“In celebration of International Women’s Day, Air India completed an around the world flight with an all-women crew! Congratulations!! Read about it here.
Category: diversity
March on Lake Superior
March brings melting snow, longer days and deep blue sun,
but then a big dump of new snow. Today the lake in front of my house is full of white slush, but two days ago it was empty of snow, ice, or any sign of winter. With the winds and currents the lake is constantly refreshing itself!
DAPL
Three Happy Stories
Today I’m starting an occasional series on good-news events. Three stories have made me happy this past week, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.
*First, this is amazing. New Delhi, India, banned plastic bags and single use plastic. It will make a difference for our oceans, and Delhi’s air quality. A plastic ban will not be easy to implement, and I wish them luck. Read about it from Independent News, and from Ecowatch.
** Second, Solar energy added 73,615 new jobs to the U.S. economy over the past year while wind added a further 24,650. According to a new report from the U.S. Department of Energy, solar power employed 43 percent of the Electric Power Generation sector’s workforce in 2016, while fossil fuels combined accounted for just 22 percent. Read about it from Forbes
*** Third, PBS did a marvelous story of an American woman making great efforts to educate girls in Liberia. Watch on PBS
A New Frozen Look
February 1st, Lake Superior waves were crashing and pounding the shore, and it was reported that only 5% of the big lake was covered with ice. I was surprised that early morning February 2, our bay became covered with ice. The waves look frozen in time, and the frozen landscape brings a new quiet peaceful reality. How long will it last? Probably not long. Lake ice today is fragile and depends on the winds and sudden whims of this living warming lake. The first big wind will probably break and send the ice onto the shore, or to another bay to continue the fascinating winter entertainment.
The Ticking Clock
Is everyone afraid?
Is everyone ashamed?
Smashing Pumpkins, Doomsday song
Doomsday Clock Now Two and a Half Minutes to Midnight, Thanks to Trump!
What a strange unprecedented week full of lies, “alternative facts” and being told we should all shut up and just listen for once. A week of show and chaos. Many are engaged, protesting, shaking their heads, and knowing this is not sustainable.
Because of Mr. Trump’s words in denial of climate change and his being close to the nuclear trigger we are now closer to Doomsday that we have been since the 1950’s. Thursday the experts moved the clock 30 minutes closer to midnight. Read about it here.
“The Doomsday Clock is a symbolic clock face that represents a countdown to possible global catastrophe. It has been maintained since 1947 by the members of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists‘ Science and Security Board,[1] who are in turn advised by the Governing Board and the Board of Sponsors, including 18 Nobel Laureates. The closer they set the Clock to midnight, the more vulnerable the scientists believe the world is to global disaster” Wikipedia
And finally, an environmental summary of the disaster of Trump’s first week from the NRDC.
Action Item on ACA
Subject: Get your stamps and envelopes…the work begins
Diana Chapman Walsh was president of Wellesley College 8 years ago. She recently emailed her former colleagues the following idea:
Listen Up! The Republicans need to get the message from the majority of Americans that we value and need the benefits of Obamacare. Here’s how we do that.
On January 23rd, everyone who feels that way (our numbers are legion) sends a note to Donald Trump with a simple message:
“Don’t make America sick again. Improve Obamacare. Don’t repeal it.”
One envelope for every ACA supporter in your household…even if they are under 18 years old.
Just that simple message. Put it in an envelope, and put a stamp on it.
On January 23rd, mail it to:
Pres. Donald Trump
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW,
Washington, DC 20500
Can you imagine the picture of 53 MILLION letters arriving at the White House by January 26th? It will be a mountain. That image might help deter the Republicans from killing the most substantial improvement to American healthcare since the discovery of Penicillin.
Do it today! Drop it into a mailbox near you on Monday, January 23rd.
Please send this email to 20 (or more) of your friends, neighbors ann fellow Americans. Ask them to do the same.
This also helps out the US Postal Service, with about $20 Million of stamp sales.
Don’t send emails to Trump…they don’t photograph well.
This is What Democracy Looks Like!
Saturday was an incredible day for democracy! Thank you to everyone in the United States and around the world who marched or just lent their spirit of support!
“Hey, you have to hand it to Trump, he just became President and bam, America looked pretty great today.”Jack Burditt @jackburditt (Jan. 21, 2017 on twitter)
From NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):
..”We will do, Andas our founders called upon us to do, and hold our government to account. For careless words and misguided deeds that undermine our greatest strengths. For callous judgments that turn the engines of national prosperity to the profits of a wealthy few. For reckless policies that put polluter profits first and put the rest of us at risk.”
—NRDC President Rhea Suh.
And from Utah: https://youtu.be/ya-HyxDgh24
Let’s March Forward and Speak Out!
Marching Forward
Saturday, January 21: March in solidarity for clean air and water, march for the protection of civil rights, women’s rights, and the health of our children. Imagine the world as we want it to be and work for it.
To a find a march location near you, Click here
Justice For All
Martin Luther King would have fought for environmental justice too. Read about it here.
