Activist at work
I am a civic activist for Progressive causes and oppose the Corporate State promoted by the fascist “tea party” RepUGLYcans who act as pimps for greedy multi-national corporations, and I oppose police brutality and domestic spying to maintain white male privilege. Business As Usual is destroying our environment and wrecking our economy for most Americans. Politics As Usual is destroying our representative democracy. From the desk you see in this photo, I sign petitions to our elected leaders and representatives, I submit comments to government proposals online and in person, and I attend public meetings of civic groups and government agencies and often speak out when the public is asked for comments. Sometimes I speak out whether asked or not because it is my RIGHT as an American citizen.
The most important single issue for 2015 is Climate Change and the things that will make or break it: energy use, transportation, land use, and agriculture. If we lose on climate Change, nothing else will matter including health, education, reproductive rights, Internet neutrality, election reform, LGBT rights, women's rights, world peace, financial reform, taxation, Social Security, Medicare, veterans’ benefits, endangered species, nutrition, infrastructure, space exploration, jobs, or anything else. We must stop the Keystone XL pipeline and the TPP and TAFTA "free" trade agreements. The environmental damage caused by the extraction, processing, and transport of Canadian tar sands oil and those transnational trade agreements is far worse than temporarily losing a compromise healthcare payment plan what is mistakenly called "Obamacare" (but actually written by the conservative Heritage Foundation in the 1980's).
We cannot let the fight for Obamacare, abortion, gun control, or any “people issues” undermine the more important fight against environmental threats that will physically hurt our nation for centuries to come. We may not see the worst damage for decades, but the decision point is NOW. Future Americans could witness sea level rise that will largely cover four states (Florida, Louisiana, Delaware, and Rhode Island), and our most productive farmland in the Southwest and Midwest will be replaced by desert if we fail to act now.
In response to Global Warming and other environmental problems, we need a massive World War II sized industrial effort to change our energy use from dependence on fossil fuels to renewable sources; our transportation to prioritize walking, biking, urban mass transit, and both intercity passenger and freight rail service powered by electricity rather than continued dependence on cars and trucks; sub-urban sprawl superseded by walkable, human-scaled, multi-use Smart Growth; and industrial factory farming replaced by organic farming. As a desirable secondary benefit, this will create lots of jobs, but the primary benefit is the creation of infrastructure to support cleaner and more sustainable energy use, transportation, and both urban and rural land use.
There is one thing that the Bush 2.0 Administration’s Iraq War taught us: our government and economy CAN spare an extra 200 to 300 billion dollars PER YEAR over and beyond regular expenditures even without getting any benefit and do so for a decade. This time we must invest that money into things that will help fight climate change by rebuilding our transportation and energy infrastructure into something that will sustain our economy without wrecking our environment. The American people will not be motivated by small plans that do not stir their imagination but will back BIG plans that benefit all of us.
Activist at work
I am a civic activist for Progressive causes and oppose the Corporate State promoted by the fascist “tea party” RepUGLYcans who act as pimps for greedy multi-national corporations, and I oppose police brutality and domestic spying to maintain white male privilege. Business As Usual is destroying our environment and wrecking our economy for most Americans. Politics As Usual is destroying our representative democracy. From the desk you see in this photo, I sign petitions to our elected leaders and representatives, I submit comments to government proposals online and in person, and I attend public meetings of civic groups and government agencies and often speak out when the public is asked for comments. Sometimes I speak out whether asked or not because it is my RIGHT as an American citizen.
The most important single issue for 2015 is Climate Change and the things that will make or break it: energy use, transportation, land use, and agriculture. If we lose on climate Change, nothing else will matter including health, education, reproductive rights, Internet neutrality, election reform, LGBT rights, women's rights, world peace, financial reform, taxation, Social Security, Medicare, veterans’ benefits, endangered species, nutrition, infrastructure, space exploration, jobs, or anything else. We must stop the Keystone XL pipeline and the TPP and TAFTA "free" trade agreements. The environmental damage caused by the extraction, processing, and transport of Canadian tar sands oil and those transnational trade agreements is far worse than temporarily losing a compromise healthcare payment plan what is mistakenly called "Obamacare" (but actually written by the conservative Heritage Foundation in the 1980's).
We cannot let the fight for Obamacare, abortion, gun control, or any “people issues” undermine the more important fight against environmental threats that will physically hurt our nation for centuries to come. We may not see the worst damage for decades, but the decision point is NOW. Future Americans could witness sea level rise that will largely cover four states (Florida, Louisiana, Delaware, and Rhode Island), and our most productive farmland in the Southwest and Midwest will be replaced by desert if we fail to act now.
In response to Global Warming and other environmental problems, we need a massive World War II sized industrial effort to change our energy use from dependence on fossil fuels to renewable sources; our transportation to prioritize walking, biking, urban mass transit, and both intercity passenger and freight rail service powered by electricity rather than continued dependence on cars and trucks; sub-urban sprawl superseded by walkable, human-scaled, multi-use Smart Growth; and industrial factory farming replaced by organic farming. As a desirable secondary benefit, this will create lots of jobs, but the primary benefit is the creation of infrastructure to support cleaner and more sustainable energy use, transportation, and both urban and rural land use.
There is one thing that the Bush 2.0 Administration’s Iraq War taught us: our government and economy CAN spare an extra 200 to 300 billion dollars PER YEAR over and beyond regular expenditures even without getting any benefit and do so for a decade. This time we must invest that money into things that will help fight climate change by rebuilding our transportation and energy infrastructure into something that will sustain our economy without wrecking our environment. The American people will not be motivated by small plans that do not stir their imagination but will back BIG plans that benefit all of us.