m still getting used to being in front of a camera!)
I got to Copenhagen on December 4th and will be hanging out here at the United Nations international climate negotiation until the 20th. In this time, delegates from all nations in the world and many world leaders will swing by to either try to move the process forward or put roadblocks to climate action.
Official delegates aren’t the only ones here. Over 1,000 young people and tens of thousands of other NGO, business and industry representatives are here to try to get their voices heard amidst the chaotic negotiation process.
This first week, negotiators from different countries will begin drafting an outline of the proposal that should emerge. As the end of the conference draws nearer and the agreed upon aspects of the proposal are finalized, Environmental Ministers (i.e. secretaries) from each country will join their negotiators for the tougher part of the talks. Finally, on the last day where only few details need to be finalized Prime Ministers and Presidents will join in on the fight, ending the negotiations in a high-level high-stakes battle over words. The whole process happens over consensus and thus every nation must agree in order to come up with a viable proposal or treaty.
Unfortunately due to the delays brought about by the Bush Administration in the past eight years we are no-where close to finalizing a treaty, but hopes are high for a meaningful structure to be finalized over the next year and some strong commitments decided upon by some of the biggest polluters.
In my time here, I will be working with partner organizations in planning media saavvy actions, document them on this blog, and help U.S. young people take action through the Energy Action Coalition’s Rapid Response Network. If you wish to help us spread the word in your community about the U.S.’s behavior during the negotiations, sign up here to join my team of Rapid Responders.
If you have thoughts and ideas about what I should be covering while here, please leave me a note in the comments!
Funding our Future is a campaign to pass a progressive federal budget for 2010 and ensure that our nation.s key economic choices invest in our education, spark reform of our health care system, and address climate change through cap and trade and clean energy investments. Click here for more info.
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By now, almost everyone has heard of the Credit CARD Act of 2009. This bill, which just went into effect, finally created some basic consumer protections for credit card borrowers. While these companies are doing their best to find new and creative ways to stick it to their customers, the bill stopped some of the worst abuses, and made sure that credit card companies could no longer treat college students, whom they courted aggressively, differently from the rest of the population.
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.
