Coal, Natural Gas, and Pipelines: Oh My!
Movement Tuesday 3/29/22
Welcome back to another edition of Movement… Tuesday?
As you may (or may not) have noticed, you didn’t get your weekly edition of climate movement updates in your inbox yesterday; not to worry, however, it’s here now! Apologies for the belated newsletter–a busy weekend and travel day yesterday got the better of me, and Movement Monday turned into Movement Tuesday.
Alright, now into the thick of things:
The New York Times has done some excellent climate reporting/publishing this week on a variety of fronts, including an exposé on Joe Manchin’s career-long relationship with the coal industry and how it has impacted and continues to impact our nation’s climate policy. And while we’re on that note, check out Bill McKibben’s essay on the same topic from his newsletter “The Crucial Years” (also on substack).
Plus, Joe Manchin is unfortunately relevant with regards to the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and the push to get Europe to be able to use American gas rather than Russian gas, as outlined in this Washington Post article. I don’t envy the Biden administration’s task of navigating the simultaneous Ukraine and climate crises, but now is still not the time to do huge, long-term investments in natural gas.
Take action this week by giving Biden a call with People vs. Fossil Fuels:
You can also send a message to Congress with the Climate Reality project to remind them that Americans still want clean energy!
Next up, Margaret Renkl wrote an op-ed about “The Boring Bill in Tennessee That Everyone Should Be Watching,” in which she describes how a local movement successfully stopped a pipeline through a predominantly Black community of Memphis in its tracks, only to have the state government in Tennessee pass a bill that will allow that pipeline (and other fossil fuel projects) to be built despite local resistance. Ugh! The bill has passed the Tennessee Senate, but as of me writing this, it has not officially passed the Tennessee House. You (especially if you are from TN!) can support the movement against this pipeline and against this bill by doing any of the following:
Check out the Memphis Community Against Pollution website and send an online message.
Send some emails with Protect Our Aquifer against the bill.
Last but not least, if you or someone you know needs a little inspiration to take action with the climate movement, check out this article about a big-time international lawyer who’s turned to activism work to get “every pocket of society… fighting the climate crisis.”
Thanks for reading, and if you haven’t yet, be sure to give our new podcast, Climate Convos, a listen! In our first episode, we talk to Utah State University professor Patrick Belmont about forms of climate denial and accountability, and the latest update is that Patrick is now running for the Utah House of Representatives.
So many great actions! Movement Tuesday did not disappoint :)