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Category Archives: ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture
Department of the Interior needs to investigate ALEC
For decades, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has undermined federal policy and pushed legislation that would destroy our public lands, our forests and our rivers.
Thumbing their nose at the constitution, they’ve enabled extremists like Cliven Bundy to threaten law enforcement and promote dangerous standoffs, endangering the lives of both the police and the public.
If we don’t stand together today, we may lose our nation’s most beautiful treasures tomorrow. Imagine uranium mines in the Grand Canyon or fracking for oil in Yellowstone National Park. That is ALEC’s vision for America, not ours.
Wielding corporate influence and buying crooked politicians, they’ve repeatedly torn down critical health, safety and environmental rules – all so they can sell our country to the highest bidder. What’s more, ALEC has done all this while hiding in the shadows, never disclosing its role or the groups who fund its extreme agenda.
Thanks for all that you do,
Marisol
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Not Lovin’It
Scenes From Yesterday’s Worldwide Fast Food Strikes
Yesterday we wrote about how fast food workers united to participate in the most widespread strike in the history of the fast food industry. Employees of fast food restaurants across the United States and around the world took the risk of walking off the job to demand higher pay, better treatment at work, and the opportunity for those who work hard to get ahead. All told, there were strikes in 230 cities, in 33 countries, on 6 continents around the world — including 150 cities in the United States.
Take a look at some of pictures from this worldwide event, and find more by following the twitter hashtag #FastFoodGlobal.
New York, NY:
CREDIT: @occupywallst
Tokyo, Japan:
CREDIT: @akaill
Aukland, New Zealand:
CREDIT: @LowPayIsNotOK
Chicago, IL:
CREDIT: @seiulocal1
Golas, Brazil:
CREDIT: @LowPayIsNotOK
London, England:
CREDIT: @NSSN_AntiCuts
Oakland, CA:
CREDIT: @juliacarriew
Bangkok, Thailand:
CREDIT: @nickrudikoff
Seoul, South Korea:
CREDIT: fastfoodglobal.org
CREDIT: #FastFoodGlobal
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Eye on the Amazon: IN PICTURES – Meet the Zápara
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Oil? Not in Our Dreams As AW partner and fearless leader of the Zápara Women’s Assoc. Gloria Ushigua travels to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to ask that the Zápara be protected, we bring you a glimpse of the only nationality in Ecuador declared a UNESCO cultural patrimony. The Zápara were once one of the largest indigenous groups in the Ecuadorian Amazon. But by the 1980s anthropologists deemed them extinct, an entire culture erased in less than a century by disease, violence, persecution and assimilation. What most didn’t know was that some 200 Zápara remained hidden in the dense jungle… |
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Senate Expected to Vote on Wind Energy Policy – Please Reach Out!
Aaron Severn
Director, Grassroots Advocacy & Federal Legislative Affairs
American Wind Energy Association
I wanted to make sure that you saw my e-mail from last week (below). I told you that we were expecting the U.S. Senate to vote on wind energy policy. That still is a possibility, but the bill stalled today on a procedural vote. Our Senators will have another opportunity to advance this bill as soon as next week.
This bill proposes to extend a host of expired and expiring tax provisions, including the renewable energy production tax credit (PTC) and investment tax credit (ITC). The extension would let wind energy developers qualify for the tax credits if they start construction on their wind projects by the end of 2015.
I’ve drafted a template note for you – just click here, enter your address, personalize the note, and send it along. It won’t take long.
Thanks for taking action at this important time! I sincerely appreciate your support. I will be in touch again soon.
Best regards,
Aaron
Begin forwarded message:
From: Aaron Severn <grassroots@awea.org>
Date: Tuesday May 6, 2014
Subject: Senate Expected to Vote on Wind Energy Policy – Please Reach Out!
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I wanted to let you know that the full Senate is expected to vote on the EXPIRE Act as early as next week, and I encourage you to urge your Senators to support this bill.
The EXPIRE Act proposes to extend a host of expired and expiring tax provisions, including the renewable energy production tax credit (PTC) and investment tax credit (ITC). The extension would let wind energy developers qualify for the tax credits if they start construction on their wind projects by the end of 2015.
The PTC and ITC have been successful policies, and it’s crucial that they be extended. In a period of relative policy stability, between 2005 and 2012, with the credits being seamlessly extended, the wind industry:
- Experienced an average annual growth rate of 31%
- Added the vast majority of all wind power capacity in the U.S. today; and
- Channeled $105 billion of private investment into the U.S. economy.
These credits were allowed to expire at the end of 2013, though. Leading up to this expiration, new wind installations came to a halt, resulting in a:
- 92% drop in new wind projects (1,087 megawatts in 2013, compared to 13,131 in 2012)
- Corresponding drop in investment ($2 billion in 2013, compared to $25 billion in 2012); and
- Loss of thousands of manufacturing jobs.
I urge you to share this information with your Senators – and even better, let them know why it matters to you. Please let them know why you want the U.S. to get more and more of its electricity from wind power, and that you need their support in order to make that happen.
I’ve drafted a template note for you – just click here, enter your address, personalize the note, and send it along. It won’t take long.
Thanks for taking action at this important time! I sincerely appreciate your support. I will update you on the outcome of this vote.
Best regards,
Aaron
Aaron Severn
Director, Grassroots Advocacy & Federal Legislative Affairs
American Wind Energy Association
P.S. Interested to know more about the PTC? Visit this page.
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