• Politics

The Original Earth Day Led to a Lasting Movement and Fundamental Change

• #EarthDay
• #TogetherWeCan
• conservation
• environment
• science

This week we celebrate 50 years since the first Earth Day. It was the brainchild of Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, led to a “cascade” of groundbreaking laws and a much greater societal awareness of the environment and conservation that persists today.

Why This Matters:  Despite the President’s efforts to divide the nation by creating a false dichotomy between economic growth and conservation, ensuring a clean environment and addressing climate change have bipartisan support.

• Politics

Coronavirus Conspiracy Theories Almost as Ugly as the Virus Itself

• coronavirus
• COVID-19
• Fauci
• Trump

The spread of coronavirus is frightening especially because there is still so much we don’t know about the virus. This has created an environment where conspiracy theories have exploded across social media creating a dangerous scenario for governments seeking to build trust, and an opportunity for those wanting to create chaos. As Foreign Policy Magazine […]

• Politics

Coronavirus: Industry Leaders and Health Officials Urge Trump to Listen to Data

• coronavirus
• COVID-19

Global cases of COVID-19 topped 2 million and at least 134,000 people have died worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University. Yet despite this, the White House has circulated a draft plan that advises areas with low numbers of coronavirus infections to begin pulling back on social distancing measures after May 1st if they meet certain […]

• Politics

Governors Working Together On Environmental Challenges Is Nothing New

• colorado river
• conservation
• environment
• Regional Fishery Management Councils
• restoration

As we reported yesterday, the Governors in several regions of the country have teamed up to fight the coronavirus within their respective areas — but regional agreements between Governors are nothing new in the world of conservation and the environment because pollution, just like a virus, does not respect state boundaries.

Why This Matters:  Governors working together to fight the coronavirus and its impacts through regional cooperation arrangements may prove to be a way that President Trump fixed the government by breaking it.

• Politics

Trump Administration Had Secret Industry Backchannel for Comments on NEPA Rollback

• conservation
• environment
• National Environmental Policy Act
• NEPA
• science
• sunshine in government
• swamp

Environmental groups and Democratic Senators decried the White House Council on Environmental Quality using a separate, non-public email address for its select friends in industry and business to submit views on the administration’s proposal to weaken the regulations implementing a bedrock environmental law, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). 

Why This Matters:  The whole point of NEPA is for the public to know the environmental impacts of government actions and have a chance to comment on them — it is a sunshine law at its core.

• Politics

Sanders Suspends Presidential Campaign, Progressive Groups Now Look to Biden on Climate Leadership

• 2020 Election
• Bernie Sanders
• Green New Deal
• Joe Biden

by Miro Korenha Yesterday, Senator Bernie Sanders suspended his presidential campaign thus making former VP Joe Biden the presumptive Democratic nominee. For many progressives and especially progressive youth voters who overwhelmingly supported Sanders, the decision was disappointing. In response, a coalition of progressive youth groups sent Joe Biden a letter outlining a list of commitments […]

• Politics

Coronavirus: Cases Fall in NY But Worst Is Still Ahead

• coronavirus
• COVID-19
• Trump

As Forbes reported, the death rates in Italy, Spain and France—the countries with the highest coronavirus death tolls globally—have slowed in the last couple of days, showing that countries’ national lockdown policies may be working to curb the rate of devastation. In New York state (the center of the nation’s outbreak), deaths rates dropped for […]

• Politics

Grand Canyon National Park Finally Closes, Gets New Superintendent From HQ

• coronavirus
• deep state
• Grand Canyon National Park
• Navajo
• Superintendent

After a resident of the Park tested positive last week for COVID-19, the Interior Department finally closed Grand Canyon National Park to the public after the local health officials in Arizona called for it given the increase in the county’s numbers of positive tests and a large outbreak of the virus on neighboring Navajo Tribal lands. 

Why This Matters:  Again the Trump Administration was behind in recognizing the coronavirus threat to communities near national parks.

• Politics

Clean Car Rule Rolled Back This Week – Perfect Timing

• Clean Car Rule
• coronavirus
• rollback

This week’s cartoon says it all.  The President rolled back the Obama Clean Car rule during a pandemic that causes people to lose their ability to breathe.  How could he?

• Animals
• Politics

Creating “Safe Passages” To Conserve Migration Routes in Wyoming As the Climate Changes

• #30x30
• #CampaignforNature
• #wildlifecorridors
• elk
• wildlife corridors

The Washington Post did a beautiful piece on the importance of preserving wildlife corridors in the face of climate change and other man-made threats. Interstate 80 is a vital transportation link that connects the east and west coasts, but it also blocks the historic migration routes through the Rocky Mountains for mule deer, elk, and pronghorn — some of the most iconic species of wildlife in the American West.

• Politics

One Stimulus Thing: Do It For the Workers

• #COVID19
• Chuck Schumer
• Congress
• coronavirus
• Green Stimulus
• Mitch McConnell
• stimulus

Congressional Democrats didn’t get the green strings attached for the airline industry bailout this week, but we can always hope for the next round of stimulus funding. At least the bill’s not bailing out the oil industry? Cartoon by Alex Bowman (check out more of her art here)

• Politics

Stimulus Package Passes Senate With Major Green Groups’ Support

• coronavirus
• fossil fuels
• green infrastructure
• Green Stimulus
• stimulus

The $2 trillion stimulus package the Senate passed unanimously late last night contained neither the funding the President sought to fill up the tank on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve nor the provisions that would have required the airline industry to become more sustainable in exchange for large grants. 

Why This Matters:  The most important thing, in the end, was the aid for workers, small businesses, hospitals, and state and local governments so direly needed at this moment.