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Looking for WEEKEND CYBER CONCERTS?
For all the latest MUSIC NEWS, see the very full APRIL 21 edition, easily available (and still receiving additions to this week's online and on-TV music performances). It's right here.
(That url is: https://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2020/04/chockful-news-n-tunes-for-trying-times.html)
Every issue, we bring you the low down on the lock down. The April 21 edition was loaded with music news and it's still the current word on everything -- except EARTH DAY.
This Earth Day special is so full, the only performance news in it are those events to celebrate Earth Day -- including the three-day event with musicians taking part.
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LATE ADDITION... a Saturday participatory / interactive event...
Sat, Apr 25:
10 am-1 pm Pacific --
Citizens' Climate Lobby celebrates a Virtual Earth Day with a talk by climate scientist Katherine Heyhoe, followed by actions you can take to help deal with climate change, including your choice of FOUR breakout sessions. This is a Zoom meeting. If you haven't done a Zoom session yet, here's a great chance to try it out with something that matters. Click here ahead of time to register and see what it's about.
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■ Added on Apr 25th:
• added at 4:15 am Pacific, "Earth, Climate & Corruption," from TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL, the global coalition against corruption. LONG INSERT with interactive illustrations, just below the list of added content.
• 4:40 am Pacific,
■ Added on Apr 23rd:
Added at time shown: • 12:17 pm Pacific, an "Inner Climate Change," following the feature on Greta Thunberg.
• 11:43 am Pacific, from 350.org, on Day Two of the 3-day music & activism festival.
• 10:45 am Pacific, from the Washington Post (story, links, and two cartoons). Also some reformatting of original content, for clarity / readability.
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We are including the following two features, up-top, as an important late additions because an age-old admonition in journalism is "Follow the money if you want to know what's really behind anything." The sources of both pieces -- Transparency International, and Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) -- do exactly that, and they joined resources with others for Earth Day.
LATE ADDITION: Saturday, April 25, 2020
Earth, Climate & Corruption
from TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL, the global coalition against corruption.
(This is a LONG INSERT with interactive illustrations)
This week, we joined the worldwide celebrations of Earth Day.
Even as we struggle to prevent the worst impacts of the current COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to mark the day of our planet – not only because it is our home, but also because we cannot ignore the need for urgent solutions to protect the environment and the lives that depend on it.
This year’s Earth Day theme was climate action. Our minds may not often make the connection between climate action and corruption, but the two are unfortunately deeply interlinked.
From the abuse of natural resources to undue influence by powerful private interest, corruption exacerbates the catastrophic consequences of global heating.
While the climate crisis impacts everyone on the planet, some countries are particularly vulnerable. Many of them simultaneously struggle with high levels of public sector corruption.
But even where politicians are not getting their hands dirty, fossil fuel and other industries spend billions to mislead the public and our elected representatives through climate-related branding and lobbying. This weakens climate legislation and prevents effective climate action altogether.
Over the next years, billions of dollars will have to be spent on climate adaptation and mitigation measures like renewable energy, sustainable transport, flood defences and much more. We cannot afford to lose that money to corruption.
To really turn things around, we need to make sure climate funds reach those who need them and free global climate policy from undue influence.
At Transparency International, we are focusing our efforts on the monitoring of climate funds. In Mexico, for example, our colleagues have developed an interactive online map of climate finance flows in the country. Where they detect a risk of mismanagement or corruption, they highlight the problem and call for reforms.
We also work towards ensuring that locals have a voice and a redress mechanism. Many of our chapters around the world continue to register complaints from affected locals.
The world was unprepared when the COVID-19 crisis hit. But we still have time to prevent further devastating impacts of the ongoing climate crisis.
What do you think? Let us know @anticorruption.
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LATE ADDITION: Saturday, April 25, 2020
From Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR)
Corporate media can write long, compelling, prize-winning articles about the ravages of climate disruption, but when it's time to place blame and name names in a way that would be useful moving forward, they'd rather issue vague calls to action. CounterSpin talked about it in August 2019 with Corporate Accountability's Sriram Madhusoodanan.
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Now, back to the ORIGINAL
introduction and content
published on Earth Day,
April 22, 2020
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Today is EARTH DAY, and that's a very big deal!
"A new Earth Day menu," April 22nd Washington Post editorial cartoon.
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Today being the 50th anniversary of the only day each year when sustaining our fragile blue sphere -- the orb that sustains us -- gets center-stage, we're going with a special edition.
You'll find this filled with things YOU CAN DO, ways to make a difference, and inspiring voices and insightful (and "inciteful") perspectives that are vital, essential, and absolutely needed if we are to hang onto any of the things we are inadvertently gaining while the smog-belching cars are off the streets.
Everywhere possible, we have invited spokespersons to deliver their messages in their own words.
ANY MONEY you donate to any environmental organization through the links found in the Guide? It all goes to them. We do not get "a piece of the action," nor do we know about anything you do when you click their link(s).
We were NOT able to represent every worthy organization or urgent need. We have done the best we can.
Enjoy, and if you find something here you didn't know, we hope you make use of it while your homebound energy needs an outlet.
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Image of the only world where any of us have ever lived. Courtesy of the European Space Agency (ESA). They have a message for all of us:
"Today marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. For Earth-observing satellites, every day is Earth Day. While news of COVID-19 dominates headlines and many of us practice social distancing, there still remains the need for action on climate change – and satellites are vital in providing the key facts on this global issue."
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3 days of "Earth Day Live" includes online music performances
350.org among consortium of environmental organizations bringing cyber festival aspects to a multiday celebration of activism
Fifty years ago today, an estimated twenty million people took to the streets across the US.
It was a hellish time: rivers caught fire, cities choked on pollution, species went extinct. Yet, the Earth Day marches ― in which ten percent of Americans participated ― spurred seismic changes. Within a few short years the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act were signed into law. What had been a hellish time, started to look a little more optimistic.
Sometimes history repeats itself. The sort of mass movement that forced such environmental progress in the ‘70s has continued to build. Last September, over seven million people around the world walked out of their schools, their jobs, and their everyday lives to call for climate justice.
This Earth Day was poised to be the largest climate strike yet: many millions striking on the streets, thousands of protests across the country, and hundreds of voter registrations events in every state. But with the current pandemic changed everything - so our climate movement is going digital for what is expected to be one of the largest-ever online demonstrations.
Speakers include Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Patrisse Cullors, Reverend Barber, and 350.org’s very own North America Director Tamara Toles O’Laughlin. There will be music from Questlove, Nahko Bear, Dave Matthews and many, many more - join Earth Day Live here!
This Earth Day, we may be keeping our social distance, but we can still come together for change - we hope you’ll join us.
In solidarity,
Emily
Emily Southard, 350.org
350.org is a global grassroots organization that fights for a just and equitable world by stopping the fossil fuel industry from continuing to destroy our climate.
Keep 350.org strong by chipping in right now:
Keep 350.org strong by chipping in right now:
LATE ADDITION...
Today is the second day of Earth Day Live - and we are going BIG. Yesterday, more than 650,000 people joined us online for a powerful day of online climate justice activism.
Now, for day two of Earth Day Live, we are ready for a full day of online action to hold the financial sector accountable for its role in the climate crisis - join us here!
Today’s online action is being led by the Stop the Money Pipeline coalition, a coalition of over 100 organizations demanding that the financial sector stop enabling climate catastrophe.
Stop the Money Pipeline has identified three key targets:
Stop the Money Pipeline has identified three key targets:
1. JPMorgan Chase, the world’s largest funder of the fossil fuel industry.
2. BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager. BlackRock is also the world’s largest shareholder and biggest investor in fossil fuels and deforestation.
3. Liberty Mutual, one of the country’s largest insurance companies and enabler of the fossil fuel industry.
Without insurance, new fossil fuel projects can not be built.
An example that hits too close to home is Liberty Mutual and their relationship to Keystone XL.
The company provides essential insurance for the Keystone XL pipeline - a massive fossil fuel project that would lock-in unsustainable amounts of climate pollution and violate a number of First Nations’ right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent.
Without insurance, that project cannot move forward.
On Monday, I published an article published in Rolling Stone with Rainforest Action Network’s Elana Sulakshana in which we laid out the case against the insurance industry that leverages our dollars against us. And they do it with impunity.
This cannot continue. It’s time for us to hold these enablers accountable as they use our dollars to lobby the halls of power. Join and help us grow to over a million participants by tuning into Earth Day LIVE: Stop the Pipeline right now.
In solidarity,
Tamara
Tamara Toles O'Laughlin
P.S. Sign on to the petition telling Liberty Mutual to stop insuring tar sands pipelines to help us get over 100,000 signatures!
P.S. Sign on to the petition telling Liberty Mutual to stop insuring tar sands pipelines to help us get over 100,000 signatures!
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Climate Reality Project: another portal for the 3 days of "EARTH DAY LIVE"
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Taking action by combining organizations
Today, millions of people around the world will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Normally, that would mean gathering together in cities across the country to demand climate action with a series of marches, rallies, art builds, actions, and training sessions. This year, however, is anything but normal.
Instead of mass protests, youth and adult activists are coming together for Earth Day Live, a live stream focused on climate action. Their demands are simple: (1) enact a People’s Bailout; (2) pass a Green New Deal; and, (3) give indigenous land back. Celebrities, musicians, politicians, scientists, and activists are live right now, inspiring us to “strike”, divest from fossil fuels, and vote—over 50,000 people have R.S.V.P.’d!
People's Action and Sunrise Movement are leading a prime time panel, featuring People's Action's own Emma Lockridge from MI United, TODAY at 7:10 p.m. Eastern. This will be a perfect time to take action to pressure Congress to pass a People's Bailout and a Green New Deal.
Can you have Emma's back? We need you to do two things:
- Contact your representatives and tell them we need a People's Bailout that includes a down-payment on a just, sustainable, clean energy economy.
- Watch Earth Day Live tonight at 7:10 p.m. Eastern and support Emma!
Online or offline, the 50th anniversary of Earth Day is a day to demonstrate our collective power and unity through community building and storytelling. Social distancing doesn't have to mean collective disengagement.
Sincerely,
Kaniela Ing
People’s Action
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3 days, interactive online, with champions of Utah's wild lands
Happy Earth Day!
Right now, Utah elder and activist Vaughn Lovejoy and youth climate striker Ari Grace are LIVE on UtahEarthDay.org showing how striking and nonviolent direct action have been tools for social and environmental movements throughout history.
This stream will be live on UtahEarthDay.org starting at 5 PM MT.
Thursday, April 23, Utah’s Earth Day events are focused on divesting our education systems from fossil fuels! SUWA’s own grassroots organizer Dave Pacheco will lead the evening’s workshop. Please join us to sharpen your storytelling skills and strengthen your opinion writing impact.
On Friday, April 24, we will conclude Earth Week by celebrating Earth mother and each other! Mark Maryboy, SUWA Board Member and lifelong Earth protector (who you may recognize from our film WILD UTAH), will kick off the Party for The Future! RSVP to these sessions here.
Earth is our one home — it’s all we have. It is our duty not only to protect it, but to stand for its regeneration and healing. Through these actions we believe that our communities will also find solace and restoration. We hope you’ll find these events to be inspirational and healing amid this time of global crisis.
For the next 50 years and beyond,
SUWA Grassroots Organizers
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Get it right now, or you're looking at our future...
It's not as if we were very far away now, with the hegemony of corporate Big Media carrying water for the parent corporations' other profitmaking divisions, affiliates, and holdings.
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On Earth Day, The Leap is celebrating work that breaks down silos between climate and other movements. Our co-founder Naomi Klein laid out the power of this type of cross-pollination with her recent keynote at the Bargaining for the Common Good conference:
“If there’s one thing that gives me hope in this moment it's that [...] we have been coming out of our silos and we have begun to articulate what our vision for the next world looks like.” - Naomi Klein
The conference showed how climate activists and labor unions can work together to win MASSIVE society-transforming victories, and showcased unions and groups already doing just that.
Whether it’s fighting for a Green New Deal or our soon-to-be-launched People’s Bailout, The Leap is actively building the broad coalitions we need to create a better world.
Now, in the middle of a global pandemic and an economic downturn, that work is more important than ever. Governments around the world have leapt into action, responding with a torrent of public spending and intervention.
If done right, The People’s Bailout could change everything.
As we find ourselves in this fight for our lives, we’re also navigating a moment of maximum possibility to win the world we need and deserve. That’s why we’re focused on winning a bailout for working people and the planet.
We know that many people are struggling right now, but if you’re able to give your contribution will allow us to continue pushing for a better world -- now when we need it more than ever.
In hope & solidarity,
James Hutt
Senior Manager of Programming, The Leap
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A key state's Attorney General fights in court for the planet
"Well before the first Earth Day in 1970, my parents would say: “¡Apaga la luz! Turn off the light when you leave the room.” I never stopped listening to them — doing my part to not just lower our energy bill, but to protect our environment."
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California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has filed over 40 environmental lawsuits against the Trump administration, securing dozens of wins to protect the air we breathe and water we drink. He continues to prioritize the health of families and communities during this pandemic. He’s taking aggressive action to stop disgraceful price gougers, defend access to healthcare, protect immigrants, urge the Trump administration to do more to keep our families safe, and defend our housing, data, worker and reproductive rights during this public health emergency. Here is his Earth Day message.
Today marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.
While we work day and night to fight this pandemic, I want you to know that we’re not letting corporate polluters and President Trump off the hook for their anti-science agenda.
With the planet’s health and our own inextricably linked, climate action is more important than ever.
We’ve filed over 40 environmental lawsuits against the Trump administration, securing dozens of wins to protect the air we breathe and water we drink.
We’ve held big oil companies accountable.
We’re fighting for farmworkers, communities of color, and low-income neighborhoods hit worst by pollution and the climate crisis.
For me, these fights are personal.
Well before the first Earth Day in 1970, my parents would say: “¡Apaga la luz! Turn off the light when you leave the room.” I never stopped listening to them — doing my part to not just lower our energy bill, but to protect our environment.
Now, decades later, as Attorney General of California, I continue to do all I can to protect our planet.
We stand at a critical moment in our planet’s future. And on this Earth Day, our fight continues.
Stay safe and well,
Xavier
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From Sunrise Movement
That is why Sunrise Movement, along with many other coalition partners, structured our year around mass mobilizations like the original Earth Day. Two months ago, most of our work was oriented toward that goal. But a lot changed in two months.
Mass gatherings of any kind — celebratory or radical — have been rendered dangerous and impossible because of the COVID-19 pandemic. As we have watched the responses to this coronavirus — some failed and some successful — we cannot help but see the direct similarities between the chaos caused by this pandemic and the climate crisis. Read more thoughts on those similarities in this Medium post.
Today, across the nation, Sunrise hubs took action to bring attention to this problem once again. Although they’d planned to take part in mass, in-person demonstrations, coronavirus halted those plans. Instead of giving up, these resilient hubs pivoted to action appropriate for the moment. Over 50 hubs organized action today, including Sacramento, South Bend, NYC, Boston, New Orleans, and more.
It can’t and won’t stop there. The spirit of Earth Day has to live beyond today. That’s why we’ve spent the last month rolling out the massive training program that is Sunrise School. If you’ve been looking for the inspiration to get involved, let this 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day— and the work that still needs to be done— be that inspiration.
Let's make sure that in the next 50 years, there will be an Earth Day worth celebrating.
Mattias Lehman, Digital Director
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Help send 50,000 messages to Congress
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Today marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. And as the world grapples with a global health crisis, it’s giving new meaning to the old adage “We’re all in this together.”
While life has changed almost unimaginably over the past few months, The Trust for Public Land’s mission hasn’t. We’re still working hard every day to ensure everyone in America has a great place to get outside close to home, and that our shared public lands are protected from threats and accessible to all to explore.
Watch the video.
With parks closed during the pandemic, people are finding it harder to get outside. But for thousands of neighborhoods across America, it was never easy.
Before this public health crisis, one in three Americans—100 million people, including 28 million kids—did not have a park close to home.
Our commitment to you is that we won’t stop working to bring green spaces to where they’re needed most—because everyone deserves a park.
You can help. Join us.
Sincerely,
The Trust for Public Land
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Late addition, from the Washington Post...
Don’t let those animal comeback photos fool you. Nature is still under siege.
Fire burns near Bumbalong, Australia on Feb. 1. (Rick Rycroft/AP)
April 22, 2020 at 2:24 p.m. PDT
Look, I get it, especially as we mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day this week — these images offer much-needed moments of consolation amid a flood of bad news. I’ve enjoyed them, too.
The grim reality, though, is that these feel-good moments mean little in the larger scheme of things. Our environment is changing, all right, but mostly for the worse.
In the Amazon rainforest, illegal deforestation is increasing, probably because the local authorities are unable to adequately patrol the hinterlands. A major coral bleaching event is now taking place on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, caused by overheating local seas. A recent U.N. study of Earth’s biodiversity portends dark outcomes with regard to species extinction.
And speaking of biodiversity, many epidemics have their roots in the unseemly wild animal trade, in which rich people purchase wild game from poor country folk just to enjoy an exotic evening meal. Many wild species of mammals and turtles are endangered with extinction because of this unsavory habit.
Meanwhile, the pandemic has interrupted urgently needed long-term environmental studies around the world. Loss of data means loss of insight into the workings of our living earth.
In the United States, the Trump administration has forced the Environmental Protection Agency to reduce automobile fuel efficiency standards and refused to tighten the recommended health protections on soot in the atmosphere.
And yes, it’s true that air pollution, carbon dioxide emissions, and water and noise pollution have all declined because of the pandemic. So beaten down are we by the litany of terrible news on the environmental front (much of it promulgated by our feckless administration) that we hunger for these scraps of good news.
Yet the positive effects of the shutdown are just minor countervailing events amid the disasters overwhelming our global environment. The bottom line: Bad things are happening to nature while we shelter at home. This is not the time to go all gooey at the sight of a deer grazing in the front yard. This is the time to get angry.
That picture of the mountain lion in a tree in Colorado should remind us of what we have lost, not what little we have gained. Recall that mountain lions used to range across North America, but because of human depredation are now confined to protected enclaves in the West. (These magnificent predators are hunted legally in 14 states.) This should kindle our anger, fomenting the urge to revolt against the status quo. Sheltering in our homes, each of us should recall with shame the sharp rebuke of Greta Thunberg, and rise from our couches, and pace the room, casting about for workable solutions to the mess we have made of our world.
Don’t get me wrong. Here in the D.C. area where I live, it’s thrilling to see so many people communing with a beautiful, unfolding Mid-Atlantic spring. Many are seizing the opportunity to follow the wondrous annual awakening of our tree-filled woodlands and wetlands, narrated by the rising crescendo of birdsong. Close encounters with nature remind us all of the inadequacy of our human-managed environs. Such experiences remind us that it’s the natural world that provides the fresh air, clean water, abundant fisheries and rich soils that support humankind on Earth.
If we care for the long-term well-being of our children, then it is time to take action. We must embrace E.O. Wilson’s dictum to set aside half the Earth for nature. When Congress spouts its shopworn refrain that we have to choose between nature and the economy, determined citizens must respond that a healthy green environment underpins a prosperous human society.
Once we end our enforced home sojourn, we should come out swinging. It is urgent that we muster the resolve to demand a greener present — with a strengthened Paris accord, a reinvigorated EPA and a newly elected administration that leads by embracing the admonitions of the scientists who have studied the data and the voices of the concerned citizen groups who have reaffirmed our need to protect nature’s bounty. If that happens, then the payoff from this terrible shutdown will be a proud rebirth of the American environmentalism of the 1970s that we commemorate on this day each year.
Read more:
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What do you celebrate on Earth Day? I mean, yes, I know you celebrate the Earth! But what about it? Do you think about our fragile relationship with clean air, clean water and healthy, thriving ecosystems? The natural beauty of our sprawling landscapes? The whales, polar bears, bees, trees, and all of the amazing species threatened by corporate greed?
I’m thinking about those things too. But, the thing that makes Earth Day so special to me is the swelling conviction from Greenpeacers like you. The Greenpeace movement wouldn’t exist without YOU!
Today, you've blown me away! Earlier, Jane Fonda wrote to you and issued a challenge: raise $50,000 dollars for Greenpeace on the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.
Well, we've blown past that goal and raised $67,735 so far! Now, let's see if we can double our goal and raise $100,000 for Mother Earth! Make your urgent gift now and we’ll send you a beautiful “Heal the Earth” sticker to say thank you!
I know you love the Earth, its fragile ecosystems and amazing creatures. I know you are passionate about justice for communities facing the brunt of pollution, rising seas, stronger storms and rising temperatures. And I know you know what’s at stake: right now our leaders are choosing between bailing out the oil industry or a just, green recovery from this crisis. Our movement must act with all its strength to win big for communities, the climate and wildlife habitats everywhere. $100,000 could give Greenpeace the edge it needs in the fight ahead.
There are only a few short hours until the 50th Earth Day is over, and we haven't heard from you! Double down for Earth Day before it is over!
For the Earth,
Annie Leonard
Executive Director, Greenpeace USA
Executive Director, Greenpeace USA
P.S. Your gift could be the one to push us past $100,000! When you donate we’ll send you a free sticker. It’s a way for us to say thank you and for you to say, I’m ready for a green and peaceful future. The clock is ticking. DONATE NOW!
Greenpeace never takes a dime from corporations or governments. Everything we do is thanks to the generous support of people like you!
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Rainforest Action Network
You know that every day is Earth Day. But today is no ordinary Earth Day: It’s the 50th anniversary of Earth Day!
To celebrate this very momentous anniversary, our goal is to raise $20,000 before midnight, tonight. And, with the support of a very generous donor, all gifts to Rainforest Action Network today will be matched!
There’s never been a more critical moment to fight for people and the planet and to push back against corporate greed. Banks and financial institutions must be held accountable for their role in the climate crisis and take responsibility to undo the years of destruction their projects have left behind.
50 years ago, Earth Day started a movement. Today, students and young people have organized and attended the largest climate strikes around the world. Together, we’ve moved insurance companies and banks to end financing of coal and Arctic drilling projects.
Just last month, we announced BIG news when PepsiCo adopted a leading policy and actions to address the destruction of rainforests, the abuse of workers, and the exploitation of communities for Conflict Palm Oil.
I’m inspired everyday by the progress we’re making together. Because these are the types of success stories that will inspire more action, more solidarity and move us closer towards a liveable future for everyone. And why I hope you’ll continue to support our work with a special gift today.
Thank you for everything that you do to inspire courage and action in others,
Robin Averbeck
Forest Program Director
Rainforest Action Network
Forest Program Director
Rainforest Action Network
At RAN, we take the “Network” in our name seriously. It is only through your support that we are able to fund major campaigns for the forests, their inhabitants and the natural systems that sustain life. Please consider joining RAN as a Member by making a gift today.
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National Park Foundation
Earth Day is a global holiday to celebrate the natural world and all that it provides. During these uncertain times, we can rely on our earth's breath-taking beauty to remain constant. There’s no better time to learn about the planet or take an active role in the stewardship of the natural environment and special wilderness areas all around us. Even if you cannot visit a national park, a socially distant walk during lunch or a few moments outside after dinner are great ways to take in some fresh air and relish all that our planet offers.
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Friends are where you find them...
Battleship Iowa Museum
Though temporarily closed, through the duration of the pandemic, they send Earth Day greetings and want you to know, "...we're hard at work with virtual programming, community outreach, and maintaining your ship with a tiny crew!"
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| A US Navy hospital ship enters Los Angeles harbor to assist in the Coronavirus pandemic. Assisted by tugboats, she moves past the Battleship Iowa museum. |
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Help stop public bailouts of Big Oil
With the pandemic turning life upside down it’s easy to forget today is Earth Day, a day where people around the globe come together to show appreciation for our planet -- and to fight for its future.
The Coronavirus is an immediate threat being talked about all day every day and for good reason. But even as bad as the pandemic is, the impact of climate change is soon to be much worse if we continue on our current path.
We have one planet, and we have to protect it or climate change could end human existence. It’s that important.
That’s why DFA members continue to lead the fight for a Green New Deal to transition to a clean economy, for stronger environmental regulations to protect our clean air and water, and to elect progressives who trust the science and act quickly to save our planet with solutions that meet the scale of the crisis.
But right now, there’s a new fight in Washington that needs our immediate attention: Fossil fuel companies are lobbying the Trump Administration hard for a massive bailout in the next bill.
Let’s be clear: Big Oil and Gas have spent decades wrecking our planet, expediting global climate change, and funding junk science to lie to the public and stop progressive policy. They shouldn’t get a penny of bailout money paid for by U.S. taxpayers.
The Coronavirus is destroying our economy in the short term, but we will recover. We’ll recover because we know we’re all in this together. We’ll recover because taxpayers are willing to support saving small businesses and rebuilding critical industries.
The good thing is Congress knows that, but too many in Congress lack the vision to recognize the needs of the future over a return of business as it has always been.
That’s where we come in. Everyone in Congress, Republicans and Democrats, Senators and Representatives, every single one of them needs to know that we’re counting on them to rebuild the economy so it works for people AND the planet.
That means if we have to invest taxpayer money into rebuilding our energy industry, then that money must be used to fund renewable energy and other alternatives, not propping up the fossil fuel industry.
Instead, our government is considering a massive bailout for big oil and gas companies.
And that’s exactly what will happen if Congress doesn’t hear from us. We must put pressure on Congress right now to make sure it doesn’t happen.
Working together, we can make an economy that treats every day like it’s Earth Day. Thank you for raising your voice to protect our planet and fight climate change today.
— Charles
Charles Chamberlain, Chair
Democracy for America
Democracy for America
Hurtling into the abyss of deregulation
One very simple question today:
In the midst of a global health emergency unlike anything humanity has faced for at least a century, is now the time to do more to protect people, or less?
Foolishly — and just as predictably — mutterings are emerging from the White House of plans to suspend or even repeal a broad swath of federal safeguards.
On the chopping block are essential health and safety laws, consumer protections, workplace regulations, civil rights laws, environmental policies and more.
Trump — and the assorted grifters, charlatans and corporate fat cats that make up his administration — like to pretend that they are hurling into the abyss of deregulation for the sake of the economy.
Rubbish.
This is nothing but a flagrant attempt to exploit a crisis to get something Big Business and its political puppets have always wanted: zero restraints on their myopic quest for profits.
And they are more than willing to sacrifice the well-being of everyday Americans, our public health and the planet we live on to satisfy their greed.
Ironically, Monday marked 10 years since the day oil giant BP ripped a hole in the ocean floor, ultimately “spilling” 210,000,000 gallons of raw petroleum into the Gulf of Mexico during its Deepwater Horizon catastrophe.
That’s what inadequate regulation and enforcement gets us.
Public Citizen is intently monitoring Trump’s deregulatory maneuvers.
And we will not hesitate to sue the administration if it fails to follow appropriate processes or exceeds its authority.
Stay tuned, and stay safe.
- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen
P.S. This message is part of our ongoing outreach to help you stay informed and involved as our nation and the world grapple with the coronavirus emergency. Public Citizen — like many nonprofits and other small businesses — is feeling the financial strain as this crisis intensifies. If you can, please consider donating to support the critical work we’re doing together. Thank you.
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World Wildlife Fund
You have the power to make our critical global conservation work possible all year long. I hope you'll take the opportunity today to protect biodiversity and help WWF solve the world's greatest environmental problems.
Our work is focused around 6 ambitious goals with people at the center
When you become a WWF monthly donor for Earth Day, you will make a world of difference. You will help:
🌎 Build a future where people live in harmony with nature
🌎 Protect endangered species from extinction
🌎 Preserve critical habitats, from the rain forests to the Arctic
🌎 Reduce carbon pollution and prepare for the consequences of climate change
🌎 Feed the world sustainably and decrease food waste
Celebrate Earth Day with a monthly gift to protect wildlife and wild places around the globe. Every dollar will make a difference.
We will get through this together. And together we will protect our beautiful planet.
 | With deep gratitude, Jessica Sotelo Director, Online Membership World Wildlife Fund |
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Food and Water Watch
This Earth Day, we’re all understandably preoccupied by worry. But in a quiet moment, I invite you to pause to think about how beautiful our Earth is. Take a second to picture that place in nature that's special to you. Maybe it's a beach or lake you visit with your family. Maybe it's the local park where you go to walk. Wherever it is, it's a place worth holding on to.
Unfortunately, it’s also a place we need to fight to protect. There are people in this country who look at our natural spaces and see only dollar signs.
While the world is dealing with an unprecedented public health crisis, Trump and his administration are busy rolling back environmental protections, giving handouts to polluting billionaires, and endangering our health and the health of our planet.
Make no mistake. We are standing in their way ready to fight more than ever. Because we need all the help we can get, for this Earth Day, a generous donor has decided to step-in and will match your donation dollar-for-dollar up to $10,000.
| DONATE NOW |
Whether it is by mobilizing tens of thousands of people to block big oil bailouts, organizing around the country to stop water shutoffs, taking Trump to court to block him from gutting essential environmental policies, we are present and persistent, holding him accountable for his actions.
You are the ones standing on the front lines with us — from rallies, to signing petitions, to making a donation — you are the reason we know we will be able to protect our food, water, and climate now and in the future, because by having you with us, working together, we know we can win.
With your support, we will stop the Trump administration from poisoning our lands, polluting our waters, and putting our health at even greater risk.
This Earth Day, celebrate our beautiful planet. Chip-in to help us block Trump and have your gift matched, dollar-for-dollar.
Onward together,
With your support, we will stop the Trump administration from poisoning our lands, polluting our waters, and putting our health at even greater risk.
This Earth Day, celebrate our beautiful planet. Chip-in to help us block Trump and have your gift matched, dollar-for-dollar.
Onward together,
Wenonah Hauter
Founder and Executive Director
Food & Water Watch and Food & Water Action
Founder and Executive Director
Food & Water Watch and Food & Water Action
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"This Earth Day, let's recommit to trusting the scientific community that works so hard to lead us down the right path."
~ US Congressman Joe Kennedy III, candidate for US Senator from Massachusetts.
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It's Earth Day.
Today, I want to take the opportunity to thank my friends at the League of Conservation Voters for taking notice of our campaign's efforts on climate change – we earned a 100% on their 2019 scorecard.
Advocacy from organizations like the League of Conservation Voters has been critical during the Trump presidency. Trump has sought to undermine each of our hard-fought environmental victories – even during the COVID-19 epidemic. In the midst of a global public health emergency, President Trump and the Trump administration continued rolling back environmental standards that were put in place to protect people's health and welfare.
He never misses a chance to put corporate greed ahead of the public interest.
Trump's Environmental Protection Agency has been using the coronavirus outbreak to push through controversial policy changes that are extremely harmful to the environment and our health. The EPA has just:
This is just another example of the Trump administration exploiting the coronavirus crisis to deregulate industry – and we won't stand for it, Lawrence. Sign the petition and demand the EPA reverse these deregulation policies and put the health of Americans over the deep pockets of industry.
Thank you for standing with me, on Earth Day – and every day.
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US Senator from Maryland needs your signature to make EPA do its job
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The essential Greta
Who could have predicted that a diminutive but determined Swedish teenager and her "Fridays for Future" youth movement would eclipse Al Gore, a former Vice President of the United States, as the world's most important voice to make rulers and peasants, moguls and workers, students and artists, scientists and poets alike, confront the existential crisis of Global Climate Change?
By simply listening to, and learning to understand the validity of, science, scientists, research and data, she does what global industrialists and the current resident of the White House refuse to do. Her passionate ability to communicate and confront, to speak truth to power, and to focus on a future worth having, continue to make her a hero of her generation and a voice of conscience that will not be dismissed or marginalized.
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Reprinted from our special edition last December 11th, including excerpts from the Guide from Dec 6th and November 29th.
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
Greta Thunberg named "Person of the Year." Special edition, Dec 11 2019
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"TIME Magazine Person of the Year"
Congratulations, GRETA! Together, WE DID IT! The Guide had previously named her OUR "Person of the Year" and encouraged our readers to vote in TIME's poll and to sign a petition. We did that because we fully believed she was deserving, though we admit we made a big deal about it because we really did not expect that TIME would come through. So congratulations to TIME magazine as well, for having the courage and character to defy powerful interests.
When the news arrived this morning, our editor said, "We stand a chance. It's been in doubt for a long time. But this proves that it is NOT a monolithic power structure. We stand a chance."
Greta is the youngest person ever named as TIME's choice for the one person who is making the biggest difference in the world. Before 2019, the previous individual to hold the record for the magazine's youngest Person of the Year was the first one in TIME’s history: 25-year-old Charles Lindbergh, selected as most influential man of 1927, following his first-ever solo flight across the Atlantic.
Here's the story in TIME magazine, with their video: https://time.com/person-of-the-year-2019-greta-thunberg/
Read reports ABOUT the TIME announcement at:
CNN (with video) -- https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/11/media/time-person-of-the-year-2019/index.html
CBS (with video) -- https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/time-person-of-the-year-2019-greta-thunberg-named-annual-person-of-year-today-2019-12-11/
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BREAKING NEWS, 5 am Pacific, Wed, Dec 11...
"TIME Magazine Person of the Year"
is 16-year-old global climate crisis activist
GRETA THUNBERG
Congratulations, GRETA! Together, WE DID IT! The Guide had previously named her OUR "Person of the Year" and encouraged our readers to vote in TIME's poll and to sign a petition. We did that because we fully believed she was deserving, though we admit we made a big deal about it because we really did not expect that TIME would come through. So congratulations to TIME magazine as well, for having the courage and character to defy powerful interests.
When the news arrived this morning, our editor said, "We stand a chance. It's been in doubt for a long time. But this proves that it is NOT a monolithic power structure. We stand a chance."
Greta is the youngest person ever named as TIME's choice for the one person who is making the biggest difference in the world. Before 2019, the previous individual to hold the record for the magazine's youngest Person of the Year was the first one in TIME’s history: 25-year-old Charles Lindbergh, selected as most influential man of 1927, following his first-ever solo flight across the Atlantic.
Here's the story in TIME magazine, with their video: https://time.com/person-of-the-year-2019-greta-thunberg/
Read reports ABOUT the TIME announcement at:
CNN (with video) -- https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/11/media/time-person-of-the-year-2019/index.html
CBS (with video) -- https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/time-person-of-the-year-2019-greta-thunberg-named-annual-person-of-year-today-2019-12-11/
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Here are reprints of OUR most recent advocacy for Greta and her cause -- the cause that must be EVERYONE's cause..
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Our Nov 29 Special edition, "Turning 'Black Friday' & 'Cyber Monday' GREEN," is filled with facts and how to become an activist once you are armed with them. The # 4 feature story reads:
The essential Greta: "and a little child shall lead them."
Here at the Guide, we believe there is no question that TIME MAGAZINE'S "PERSON OF THE YEAR" must be GRETA THUNBERG.
Whether or not that publication can overcome corporate pressure, we aren't waiting to see. The Guide is hereby naming her OUR "Person of the Year."
Greta Thunberg's solitary school strikes for climate awareness, outside the Swedish Parliament every Friday, became the first domino. Her passion and determination overcame her own challenges -- autism and asperger's -- as she drew others to the compelling reality that caused her to take action. She is still unjustly being subjected to ridicule, even though her movement has recruited tens of millions. Greta continues to stand up for scientific truth and to live in accordance with her values, which, unlike those of her critics, are based on frequent dialog with many of the world's leading climate scientists. A diminutive young woman of just 16 years of age, she effectively uses her legal standing as a child to speak for children who want a future on an Earth that isn't drying-up and blowing away. In doing so, she has gained the endorsement of millions of school children and millions more of all ages.
At the moment, Greta has hitched a ride aboard a wind-powered vessel back across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe, to attend the latest major global climate conference. Following her powerful address to the United Nations in New York, she will speak at COP25, which was unexpectedly relocated to Madrid.
Greta is sailing aboard the boat "La Vagabonde" with an Australian family and an expert British skipper. This is not a favorable time of the year for a sailboat crossing of the North Atlantic, so we join in the fervent hope that they all arrive safely. The vessel should reach Lisbon, Portugal early in December.
The essential Greta: "and a little child shall lead them."
Here at the Guide, we believe there is no question that TIME MAGAZINE'S "PERSON OF THE YEAR" must be GRETA THUNBERG.
Whether or not that publication can overcome corporate pressure, we aren't waiting to see. The Guide is hereby naming her OUR "Person of the Year."
Greta Thunberg's solitary school strikes for climate awareness, outside the Swedish Parliament every Friday, became the first domino. Her passion and determination overcame her own challenges -- autism and asperger's -- as she drew others to the compelling reality that caused her to take action. She is still unjustly being subjected to ridicule, even though her movement has recruited tens of millions. Greta continues to stand up for scientific truth and to live in accordance with her values, which, unlike those of her critics, are based on frequent dialog with many of the world's leading climate scientists. A diminutive young woman of just 16 years of age, she effectively uses her legal standing as a child to speak for children who want a future on an Earth that isn't drying-up and blowing away. In doing so, she has gained the endorsement of millions of school children and millions more of all ages.
At the moment, Greta has hitched a ride aboard a wind-powered vessel back across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe, to attend the latest major global climate conference. Following her powerful address to the United Nations in New York, she will speak at COP25, which was unexpectedly relocated to Madrid.
Greta is sailing aboard the boat "La Vagabonde" with an Australian family and an expert British skipper. This is not a favorable time of the year for a sailboat crossing of the North Atlantic, so we join in the fervent hope that they all arrive safely. The vessel should reach Lisbon, Portugal early in December.
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In our Dec 6 write-up for the second-half of the "4th global climate change protest / extinction rebellion strike" (in the latest December events edition) we wrote:
Life on our planet is at the most critical crossroads since anyone considered a massive nuclear strike. Too many of our fellow humans are infatuated with transitory BS -- with pop culture and celebrities and expensive addiction to whatever is momentarily fashionable, and to buying into it before it goes out of vogue. Meanwhile the planet is hotter than it has ever been since human cultures arose, as evidenced by ancient, 40,000-year-old, ice layers that allow us to make such determinations.
Every major study, including the latest (huge) one released just days ago by the UN, tells us we are nearly past a tipping point of no return with the fatal imbalance of greenhouse gases produced by human activity. Yet, politicians in every nation are dependent upon the biggest economic interests for their re-election campaign cash, and industrialists notoriously finance climate change denial.
Will the Earth's cultures, civilizations, and populations awaken in time? Often little things are the best indicators, especially when they function as "tastemakers." One thing that will be very telling is the announcement of the TIME magazine "Person of the Year." It comes out next week, on Dec 11.
Sixteen-year-old Swedish climate activism icon GRETA THUNBERG is one of the nominees, and we announced over a week ago, she is clearly our choice.
If TIME magazine picks Trump or some kingpin capitalist bastard, that will scream to us pretty much all we need to know about taste-making in America.
We must acknowledge that TIME's pick isn't always a humanitarian or champion of betterment. It can be far from it, going back to when they named Adolph Hitler as "Man of the Year" in the 1930s.
But the point in picking the person is supposed to be choosing someone who has had (or is having) the most enduring impact on the world.
Thus, we say that must be GRETA THUNBERG, because she is the first (and so far the only) one to mobilize millions of people -- people of every age, on every continent, including Antarctica -- to demand immediate and effective action to redirect and mobilize resources to address and reverse climate change.
And let's be absolutely clear, whether or not anyone accuses us of sensationalism:
Whatever sociopolitical or economic or cultural causes or issues anyone is passionate about? Unless we REVERSE climate change, everything else is simply re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
Life on our planet is at the most critical crossroads since anyone considered a massive nuclear strike. Too many of our fellow humans are infatuated with transitory BS -- with pop culture and celebrities and expensive addiction to whatever is momentarily fashionable, and to buying into it before it goes out of vogue. Meanwhile the planet is hotter than it has ever been since human cultures arose, as evidenced by ancient, 40,000-year-old, ice layers that allow us to make such determinations.
Every major study, including the latest (huge) one released just days ago by the UN, tells us we are nearly past a tipping point of no return with the fatal imbalance of greenhouse gases produced by human activity. Yet, politicians in every nation are dependent upon the biggest economic interests for their re-election campaign cash, and industrialists notoriously finance climate change denial.
Will the Earth's cultures, civilizations, and populations awaken in time? Often little things are the best indicators, especially when they function as "tastemakers." One thing that will be very telling is the announcement of the TIME magazine "Person of the Year." It comes out next week, on Dec 11.
Sixteen-year-old Swedish climate activism icon GRETA THUNBERG is one of the nominees, and we announced over a week ago, she is clearly our choice.
If TIME magazine picks Trump or some kingpin capitalist bastard, that will scream to us pretty much all we need to know about taste-making in America.
We must acknowledge that TIME's pick isn't always a humanitarian or champion of betterment. It can be far from it, going back to when they named Adolph Hitler as "Man of the Year" in the 1930s.
But the point in picking the person is supposed to be choosing someone who has had (or is having) the most enduring impact on the world.
Thus, we say that must be GRETA THUNBERG, because she is the first (and so far the only) one to mobilize millions of people -- people of every age, on every continent, including Antarctica -- to demand immediate and effective action to redirect and mobilize resources to address and reverse climate change.
And let's be absolutely clear, whether or not anyone accuses us of sensationalism:
Whatever sociopolitical or economic or cultural causes or issues anyone is passionate about? Unless we REVERSE climate change, everything else is simply re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
An "Inner Climate Change"-?
Most everything We present in this special 50th anniversary Earth Day edition is solidly based in science, and anything that does not conform to that is obvious parody.
This one feature is altogether different. During this uniquely shared stay-at-home time, many -- at least the thoughtful and creative -- are questioning the meaning, even the validity, of all we had been conditioned to accept as "normal."
That is empowering inner journeys for many we know. And suddenly finding the Earth clean and pristine has spiritual aspects that cannot be dismissed.
Thus, we bring you this from the "Findhorn Foundation":
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The Guide has long been committed to bringing our readers news of the real SCIENCE behind things, and the environmental battles and ways to get involved in the fight. Here are examples from our Earth Day coverage in 2019.
2019's EARTH DAY feature stories included these...
Next section:
☆ Earth Day - Earth Week Special Features...
We take an activism-oriented approach here. There are things YOU can do! Of course there are MANY more things to do than the ones we present here with links to follow and petitions to sign -- plus places to meet like-minded folks, over in our EVENTS listings.
MONDAY IS EARTH DAY. (Every day needs to be Earth Day, if we want planetary survival of the biodiversity necessary to assure OUR future!) See the history -- who started it -- in Monday's EVENTS.
Wednesday is the release of the "STATE OF THE AIR REPORT" from the American Lung Association. Any bets Big Media covers it?
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# 9 feature... From 2019
GREEN TIPS FOR EARTH DAY
Okay, so it's a link, not a feature story. Unless you click the link. There, you'll find all kinds of practical tips for saving energy and avoiding making as a big a toxic trail as most people do.
https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/green-tips
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| The Monarch Butterfly population has suddenly surged by 144%. But years of decline mean they're still in trouble. |
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# 10 feature... From 2019
NATIONAL PARK WEEK STARTS SATURDAY, WITH FREE ADMISSION EVERYWHERE
On Saturday, April 20, "National Park Week 2019" kicks off with a fee-free day. ALL national parks will waive their entrance fees on that one day, so GO, already!
This year, April 20 through 28, national parks across the country celebrate "National Park Week 2019" with a variety of special events.
On Saturday, April 20, "National Park Week 2019" kicks off with a fee-free day. ALL national parks will waive their entrance fees on that one day, so GO, already!
This year, April 20 through 28, national parks across the country celebrate "National Park Week 2019" with a variety of special events.
The celebrations and information exchanges with the national park community (everyone from visitors to rangers) are ongoing in the Twitter chat at #FindYourPark
There's an even BETTER way to make a plan where to visit and participate this summer, or this coming week. Just get your
FREE "NATIONAL PARK OWNER'S GUIDES."
These 11 FREE DOWNLOADS (plus waay MORE clickable resources) are filled with travel tips and information on what not to miss. There are separate guides for everything from hiking to going green and riding the train to get to the park you want to visit.
You can download:
¤ National Park Owner's Guide (detailed maps, travel tips, inside info on all 400+ Nat'l Parks)
¤ Road Trippin' (15 different long getaway weekend ideas)
¤ Recharge in the Parks (tips on how to start replenishing and refreshing your mind, body, and spirit in a nat'l park)
¤ Urban Playgrounds (a list of parks within or close to 24 major U.S. metropolitan areas)
¤ I Heart Parks (favorite parks for romantic adventures)
¤ Gimme Shelter (remote island inns to secluded campsites)
¤ Happy Trails (25 unforgettable hikes w/ age-ability notes & general hiking tips)
¤ Parks for Play (showcases 35 national parks experiencex specifically for kids and families)
¤ The Places Nobody Knows ( hidden gems of the nat'l parks)
¤ National Parks by Rail (travel tips, maps, and more; and since Amtrak's new airline-shill boss won't print train timetables any more, this is really valuable!)
¤ Winter Wonderlands (cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, ice fishing, stargazing, sledding, in 15 nat'l parks)
Plus bunches of topics in "TRAVEL IDEAS FROM THE BLOG."
You only need one link for this one-stop resource to discover your national parks with all those FREE guide downloads, courtesy of the non-profit "National Park Foundation." Get 'em at:
https://www.nationalparks.org/explore-parks/npf-travel-ideas
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# 11 feature... From 2019
CLIMATE CHANGE -- A QUICK WAY TO TAKE ACTION
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| Sadly, the Democratic Party Establishment pays lip service, but won't get serious. |
They have absolutely no plan or intention of doing that, even though the Dem presidential candidates WANT it. So, once again, It's up to "we, the people" to force the Political Establishment to act.
The Guide's editor has sent letters to the leaders of the Democratic Party about their failure to support a meaningful "Green New Deal." We have called them out for their repeated failures to support the pro-environment, pro-species-survival efforts of individual office holders from their own party. Our message?
"You may be sincere in your advocacy for a plethora of actions across a spectrum of issues. But unless you take immediate and effective action to reverse climate change, everything else you do is re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic."
You can sign the new petition calling on the DNC to hold a 2020 presidential primary debate FOCUSED ON CLIMATE CHANGE. We have signed and support it. Will you join us?
https://act.credoaction.com/sign/climate-debate
(The petition sponsor, CREDO Action, is a global peace and environment organization with a good track record of effective political action.)
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# 12 feature... From 2019
L.A.'s BEST HIKING TRAILS
The folks at "Do L.A." just published their choices for favorite trails, noting that wildflower blooms, Earth Day, and Earth Month, combine to make it the best time to explore the great outdoors. Since we've always headed for the high country of the Sierra or the high San Gabriels, we enjoyed seeing that their list has lots of places much closer to urban centers, including places we've yet to go.
We'll add that you need to watch for snakes, and if you're camping overnight, you need a bear barrel for your food and anything that smells sweet, like toothpaste, deodorant, and lip balm.
Here's their trail picks:
https://dola.com/p/dolas-guide-to-hiking-in-la
WHAT'S IN THAT REESE'S EGG?
by Chelsea Matthews
"Fact is, way more chocolate and candy is sold for Easter than for Halloween! And that means more rainforest and habitat is destroyed to make ‘em."
When I was a kid, my parents didn’t have to worry about palm oil from rainforest destruction.
We dyed eggs the night before Easter and woke up the next morning to baskets filled with fake grass, jelly beans, and the real prize, what my folks called “a little something” — some silly putty, superballs or crayons.
Wait, what? Why are you telling us this? Why am I scared? WHY AM I TALKING TO MYSELF? You’re gonna make me say it? Sigh. I just want to think of happy bunnies and pretty Easter eggs…
Ugh FINE! THERE’S PALM OIL IN CHOCOLATE AND CANDY! CONFLICT PALM OIL, FUELED BY RAINFOREST DESTRUCTION. There, I said it.
Candymakers Nestlé, Mars, Mondelēz and Hershey’s made a commitment to end rainforest destruction, but they aren’t doing a good job of monitoring deforestation to keep Conflict Palm Oil out of their treats.
And they must.
For years, RAN [Rainforest Action Network] and our partners have been monitoring candymakers’ supply chains in Indonesia’s endangered Leuser Ecosystem — a region so critical that we’ve been monitoring the implementation of palm oil commitments and using satellite imagery to track where forests are burned or bulldozed. But that should NOT be our job — it’s up to these international corporations, making billions in profits, to track where rainforest destruction is taking place so they can stop it and keep it out of our treats.
Fact is, way more chocolate and candy is sold for Easter than for Halloween! And that means more rainforest and habitat is destroyed to make ‘em.
Once again now: candymakers make billions and billions of dollars in profits. It’s their responsibility to know what’s happening to forests and to STOP the destruction for Conflict Palm Oil!
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Chelsea Matthews, who signs, "In solidarity with rainforest-loving peeps everywhere," is a Forest Campaigner at Rainforest Action Network in San Francisco.
She invites you take action, and "Call out the Candymakers," at:
https://act.ran.org/calling_out_the_candymakers
The Guide's editor adds:
Rain forest destruction is a key driver of climate change. Politicians and corporatists talk of taking bold action on a spectrum of problems, but... The fact is, unless climate change is REVERSED, anything else we do is re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
L.A.'s BEST HIKING TRAILS
We'll add that you need to watch for snakes, and if you're camping overnight, you need a bear barrel for your food and anything that smells sweet, like toothpaste, deodorant, and lip balm.
Here's their trail picks:
https://dola.com/p/dolas-guide-to-hiking-in-la
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# 13 feature... From 2019
by Chelsea Matthews
"Fact is, way more chocolate and candy is sold for Easter than for Halloween! And that means more rainforest and habitat is destroyed to make ‘em."
When I was a kid, my parents didn’t have to worry about palm oil from rainforest destruction.
We dyed eggs the night before Easter and woke up the next morning to baskets filled with fake grass, jelly beans, and the real prize, what my folks called “a little something” — some silly putty, superballs or crayons.
Wait, what? Why are you telling us this? Why am I scared? WHY AM I TALKING TO MYSELF? You’re gonna make me say it? Sigh. I just want to think of happy bunnies and pretty Easter eggs…
Candymakers Nestlé, Mars, Mondelēz and Hershey’s made a commitment to end rainforest destruction, but they aren’t doing a good job of monitoring deforestation to keep Conflict Palm Oil out of their treats.
And they must.
For years, RAN [Rainforest Action Network] and our partners have been monitoring candymakers’ supply chains in Indonesia’s endangered Leuser Ecosystem — a region so critical that we’ve been monitoring the implementation of palm oil commitments and using satellite imagery to track where forests are burned or bulldozed. But that should NOT be our job — it’s up to these international corporations, making billions in profits, to track where rainforest destruction is taking place so they can stop it and keep it out of our treats.
Fact is, way more chocolate and candy is sold for Easter than for Halloween! And that means more rainforest and habitat is destroyed to make ‘em.
Once again now: candymakers make billions and billions of dollars in profits. It’s their responsibility to know what’s happening to forests and to STOP the destruction for Conflict Palm Oil!
_
Chelsea Matthews, who signs, "In solidarity with rainforest-loving peeps everywhere," is a Forest Campaigner at Rainforest Action Network in San Francisco.
She invites you take action, and "Call out the Candymakers," at:
https://act.ran.org/calling_out_the_candymakers
The Guide's editor adds:
Rain forest destruction is a key driver of climate change. Politicians and corporatists talk of taking bold action on a spectrum of problems, but... The fact is, unless climate change is REVERSED, anything else we do is re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
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# 14 feature... From 2019
NESTLE'S PLASTIC MONSTER
by Kate Melges, Greenpeace
Yesterday, I was outside Nestlé’s United States corporate headquarters with... a giant plastic monster! (See photo.)
by Kate Melges, Greenpeace
Yesterday, I was outside Nestlé’s United States corporate headquarters with... a giant plastic monster! (See photo.)
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| Plastic monster, made entirely of trash floating in the ocean. |
We need to strike while the iron is hot. Will you help us tell Nestlé how dire the plastic pollution crisis truly is? Call Nestlé right this moment at 1-888-918-6672 and tell them they must phase out their reliance on single-use plastic packaging, and move to refillable and reusable options.
I cannot bear to see another headline about communities overrun by the global waste trade – or another dead whale with a gut full of plastic. So my friends and I called out Nestlé at its office with a giant monster made with discarded Nestlé packaging. If you feel like I do, please join us by calling out Nestlé over the phones.
Calling is easy, takes less than two minutes, and is one of the best ways to make sure Nestlé is listening. Just follow these simple steps:
Dial 1-888-918-6672. Listen to a short message from Greenpeace. We’ll then patch you through to Nestlé’s customer service line.When you’re connected, be polite and say what you think about Nestlé’s plastic packaging. Here is a suggested script:
"Hi, my name is __________ and I’m calling from (your CITY & STATE). I’m very concerned by the massive amount of single-use plastic pollution and Nestlé is one of the largest global corporations that relies heavily on such packaging. I would like Nestlé to be an industry leader and phase out single-use plastic, while innovating bold, new solutions like refillable and reusable packaging. Thank you!"
You can also send a message demanding an end to single-use plastic on Nestle's Facebook.
Not on Facebook? No problem, you can send a message on Instagram or Twitter.
Nestlé needs to hear from you right now. You’ve already joined millions signing petitions demanding an end to its single-use plastic and spreading the word on social media. They know they’ve created a problem, but they don’t want to be the ones to solve it. The solution, however, is in their hands, and the time is now. Nestlé must make the switch to systems of reuse.
For a plastic free future,
Kate Melges
Senior Plastics Campaigner, Greenpeace USA
info@greenpeaceusa.org
Editor's note: of course, it's not just one company.
EVERY MINUTE (of every hour, every day), a monster-sized load of plastic — the equivalent of a truckload — enters the ocean.
For a global map of plastic in the oceans, see the next feature.
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# 15 feature... From 2019
ARTISTS: YOUR INNOVATIVE IDEAS ARE NEEDED FOR "SPACE FOR THE OCEANS"
ESA -- the European Space Agency -- wants your ideas for applying space technology to Earth-based problems.
Really and truly, they do.
Pause a second and think: who, among our blue planet's infestation of human presence, is more passionately creative than our artists?
See why they're asking You?
History provides plenty of examples of artists with bold ideas that revolutionize everything, and collaborations (intentional or not) that allow designers, engineers, and scientists to use ideas that were hatched in the minds of artists. Quick example: comedian Steve Allen developed the design concept for the first artificial heart.
Astrophysicist Neil de Grasse Tyson has said, "Science without art doesn't mean anything, and therefore cannot sustain the motivation to go on. The artist who cares about science is essential to everything."
Through the "Open Space Innovation Platform," a new challenge-based website, ESA is hunting-out bright ideas in two areas. You may be the creative innovator with the key idea to:
(1) monitor the flood of plastic waste polluting the oceans, or
(2) to improve the self-steering abilities of ships.
Topic 1:
Detecting and monitoring plastic marine litter
With about ten million metric tonnes of plastic entering the ocean each year. Wildlife and ecosystems are suffering. And the economic impact on coastal communities, tourism and fisheries, is huge.
Monitoring this plastic is incredibly difficult from Earth’s surface, as it’s impossible to see a lot of the ocean at once.
Space represents a more promising vantage point; but satellites cannot detect plastic marine litter - at least, not yet.
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| Plastic litter in global oceans. Click to enlarge. |
Solutions to plastic litter could include measuring plastic concentrations, identifying how the litter is transported around the world, and identifying sources and sinks of plastic marine litter. ESA welcomes innovative ideas that support the detection and monitoring of different types of plastic, both for the oceans and freshwater systems.
Topic 2:
Enabling harbor-to-harbor autonomous shipping
ESA is also seeking ideas that would contribute to enabling the increased adoption of autonomous shipping. This could significantly lower shipping costs, increase safety, solve anticipated crew shortages, and improve working conditions.
Leading the search for ideas, ESA’s David Jimenez expands, “Autonomous shipping relies on accurate and continuously-available navigation support, as well as up-to-date information from Earth observation satellites. However, existing satellite navigation systems alone are not enough, especially for ships coming into highly-trafficked ports where precision is essential, as well as those in the Arctic.”
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| Autonomous shipping supported from space. |
A variety of options exist for improving current techniques, including combining satellite data with terrestrial data to ensure worldwide coverage, and developing new satellite networks that can provide more accurate and guaranteed positioning. Furthermore autonomous shipping could be revolutionised with new systems designed specifically to monitor harbours, and through combining different systems using artificial intelligence.
“Ships are becoming increasingly independent, but so far complete autonomy has not been attainable,” continues David. “Achieving this aim would lead to more efficient and competitive shipping, whilst reducing the industry’s environmental impact.”
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| Image: How to use ideas.esa.int. Click to enlarge. |
The Discovery & Preparation Program
OSIP -- the Open Space Innovation Platform -- is run through ESA's Discovery & Preparation program, which forms part of ESA’s Basic Activities. Working with and across all ESA programs, Discovery & Preparation lays the groundwork for ESA’s short- to medium-term future activities.
“Via OSIP, we are addressing the most relevant challenges in space, and enabling parnters to work with ESA on activities that seek the best solutions,” concludes Ian Carnelli, Manager of ESA’s Discovery & Preparation activities.
Carnelli continues, “These activities could include studies, early technology developments and research co-sponsorships addressing novel and innovative subjects. So share your ideas with us through OSIP and help shape the future of space research.”
Really, check it out. We know an artist who, as an 11-year-old, invented the Auto Train concept years before the business world thought it up and built it. He was doing it with his American Flyer.
And we know an artist who drew pictures as a kid of balloon-launched and aircraft-launched space vehicles, decades before the aerospace industry envisioned and built them. (They work to save fuel because launch vehicle weight is reduced if you can get started for space from a high altitude where the air is very thin.)
Leonardo DaVinci is remembered by history as a great innovator and inventor. In his time, he was regarded as an artist -- a great artist, but an artist -- not an inventor, and few of his inventions were built until hundreds of years after he was dead.
Do you want to be a DaVinci after you're gone, or now? Your ideas may change the world. Get started. What are you waiting for?
All the links are at:
https://m.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Engineering_Technology/Seeking_innovative_ideas_space_for_the_oceans
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# 16 feature... From 2019
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HUBBLE!
This incredible image of the hourglass-shaped Southern Crab Nebula was taken to mark the Hubble Space Telescope’s 29th anniversary in space.
This incredible image of the hourglass-shaped Southern Crab Nebula was taken to mark the Hubble Space Telescope’s 29th anniversary in space.
Each year the telescope dedicates a small portion of its precious observing time to take a special anniversary image, focused on capturing particularly beautiful and meaningful objects.
Launched April 24, 1990 from the space shuttle Discovery, the orbiting reflecting telescope was initially useless because of a minor, but crucial, flaw in its huge mirror. Another space shuttle mission had to do something that was never thought possible: partial disassembly of the telescope by spacewalking astronauts. They placed an array of tiny corrective mirrors inside Hubble that functioned like a person being fitted with vision-correcting glasses. And additional shuttle missions performed challenging and unprecedented tasks to extend its capabilities, as well.
Hubble has since revolutionized how astronomers and the general public see the Universe. The images Hubble provides are spectacular from both a scientific and a purely aesthetic point of view.
This new image adds a lot of science and changes our understanding of the nebula, even as it demonstrates the telescope’s continued capabilities.
This peculiar nebula is one of the many objects that Hubble has demystified throughout its productive life. This, the Southern Crab Nebula, is so named to distinguish it from the better-known Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant visible in the constellation of Taurus.
The image reveals active, dynamic processes. It shows nested, hourglass-shaped, structures created by the interaction between a pair of stars -- a binary star system -- at its center.
The pair of stars is unequal and constantly changing. They are a red giant and a white dwarf. The red giant is shedding its outer layers in the last phase of its life before it, too, lives out its final years as a white dwarf.
Some of the red giant's ejected material is attracted by the gravity of its companion. When enough of this cast-off material is pulled onto the white dwarf, it also ejects the material outwards in an eruption, creating the structures we see in the nebula. Eventually, the red giant will finish throwing-off its outer layers and stop feeding its white dwarf companion. Prior to this, there may also be more eruptions, creating even more intricate structures.
But... Astronomers did not always know this. The object was first written about in 1967, but was assumed to be an ordinary star. That was until 1989, when it was observed using telescopes at the European Southern Observatory's La Silla Observatory. An image taken then showed a roughly crab-shaped extended nebula, formed by symmetrical bubbles of gas and dust.
These observations only showed the outer hourglass emanating from a bright central region that could not be clearly resolved.
It was not until Hubble observed the Southern Crab in 1999 that the entire structure came into view. That image revealed the inner nested structures, suggesting that the phenomenon that created the outer bubbles had occurred twice in the (astronomically) recent past.
It is fitting that Hubble has returned to this object twenty years after its first observation. This new image adds to the story of an active and evolving object and contributes to the story of Hubble's role in our evolving understanding of the Universe.
We noted that several space shuttle missions were tasked to perform rebuilds and maintenance that have kept Hubble functioning far beyond its designed lifetime. Sadly, with no similar manned space capabilities since abandonment of the shuttle program, Hubble's days are numbered, since no further maintenance can be performed.
Want more? Check out THIS:
INTERACTIVE 3D MODEL OF THE HUBBLE SPACECRAFT:
http://sci.esa.int/hubble/31384-3d-model/
(Our thanks to Bethany Downer, ESA/Hubble Public Information Officer in Garching, Germany, for much of the information used here.)
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We have lots of MUSIC NEWS
features in the works, and they'll
be along as we get them dressed,
shoes tied, cowlicks combed down,
bowties cranked straight,
and strings tuned.
Find a comfortable spot by the
wood stove -- you'll prob'ly need to
grab the cards for solitaire, since you
can't have somebody over for a round
of checkers. But we'll be along...
directly, from a safe social distance.
In Cyberia.
features in the works, and they'll
be along as we get them dressed,
shoes tied, cowlicks combed down,
bowties cranked straight,
and strings tuned.
Find a comfortable spot by the
wood stove -- you'll prob'ly need to
grab the cards for solitaire, since you
can't have somebody over for a round
of checkers. But we'll be along...
directly, from a safe social distance.
In Cyberia.
_________________________________________________
On to the necessary boilerplate...
Boilerplate? What "boilerplate"? Where's the main pressure gauge? And the firebox? How do you add water so it won't blow-up?
Who came up with that goofy term for the basic essential informational stuff? ...obviously some dumbass...
Alright already, it's right down there...
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LEGALESE, CONTACTING US, 'N SUCH...
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Direct to the Guide's current editions /
MOBILE-DEVICE-FRIENDLY
editions load quickly at
Or at
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CONTACT US -- Post Comments / Send Questions / say Howdy at:
Tiedtothetracks (at) Hotmail (dot) com
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OR USE THE COMMENTS FUNCTION on the Blogspot site.
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Entire contents copyright © 2020,
Lawrence Wines & Tied to the Tracks.
All rights reserved.
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♪ The ACOUSTIC AMERICANA MUSIC GUIDE endeavors to bring you NEWS – and views of interest to artists everywhere – more specifically to musicians and the creative community and music makers -- and fans of acoustic and Folk-Americana music. That includes both traditional and innovative forms. From the deepest roots to today’s acoustic renaissance, that’s our beat. We provide a wealth of resources, including a HUGE catalog of acoustic-friendly venues (now undergoing a major update), and inside info on FESTIVALS and select performances in Southern California in venues from the monumentally large to the intimately small and cozy. We cover workshops, conferences, and other events for artists and folks in the music industry, and all kinds o’ things in the world of acoustic and Americana and accessible classical music. From washtub bass to musical spoons to oboe to viola to banjo to squeezebox, from Djangostyle to new-fangled-old-time string band music, from sweet Cajun fiddle to bluegrass and pre-bluegrass Appalachian mountain music to all the swamp water roots of the blues and the bright lights of where the music is headed now.
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The Acoustic Americana Music Guide. Thanks for sittin' a spell. The cyber porch'll be here anytime you come back from the road.
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We'll be back again soon with music news and more "News of the Non-Trumpcentric Universe." (c)
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Til we catch ya again on the flip side
in this new decade...
in this new decade...
as Buford the Wonder Dog looks on
and in our best Kathy Baker
"Hee Haw" voice: "THAT's all!"
"Hee Haw" voice: "THAT's all!"
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Here's a reprint of important info from one of our February editions:
COVID-19 Coronavirus PRACTICAL PRECAUTIONS
(good for avoiding the "regular" flu & colds, too)
• Coronavirus lives on inorganic surfaces anywhere from two hours to NINE DAYS; it all seems dependent on temperature, unless it is killed by disinfectant. When tests revealed that, even health care workers were surprised. It brings more emphasis to many of the following points.
• Get the flu vaccine -- ordinary flu will likely mimic Coronavirus, so avoid being ostracized and quarantined.
• Wash your hands, a lot: scrub for 20 seconds and wash them often.
• Stop shaking hands. Don't do "fist bumps" because that's still hand-to-hand contact. And don't become a mad elbow-bumper, because of the next point.
• Cough into the inside of your elbow, ANY TIME you cough.
• Stop shaking hands. Don't do "fist bumps" because that's still hand-to-hand contact. And don't become a mad elbow-bumper, because of the next point.
• Cough into the inside of your elbow, ANY TIME you cough.
• Keep your hands away from your face -- touching your nostrils, eyes, or mouth brings-in every germ your hands picked-up.
• Get a little bottle of hand sanitizer on a miniature carabiner. Clip it to your belt loop or purse strap and use it frequently. (Be sure you snap the lid shut, or it'll drain all over your clothes.) You can refill it from the pump bottle by the sink.
• Make your own hand sanitizer if the stores are out. Formula, from a doctor who makes it with her kids: two parts isopropyl alcohol (drugstore alcohol, at least 70% alcohol), one part aloe vera gel, a dash of any essential oil. Works just ss well as store bought stuff.
• Make your own hand sanitizer if the stores are out. Formula, from a doctor who makes it with her kids: two parts isopropyl alcohol (drugstore alcohol, at least 70% alcohol), one part aloe vera gel, a dash of any essential oil. Works just ss well as store bought stuff.
• Stay home if you're sick -- even if you don't get paid, DON'T be the "Typhoid Mary" that brings a pandemic of this or ANYTHING contagious. If you're "taking one for the team," make it the big team -- ALL of us.
• Don't be a transporter. Immediately remove shoes inside your front door and change clothes when you get home. Don't plunk-down on the couch until you shed what you were wearing at work or in the store or on the bus or in the coffee bar. Stop tracking everything from the sidewalk onto your kitchen and bathroom floors and your rug.
• Be mindful of your car. Everything you touch, everywhere, is on your steering wheel. Everywhere you sit is on your car seat. Keep 'em disinfected -- Clorox wipe the wheel, Lysol spray the seats, often.
• Don't be a transporter. Immediately remove shoes inside your front door and change clothes when you get home. Don't plunk-down on the couch until you shed what you were wearing at work or in the store or on the bus or in the coffee bar. Stop tracking everything from the sidewalk onto your kitchen and bathroom floors and your rug.
• Be mindful of your car. Everything you touch, everywhere, is on your steering wheel. Everywhere you sit is on your car seat. Keep 'em disinfected -- Clorox wipe the wheel, Lysol spray the seats, often.
• Everything you wear goes in the hamper. No multi-day wearings between washings.
• Keep track of where Coronavirus and other flus are headed, the latest ways to avoid contagion, and what symptoms go with what disease, by putting the CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL in your favorites: www.cdc.gov
• Call your doctor or public health officials if you become symptomatic, and DON'T "just go" to the doctor or urgent care or ER; everybody else in the waiting room does not have what you have, and vice-versa.
• Don't buy-up all tbe masks that medical responders need. Nearly all the masks in the stores are Dust Masks, made to keep carpenters and other tradesmen from inhaling sawdust. Expecting those to protect you from tiny viruses is like trying to filter water with a tennis racket. Plus, wearing masks everywhere is not a good idea -- without training and lots of practice, you'll contaminate the thing and then breathe a stewpot of microorganisms up-close and personal.
• Get proper nutrition and plenty of sleep to support your immune system. THAT is THE best way to stay healthy.
• REALLY IMPORTANT: Think about what you routinely ignore:
~ your phone or tablet, which you constantly handle while you're touching everything else in the big, wide world, then keep handling when you're eating (keep your devices disinfected).
~ the Kleenex or cloth hankie you pull out of your pocket -- this time your nose or eye gets the side your dirty finger got last time (yeah, duh!)
~ door handles & knobs, especially "pull-to-exit" on the restroom door, and all door handles you grab or push.
~ gas pump handles -- whatever was deposited on them is now on your steering wheel, and marinading on your hands as you snack while driving.
~ gas pump handles -- whatever was deposited on them is now on your steering wheel, and marinading on your hands as you snack while driving.
~ restaurant menus, salt and pepper shakers, ketchup and mustard and hot sauce bottles that every unwashed hand touches. Same goes for bins of packaged condiments at fast foodies or convenience store / gas stations (Use 'em, then use your hand sanitizer.)
~ lunch buffet serving spoons, spatulas, tongs that every unwashed hand uses in the food bins (your freshly-washed hands just got contaminated). And if sneeze guard glass panes aren't at the right height or aren't clean, demand a refund and leave.
~ coins in change and money, in general -- coins and folding money are germ transit systems. (Back to your little bottle of hand sanitizer.)
~ airline & train tray tables -- who knows when they were last cleaned and to what extent? When we saw a baby being changed on one... (bring a little plastic box of Clorox wipes when you travel).
~ bring your own food on the airplane -- you're probably doing that, anyway, since they stopped feeding you back when they started charging for carry-on luggage and made you ride with your knees in your armpits. Flight attendants have tested positive -- their hands pour drinks, dispense snacks, and pick-up everybody's garbage.
~ airline & train tray tables -- who knows when they were last cleaned and to what extent? When we saw a baby being changed on one... (bring a little plastic box of Clorox wipes when you travel).
~ bring your own food on the airplane -- you're probably doing that, anyway, since they stopped feeding you back when they started charging for carry-on luggage and made you ride with your knees in your armpits. Flight attendants have tested positive -- their hands pour drinks, dispense snacks, and pick-up everybody's garbage.
~ remember to think and act consciously. There is an acute need to be mindful of others, so neither be paranoid reactive nor obliviously ignorant. There was great advice in the old cop show at the end of every briefing: "Be careful out there."
Read AND SHARE The Guide's complete feature story on the COVID-19 Coronavirus in the edition at: https://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2020/02/leap-day-weekend-leaping-into.html
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