April, 16 2020, 12:00am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Mark Morgenstein, Director of Media Relations, markm@publicinterestnetwork.org, 678-427-1671
Sustainability Experts Celebrate Earth Day With "Fossil Fuel Free" Investing Online Panel
Participants learn how their individual actions can help protect the planet.
WASHINGTON
As the 50th Earth Day nears, most Americans are quarantined inside, and many of them are trying to figure out how to help the environment while the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic makes it dangerous to go outside. On Thursday, New York Times contributor Tim Gray moderated a Facebook Live panel viewed by hundreds, featuring Bill McKibben of 350.org and Leslie Samuelrich of Green Century Capital Management. These experts discussed how many environmentally inclined Americans have added fossil fuel free investing to the set of tools they use to protect the Earth.
"The divestment movement has grown beyond all expectations, and continues to expand rapidly," said McKibben. "It's always useful to share a few stories of the thousands of remarkable organizers who made that possible!"
Many of the organizers McKibben lauded and others have been sustaining environmental action from their homes throughout the coronavirus crisis. The Trump administration's pandemic response has sought ways to soften the economic blow for oil, gas and coal companies, despite those industries' adverse effects on public health and the environment and their unwillingness to change what they consider business as usual.
A growing number of investors understand that the fossil fuel industry's business model is incompatible with what scientists say we must do to slow global warming. We urgently need to leave that era behind, become more energy efficient, and increase our reliance on renewable energy sources such as solar and wind.
"People concerned about the climate crisis don't have to support the most environmentally-reckless corporations on Earth with their investments," said Samuelrich. "It's possible to save for your future and invest fossil fuel free."
For more information about fossil fuel free investing, click here.
With Environment America, you protect the places that all of us love and promote core environmental values, such as clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and clean energy to power our lives. We're a national network of 29 state environmental groups with members and supporters in every state. Together, we focus on timely, targeted action that wins tangible improvements in the quality of our environment and our lives.
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Toxic Fears, Confusion After Chemical Leak Hits Philadelphia Drinking Water Supply
"There is no circumstance under which the city should announce that tap water may be unsafe two full days after they learned of possible contamination and without a plan to provide safe water to every resident," said Democratic mayoral candidate Helen Gym.
Mar 27, 2023
Residents of Philadelphia and the surrounding area demanded clarity about the safety of their drinking water from city officials on Monday, three days after chemicals leaked from a plant into a tributary of the Delaware River, which provides water for about 14 million people in four states.
About 8,100 gallons of acrylic polymer solution leaked from a burst pipe at the chemical plant Trinseo PLC in Bucks County, Pennsylvania late Friday, entering Otter Creek, which flows into the Delaware.
The solution contained butyl acrylate, ethyl acrylate, and methyl methacrylate, which are used in paints and adhesives.
Exposure to butyl acrylateand ethyl acrylate is associated with breathing difficulties, and the latter is listed as a "potential occupational carcinogen" by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Despite the leak of the chemicals, city officials did not alert residents until Sunday morning, when they said people in Philadelphia should use bottled water to prevent exposure and warned that although contamination had not yet been detected in the drinking supply, water from Otter Creek could have traces of chemicals.
Hours later, Michael Carroll, the city's deputy managing director for transportation, infrastructure, and sustainability said residents no longer needed to buy bottled water—which had rapidly sold out at stores across Philadelphia following the earlier warning—and that the chance of contamination was diminishing over time.
"In a matter of days, the water in the Delaware should be okay," Carroll said, noting that tap water which had gone through the city's Baxter Water Treatment Plant had been determined to be free of contaminants as of Sunday.
Carroll said the city's drinking water had been confirmed to be safe to consume until at least Monday at 11:59 pm; the Baxter treatment facility took in new water overnight, which still has to be tested, according toThe Philadelphia Inquirer.
Democratic mayoral candidate and former city council member Helen Gym accused officials of "haphazardly" communicating with residents about the safety of their drinking water.
"There is no circumstance under which the city should announce that tap water may be unsafe two full days after they learned of possible contamination and without a plan to provide safe water to every resident," said Gym. "The mayor must guarantee access to safe drinking water... Should future water samples at the treatment plant show contamination, the city must provide clear guidance to residents on how to access safe water, and when to expect safe water access to return."
She added that Trinseo PLC must be held accountable for the pipe rupture.
Business owners and residents echoed Gym's concern about being forced to wait for information about whether the water will be safe to drink after Monday night.
Scott Coudriet, a co-owner of Lloyd Whiskey Bar, closed his restaurant temporarily on Sunday, telling the Inquirer that the cocktail-focused business relies heavily on ice and that he didn't want to risk serving contaminated drinks.
"We didn't feel equipped to make any other choice than to close," Coudriet told the newspaper Monday. "But if anything, today I'm still confused about the language that 'You're safe through 11:59 p.m'... I don't know what happens at midnight."
Helicopter surveillance on Sunday did not show visual evidence of a chemical contaminant plume in Otter Creek or the Delaware River, and a water quality expert at Drexel University, Charles Haas, told the Inquirer that his concern level about contamination was "fairly low" based on the information provided by Carroll and other city officials.
The chemicals would be highly diluted in the river, Haas told the newspaper, and a reservoir at the Baxter plant could close off intake of new water from the river if necessary.
A map released by the city, however, showed more than two dozen zip codes in Philadelphia listed as ultimately being "potentially impacted" by the spill.
Consumer rights and environmental justice advocate Erin Brockovich denounced officials' assurances of the safety of the water as "bullshit... from the 'stay calm and carry on' folks."
"I honestly don't know what to make of this latest update," said journalist Kim Kelly, a Philadelphia resident. "After everyone ran out and bought up all the bottled water, the tap water is now safe until 11:59 pm Monday night? What happens after that?"
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Amid Massive Protests, Netanyahu Reportedly Agrees to Delay 'Judicial Coup' Bill
"We are all joining hands to shut down the State of Israel," said the head of Israel's largest trade union federation. "The malls and the factories will close."
Mar 27, 2023
Update:
In the face of massive public backlash, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly agreed to delay his proposed judicial overhaul legislation until at least early May as part of a deal with the far-right party of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Under the deal, according toThe Times of Israel, Netanyahu "agreed that the formation of a civil 'national guard' sought by Ben-Gvir to boost public safety will be approved in the upcoming cabinet meeting."
Ben-Gvir is a right-wing extremist who has previously been convicted of incitement to racism against Arabs and supporting a terrorist organization.
CNNreported that Ben-Gvir "insisted Monday that the judicial overhaul legislation would still come to a vote in parliament’s summer term," which runs from April 30 to July 30.
The far-right national security minister said he had Netanyahu's "commitment that the legislation will be brought to the Knesset for approval in the next session if no agreements are reached during the recess."
Earlier:
Chaos continued to spread across Israel on Monday as flights were grounded, cargo shipments were halted, schools were closed, and mass protests and strikes erupted over far-right Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to overhaul the nation's judicial system, an effort that opponents have decried as a brazen coup attempt.
Netanyahu, who is currently on trial for corruption charges, was reportedly considering whether to delay the legislative push on Monday as opposition intensified, but such a move would risk fracturing his far-right governing coalition—which the judicial overhaul would give more power to choose new judges and override Supreme Court decisions.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right extremist who has called for counterprotests to support the judicial overhaul, said Monday that he will resign if the proposal is put on hold.
As the prime minister weighs his next steps, protests against his plan in the streets and among Israeli officials are expanding.
By Monday afternoon and early evening in Israel, tens of thousands of demonstrators had gathered outside the Knesset to protest the judicial overhaul.
Histadrut, Israel's largest trade union federation, called a historic general strike earlier Monday to build pressure on the Netanyahu government to withdraw the judicial overhaul. As a result, many businesses shut their doors and El Al, Israel's largest airline, announced a halt to all flights departing from Ben Gurion Airport.
"We are all joining hands to shut down the State of Israel," Histadrut chief Arnon Bar-David said during a press conference on Monday. "The malls and the factories will close."
The Financial Timesreported Monday that "Israeli diplomatic staff at overseas embassies have joined strikes to protest against the far-right government's judicial reforms."
In a joint statement on Monday, American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten and Stuart Appelbaum—head of the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union and president of the Jewish Labor Committee—said that they "strongly back the general strike called by the Israeli trade union federation Histadrut."
"All trade unionists know that it is nothing but an illusion that unions can cooperate with an autocratic government while retaining their independent power," the U.S. union leaders said.
The protests have been building for months, but they erupted with fresh urgency late Sunday after Netanyahu fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant following his comments in support of pausing attempts to ram through the proposed changes.
But the demonstrations,
frequently cast as part of a fight to preserve Israeli "democracy," are rife with underlying tensions and contradictions. As American-Israeli journalist Mairav Zonszein wrote for The Daily Beast last week:
The occupation is inseparable from Israel. The same government that operates Israel's liberal democratic mechanisms presides over millions of stateless Palestinians, who are effectively barred from protesting their condition. The same Supreme Court that struck down a law legalizing Jewish settlement on private Palestinian land has given the green light to Israel's continued transfer of citizens to occupied territory and to the siege on Gaza. That is why the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem defines Israel as an apartheid regime, and why Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have accused Israel of committing the crime of apartheid.
MSNBC's Mehdi Hasan expressed a similar sentiment in a tweet on Sunday, writing: "On the one hand, I'm glad to see so many Israelis protesting their far-right government's attempt to turn Israel into a dictatorship. On the other hand, I wonder where all their protests were over West Bank Palestinians living under an Israeli dictatorship for over 50 years."
During a demonstration in Jerusalem on Monday, police were seen confiscating a protester's lonely Palestinian flag amid a sea of Israeli flags and banners:
The growing demonstrations against Netanyahu's right-wing government have raised concerns about potentially violent attacks from supporters of the judicial overhaul.
Haaretzreported Monday that "right-wing WhatsApp groups and social media are buzzing with calls from activists to demonstrate across Israel in defense of the Netanyahu government's judicial coup, with some activists calling on supporters to take up arms— 'tractors, guns, knives'—and attack anti-government protesters."
"While Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to publicly state whether he intends to halt his government's judicial coup, Likud channels on social media have been calling to demonstrate in support of the judicial overhaul," the Israeli newspaper reported. "The pro-government demonstrations, warning of an attempt to 'steal our elections,' are set to take place in parallel to the anti-coup protests that are already taking place outside the Knesset."
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Sanders Unveils Report Debunking Starbucks' Claim to Be a 'Progressive' Company
"Starbucks has engaged in the most significant union-busting campaign in modern history."
Mar 27, 2023
A Senate committee headed by Bernie Sanders of Vermont released a report late Sunday aimed at debunking Starbucks' narrative that it supports workers' rights and has not committed large-scale violations of U.S. labor law—claims that former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz will likely repeat when he testifies before the panel later this week.
Since late 2021, when Buffalo workers voted to form the company's first union in the U.S. and set off a movement that quickly swept the country, "Starbucks has adopted an aggressively anti-union stance that is reflected in Schultz's public statements, the company's communications to workers, and its scorched-earth approach to blocking unionization activity," the new report states.
"Though the coffee giant claims they are a 'progressive' company, there is mounting evidence that the $113 billion-dollar company's anti-union efforts include a pattern of flagrant violations of federal labor law," the report continues. "The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has filed over 80 complaints against Starbucks for violating federal labor law and there have been over 500 unfair labor practice charges lodged against this company. These violations include the illegal firing of more than a dozen Starbucks workers for 'the crime' of exercising their right to form a union and collectively bargain for better wages, benefits, and working conditions."
The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee's majority staff report was published ahead of Schultz's planned testimony on Wednesday, an appearance that the billionaire—who has led Starbucks' aggressive union-busting campaign—resisted for weeks before finally relenting earlier this month under threat of subpoena.
The report also comes days after Starbucks workers across the country went on strike and outlined their demands—including a starting hourly wage of $20, guaranteed hours for full-time workers, and 100% employer-covered healthcare—ahead of the company's Thursday shareholder meeting, the first under new CEO Laxman Narasimhan.
While Starbucks says it "respects employees' right to organize," the HELP Committee report notes, the company in practice has "taken a firmly anti-union position" and has shown it is "willing to do whatever it takes to stop workers from organizing" by firing dozens of union leaders, surveilling and punishing pro-union employees, and promising better benefits for non-union locations.
"NLRB judges have found that Starbucks broke the law 130 times across six states since workers began organizing in fall 2021," the HELP report states. "The NLRB is also currently taking Starbucks to trial in 70 additional cases."
The report goes on to challenge Starbucks' claim that it is bargaining in good faith with workers who have voted to join Workers United. None of the nearly 300 locations that have made the choice to unionize since December 2021 have secured a first contract.
"It has been over 450 days since the first Starbucks stores voted to form a union. Starbucks has not taken any meaningful steps to make progress toward actually negotiating a contract in that time period," the report observes. "On November 30, 2022, the NLRB found that Starbucks has unlawfully refused to recognize and bargain with the union at its Reserve Roastery Store in Seattle following an election in May 2022. Starbucks has appealed the NLRB's decision to the Ninth Circuit."
The committee's analysis—which also takes on the company's claim that it is a "model employer" and that the unionization push does not reflect the desires of the majority of its workforce—concludes that "Starbucks has engaged in the most significant union-busting campaign in modern history."
"Just because Starbucks is a $113 billion company and Howard Schultz is a billionaire with a net worth of $3.7 billion does not mean that they are above the law," the report says. "They must be held accountable for creating a culture that allows widespread violations of federal labor law in an effort to stop workers from exercising their constitutional right to organize."
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