#us environmental policies

[reasonsforhope]

No paywall version here.

"Two and a half years ago, when I was asked to help write the most authoritative report on climate change in the United States, I hesitated...

In the end, I said yes, but reluctantly. Frankly, I was sick of admonishing people about how bad things could get. Scientists have raised the alarm over and over again, and still the temperature rises. Extreme events like heat waves, floods and droughts are becoming more severe and frequent, exactly as we predicted they would. We were proved right. It didn’t seem to matter.

Our report, which was released on Tuesday, contains more dire warnings. There are plenty of new reasons for despair. Thanks to recent scientific advances, we can now link climate change to specific extreme weather disasters, and we have a better understanding of how the feedback loops in the climate system can make warming even worse. We can also now more confidently forecast catastrophic outcomes if global emissions continue on their current trajectory.

But to me, the most surprising new finding in the Fifth National Climate Assessment is this: There has been genuine progress, too.

I’m used to mind-boggling numbers, and there are many of them in this report. Human beings have put about 1.6 trillion tons of carbon in the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution — more than the weight of every living thing on Earth combined. But as we wrote the report, I learned other, even more mind-boggling numbers. In the last decade, the cost of wind energy has declined by 70 percent and solar has declined 90 percent. Renewables now make up 80 percent of new electricity generation capacity. Our country’s greenhouse gas emissions are falling, even as our G.D.P. and population grow.

In the report, we were tasked with projecting future climate change. We showed what the United States would look like if the world warms by 2 degrees Celsius. It wasn’t a pretty picture: more heat waves, more uncomfortably hot nights, more downpours, more droughts. If greenhouse emissions continue to rise, we could reach that point in the next couple of decades. If they fall a little, maybe we can stave it off until the middle of the century. But our findings also offered a glimmer of hope: If emissions fall dramatically, as the report suggested they could, we may never reach 2 degrees Celsius at all.

For the first time in my career, I felt something strange: optimism.

And that simple realization was enough to convince me that releasing yet another climate report was worthwhile.

Something has changed in the United States, and not just the climate. State, local and tribal governments all around the country have begun to take action. Some politicians now actually campaign on climate change, instead of ignoring or lying about it. Congress passed federal climate legislation — something I’d long regarded as impossible — in 2022 as we turned in the first draft.

[Note: She's talking about the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Act, which despite the names were the two biggest climate packages passed in US history. And their passage in mid 2022 was a big turning point: that's when, for the first time in decades, a lot of scientists started looking at the numbers - esp the ones that would come from the IRA's funding - and said "Wait, holy shit, we have an actual chance."]

And while the report stresses the urgency of limiting warming to prevent terrible risks, it has a new message, too: We can do this. We now know how to make the dramatic emissions cuts we’d need to limit warming, and it’s very possible to do this in a way that’s sustainable, healthy and fair.

The conversation has moved on, and the role of scientists has changed. We’re not just warning of danger anymore. We’re showing the way to safety.

I was wrong about those previous reports: They did matter, after all. While climate scientists were warning the world of disaster, a small army of scientists, engineers, policymakers and others were getting to work. These first responders have helped move us toward our climate goals. Our warnings did their job.

To limit global warming, we need many more people to get on board... We need to reach those who haven’t yet been moved by our warnings. I’m not talking about the fossil fuel industry here; nor do I particularly care about winning over the small but noisy group of committed climate deniers. But I believe we can reach the many people whose eyes glaze over when they hear yet another dire warning or see another report like the one we just published.

The reason is that now, we have a better story to tell. The evidence is clear: Responding to climate change will not only create a better world for our children and grandchildren, but it will also make the world better for us right now.

Eliminating the sources of greenhouse gas emissions will make our air and water cleaner, our economy stronger and our quality of life better. It could save hundreds of thousands or even millions of lives across the country through air quality benefits alone. Using land more wisely can both limit climate change and protect biodiversity. Climate change most strongly affects communities that get a raw deal in our society: people with low incomes, people of color, children and the elderly. And climate action can be an opportunity to redress legacies of racism, neglect and injustice.

I could still tell you scary stories about a future ravaged by climate change, and they’d be true, at least on the trajectory we’re currently on. But it’s also true that we have a once-in-human-history chance not only to prevent the worst effects but also to make the world better right now. It would be a shame to squander this opportunity. So I don’t just want to talk about the problems anymore. I want to talk about the solutions. Consider this your last warning from me."

-via New York Times. Opinion essay by leading climate scientist Kate Marvel. November 18, 2023.

#WE CAN DO THIS #I SO TRULY BELIEVE THAT WE CAN DO THIS #WE CAN SAVE OURSELVES AND THE WORLD ALONG WITH US #climate crisis #united states #climate change #conservation #hope posting #sustainability #climate news #climate action #climate emergency #fossil fuels #global warming #environmentalism #climate hope #solarpunk #climate optimism #climate policy #earth #science #climate science #meteorology #extreme weather #renewable energy #solar power #wind power #renewables #carbon emissions #climate justice

[shinobicyrus]

Hey, yanno how Climate Change is a real thing that is tangibly, at this moment, affecting our world?

Well it turns out, the wealthy and their investment firms have been seeing the mounting evidence that oil companies have had for decades and are slowly starting to think more long-term about their portfolios in the face of rising sea levels, more extreme weather, and the myriad of ways climate crises are affecting...well. Everything. Maybe this means they invest more into sustainability, green energy, building more resilient infrastructure, or carbon offsets. Some of it, of course, is simple corporate greenwashing, but there are those that are taking this trend and packaging it into something called ESG (Environmental, Social, and corporate Governance).

Now some people would say this is predictable, even sensible. Just the good ol’ Free Market(tm) rationally responding to market forces and a changing world.

But those people would be fools! Insidious fools! For conservative sorcerers have come out with a new cursed phrase to explain this new market trend: Woke Investing.

What makes this investing “woke?” Well, much like how conservatives normally flounder when trying to define a word they stole from black people, “Woke Investing” essentially just means any kind of capital investment that they, the fossil fuel billionaire class and their sycophants, don’t personally profit from.

One of these aforementioned sycophants is Andy Puzder, conservative commentator, fellow at The Heritage Foundation, and former fast-food CEO. He calls this kind of so-called woke investing “socialism in sheep’s clothing,” further explaining in leaked audio of a closed-door meeting:

“My father's generation's challenge was the Nazis, who, by the way, were, of course, very proud socialists[citation fucking needed]. The challenge of my generation was the communists, who were, of course, very committed socialists. The challenge of your generation is ESG investing, and it's more insidious than communism or the Nazis.”(source)

You heard it here first, folks. Not investing as much in fossil fuels is more insidious than the Third Fucking Reich.

As usual, the Heritage Foundation is putting their petro-chemical donor’s money where their mouth is. Bills are being proposed to blacklist banks that don’t invest in key state industries, such as West Virginia coal or Texas oil. Fourteen states have already passed bills to restrict ESG-type investing, with Florida Governor Ron “Bullies Kids for Wearing Masks” Desantis leading the charge.

In other words, Climate Denial has reached such a point that so-called Free Market Conservatives who claim to hate big government are trying to make it illegal for banks, investment firms, and financial institutions to make any financial decisions that acknowledges Climate Change is real.

#of course ESG has also been used to describe any kind of internal corporate action #to increase diversity in the work place or implementing new anti-discrimination policies #(which are usually more performative than actually meaningful but that's a separate issue) #a Republican Presidential candidate #Vivek Ramaswamy #has even made ESG investing his personal bugbear #writing such books as 'Woke Inc' and warning of socially conscious investors ''forcing'' companies they invest in #to devote resources to environmental and social policies that are anathema to the right #which is just...a brand new invented crisis by a political movement #in constant need of a crisis to rally their base and justify for draconian legal controls #to favor certain industries and undercut their competition #all under the guise of red scare-type moral and economic panic #ESG #Woke Politics #Climate Change #Capitalism #Republicans #Investment

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Lula, Biden discuss climate change over the phone

Presidents Joseph Biden of the United States and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil Wednesday discussed climate change during a telephone conversation in which a face-to-face meeting between the two leaders next year was also considered.

According to Planalto Palace sources, Biden would be traveling to Brazil, probably to an Amazon state for further talks “for a greener world.”

Lula spoke to Biden about the importance of making serious progress in this direction after these topics were reviewed at the Amazon Summit last week in the Brazilian city of Belém.

“This afternoon I spoke with the president of the United States. We talked about the fight against climate change, the Amazon Summit, and the preservation of the environment,” Lula said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Continue reading.

#brazil #politics #united states #environmentalism #climate change #brazilian politics #us politics #joe biden #luiz inacio lula da silva #mod nise da silveira #image description in alt #foreign policy #international politics

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

An arrest warrant has been issued for Roy McGrath, who served as Chief of Staff to former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R), after he was a no-show for the start of his criminal trial in federal court on Monday, according to multiple reports.

The Washington Post reported that law enforcement have searched McGrath’s Florida home to no avail.

McGrath was set to fly in from Florida and meet his lawyer in Baltimore early in the morning on Monday, according to the Baltimore Banner, before the hearing was scheduled to start at 9 a.m. at the U.S. District Court.

McGrath has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges of wire fraud, embezzlement and document falsification related to allegedly fraudulently obtaining a massive $233,000 severance payment when he left the Maryland Environmental Service.

McGrath had resigned as Hogan’s Chief of Staff after just months in the position amid reports of his payment from the state agency.

#us politics #news #the hill #2023 #republicans #conservatives #gop #corrupt gop #gop policy #Maryland #Larry Hogan #Roy McGrath #arrest warrant #The Washington Post #Baltimore Banner #wire fraud #embezzlement #document falsification #Maryland Environmental Service

[pillars-of-salt]

sometimes i question whether i’m really autistic and then realize i’m deep into the wikipedia page on the history of american railway expansion because i was feeling sad about trains. anyway did you guys know that when railways were being expanded in the late 19th century even people living in the rural midwest were rarely more than 5 miles from a train station and the railway industry was one of the first major industries to have nationwide safety and management regulations to prevent accidental deaths and was also one of the biggest employers in the nation and also that railroad infrastructure was a critical strategic element of the North’s victory in the Civil War? did you know one of the main reasons they ultimately were replaced by car-based infrastructure was because after an economic depression in the 1890s most railway companies were absorbed by a few big companies that didn’t fund infrastructure for smaller railways and ultimately failed between the Great Depression and post-WWII infrastructure shifts to car-based planning? did you know that at its peak the american railway system had over 250,000 miles of track with transcontinental routes?

#every time i imagine myself disappearing and starting a new life it's by train. how am i supposed to ride in a sleeping car in this economy #obviously they weren't a perfect system - they were at least partly representative of manifest destiny policies and encroaching on #native land and ecosystems esp in the western us which is not good #but that said they were also a much more environmentally friendly method of transportation than cars are and were more affordable and #convenient for the average person #and a safer form of travel than prior options like wagon or stagecoach #makes me sad! the infrastructure was already there people just failed to maintain it!

[trans4trans]

i loveee adderall i love learning about interest group politics and media framing and elite + class theory i love being able to focus on waht my professor is talking about

#my notes are so good it’s insane i love college i love this us government course #i am not paying attention in environmental science though i don’t care. this is like baby’s work #like okay i guess the soil horizons are kinda interesting #but i love learning about history and policy and court cases and political theory #sorry. i want to major in political science u_u #honestly considering double majoring but i hear it’s academic suicide… #i’m currently getting my associates in general studies but ahh i can’t wait to go to uni #college tw

[delicatelysublimeforester]

The Green Dance from Saskatoon to Nairobi

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#afforestation #afforestation areas #biodiversity #campaign narrative #climate change #collective environmental action #collective impact #community #community support #crowdfunding #Crowdfunding campaign #Dance of the Trees #Dance with Nature #Dance with Us campaign #dedication #Environmental Activism #environmental advocacy #environmental consciousness #Environmental Discussions #Environmental Policies #environmental stewardship #Environmental Symphony #George Genereux Urban REgional Park #global conservation #Global Impact #Global Sustainability #Global visibility #grassroots movement #grassroots sustainability #Green Belt Movement

[wausaupilot]

UW-Stevens Point to offer speaker series on environmental policies

The first in the series will be held on Jan. 31.

Learn about how environmental policies have had profound effects on the environment and natural resource management in the United States and how they affect our air, water, wildlife and community. The Wisconsin Center for Wildlife at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point will host a six-part speaker series through its annual College of Natural Resources Spring Seminar Series, beginning Jan…

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#College of Natural Resources #environmental impacts #environmental policies #environmental policies in the US #Landmark environmental policies #University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point #UW-Stevens Point #UWSP #Wisconsin Center for Wildlife #Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

[plethoraworldatlas]

Fifty environmental groups sent a letter today to the House and Senate agriculture committees opposing S. 2472, which would give the U.S. Department of Agriculture unprecedented power to delay any federal safeguards to protect people and wildlife from harmful pesticides.

The Republican-sponsored USDA Communication Regarding Oversight of Pesticides (“CROP”) Act of 2023 would empower the department’s Office of Pest Management Policy to delay for up to two years enactment of urgently needed measures by the Environmental Protection Agency to limit harm from dangerous pesticides.

The legislation would also allow the delay of commonsense conservation measures required under the Endangered Species Act to prevent extinction and to recover endangered wildlife.

“The USDA CROP Act is a direct attack on the EPA’s basic ability to protect human health and endangered species from harmful pesticides,” said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Letting the industry captured Office of Pest Management Policy interfere with the EPA’s core regulatory functions would be a huge blow to measures designed to protect all of us.”

As the groups’ letter notes: “the Office of Pest Management Policy is simply not an honest broker on best practices for controlling agricultural pests — as Congress intended — but has become an advocate for more pesticide use in virtually all circumstances. We have reviewed over 100 comment letters written by OPMP on pesticide issues from 2008 to 2023, spanning three different presidential administrations …. In each instance, the OPMP opposed efforts by the EPA to impose greater restrictions on pesticides, including highly hazardous pesticides banned by many of our trading partners, such as chlorpyrifos, paraquat, and atrazine.”

...

The groups’ review of 100 comment letters written by the Office of Pest Management Policy revealed that the office never once sought greater restrictions on the use of a pesticide compared to what the EPA proposed. As far back as 2006 career staff at the EPA raised concerns that they “feel besieged by political pressure exerted” by the OPMP.

#ecology #enviromentalism #pesticides #environmental protection agency #Office of Pest Management Policy #fuck the gop #us politics #usda #republicans #Republican Clown Car

[softgrungeprophet]

we got city and county council primary shit going on!!! don't forget to vote! i mostly agree with the stranger's guide for this, but city council district 6 is rough cause all of the candidates are kind of awful, though i think jon lisbin is like... mostly decent? his stance on cops is definitely... flawed... misguided?

he is a 60-something year old white liberal is what i'm saying. but compared to the other candidates is much less awful, and he has by far the best stance on housing, community sustainability, homelessness etc. so i think he's the actual lesser of six evils here, and not strauss like the stranger claims

(there's a chance they wrote their endorsements before he was added to the ballot though cause they don't even mention 4 of the 6 candidates so i'm thinking it was before most of them were put on)

i agree with their OTHER endorsements for my districts though lmao

#nadia rambles #normally i don't post a lot about local politics on here but the city council race jesus christ #we got The Guy Who Helped Cut Down Trees and doesn't seem to view homeless people as *people* #we got some guy who wants more anti-drug laws and more cops and who is anti multi-family housing #we got the guy who just wants to pump out more cops onto aurora and increase their funding directly #we got an anti-masker self-described moderate who calls herself a civil rights activist because she thinks the mask mandates are evil #we got Mandated Treatment and Rehab guy who thinks that homeless people need rehab INSTEAD OF housing and food #like literally his statement says the homeless ''don't need free meals or shelter'' lmao fuck off kutzera #and then we got lisbin who is like still pro-cop but also much more into alternative community management and redirection of funding #and also crucially has a significantly more progessive policy for housing and homelessness as well as drugs (against added criminalization) #he does have parodic maga (make seattle green again) merch but he is anti-trump so he's just an annoying white guy #but seriously like compared to the others.... he is by far the most actually progressive #and appears to be an environmental activist to some extent as well which isn't unimportant #esp when you consider the way green spaces are denied to marginalized communities so cutting back the trees is going to impact them/us most

[nientedal]

What progress at home has biden enacted? What policies of his show that he is making progress that prove he is actually different than trump?

I like to pretend I have faith in humanity, so I'll answer as if you're asking this in good faith.

Biden's DEA has lifted restrictions on telehealth prescriptions to make appointments and assistance more accessible.

He put a funding package into place to help unhoused people get access to mental and physical healthcare, as well as short-term and long-term housing.

He has attempted and is still attempting to get student debt relief through - this was blocked by Republican judges appointed by Trump, but he's still working on it.

Infrastructure repair - his administration has budgeted funds to actually fix some severely-damaged and frequently-traveled bridges.

Trying to expand access to healthcare to include undocumented immigrants who came to the USA as children (Dreamers) under the Affordable Care Act. Support for Navigator programs and outreach has also been increased.

He has vetoed Republican-led bills that were attempting to overturn environmental protections - one that would have forbidden investment fund managers to consider climate change in their portfolios (I have two degrees in accounting and this is actually huge), and another that would have overturned restrictions on agricultural runoff into our waterways.

He and his administration worked for ages to get rail workers paid sick days.

This is just some of what he's been doing. Meanwhile, Trump and other Republicans want to criminalize the lives of LGBT people like you and me. They want to eliminate no-fault divorce and force births that will kill parents or devastate them financially. They have stated flat out that they want to install a military dictatorship in the USA. They attempted to put that in motion on January 6th, 2021. They failed once. They will do better next time.

One party wants to house the homeless and expand social safety nets, while the other one wants to criminalize homelessness. One of them wants a future in which I might be able to vote to change how much of a war machine my country is, while the other one wants to eliminate my ability to vote entirely. Those are not the same. Those literally are opposites.

At the end of the day, all you and I can do is choose to do the least amount of harm possible. You and I cannot choose to do no harm. This is the USA, we sell war, you and I cannot choose to do no harm. I wish we could, my god do I wish we could, but that is not an option. So we grieve for the harm we couldn't eliminate and work to minimize the harm that is done. Despite all the crap they support, Democrats are the minimum amount of harm right now. Acting like they aren't is exactly what brought us to an election where our options are a future where we are either wading in blood or drowning in it.

Not voting for Biden will not help Palestine. Not voting for Biden will guarantee a Republican president who will make the situation in Palestine WORSE. AND it'll hurt a lot of other places as well, both at home and abroad, because Republicans are about business and the USA is in the business of war! And I would very much like that to change someday! I would very much like to someday be able to choose to do no harm! And I know what I have to do to try for that future, so what are YOU going to do? There is no standing off to the side in this. If you aren't helping pull, you're the dead weight we're pulling. Are you going to dig your feet into the mud and blood and drown us there? Or are you going to get the fuck off your ass, grit your teeth, and help us pull free?

#askbasket #iam-the-wild #us politics #israel #palestine #if you do not vote blue you do not get to call yourself an antifascist #i HATE that that's the case; don't mistake me #but that is the reality we're working with #there isn't any other #do nothing and kill five people or act and kill one. #so what are you gonna do? i can't choose for you. but i know what my choice is. #i'm part of this world. and as much as i hate it...turning away is not one of the options. #we fight on ALL fronts #we protest we donate we write we call #AND WE ALSO FUCKING VOTE FOR THE LEAST OF THE EVILS. BECAUSE NO EVIL IS NOT AN OPTION.

[worldspotlightnews]

Trump and Le Pen backed these Dutch farmers -- now they've sprung an election shock | CNN

CNN  —  A farmers’ protest party in the Netherlands has caused a shock after winning provincial elections this week just four years after their founding. Could their rise have wider implications? The Farmer-Citizen Movement or BoerburgerBeweging (BBB) grew out of mass demonstrations against the Dutch government’s environmental policies, protests that saw farmers using their tractors to block…

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#agriculture #and commercial fishing #better business bureau #brand safety-nsf other #brand safety-nsf sensitive #Business #business and industry sectors #canada #civil disobedience #continents and regions #domestic alerts #domestic-health and science #domestic-international news #domestic-us politics #donald trump #economy and trade #elections and campaigns #environment and natural resources #environmental regulation and policy #europe #farm workers #forestry #government and public administration #iab-agriculture #iab-business and finance #iab-elections #iab-environment #iab-industries #iab-non-profit organizations #iab-politics

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

US, Brazil to Join India’s Global Push to Boost Biofuels Demand

The US and Brazil, two of the world’s largest biofuels markets, are joining an India-led initiative that will aim to boost demand for the lower-emissions energy source.

Members of the International Biofuels Alliance will also campaign for nations to do more to use organic waste to produce the fuel, according to the office of India’s oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri. Further details will be outlined during the three-day India Energy Week forum opening Monday in Bengaluru.

Continue reading.

#brazil #politics #india #united states #environmentalism #economy #brazilian politics #indian politics #us politics #international politics #foreign policy #mod nise da silveira #image description in alt

[reasonsforhope]

"In an unprecedented step to preserve and maintain the most carbon-rich elements of U.S. forests in an era of climate change, President Joe Biden’s administration last week proposed to end commercially driven logging of old-growth trees in National Forests.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, who oversees the U.S. Forest Service, issued a Notice of Intent to amend the land management plans of all 128 National Forests to prioritize old-growth conservation and recognize the oldest trees’ unique role in carbon storage. 

It would be the first nationwide amendment to forest plans in the 118-year history of the Forest Service, where local rangers typically have the final word on how to balance forests’ role in watershed, wildlife and recreation with the agency’s mandate to maintain a “sustained yield” of timber.

“Old-growth forests are a vital part of our ecosystems and a special cultural resource,” Vilsack said in a statement accompanying the notice. “This clear direction will help our old-growth forests thrive across our shared landscape.”

But initial responses from both environmentalists and the logging industry suggest that the plan does not resolve the conflict between the Forest Service’s traditional role of administering the “products and services” of public lands—especially timber—and the challenges the agency now faces due to climate change. National Forests hold most of the nation’s mature and old-growth trees, and therefore, its greatest stores of forest carbon, but that resource is under growing pressure from wildfire, insects, disease and other impacts of warming.

Views could not be more polarized on how the National Forests should be managed in light of the growing risks.

National and local environmental advocates have been urging the Biden administration to adopt a new policy emphasizing preservation in National Forests, treating them as a strategic reserve of carbon. Although they praised the old-growth proposal as an “historic” step, they want to see protection extended to “mature” forests, those dominated by trees roughly 80 to 150 years old, which are a far larger portion of the National Forests. As old-growth trees are lost, which can happen rapidly due to megafires and other assaults, they argue that the Forest Service should be ensuring there are fully developed trees on the landscape to take their place...

The Biden administration’s new proposal seeks to take a middle ground, establishing protection for the oldest trees under its stewardship while allowing exceptions to reduce fuel hazards, protect public health and safety and other purposes. And the Forest Service is seeking public comment through Feb. 2 (Note: That's the official page for the proposed rule, but for some reason you can only submit comments through the forest service website - so do that here!) on the proposal as well as other steps needed to manage its lands to retain mature and old-growth forests over time, particularly in light of climate change.

If the Forest Service were to put in place nationwide protections for both mature and old-growth forests, it would close off most of the National Forests to logging. In an inventory concluded earlier this year in response to a Biden executive order, the Forest Service found that 24.7 million acres, or 17 percent, of its 144.3 million acres of forest are old-growth, while 68.1 million acres, or 47 percent, are mature."

-via Inside Climate News, December 20, 2023

-

Note: This proposed rule is current up for public comment! If you're in the US, you can go here to file an official comment telling the Biden administration how much you support this proposal - and that you think it should be extended to mature forests!

Official public comments really DO matter. You can leave a comment on this proposal here until February 2nd.

#united states #us politics #conservation #climate change #sustainability #forests #old growth forest #national forest #carbon emissions #climate action #climate crisis #forest service #biden #biden administration #public comment #good news #hope #it took me soooo long to hunt down the actual public comment link #by which I mean like 10 minutes but like #that's too long! especially considering I am way better at navigating language and bureaucratic websites like this #than A LOT of people #why tf can't you just comment on the Official Website For Public Commenting? #aka regulations.gov #baffling #anyway the good news is I did find it so pls do go ahead and submit a comment if you can

[reportwire]

House GOP committees plot investigations into East Palestine derailment | CNN Politics

CNN  —  A series of House Republican committees are plotting to launch investigations into the toxic train disaster in East Palestine, Ohio, multiple committee aides told CNN. GOP lawmakers are vowing to use their oversight power to dig into what they describe as the Biden administration’s flawed response to the train wreck, which has left East Palestine’s residents afraid to use the city’s air…

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#2023 ohio train disaster #accident investigations #accidents #brand safety-nsf accidents and disasters #brand safety-nsf sensitive #Business #business and industry sectors #disasters and safety #domestic alerts #domestic-health and science #domestic-us politics #economy and trade #environment and natural resources #Environmental Protection Agency #environmental regulation and policy #government and public administration #government organizations - us #iab-disasters #iab-environment #iab-politics #iab-science #international alerts #international-health and science #international-us politics #investigations #joe biden #Pete Buttigieg #political figures - us #political organizations #Politics

[qqueenofhades]

i registered to vote for the first time ( i feel old) now that im an adult but my state has closed primary elections which i was wondering if you have an opinion about. my initial thought was that its bad because i had to register democrat (rather than my states green party which represents my beliefs more) just so i could vote between democrat candidates, which feels like being pressured into supporting the weird pseudo two party system we have. but then i looked it up and apparently a reason for this is so that people from opposing parties wont purposefully mess up the votes just so that their preferred candidates have an easier time winning, and i think that makes sense too. but is that actually the reason theyve closed it or is it just to force us dem/republican?? cause it feels strange

Okay, look. I respect the fact that you're a young person, and I appreciate that you have not only registered to vote, but plan to vote in the primaries, so I don't want to lecture you too much. That said: I am taking you out for coffee, I am sitting you down, I am looking into your eyes, and I am urgently telling you the following:

The Green Party is a scam. It is a scam. It has existed for decades in American politics as an empty shell corporation weaponizing the good intentions of young people like yourself, because all it theoretically stands for "it's good to save the planet maybe." Which is not something that any non-insane person seriously disagrees with, but there is no world in which that cause is actually furthered by registering/voting Green (you mentioned that you did vote for Democrats, which -- good, but listen to me here, youngun, okay?) It ran Jill Stein in 2016 to siphon more votes from HRC, and this election it plans to run Cornel West, a pro-Russian tankie who positively equated Bernie and Trump, as another spoiler candidate. It does not stand for "protecting the planet" or America in any real way. It has never elected a single senator or congressman, let alone a president. It stands for empty performance/grievance political theater by those people who feel too morally superior to vote for/affiliate with Democrats, often because the internet has told them that it's not Cool or Hip or Progressive enough.

If your main priority is climate/the environment, you're doing the right thing by registering as a Democrat and voting for Democrats. (Also: the adjectival form is Democratic. It is the Democratic party and Democratic candidates, otherwise you sound like the Fox News host who wrote a book literally entitled "The Democrat Party Hates America.") They are the only major party who has in fact passed major climate legislation and have made environmental justice a central tenet of their platform. As opposed to the Republicans, whose Project 2025, along with the rest of its nightmare fascist prescriptions, openly pledges to completely wreck existing climate protections and forbid any new ones, just because we weren't all dying fast enough under their death-cult rule already. That's the main logical fallacy I don't get among both the Online Leftists and the American electorate in general: "the Democrats aren't doing quite enough as I'd like, so I'll enable the active wrecking ball insane lunatics to get in power and ruin even the progress we HAVE managed to make!" Like. How does that even make sense?

On a federal level, the Greens have contributed nothing whatsoever of tangible value to American or international climate policy/legislation, environmental justice, or anything else, because as noted, they don't have any elected candidates and mostly focus on drawing voters away from Democrats. There might be plenty of good candidates on the local or city level, which -- great! Vote away for Greens if they're available, or the only other option is a Republican! But on the federal/primary level, please understand: once again, they are a scam. There is no point in affiliating yourself with them. You're welcome to register Green and vote Democratic, if that makes you feel better or if you prefer having another label next to your name, but once again, I'm telling you in my position as a salty Tumblr elder that they have done nothing but harm to the causes they claim to care about, because "environment" is such a nebulous priority and has demonstrably been hijacked to stop the American government entity, i.e. the Democrats, that is actually working to improve on it.

As for your question: nobody is "forcing" or "pressuring" you to vote in primaries. By your own admission, you made a conscious choice to register as a Democrat in order to vote for Democratic candidates. If you were just a regular registered voter of whatever party affiliation, you would vote in the general election for whatever candidate the primary process produced. But if you are sufficiently vested and committed to that process that you would like to have a say in who is running under that party label, it is not unreasonable that you would register as a member of that party. Nobody has twisted your arm behind your back and made you do so; you are taking a considerable level of initiative on your own. Likewise, open primaries can be both a good and bad thing. This falls under the "the political system we have is flawed, but we can't magically pretend it doesn't exist and act according to our own fantasyland versions of reality" thing that I keep saying over and over. So yes, if you want a role in shaping the Democratic candidates who emerge from a Democratic primary process, you will usually register as a Democrat, and nobody has forced you to do that. It's that simple.

Likewise as a general programming note: I'm trying to cut back on politics a bit right now, because I don't have the spoons/bandwidth/mental health to deal with it. I apologize. So if you've sent me a politics-related ask recently and haven't received a response, I'm not deliberately or maliciously ignoring you; I just am not able to handle it as much as usual and will have to put it on pause. However, I feel as if this is important enough to be worth saying, so, yeah.

#anonymous #ask #politics for ts