September, 10 2021, 10:50am EDT

Bezos Earth Fund Can & Must Do Better by BIPOC-Led Environmental Justice Groups
WASHINGTON
On September 8th, the Bezos Earth Fund announced its second round of funding of more than $200 million to a few environmental justice (EJ), academic, corporate controlled, and big green- and Hollywood-informed entities. Of the nearly $1 billion given out by the Earth Fund thus far, ~20% has been transferred to environmental/climate justice organizations, and much of that via funder intermediaries. Ironically, this is substantially less than what is called for in the Justice40 initiative they are supporting, which urges the federal government to ensure 40% of "overall benefits" are directed to "disadvantaged communities".
Now is the time for undeniably powerful grassroots leadership. This is even truer now than when the Earth Fund announced its initial grantees last year. We call upon the Bezos Earth Fund to make clear their commitment to frontline communities by mirroring Justice40's 40% investment (which is a floor, not a ceiling) and committing at least 40% of remaining funds directly to grassroots-led climate solutions. There are four pathways ready to absorb these funds: frontline organizations directly; via grassroots alliances and networks; via community-controlled capital mechanisms; and via grassroots-centric funder intermediaries.
In a recent article by Verge, CJA board member Maria Lopez-Nunez, at Ironbound Community Corporation in Newark, New Jersey said, "The Bezos fund is improving, but they still have some ways to go. We don't want byproducts. We want the real deal." We want direct investment in our communities, "not the undefined 'overall benefits' of funding streams that communities themselves don't control." "The Earth Fund is a complicated fund, given how Bezos has made his wealth on the exploitation of workers and the environment," Lopez-Nunez says. "[The money] comes from our communities; it's been extracted from our communities, at the cost of our health."
Yet, in this round, EJ groups whose communities have been most impacted, did not get funding parity with, let alone 40% of, what big green environmental organizations received in the first cycle [World Resources Institute ($100 million), The Nature Conservancy ($100 million), Natural Resources Defense Council ($100 million), Environmental Defense Fund ($100 million), World Wildlife Fund ($100 million)].
So, while it is a small step in the right direction, neither the dollar amount nor the strategy of depending on federal government programs that down the road could possibly benefit some environmental justice communities goes far enough. The Bezos Earth Fund grantmaking practices, thus far, do not do enough to close the $2.7 Billion Funding Gap Between White-Led and BIPOC-Led Environmental and Conservation Organizations. Nor do they help permanently retire market based schemes, carbon capture and storage, and other techno fixes that continue to harm frontline communities and fail to address the root causes of the rapidly escalating climate emergency. We need significant capital moving to make deep investment in the ingenuity and brilliance of frontline communities who are leading climate solutions that actually cool the planet and are available to us now, ready to absorb resources, and scalable through localized replication.
"We have to run and put our finger in so many different holes," said Dwaign Tyndal, Executive Director of the Boston-based nonprofit Alternatives for Community and Environment and Board Member of Climate Justice Alliance, to Verge. "We carry so much of this work, relative to the resources that are allocated ... Many of our groups are Black and brown, Indigenous groups and somehow that money has not trickled down."
Philanthropy and government, alike, must DIRECTLY support local solutions and narratives that come from those who have endured environmental racism and have lived on the frontlines of the climate crisis for decades. We continue to invite the Earth Fund to prioritize resourcing and scaling up those frontline-led solutions that ensure jobs, justice, climate, and care are centered, while working to reduce emissions at source through a Just Transition. We call for the commitment of at least 40% of the remaining $9 billion in the fund to the grassroots organizing sector. Large scale support for corporate controlled false promises and unproven techno fixes works at counter purpose and does not move us toward equity grounded in systemic change.
As summed up by CJA Board Co-Chair and Executive Director of UPROSE in Brooklyn, New York, Elizabeth Yeampierre, "If you are not investing in climate justice and ensuring equity in frontline communities -- you are not addressing the climate crisis. This is a time for transformative funding that will address an historic legacy of harm."
Climate Justice Alliance (CJA) formed in 2013 to create a new center of gravity in the climate movement by uniting frontline communities and organizations into a formidable force. Our translocal organizing strategy and mobilizing capacity is building a Just Transition away from extractive systems of production, consumption and political oppression, and towards resilient, regenerative and equitable economies. We believe that the process of transition must place race, gender and class at the center of the solutions equation in order to make it a truly Just Transition.
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Bowman, Sanders Lead Push for Biden to Probe Israel's Use of US Arms Against Palestinians
"Leaders in Congress who join this letter are following the demands of a rapidly growing number of Americans—including American Jews—who want to see the Israeli government held accountable for its decades of oppression of Palestinians," said one advocate.
Mar 29, 2023
Rep. Jamaal Bowman and Sen. Bernie Sanders are circulating a letter this week urging the Biden administration to "undertake a shift in U.S. policy in recognition of the worsening violence, further annexation of land, and denial of Palestinian rights" by Israel.
The letter, which was first obtained and published by Alex Kane at Jewish Currents, was written by Bowman (D-N.Y.) and is being circulated by Sanders (I-Vt.) in order to gain support from other senators. So far, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Summer Lee (D-Pa.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), André Carson (D-Ind.), and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) have signed it.
In the letter, the lawmakers expressed their "deep concern" over the "rapidly escalating violence" perpetrated by Israeli occupation forces and settler-colonists against Palestinians. It notes that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right government includes people like Itamar Ben-Gvir, the Jewish supremacist security minister who "openly encourages and praises violence against Palestinians," and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who "responded to the recent Israeli settler attacks on the Palestinian town of Huwara" by calling for the whole town to be "wiped out."
\u201cSCOOP: Bowman, Sanders and 8 others are urging the Biden administration to investigate whether Israel is using US weapons to commit human rights abuses against Palestinians. It's progressives' most forceful response yet to Israel\u2019s new far-right government\u00a0https://t.co/iPJVBdemIe\u201d— Alex Kane (@Alex Kane) 1680104787
The letter—which, unlike various human rights groups, does not use the term apartheid—details "shocking violence" that is the "bloody reality" for Palestinians living under illegal occupation in the West Bank.
"On February 22, a daytime raid by the Israeli army into the crowded Palestinian city of Nablus killed 11 Palestinians, among them a 72 year-old-man and a 16-year-old child," the lawmakers wrote. "On February 26, a Palestinian gunman shot dead two Israeli settlers outside of Nablus. Subsequently, hundreds of Israeli settlers attacked the Palestinian town of Huwara."
"The settlers, accompanied by the Israeli army, set fire to homes, schools, vehicles, and businesses, killing one Palestinian and injuring over 300 Palestinians," the letter continues. "The local Israeli military commander called the attack a 'pogrom.'"
The letter notes:
This comes amid an already violent year. Israeli forces and settlers have killed over 85 Palestinians in 2023, including 16 children. At least 14 Israelis have been killed, including two children. The previous year was the deadliest for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since 2004 and included the Israeli military's killings of two American citizens, Shireen Abu Akleh and Omar Assad...
This Israeli government's anti-democratic mission to dismantle the rule of law is a threat to Israelis and Palestinians alike. In addition to explicitly hateful, anti-Palestinian policies, this government is attempting to destroy the independent Israeli judiciary.
The Israeli government's judiciary reforms—which earlier this week were put on hold amid massive protests—"open the path towards further annexation of Palestinian lands," in "violation of international law," the U.S. legislators noted.
The lawmakers urge the Biden administration to:
- Ensure U.S. taxpayer funds do not support projects in illegal settlements;
- Determine whether U.S.-origin defense articles have been used in violation of existing U.S. laws, including for a purpose not authorized by Section 4 of the Arms Export Control Act... or to commit or support gross violations of human rights by the Israeli government; and
- Ensure that all future foreign assistance to Israel, including weapons and equipment, is not used in support of gross violations of human rights.
The lawmakers' push was praised by organizations including the Institute for Policy Studies, Win Without War, and Jewish Voice for Peace, whose political director, Beth Miller, called the letter "an important call to action."
\u201cUSCPR is proud to sign onto this letter led by \n@SenSanders & @RepBowman. \n\nThis letter pushes action & accountability for the U.S.'s ongoing funding of the Israeli regime's human rights abuses against Palestinian people. \n\n#StopArmingIsrael\nhttps://t.co/N4YDS2CSDD\u201d— #DefendMasaferYatta USCPR (@#DefendMasaferYatta USCPR) 1680112274
"Over 80 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers just since the beginning of 2023, and the Biden administration's statements of 'concern' mean nothing without action and accountability," Miller said in a statement. "Leaders in Congress who join this letter are following the demands of a rapidly growing number of Americans—including American Jews—who want to see the Israeli government held accountable for its decades of oppression of Palestinians."
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Biden Veto Expected After 4 Senate Dems, Sinema Help GOP Gut Water Protections
"The senators who voted to remove these protections shamefully put corporate profits over our right to clean drinking water, healthy water-reliant economies, and sustainable water supply," said one critic.
Mar 29, 2023
U.S. President Joe Biden's vow to veto a Republican-led resolution that would gut his administration's water protections did not stop four Democratic senators and one ex-Democrat from helping the GOP send the measure to his desk on Wednesday.
Democratic Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), and Jon Tester (Mont.) along with now-Indepedent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) joined with all Republicans present to pass H.J. Res. 27 in a 53-43 vote.
Passed by the GOP-controlled House early this month mostly along party lines—nine Democrats supported the measure while just one Republican opposed it—the resolution takes aim at regulations finalized by the Biden administration in late December.
"A majority of senators elected to represent the American people have chosen to side with corporate polluters."
Reversing one of many rollbacks under former President Donald Trump, under the Biden rule, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines "waters of the United States" (WOTUS) that are protected under the Clean Water Act as "traditional navigable waters, the territorial seas, interstate waters, as well as upstream water resources that significantly affect those waters."
In an early March policy statement threatening what is now expected to be Biden's second veto, the White House explained that "H.J. Res. 27 would leave Americans without a clear 'waters of the United States' definition. The increased uncertainty would threaten economic growth, including for agriculture, local economies, and downstream communities."
"Farmers would be left wondering whether artificially irrigated areas remain exempt or not," the White House warned. "Construction crews would be left wondering whether their waterfilled gravel pits remain exempt or not."
"Compared to the kind of uncertain, fragmented, and watered-down regulatory system that H.J. Res. 27 might compel," the White House added, "the final rule will secure substantial and valuable benefits each year in critical flood protections, enhanced water quality, and the treasured recreational activities—fishing, swimming, boating, and more—that fill the lives and livelihoods of tens of millions of U.S. households that depend on healthy wetlands and streams."
\u201cGood thing @POTUS plans to veto \ud83d\udc4e this misguided resolution. We're grateful to #ChesBay champ @SenatorCardin and @EPWCmte Chairman @SenatorCarper for forcefully speaking against it.\u201d— Chesapeake Bay Foundation (@Chesapeake Bay Foundation) 1680118199
If they all choose to run, Manchin, Rosen, Sinema, and Tester, are up for reelection next year. Cortez Masto, who narrowly won reelection in November, told the Nevada Appeal on Wednesday that the Silver State's "unique water needs are unlike any other state, and this administration's rule forces our local governments, farmers, ranchers, and businesses to jump through unnecessary red tape."
As E&E Newsnoted Wednesday:
One vulnerable Democrat facing a tough reelection campaign opted to stick with his party. Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly's vote had previously been an open question, but during a recent hearing, he repeatedly questioned the use of the Congressional Review Act to target WOTUS.
The CRA allows for a simple majority to overturn recent rules, but also hinders the government's ability to pursue a similar rule. Kelly expressed concern the resolution might unravel any efforts to make Clean Water Act enforcement suitable to states like his.
"Restoring critical protections for waters across the country should be a simple and easily supported effort. Yet a majority of senators elected to represent the American people have chosen to side with corporate polluters and play politics with one of our most critical natural resources," declared Sierra Club executive director Ben Jealous. "This is inexcusable."
"Access to clean, safe water is a human right and should never be determined by where someone lives, how much money they make, or the color of their skin," he said. "The Sierra Club has and will continue to work with our allies to protect our waters, and we call President Biden to swiftly veto the WOTUS Congressional Review Act resolution."
Earthjustice senior legislative counsel Julián González similarly called out the senators and called for a swift veto, while also warning that "protections for clean water are constantly under attack from polluting industries, and this will not be the last Republican attempt to significantly weaken the Clean Water Act during this Congress."
\u201c@POTUS How did we get here? Industry has been hellbent on pursuing deregulatory policies that are politically unpopular and benefit very few, but want people to believe that it was done in their best interest. \n\nSimply put: they spread disinformation. https://t.co/oBa3GYgeuU\u201d— Earthjustice (@Earthjustice) 1680122201
"The Clean Water Restoration Rule is grounded in the scientific consensus of how waters and wetlands are hydrologically connected and incredibly important to protect," González stressed. "This is a welcome step forward from the Trump administration's pro-polluter dirty water."
"Unfortunately, instead of relying on the science, Republicans—and some Democrats—are choosing to ally themselves with dirty industries whose mission is to eliminate any and all meaningful protections for our waters," he continued. "The senators who voted to remove these protections shamefully put corporate profits over our right to clean drinking water, healthy water-reliant economies, and sustainable water supply."
"We urge members of Congress who supported this resolution to reflect on why they are tossing aside concerns of people from all walks of life who value our waters in order to support those who would decimate the Clean Water Act if they had their way," González added. "Finally, we applaud President Biden for indicating he will reject this effort and veto this resolution when it reaches his desk."
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Idaho GOP Invents 'Abortion Trafficking' Crime to Block Minors From Care
"Human trafficking is a terrible crime where one person takes another person against their will," said one state Democrat. "It is very different from helping a young woman seek medical care without her parents' knowledge."
Mar 29, 2023
Reproductive rights advocates and Democratic state lawmakers in Idaho on Wednesday condemned a Republican proposal to create a new crime in the state using the invented term "abortion trafficking," which would criminalize people who help minors to obtain out-of-state abortion care.
The bill (H.B. 242) is widely expected to pass in the state Senate and easily passed in the state House earlier this month on a party-line vote, with 57 Republicans supporting the proposal and and 12 Democrats opposing it. GOP Gov. Brad Little, who has strongly supported the state's abortion ban, is expected to sign the legislation.
H.B. 242 would establish so-called "abortion trafficking" as a new crime and would restrict minors' ability to travel to get abortion care without parental consent.
Any adult who, "with the intent to conceal an abortion from the parents or guardian of a pregnant, unemancipated minor, either procures an abortion... or obtains an abortion-inducing drug" for a minor could face felony charges and up to five years in prison.
Family members of a minor who obtains an abortion across state lines—or the person who impregnated the minor—would be permitted to sue the providers who helped facilitate the procedure for a minimum of $20,000.
Idaho Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow (D-19), toldThe Washington Post that the legislation "cheapens the term 'human trafficking' and that's shameful."
"Human trafficking is a terrible crime where one person takes another person against their will," Wintrow added. "It is very different from helping a young woman seek medical care without her parents' knowledge."
Last August, one of the nation's most restrictive anti-abortion laws went into effect in Idaho, two months after the right-wing majority on the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
The law bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy—before many people know they are pregnant—with exceptions in cases involving rape or incest or when the pregnant person's life is in danger. Exceptions to save a pregnant person's life have already resulted in medical providers refusing to provide care in cases when the patient is growing progressively sicker and their fetus has no chance of survival.
Women's March said the bill is likely "the first of many fascist, unconstitutional bills" that will seek to limit pregnant people's ability to travel for abortion care.
\u201cUPDATE: Idaho is about to become the first state to restrict interstate travel for an abortion. The GOP isn't stopping with Dobbs \u2014 now they're coming for our right to travel with the first of many fascist, unconstitutional bills.\u201d— Women's March (@Women's March) 1680106725
Mistie DelliCarpini-Tolman, the Idaho state director for Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates, told lawmakers this week that the legislation will place many vulnerable young pregnant people in harm's way.
"For young people living in abusive households, disclosing sexual activity or a pregnancy can trigger physical or emotional abuse, including direct, physical or sexual violence, or being thrown out of the home," said DelliCarpini-Tolman.
Republicans in the state are seeking to further criminalize abortion care days after the state's northernmost hospital announced it will soon close its obstetrics department, citing staffing issues that have following Idaho's abortion ban.
On Tuesday, Republicans in the state announced they would not consider a bill to expand postpartum Medicaid coverage.
"Last year, legislators said they wanted to pass policies to support the health of mothers," Hillarie Hagan, health policy associate for the advocacy group Idaho Voices for Children, told News From the States, "and now they're about to leave town without passing House Bill 201, which would've done just that."
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