Ready for 100 - The sooner the better

Cross posted from Coulee Region Sierra Club:

The CRSC Ready for 100 team is ready to take the next step toward helping Coulee Region communities commit to going 100% renewable by 2050 or sooner as nearly 100 US communities and counties (including the Wisconsin cities of Eau Claire and Madison) have done over the past couple of years.

The most recent reports on carbon emissions are not good. We have now surpassed 410 parts per million (350 ppm is the target for sustainability). The Trump administration is considering using cold war era rules to require subsidies of the fossil fuel industry, is preparing the path toward letting oil exploration leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and "quietly killed" the $10 million annual budget for NASA's carbon monitoring program. And Trump tariffs have reportedly shut down billions in new solar projects.

The R4100 local team wants the City of La Crosse and other communities to pledge to renewable energy. We are working on a presentation to educate community members about the issues and the initiative and to motivate them to contact their elected officials and push for a formal commitment. We will also help Coulee Region  Sierra Club members to start a Ready for 100 effort in their communities and possibly in Coulee Region counties as well.

If you would like to help create the presentation, please email us (crsierraclub at gmail)*. If you know of a community group where we could present (or if you would like to do or help with a presentation) please email. If you would like to contact your community leaders to get an initiative started or to help with the La Crosse initiative, please contact us.

*Next meeting week of June 11.

At a recent meeting Pope Francis held with fossil fuel industry executives, the choice was made clear. "Our desire to ensure energy for all must not lead to the undesired effect of a spiral of extreme climate changes due to a catastrophic rise in global temperatures, harsher environments and increased levels of poverty.”

Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, recently wrote,

"The biggest climate summit since Paris will happen this fall in California, but it may get lost amid season three of 'Unpatriotic Football Players' or what ever new provocation Trump dreams up. And that would be terrible, because this is time we’ll never get back. Even if a new president someday takes up climate seriously, the carbon we’re spewing now will still be in the atmosphere to haunt us over geological time. Time is the trouble."

Sit at the table

One reason it is so hard to encourage new active and well informed people to join (and change) the Democratic Party to make it more representative, more diverse, more progressive is stuff (to be polite) like this.

If we want better representation, we have to fight for it. We have to show up. We have to stay informed and active. We have to find good primary challengers. We have to support good candidates (** see below for an easy way you can support two good candidates running on June 12 in two Wisconsin special elections! **)

Over and over and over.

Yes, it can be tiring and frustrating. We have busy lives with work and other commitments and families and 10 million little things pulling our energies and attentions.

As we sort through the many things vying for that attention and energy, let's prioritize. Let's put making political change near the top of the list. Let's stay informed about and attend  important local actions. (And please, if you joined a party to change it and now think that because a few new people are on a board, mission accomplished and you no longer have to be interested or involved, rethink that conclusion. Nothing could be further from the truth).

Do you want another term of Scott Walker and Republican rule in Wisconsin? Do you want the DNR to totally shrivel up and blow away as frac mines and metallic mines and CAFOs and Foxconn and high capacity wells and CWD irreparably harm our environment and pollute our vital natural resources? Do you want our state's transportation money to continue to be spent on mega highways that serve crony contributors and school spending to favor well off children in private schools? Do you think we should make life even more difficult for our state's working poor?Think about it. What do you want for your and your kids' future? If you like the way things are going, then do nothing.

If you think things need to change, things will not change if you do nothing or even if you do just a little bit. We all need to do a lot - as much as we can. How much do you want things to change and what can you do to be most effective in making change happen? And it's going to be 100 times harder if we let it slide.

Without doubt, rallies, speeches, blog posts, and marches raise awareness and help inform and connect people. But what we really need are good candidates and good elected legislators who will do the right thing because it is the right thing to do. And that means getting a seat at the table where candidates and priorities are decided. That means, I strongly believe, joining and actively working within a political party.

Parties are the entities that offer the candidates we vote for and the legislation that gets us closer to or further from a just, equitable, positive, progressive future. If we have good candidates to vote for, we'll have good representatives who won't require phone campaigns, tweet storms, office sit ins, marches, rallies, and countless other tiring and frustrating organizing and group groveling sessions to convince someone to do the right thing (who then doesn't do the right thing anyway).

If you are not a party member, you are not really helping to change the policies and priorities. My opinion. You are letting others pick and dictate our choices and giving up power to those already in power.

A great quote attributed to many politicians including, recently, Senator Elizabeth Warren, goes If you don't have a seat at the table, you are probably on the menu.

How true.

** What you CAN do right now or over the next few days from the privacy of your own home or with some friends is PHONE BANK FOR TWO DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES who are running to win seats most recently held by Republicans in the Wisconsin legislature. The election is on Tuesday, June 12 and you can get more info here. Even spending one hour calling for one or both of these candidates can make a difference. Many people in these districts don't even know there is an election on Tuesday. 

And then find and do the next thing. And bring two friends. Attend the La Crosse County Dem Party picnic/fundraiser on June 18 at 5 pm at Copeland Park or volunteer at the election HQ at 115 Fifth Avenue South or donate to a candidate. Please.

Call for CLIMATE ACTION!

From Citizens' Climate Lobby:

On June 12, more than 1,300 Citizens' Climate Lobby members from across the nation will meet with their members of Congress in Washington, DC asking them to pass Carbon Fee and Dividend legislation.

We need YOU to call your legislators on Wednesday, June 6th to amplify our voices and help move Congress closer to passing revenue-neutral carbon fee and dividend legislation. If you can’t get through on Wednesday, try leaving a message in the evening or try again on Thursday, June 7th.

Click on the link below, enter your address, and click "Go" to find your Representative and Senators and make your calls.

https://citizensclimatelobby.org/call-congress-to-act-on-climate/#/38/

Thanks so much for taking action!

Foxconn actions

Several Wisconsin organizations are continuing to resist the Foxconn. As the pricetag, in money and environmental and social costs, continues to climb, more people are waking to the true price of this terrible deal (except for select Scott Walker donors, apparently).

Recently, Midwest Environmental Advocates filed suit to challenge Wisconsin DNR's approval of Foxconn plans to suck 7 million gallons of Lake Michigan water per day.

The Wisconsin Democratic Party Progressive Caucus has put out the following alerts. If you are able to help and if you can help spread the word, please do. The immediate need is support for the citizens of Mt Pleasant, where the village is using eminent domain laws to remove people from their homes for Foxconn and related development. If you have questions, please contact Rev John Stanley.

The Village of Mt. Pleasant is holding the final hearing to decide whether they should blight residential areas, abuse eminent domain, and evict Wisconsinites from their homes. The Village Board meets MONDAY June 4th at 6:30 in Mt. Pleasant at the Village Hall, 8811 Campus Drive. In talking with the homeowners we learned they are facing this Goliath alone, there have NOT been people showing up to speak against their suffering. This changes now. Please, spread the word!

We need as many people to show up as humanly possible on such short notice! We have an event page posted on Facebook. At 5 pm TODAY (June 3) there is an organizing conference call. Phone 1-213-603-9096 you will be prompted to enter the conference code, 14571302#. 

In addition, we need people to write letters to the editor and continue to spread the word about Foxconn.

La Crosse's African American History Bus Tour

For the past few years, The African American Mutual Assistance Network of La Crosse (AAMAN) has hosted a June program to commemorate Juneteenth, the day (June 19, 1865) Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger of the Union Army issued General Order Number 3 in Galveston, notifying Texans and especially Texas slaves, that slavery had been abolished. While Abraham Lincoln's preliminary Proclamation was released on September 22, 1862 (more about that date later), and it took effect on January 1, 1863, many people did not hear about it until years later. News traveled slowly back then.

This year, AAMAN is trying something a little different. The Juneteenth summer date will be commemorated by a brand new bus tour of La Crosse highlighting the amazing and rich history of African Americans in our area. The tour will include stops at historic home sites and genealogical information about pioneering African American families down through the generations to the present day. In addition, reenactors will give more in depth background about selected individuals. PLEASE SHARE THE FLYER! (.jpg version here)

This is a great opportunity to learn more about our city and its rich history.There will be four buses giving the same 55 minute tour on Saturday, June 23 afternoon, so seating is very limited! If you and your family are interested in history, the multicultural roots of our area, or what life was like more than 150 years ago for African Americans in the La Crosse area, this tour is for you. Your donation (whether or not you attend the tour) will help cover the costs of the bus, costumes, fuel, printing and publicity. The tour guides and reenactors are all volunteers.

But wait! There's more!

So that more students may participate in learning about Juneteenth, the Emancipation Proclamation, slavery and freedom, the 13th amendment and other aspects of Freedom Day, AAMAN is sponsoring its usual Juneteenth program at the Southside Neighborhood Center on Saturday, September 22 (the 156th anniversary of the original Emancipation Proclamation). Watch for details about that event which will include bits of the summer tour and much more, later in the season.