Image above: The Climate Mobilization’s #CountTheVotes campaign banner drop in Miami, Florida — one of many such banners hanging across the U.S. to challenge a post-election power grab by President Trump.
With less than a week left until the November 3rd election, TCM is now encouraging supporters to drop off absentee ballots or to vote in person to ensure each ballot is received before 8pm on Election Day. If you haven’t yet sent your absentee ballot, you risk your vote not being counted due to mail delays and — the U.S. Postal Service has only guaranteed delivery of ballots if they are mailed at least one week before state deadlines!
Climate Emergency Movement Updates
The Climate Emergency Movement continues to make steady gains, adding towns in Cape Cod, Massachusetts and Southern Maine this month. The total number of declarations of climate emergency worldwide now totals 1,814 within 30 countries.
The mayor of Berkeley, California, a leading city that declared a climate emergency in 2018, is urging voters to approve Measure HH, which provides funding for the city’s Climate Equity Action Fund. The Fund would provide home retrofits along with vouchers and rebates for green transportation alternatives like electric cars and public transit, including special consideration of low income residents.
In victory for activists from Food and Water Watch Action, The Climate Mobilization North Jersey Chapter, and allied groups who worked tirelessly to oppose the project, plans to open a fracked gas power plant in Northern New Jersey were scrapped last week by the New Jersey Transit Board. The board is planning, with community input, for a renewable energy alternative. The victory is projected to prevent 571,000 tons of additional carbon and air pollution and to protect environmental justice in Black, brown, and low income communities in NJ.
Extreme weather and climate science
Colorado authorities are calling the history-making, catastrophic fires that have already burned more than 400,000 acres across the state their “new normal” and the climate emergency is to blame. Our failure to address the climate emergency has not only resulted in a drier, hotter climate in the West, but has also hindered efforts to fight the fires due to the global covid-19 pandemic — a public health emergency whose causes are themselves rooted in ecological destruction and a warming world.
Scientists are sounding the alarm as much of the seasonal sea ice across the Artic has yet to form in late October, the latest re-freeze since record-keeping began.
US Politics and Elections
The Senate, after a deeply partisan 52-48 vote, has confirmed conservative Judge Amy Coney Barret to join the Supreme Court, cementing the 6-3 rightwing majority on the highest court in the land. During her confirmation hearings, she asserted, “I don’t think my views on global warming or climate change are relevant to the job I would do as a judge.” Barret’s confirmation has signaled to the climate activists that even under a Biden Administration, federal climate action will remain under attack by a conservative judicial majority — and that local and state governments will be more important than ever to enact the changes we need.
Last week, TCM activists dropped banners and created public art in cities across the United States (like Duluth, MN), taking action to Hold Onto Democracy and #CountTheVotes. Now is the time to figure out how to take action in your city on Election Day and Beyond. Get training on how you can help your community with The Frontline, The DC De-escalation Collective, or Election Defenders.
Read TCM ally Mary Annaïse Heglar’s latest piece in The New Republic on what’s at stake this November 3rd: The Whole World Is on the Ballot.
Connect with TCM and Allies:
Post-Election Community Sharing & Support Session:
It’s a scary time. We’re speeding toward an election in which Trump will do everything he can to hold onto power. To help the community process the uncertainty and move forward together, TCM founder and clinical psychologist Margaret Klein Salamon will be holding a sharing & support session on Sunday, November 8th at 7pm Eastern, 4pm Pacific. We will hold space to share and process our emotions, and propose concrete actions that each of us can take to protect Democracy. Register here!
Advice Column:
Having trouble coping with everything that’s going on right now? Check out Margaret’s latest advice column at Psychology Today to learn how to welcome your difficult emotions and build emotional muscle to increase resiliency in the face of accelerating crises.
Climate Communicators Symposium:
The CLEO Institute, in partnership with The University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine, is pleased to host its 10th Annual Empowering Capable Climate Communicators Symposium virtually, welcoming experts and guests from across the world, for a 3-day discussion on climate and health. Tickets on sale NOW! Contact The CLEO Institute for information about student and teacher discounts.
