February, 22 2022, 12:32pm EDT
Billie Eilish and Maggie Baird Take to Capitol Hill to Advocate for Plant-Based School Meals
Mother-daughter duo Eilish and Baird joined Representatives Velázquez and Bowman along with climate, racial and health justice groups for a briefing on the Healthy Future Students and Earth Act
WASHINGTON
Today, Grammy Award winning artist Billie Eilish and food justice and climate activist Maggie Baird spoke at a Capitol Hill briefing in support of the Healthy Future Students and Earth Act (H.R.4108). This bill, introduced in June 2021 by Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) and Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), would create a pilot grant program to help school districts overcome barriers to serving healthy, climate-friendly meals.
Whether for health, environmental, philosophical, religious, or other reasons, students and their families are increasingly asking for more plant-based options at school. Most schools, however, are struggling to meet that demand due in part to policy barriers that favor animal-based foods. By providing schools with the resources they need to serve healthy, plant-based meal options, the Healthy Future Students and Earth Act will help to alleviate food insecurity, improve health and educational outcomes for our children, and fight climate change.
"I'm proud to advocate for this legislation that will help to fight climate change, combat food insecurity, and promote health equity," said Billie Eilish, Grammy Award winning artist, songwriter, and activist.
"Providing nourishing, plant-based school meals is crucial to improving the health of our kids and protecting the planet that they will inherit from us," said Maggie Baird, founder of Support and Feed, a plant-based food justice organization. "With climate catastrophe looming and racial health disparities worsening, Congress must prioritize passing the Healthy Future Students and Earth Act."
Eilish and Baird are committed advocates for food justice and believe that everyone has a right to healthy, plant-based food. Eilish was the executive producer of the film, They Are Trying to Kill Us, about the intersections of food, disease, institutional racism, and poverty. Baird is the founder of Support and Feed, a non- profit that provides nourishing plant-based meals to people in need.
In addition to the bills' sponsors, Eilish and Baird, the panel of speakers at the briefing included:
- Genesis Butler, Founder of Youth Climate Save
- Tracye McQuirter, Best-selling Author and Public Health Nutritionist
- Eloisa Trinidad, Chapter President of Hip Hop Is Green and Executive Director of Chilis on Wheels
The briefing also featured a new video sharing why students across the country want more plant-based food options at school. The video was created by the coalition supporting the legislation.
"Every child deserves healthy, nutritious, and sustainable meals that respects their choice," said Representative Velazquez. "The Healthy Future Students and Earth Act will invest in the health of our children and help combat climate change by funding plant-based entrees in schools across the country. I'm proud to champion legislation that would deliver food justice for all and build a greener, healthier future for our kids."
"At the same time as we invest urgently in the transition to renewable energy, we must build sustainable food systems at every level of our society -- and our public education system can lead the way," said Representative Bowman. "I am proud to stand with Rep. Velazquez in introducing this bill, which would advance food justice in marginalized communities, support local farmers of color, and nourish all Americans while fighting the climate crisis."
"There is a huge rise in youth wanting to eat more plant-based options either for the animals, their health, the planet, or for all of these reasons," said Genesis Butler, the 15-year-old founder of Youth Climate Save. "Many are unable to do so though because they do not have access to plant-based meals. Since youth spend much of their time at school, it only makes sense for schools to provide plant-based meals. I urge everyone to support the Healthy Future Students and Earth Act because it will benefit us all."
"Black women experience the highest rates of chronic diseases, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer, but most of these illnesses can be prevented and often reversed by eating healthy plant-based foods. Ensuring our students have access to healthy, plant-based meals can help instill in them a lifetime of healthy eating habits that will mitigate the devastating impact these pre-existing conditions can have," said Tracye McQuirter, best-selling author of Ageless Vegan and By Any Greens Necessary and public health nutritionist.
"We must continue to right the historical wrongs of colonization which have led to great disparities in health, food security, and environmental justice, most of which is felt by Black, Indigenous, and students of the Global Majority," said Eloisa Trinidad, New York City Chapter President for Hip Hop is Green and Executive Director of Chilis on Wheels. "Any student going hungry throughout their school day because the food offered is either not culturally appropriate or doesn't meet their other needs is unacceptable. Providing proper sustenance through school food is one of the ways in which we can give every student an early chance to succeed. The Healthy Future Students and Earth Act starts to reimagine what empowering our students for a better future looks like."
"The Healthy Future Students and Earth Pilot Program Act presents a quadruple win for student choice, racial equity, student health, and the environment," said Chloe Waterman, senior program manager at Friends of the Earth U.S, who moderated the briefing panel. "We are grateful to Billie Eilish and Maggie Baird for using their platform to advocate for an equitable, plant-forward school meal program and to Representatives Bowman and Velazquez for their leadership on this important issue."
Friends of the Earth fights for a more healthy and just world. Together we speak truth to power and expose those who endanger the health of people and the planet for corporate profit. We organize to build long-term political power and campaign to change the rules of our economic and political systems that create injustice and destroy nature.
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WFP's global hunger report was released on the same day U.S. President Joe Biden signed into law a measure containing tens of billions of dollars in additional military assistance for Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan.
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Open internet advocates on Thursday applauded the Federal Communications Commission's long-anticipated vote to revive net neutrality rules and reestablish FCC oversight of broadband.
The 3-2 vote along party lines to reclassify broadband as a public service under Title II of the Communications Act came seven months after FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel announced the push in the wake of the U.S. Senate confirming Commissioner Anna Gomez.
Commissioner Geoffrey Starks joined Rosenworcel and Gomez to launch the rulemaking process last year and finalize the policy change on Thursday. Commissioner Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington both aligned with the powerful telecom industry by opposing the effort to prevent internet service providers from blocking, throttling, or engaging in paid prioritization of lawful online content.
Demand Progress Education Fund senior campaigner Joey DeFrancesco said the revival "has been desperately needed" since former FCC Chair Ajit Pai—an appointee of former Republican President Donald Trump—led the "disastrous decision" in 2017 to gut a 2015 agency policy codifying the principle that has been foundational to the internet since its inception.
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"The FCC's vote today returns the internet to the American people."
Free Press co-CEO Craig Aaron declared that "everyone should celebrate today's FCC vote."
"Public support for net neutrality is overwhelming, and people understand why we need a federal watchdog to protect everyone's access to the most essential communications platform of our time," he noted. "The FCC heard the outcry and did its job: delivering on promises to stand with internet users and against big telecom companies and their trade groups, which have spent untold millions of dollars to spread lies about net neutrality and thwart any oversight or regulation."
Aaron praised Rosenworcel and her staff for leading the restoration effort, as well as Starks and Gomez for working with her to reverse the Trump FCC's move and ensure "that the agency can once again protect internet users whenever big phone and cable companies like AT&T, Comcast, Spectrum, and Verizon attempt to harm them."
"Big cable and phone companies won't be able to pick and choose what any of us can say or see online. Net neutrality is a guarantee that these companies will carry our data across the internet without undue interference or unreasonable discrimination," he emphasized. "This is what democracy should look like: Public servants responding to public sentiment, taking steps to protect just and reasonable services and free expression, and showing that the government is capable of defending the public interest."
Michael Copps, a former FCC commissioner and current Common Cause special adviser, was similarly enthusiastic, saying that "if I weren't out of the country today, I would be personally at the FCC jumping up and down, saluting the majority for reinstituting the network neutrality rules that were so foolishly eliminated by the previous commission."
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The vote notably comes during an election year—and as Democratic President Joe Biden, a net neutrality supporter, is gearing up for a November rematch against Trump.
"The internet is crucial to civic engagement in the United States today. It functions as a virtual public square where social justice movements organize and garner support," said Common Cause's Ishan Mehta. "The FCC's vote today returns the internet to the American people."
Jenna Leventoff, senior policy counsel at the ACLU, also piled on the praise, proclaiming that "today marks the last day that internet service providers can continue to put profit over people."
"We are thrilled that the FCC now has the authority it needs to protect consumers, promote the exercise of First Amendment rights online, and ensure that everyone has access to high-quality, affordable internet," she said. "However, we urge the commission not to exercise its authority to preempt consistent state laws that grant consumers additional protections."
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President Joe Biden's Environmental Protection Agency announced a final quartet of rules on Thursday to limit climate-warming emissions from existing coal and new gas-powered plants, as well as reduce mercury, wastewater, and coal ash pollution from coal facilities.
While several environmental groups and climate advocates praised the new rules, others pointed out that they still exclude emissions from existing gas-powered plants, which are currently the nation's leading source of electricity. A rule on these plants has been pushed into the future, likely until after the November election, which means they may not be regulated for years if pro-fossil fuel Republican Donald Trump retakes the White House.
"We don't have time for this half-assed BS, EPA!" Genevieve Guenther, founding director of End Climate Silence, wrote on social media. "Later is too late."
"As critical as these carbon rules are, the agency's job is not yet done."
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The effect of the rule would be to force coal plants to either cease operations or find a way to remove their emissions with carbon, capture, and storage technology, according to the AP.
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The New York Times reported that the rules "could deliver a death blow" to coal, which has already declined from producing 52% of U.S. electricity in 1990 to 16.2% in 2023.
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Sunrise Movement communications director Stevie O'Hanlon called the regulations a "game-changer."
"These regulations are the kind of bold action that young people have been fighting for," O'Hanlon added. "President Biden must continue moving us toward ending the fossil fuel era: It's what science demands and what young people want to see from him."
The Biden administration has promised to eliminate power sector emissions by 2035; the new regulations, along with the Inflation Reduction Act, put the U.S. on course to slash those emissions by 75% by that date, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.
"The age of unbridled climate pollution from power plants is over," NRDC president and CEO Manish Bapna said in a statement. "These standards cut carbon emissions, at last, from the single largest industrial source. They fit hand-in-glove with the clean energy incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act to make sure we cut our carbon footprint. They will reduce other dangerous pollutants that foul the air we breathe and threaten our health."
"Congressional Republicans are already parroting the oil and gas lobby's talking points criticizing the rules."
Beyond fossil fuel control, the other three rules would strengthen toxic metals standards by 67% and mercury standards by 70%, cut coal wastewater pollution by more than 660 million pounds per year, and establish for the first time regulations on the disposal of coal ash in certain areas.
"The suite of power plant rules announced by EPA Administrator Regan represents a significant step forward in the fight for ambitious climate action and environmental justice," Chitra Kumar, the managing director of UCS' Climate and Energy Program, said in a statement. "Together, these rules help address a long-standing legacy of public health and environmental harms stemming from coal-fired power plants that scientific studies show have disproportionately hurt communities of color and low-income communities."
However, the groups also said the administration must move to regulate existing gas plants.
UCS' McNamara said that "as critical as these carbon rules are, the agency's job is not yet done."
"EPA must tackle carbon emissions from existing gas-fired power plants—soon to be the largest source of power sector carbon emissions—and it must look beyond carbon to reckon with the full suite of health-harming pollution these plants disproportionately and inequitably force on the communities that surround them," McNamara added. "When all the heavy costs of fossil fuel-fired power plants are tallied, it's unequivocally clear that clean energy presents the just and necessary path ahead."
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