July, 27 2022, 06:50pm EDT
Manchin Reconciliation Deal Fails to Truly Address Climate Change and Locks in Fossil Fuel Use
WASHINGTON
Tonight a deal between Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Democratic leadership was announced. While the full details are yet unknown, the agreement is being touted as a climate deal that purports to cut carbon emissions 40 percent by 2030.
In response, Food & Water Action Executive Director Wenonah Hauter issued the following statement:
"After dragging his feet for more than a year, Senator Manchin announced an agreement that won't solve the crisis, and may make it worse. The few details released this evening suggest this deal will prop up fossil fuels and promote the various false climate solutions beloved by industry.
"Streamlining permitting for natural gas pipelines and exports is not climate action, it is the opposite. More subsidies for dirty hydrogen, carbon capture, and nuclear energy are not climate action, they are the opposite.
"This so-called deal forced by Senator Manchin is what we would expect when Congress is so closely divided and friends and beneficiaries of the fossil fuel industry have effective control over 'climate' policy. It proves we need to elect more climate champions so that we can pass the policies actually needed to confront the crisis we all face. Until then, we should not accept deals that strengthen the oil and gas industry to the detriment of us all."
Food & Water Watch mobilizes regular people to build political power to move bold and uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water, and climate problems of our time. We work to protect people's health, communities, and democracy from the growing destructive power of the most powerful economic interests.
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Climate Emergency in Action: NYC 'Essentially Shut Down' by Flash Flooding
"One week ago, 75,000 people inundated New York City streets to demand the president end fossil fuels," said one campaigner. "Now, climate-fueled rains are submerging those same streets."
Sep 29, 2023
"This is the climate crisis," said youth-led grassroots organization Sunrise Movement on Friday as photos and videos of flooded streets and subway stations in the largest city in the United States went viral across social media.
The group shared a video of cars struggling to drive through water that was up to pedestrians' knees in Brooklyn, saying the image starkly illustrated the need to both prepare U.S. cities and infrastructure for fossil-fueled extreme weather events and to rapidly draw down planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions that have been linked to stronger hurricanes, rising sea levels, and other destructive changes.
"We need an all-out mobilization of our government and society to stop [the climate crisis] right now," said the group.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul called the rainstorm that caused the flash flooding a "life-threatening rainfall event" and noted that there have been reports of some school buildings flooding, prompting administrators to move children to higher floors or close the buildings.
"No children are in danger as far as we know," said Hochul, adding that many New York City children use public transportation to get home from school. "We want to make sure we get the subways, the trains, our communication system, our transportation system working."
According to Richard Davis, president of Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union, some bus passengers on Friday were forced to stand on their seats as drivers navigated through high flood waters that seeped into buses.
Maintenance workers were using pumps to remove water from subway stations, and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced "extremely limited subway service," with many lines suspended or rerouted.
New York City Councilmember Chi Ossé criticized Mayor Eric Adams for failing to address the public until the crisis was well underway and said the flooding shows the city is "severely underprepared for the climate crisis."
Earlier this month Adams announced a new initiative aimed at mobilizing business owners to comply with Local Law 97, which will take effect in 2024 and would reduce carbon emissions from buildings.
According toGothamist, "environmental experts say the new plan will weaken the law's enforcement powers by giving qualified building owners an extra three years to meet carbon reduction deadlines."
Jean Su, energy justice director at the Center for Biological Diversity, took aim at the offshore drilling plan proposed by President Joe Biden on Friday over the objections of scientists and climate advocates. The five-year plan includes three new offshore gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico despite Biden's campaign promise to end offshore gas and oil drilling.
"We are in the climate emergency," said Su. "Yet the president is continuing to drill for oil and gas. He has to stop to give us a chance at a livable planet."
Earlier this month, noted Su, some of the same streets that were inundated with rainwater on Friday had been filled with tens of thousands of people demanding that Biden declare a climate emergency and take decisive action to speed the transition toward renewable energy.
"A week ago, we were hitting the streets of New York for Climate Week NYC," said grassroots group Rising Tide North America. "We shut down Citibank's headquarters and blockaded the New York Federal Reserve."
"[The New York Police Department] arrested lots of our friends," the group added. "Maybe they should have been arresting those bankers and bureaucrats who are responsible for this disaster."
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Microplastics in Clouds Could Be 'Contaminating Nearly Everything We Eat and Drink': Study
"If the issue of 'plastic air pollution' is not addressed proactively, climate change and ecological risks may become a reality, causing irreversible and serious environmental damage in the future," the study's lead author warned.
Sep 29, 2023
They're in the world's water, air, food, and even in our blood—and now researchers in Japan have discovered microplastics in clouds, raising the specter of super-contaminating "plastic rainfall" and possibly affecting the Earth's climate.
Analyzing cloud water samples from high-altitude mountains in Japan including Mt. Fuji, researchers from Waseda University in Tokyo found nine different types of polymers and one type of rubber in the airborne microplastics (AMPs) they detected.
"Research shows that large amounts of microplastics are ingested or inhaled by humans and animals alike and have been detected in multiple organs such as lung, heart, blood, placenta, and feces," notes a summary of the study, which was originally published in the journal Environmental Chemistry Letters.
"Ten million tons of these plastic bits end up in the ocean, released with the ocean spray, and find their way into the atmosphere," the summary continues. "This implies that microplastics may have become an essential component of clouds, contaminating nearly everything we eat and drink via 'plastic rainfall.'"
Earlier this year, researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology, Patna discovered AMPs in the city of Patna's rainwater, with polyethylene, terephthalate, and polypropylene being the most common polymers found.
In the Japanese study, the researchers found that "the presence of hydrophilic (water-loving) polymers in the cloud water was abundant, suggesting that they were removed as 'cloud condensation nuclei.'"
"These findings confirm that AMPs play a key role in rapid cloud formation, which may eventually affect the overall climate," they added.
Accumulation of AMPs in the atmosphere—especially around the Earth's poles—could also upset the planet's ecological balance, with devastating effects on biodiversity.
"AMPs are degraded much faster in the upper atmosphere than on the ground due to strong ultraviolet radiation, and this degradation releases greenhouse gases and contributes to global warming," Waseda University professor Hiroshi Okochi, who led the study, said in a statement. "As a result, the findings of this study can be used to account for the effects of AMPs in future global warming projections."
"If the issue of 'plastic air pollution' is not addressed proactively, climate change and ecological risks may become a reality, causing irreversible and serious environmental damage in the future," Okochi added.
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'We Will Win': 7,000 More Autoworkers Walk Out as UAW Expands Strike Again
"What we win at the bargaining table depends on the power we build on the job," said United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain. "It's time to use that power."
Sep 29, 2023
The United Auto Workers expanded its strikes against Ford and General Motors on Friday, calling on nearly 7,000 additional members in Michigan and Illinois to walk off the job as the union looks to ramp up pressure on the companies to deliver stronger wage and benefit proposals.
The union opted not to expand its walkouts against Chrysler parent company Stellantis, citing progress in recent bargaining sessions on cost-of-living adjustments, the right to strike over plant closures, and other issues.
"Sadly, despite our willingness to bargain, Ford and GM have refused to make meaningful progress at the table," UAW president Shawn Fain said in a video update posted to social media on Friday. "To be clear, negotiations haven't broke down. We're still talking with all three companies, and I'm still very hopeful that we can reach a deal that reflects the incredible sacrifices and contributions our members have made over the last decade."
"But I also know that what we win at the bargaining table depends on the power we build on the job," said Fain. "It's time to use that power."
Friday's walkouts brought the total number of UAW members on strike at the Big Three U.S. car manufacturers to roughly 25,000—nearly double the number of workers who walked off the job on the first day of the strikes two weeks ago.
Survey data released earlier this week showed public support for the strikes has grown since their launch earlier this month. Last week, UAW members walked out at every General Motors and Stellantis parts distribution facility in the U.S.
As part of its "stand-up strike" strategy, the UAW is expected to continue steadily expanding its walkouts at strategic locations throughout the country in an effort to give negotiators more leverage to pursue the union's demands at the bargaining table.
"We will not be intimidated into backing down by the companies or scabs," Fain said Friday. "Our cause is just. Striking for a better future, to protect our communities, and to defeat corporate greed is not just our right, it's our duty."
"We will win. Our strategy is working," said Fain. "Our solidarity is the most powerful force in the world. When we stand together, united in the cause of social and economic justice, there's nothing we can't do."
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