Tag Archives: Effects of global warming

DearAvaazers,

Click to pledge so our movement to save the world can hit the streets on September 21st: $4 $6 $9 $14 $23

Scientists are screaming from the rooftops that climate change isn’t just a bit of warming and some more storms. No exaggeration, our actual *survival* is at risk — this is a fight to save the world.

Our biosphere is in a fragile balance. Warm it a bit, and feedback loops start to kick in. Warming melts the arctic ice that reflects sunlight, which means more sunlight absorbed, which means more warming, which melts more ice etc. etc. These feedback loops have begun, and they’re approaching ‘tipping points’ where they spin out of our control, threatening everything we love.

The UN understands this, and they’ve called an emergency summit of world leaders in New York to discuss action, even inviting our movement into the meeting! The problem is, our heads of state are politicians, not scientists, and they respond to public pressure. They see the polls, but they ask, “where are the protests?” Sept. 21st is our answer.

With thousands of organisations from unions to faith groups, and hundreds of thousands of people already signed up, we’re about to launch the biggest climate change mobilisation in history, with marches from New York to Paris to Rio. On September 21st, we need to shake the world. To get there, we need to mobilise thousands of organisers, saturate subways and airwaves with ads, and mount an effective media operation.

If 50,000 of us contribute just a small amount in the next 5 days, we can make it happen. It’s time to save the world, let’s launch the movement that can do it.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Silicon Valley’s narrative ~~~ On Black folks …ColorOfChange team

08/14/2014 Nativegrl77

Silicon Valley has a problem.

Tell Twitter to disclose its diversity data and host a public forum on making Silicon Valley more inclusive.

Last year, when confronted with criticism about his appointment of an all-white, all-male Board of Directors, Dick Costolo – the CEO of Twitter – responded with a dismissive, joking tweet.

“The whole thing has to be about more than checking a box & saying ‘we did it!’,” he later typed.¹

It’s been months now since Costolo’s defensive response and although Twitter later added a white woman to its Board,² the company has yet to publicly address the failure to appoint a single Black person despite data that confirms that Black folks make up a disproportionate share of Twitter’s user-base.

Much worse, in recent weeks as other Silicon Valley tech companies like Facebook, Yahoo, Google, and LinkedIn took the historic first step to release depressing data about the racial and gender composition of their staffs, Twitter has remained silent — refusing to jump on the data-release-bandwagon.³

That’s why we’re joining with Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow Push Coalition to call on Twitter to do two things: 1) release its employee diversity numbers immediately and 2) signal its commitment to real inclusion by hosting a public community forum that addresses the company’s plan to recruit and retain more Black talent. Will you join us? It only takes a minute.

Twitter is unlikely to break any trends

To date, most of the data disclosures have confirmed that Silicon Valley prefers its workers to be male and either white or Asian.^{4, 5} And although Twitter is unlikely to break any diversity trends that have emerged, transparency and a public commitment to improving the recruitment and retention of Black employees are critical first steps.

Though its minority representation numbers may mirror other Silicon Valley tech companies, Twitter has a unique role to play in this national conversation about hiring discrimination. Via the cultural force known as “Black Twitter,” Twitter has been built off the creativity of Black people, though they’re not on the payroll. ^{6, 7, 8} As such, the company owes our community more — more transparency, and a more thoughtful, solutions-oriented approach that addresses its failure to be more inclusive without blaming Black people.

Shifting the blame

Unfortunately, many of the tech companies (and their pundits) have been quick to incorrectly blame a leaky “talent pipeline” for the extreme racial hiring disparities revealed by these disclosures; pointing to statistics about the dearth of computer science degrees awarded to Black men and women, and bragging about their own philanthropic-investments in tech education for minorities. Silicon Valley apologists are working to divert blame.

Completely ignoring the fact that Black people are also severely underrepresented in nontechnical Silicon Valley roles, these blame-shifting tactics are not only misleading, they also serve to reinforce the false and problematic narrative that Black people are simply “unqualified,” undeserving and not valuable — that Black-thought is unqualified, underserving, and not valuable.

We cannot allow a corporate culture that seems hell-bent on making excuses for its replication of tired “good ol’ boy” networks to malign the intellectual and creative capacities of Black people in the process.

Will you join us in this fight?

Thanks and Peace,

–Rashad, Arisha, Matt, Aimee, Bhavik, and the rest of the ColorOfChange team.
July 17, 2014
References

1.”Twitter CEO Takes Fire Over All Male Board”, ValleyWag, 2013-07-10

2. “Twitter appoints first woman, Marjorie Scardino, to board of directors“, The Washington Post, 2013-11-15

3. “Some in Silicon Valley Publicize Diversity, While Others Shy Away“, U.S. News, 2014-06-18

4.”Silicon Valley Firms Are Even Whiter and More Male Than You Thought“, Mother Jones, 2014-05-29

5. “Status Update: Facebook not so diverse“, USA Today, 2014-06-26

6. “Black Twitter: A virtual community ready to hashtag out a response to cultural issues“, The Washington Post, 2014-01-20.

7. “Mama I Made It: Pew Poll Study Confirms The Existence of Black Twitter“, okayplayer, 2014-01-01

8. “Black Twitter FINALLY Gets Recognized…so that Twitter can Sell Ads“, ValleyWag, 2014-21-01

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

The world’s poorest communities need trees.

11/15/2013 Nativegrl77

Every time we do a tree-planting, I hear back from local residents, who tell us how the trees we’ve planted have helped them provide for their families and have allowed them to live happier and healthier lives.

They’re really thanking YOU, our generous supporters. But our work is not done yet.

For every dollar you donate, we’ll plant one more tree.

Trees provide food, energy and income, helping communities to achieve long-term economic and environmental sustainability. Trees also filter the air and help stave off the effects of climate change.

With your generous donation, you can improve the lives of some of the world’s most vulnerable citizens.

Last year, Earth Day Network made an important commitment to the Global Poverty Project to plant 10 million trees in impoverished areas around the world over the next five years.

We need your help to meet our goal. Please consider contributing to this critical effort today.

John Maleri
Associate Director of Earth Day, Earth Day Network

P.S. Thanks to our partners at WeWood, there’s a special new opportunity to support The Canopy Project. You’ll receive a gift you’ll love!

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Flood Congress with Support for Climate Action … Union of Concerned Scientists

03/16/2012 Nativegrl77

Flood Congress with Support for Climate Action

http://action.ucsusa.org << Take Action

Global warming emissions present a danger to public health—from worsening ozone pollution to hotter, longer heat waves and other types of extreme weather. For instance, heavy rain and floods are likely to get worse in a warming world, leaving us more and more vulnerable to health risks such as drowning and exposure to contaminated water.

Floods are one of deadliest and most expensive natural disasters in the United States. The average annual U.S. flood losses in the past 10 years were more than $10.2 billion. More than half of all waterborne disease outbreaks in the United States occur in the aftermath of heavy rain, and floodwaters may contain more than 100 types of disease causing bacteria, viruses, and parasites.

In order to protect our health from these effects of climate change, we must reduce global warming emissions now.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is on the verge of releasing draft standards that will limit global warming emissions from power plants under the Clean Air Act. Unfortunately, dirty energy companies and their allies in Congress are trying to block the EPA from moving forward with these historic standards.

Tell your members of Congress to protect our health from the effects of climate change and oppose any legislation that would block or delay the EPA’s ability to reduce global warming emissions under the Clean Air Act.

Take Action Today!

Sincerely,

Chrissy Elles
Outreach Associate
UCS Climate & Energy Program