• Green Finance

EJ Bills Introduced In Congress Now Set the Stage For Next Year

• communities of color
• Cory Booker
• Environmental Justice
• indigenous communities
• Kamala Harris
• low income communities
• pollution
• Tammy Duckworth

Environmental Justice legislation is getting lots of attention this year as numerous bills are pending in Congress on a topic that, until now, barely received attention. Yesterday, Senator Cory Booker and Representative Deb Haaland rolled out a bill that would put $100 billion dollars toward eliminating pollution that has disproportionately harmed communities of color.

Why This Matters:  Lisa Friedman of  The New York Times wrote last month that by putting Senator Harris on the ticket with him, Vice President Biden signaled that environmental justice will be high on their agenda.

• Green Finance

One Green New Dealmaker Thing: Ed Markey Wins MA Dem Primary with Progressive Surge

• #FriendofthePlanet
• #tellyafatha
• climate change
• Green New Deal
• Massachusetts
• Senator Ed Markey

Congratulations to Senator Ed Markey — a very early #FriendofthePlanet — for his incredible come-from-behind victory over Congressman Joe Kennedy in the Massachusetts Democratic Senate primary.  Senator Markey has long been someone I (Monica) admired — ever since his days as the leader of the nuclear freeze movement back in the 80s. He has been […]

• Green Finance
• Politics

European Commission Agrees To Green Deal Stimulus, But Is It Green Enough?

• #GreenDeal
• conservation
• EU
• Europe
• European Commission
• Greta Thunberg

The Guardian and S&P Global reported that after days of haggling, the European Commission settled on an $864 billion USD recovery fund for the next 3 years, plus a five year budget with a target of spending 30% of that to support the EU’s climate commitments.  

Why This Matters:  Activist leader Greta Thunberg immediately criticized the deal as not being good enough.

• Green Finance

On World Environment Day, The Future Is Clear: It’s Time #ForNature and #TheGreatReset

• #ForNature
• #TheGreatReset
• conservation
• United Nations
• World Economic Forum
• World Environment Day

Today is World Environment Day. As you read this, it is clear that globally we are at a crossroads and that the inequities we see at home are also reflected across the broader planet.  The pandemic has instigated a moment to re-examine our relationship with nature and the planet’s resources.

Why This Matters:  Most of the world is moving ahead on this reset they see conserving nature and economic development as consistent

• Green Finance

Will The Next Stimulus Law Provide a Lifeline for Frontline Communities?

• clean water
• conservation
• COVID-19
• environment
• Green New Deal
• safe drinking water
• stimulus

The Senate Democrats’ Environmental Justice Caucus laid out in a letter on Monday their vision for the next round of economic stimulus funding and the benefits in their proposal are intended to address the inequities of the virus’ impacts on the poor and minorities. 

Why This Matters:  These 16 Democrats are speaking up on behalf of members of low income, rural and communities of color (known as an environmental justice or frontline communities) who are especially vulnerable to the virus and don’t have access to quality health care that could vastly improve their chances of recovery.

• Green Finance

It Looks Like There Will Be Another Stimulus Bill – But Will It Be Clean and Green?

• clean water
• coronavirus
• energy efficiency
• Green Stimulus
• recovery
• stimulus

Congress and the Trump administration are beginning to outline the Phase 4 Stimulus package, but there seems to be little mention of “clean” much less “green” provisions being included, which means there would need to be a Phase 5 package or these items will be left out completely. 

Why This Matters:  These items and many other similar ones that have been labeled as “green”  were left out of previous bills because they were dubbed as unnecessary to battle the immediate health and economic impacts of the COVID-19.