Saving the Planet 1 MOC at a Time

This New York Times piece shares some encouraging movement in the gridlock of Washington DC toward solutions and conversations about climate change… and their vehicle is Citizen’s Climate Lobby!

Stats over the last year:

• Volunteers held 1,429 meetings with representatives’ offices
• Organized 2,597 outreach events
• Prompted/wrote 3,339 editorials/op-eds/letters to the editor
• 2010 annual conference was 25 participants
• 2017 annual conference will be 1,200

Let’s keep building the political will for a livable world!

Yale Climate Opinion Maps

Before I get started, I have to explain the immensity of fascination I have with maps and data. Also, by now you know that I am an avid climate activist. I am significantly involved with several groups including Citizen’s Climate Lobby and Sierra Club.

I wanted to feature the Yale Climate Opinion Maps of 2016 which break down by county, metro areas, congressional districts, states and nationally. You can get lost looking into each individual section… I sure did!

Additionally, the same group at Yale recently came out with a poll overview of Trump voters and their opinions on global warming, the numbers may shock you and I have listed them below this chart:

Key Findings:

• About half of Trump voters (49%) think global warming is happening, while fewer than one in three (30%) think global warming is not happening.
• Almost half of Trump voters (47%) also say the U.S. should participate in the international agreement to limit global warming. By contrast, only 28% say the U.S. should not participate.
• More than six in ten Trump voters (62%) support taxing and/or regulating the pollution that causes global warming, with nearly one in three (31%) supporting both approaches. In contrast, only about one in five (21%) support doing neither.
• More than three in four Trump voters (77%) support generating renewable energy (solar and wind) on public land in the U.S. 72% support more drilling and mining of fossil fuels on public land in the U.S.
• Seven in ten Trump voters (71%) support funding more research into clean energy and providing tax rebates to people who purchase energy efficient vehicles and solar panels (69%).
• Over half of Trump voters (52%) support eliminating all federal subsidies for the fossil fuel industry, nearly half (48%) support requiring fossil fuel companies to pay a carbon tax and using the money to reduce other taxes by an equal amount, and almost half (48%) support setting strict carbon dioxide emissions limits on existing coal-fired power plants to reduce global warming and improve public health, even if the cost of electricity to consumers and companies would likely increase.
• Half of Trump voters say transitioning from fossil fuels toward clean energy will either improve economic growth (29%) or have no impact (21%).
• Nearly three in four Trump voters (73%) say that, in the future, the U.S. should use more renewable energy (solar, wind, and geothermal). One in three (33%) say that the U.S. should use fossil fuels less in the future.

State of the City: Mayor Ed Murray

Mayor Murray Delivered the State of the City address to Satellites today with optimism and caution. The Seattle Times article, shares Murray’s comments that while the tech and economic growth of Seattle, “‘reflects the 21st-century dreams of the 1962 World’s Fair: a vibrant city driven by technology and science creating jobs and innovation in everything from transportation to health care,’” it at the same time is weary of a growing population of homelessness which according to the One Night Count found an increase of 19% from last year which is very startling for what the future of Seattle could look like. Murray warns of the, “[fear] from the Great Depression as issues of homelessness and inequity continue despite decades of effort on the part of this city to resolve them.”

 

Book Report: Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Due to the recent events of Justice Antonin Scalia’s death, I decided to finally finish this incredibly enthralling ode to a person who inspires so many people: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

In this sassy book, full of pictures, visual aids, and timelines, we explore her childhood, education, and career and the challenges she faced along the way. Inspired from the popular Tumblr account, two authors – Irin Carmon & Shana Knizhnik – create a book that engaged an audience not normally aware of the lives and positions of SCOTUS members.

I especially enjoyed reading her dissents including in the Voting Rights Act case, with the authors’ annotative analysis emphasize the points supporting her minority view.

To end, I have included two images I took from this book of RBG and Scalia together. RIP to RBG’s “best buddy.”

  

Children the victims of a stalling Legislature; fix education-funding crisis now

The Seattle Times Editorial Board posted an article about how “Washington’s state Senate is pursuing wise accountability measures as it works on the state’s education-funding crisis. But it cannot allow the fix to be delayed further, shortchanging another entering class of students.”

People ask what we can do about this: write letters to your legislature or even more simply, vote. Vote for individuals who will make education a priority.

Victory Lap? Final State Of The Union Speeches Reflect And Look Ahead

In anticipation of President Obama’s final SOTU tomorrow, NPR shares an interesting look back through American history, revealing that President Obama will be the 5th president to present a SOTU to a joint member of congress in his 8th year. 5th seems low you say? That’s what I thought too… take a listen or read along and see which other presidents enjoyed this special privilege.

Book Report: The Presidents Club

This is a highly compelling book that I would recommend to anyone, those interested in politics and history or simply someone looking for a good read. The common knowledge that many if not most people hold about presidents are generally limited to the hits, the crises, the scandals and the triumphs. This book illustrates the multiple angles of the relationships strategic and otherwise of the presidents before, during, and post office. This exposé reveals an interesting mosaic of presidents in a light that humanizes them.

“Only the president himself can know what his real pressures and his real alternatives are.” – JFK

The Great Melting

“America is unusual, both for its obsession with race and for its superb statistics. Poor countries lack the means to collect precise data, and many rich ones choose not to. Some, like France, are so high-minded that they hold race to be irrelevant; in others racial censuses smell uncomfortably like fascism. A few countries distinguish foreigners from natives, though, and there the trend is mostly the same as in America.” –The Economist

Farmers Try Political Force to Twist Open California’s Taps

 

“Few in agriculture have shaped the debate over water more than the
several hundred owners of an arid finger of farmland west of Fresno.” The battle for water in drought-stricken California is a complex issue, and this NY Times article sheds some light on voices that may normally be overlooked.

Angela Merkel: Time Magazine Person of the Year

Time Magazine awarded Angela Merkel the honor of person of the year. The article features her life story from growing up in East Berlin behind the wall, to seeking a science profession to the last 25 years in politics and all the ups and downs involved with that.

“No one in Europe has held office longer—or to greater effect—in a world defined by steadily receding barriers. That, after all, is the story of the E.U. and the story of globalization, both terms as colorless as the corridor of a Brussels office building. The worlds Merkel has mastered carry not a hint of the forces that have shaped Europe’s history, the primal sort a child senses, listening to a story, safe in bed.”