Home Depot is encouraging people to do away the old Christmas lights of years past in exchange for energy efficient ones.
The national retailer will recycle old, broken or used incandescent lights across the country if shoppers bring them in before the end of the business day on Nov. 17. Customers can then receive discounts of $3 (Home Accents), $4 (Martha Stewart Living or GE) or $5 (EcoSmart or LightShow) on a set of LED lights, depending on the brand they select.
LED holiday lights. LEDs, short for light-emitting diodes, are bulbs that use a semiconductor to generate light more efficiently than traditional incandescent or fluorescent bulbs. Photo credit The Home Depot
The store will limit each customer to five discounts.
Aside from a few extra dollars in your pocket, participating in such a deal would be a good holiday deed for the country. Department of Energy (DOE) figures show that holiday lights consume more than six terawatt hours per year—the equivalent of the electricity consumed by 500,000 homes in one month.
Additional DOE data shows that incandescent can be wildly expensive when compared to their LED counterparts:
Table credit: U.S. Department of Energy
The savings become even more apparent when planning for multiple holiday seasons.
*Assumes 50 C-9 bulbs and 200 mini-lights per tree, with electricity at $0.119 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) (AEO 2012 Residential Average). Prices of lights based on quoted prices for low volume purchases from major home improvement retailers. All costs have been discounted at an annual rate of 5.6%. Life span assumed to be three seasons (1,500 hours) for non-LED lights. Table credit: U.S. Department of Energy
Though Home Depot is the first to announce an LED-based discount, other national retailers are making energy efficiency a priority this season. Here are a few developments, reported by the Kansas City Star:
- Half of the Christmas lights offered by Wal-Mart this year are LEDs. A string of 50 mini LED lights are selling for $5, down from $6.30 last year. "We know our customers are gravitating toward them,” Debbie Serr, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, told the newspaper.
- Costco is selling no incandescent Christmas lights at all this year.
- Christmaslightinstaller.com, which sells, rents and installs Christmas lights in various cities estimates that one-third of its customers are buying LEDs early on.
Visit EcoWatch’s PRODUCTS page for more related news on this topic.
JasonOndreicka / iStock / Getty Images
Twenty-five years ago, a food called Tofurky made its debut on grocery store shelves. Since then, the tofu-based roast has become a beloved part of many vegetarians' holiday feasts.
<p>"Tofurky and Thanksgiving are forever intimately tied in my heart," said Jan Dutkiewicz, a visiting fellow at Harvard Law School's animal law and policy program.</p>
<iframe style="border: none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/16550342/height/45/theme/standard/thumbnail/yes/direction/backward/" height="45" width="100%" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe><p>He said Tofurky was different from most vegetarian fare because it could actually stand in for a turkey roast.</p><p>"It allowed me to be at a Thanksgiving meal having a sort of centerpiece of my own and not just eating stuffing and nibbling on veggies and whatnot," he said.</p><p>Today, there are many more meat alternatives on the market. Some brands such as <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/impossible-burger-vs-beyond-burger-2645075556.html">Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat</a> work hard to appeal not only to vegetarians, but meat lovers too.</p><p>"The strategy has been to offer a product that's as close as possible in taste, texture, and price to the products that meat consumers are already eating," Dutkiewicz said.</p><p>Producing plant-based proteins generates much less carbon pollution than animal agriculture. So Dutkiewicz said making plant-based foods that appeal – even to meat eaters – can help reduce global warming on Thanksgiving or any day of the year.</p><p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/11/the-lasting-influence-of-the-tofurky/" target="_blank">Yale Climate Connections</a>.</em> <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/r/entryeditor/2649054032#/" target="_self"></a></p>
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Protestors walk past an image of a Native American woman during a march to "Count Every Vote, Protect Every Person" after the U.S. presidential Election in Seattle, Washington on November 4. Jason Redmond / AFP / Getty Images
By Jessica Corbett
A leading environmental advocacy group marked Native American Heritage Month on Wednesday by urging President-elect Joe Biden, Vice President-elect Kamala Kamala Harris, and the entire incoming administration "to honor Indigenous sovereignty and immediately halt the Keystone XL, Dakota Access, and Line 3 pipelines."
<p><span style="background-color: initial;">That call from 350.org U.S. communications director Thanu Yakupitiyage for Indigenous <a href="https://landback.org/" target="_blank">#LandBack</a> came just ahead of Thanksgiving in the U.S. and as the coronavirus pandemic continues to devastate communities across the country — with more than 12.7 million COVID-19 cases and over 261,000 deaths nationwide as of Wednesday afternoon.</span></p>
<p>"As we embark on a just recovery from the compound crises of climate disasters, racist police brutality, economic injustice, and Covid-19, we are in a pivotal moment of reckoning that requires us to ground in the history of the United States as a country built on stolen Indigenous land by stolen Black and African labor," Yakupitiyage said.</p><p>"As we act to stop state-sanctioned violence against Black and Brown communities," she continued, "we also acknowledge the decades and centuries of white supremacy, colonialism, and capitalism that continue to have devastating and genocidal impacts on the lives, livelihoods, and traditions of Native and Indigenous communities across the United States, North America, and around the world."</p><p>The activist drew attention to three controversial pipelines against which Indigenous people <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/25/brutal-memories-standing-rock-stop-line-3-campaigners-wary-rule-barring" target="_blank">have led</a> the opposition, highlighting some of the destructive impacts that such projects have on Native communities and lands, in addition to the climate effects.</p><p>"Fossil fuel executives and racist climate criminals continue to assault treaty rights and Indigenous sovereignty, attempting to ram toxic and unnecessary pipelines like Keystone XL, Dakota Access, and Line 3 through sacred Indigenous land and waters, while perpetuating threats and violence against Indigenous womxn, girls, and two-spirit people," said Yakupitiyage.</p>
<div id="ef565" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9cdfa0e287c7703a509672ed361c63a4"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1331660175024001025" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">We are seeing day in and day out black and brown organizers across Minnesota gather to resist the Line 3 pipeline t… https://t.co/FDHSaEDRpJ</div> — 350 dot org (@350 dot org)<a href="https://twitter.com/350/statuses/1331660175024001025">1606327501.0</a></blockquote></div><p>"Transformative climate solutions to truly tackle the root of climate change require systemic action to decolonize from the very systems that have created the crisis in the first place," she added. "Our leap toward a just recovery must start with honoring treaties with sovereign Indigenous nations and returning land back to Native peoples. The time is now for meaningful care and repair."</p><p>For months, 350.org has spearheaded global calls for a just recovery from the pandemic — <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/30/ahead-may-day-500-groups-worldwide-demand-just-and-visionary-recovery-covid-19" target="_blank">demanding</a> that policymakers prioritize human health, provide economic relief directly to the people, help workers and communities rather than corporate executives, work to create resilience for future crises, and build solidarity across borders.</p><p>Yakupitiyage's comments centering Indigenous communities in relation to a just recovery come as Biden is facing calls from Native Americans and climate campaigners to consider appointing Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.), a member of Pueblo of Laguna, as his interior secretary. Two years ago, she and Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kan.) became the first two Native American women elected to Congress.</p>
<div id="defe7" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7f8197a96f6d6b3f20364ebc2044701d"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1329136271717851136" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">When we say #landback, it means fundamentally undoing the harm that has been done to Indian Ppl...appointing an Ind… https://t.co/I7y4j0MvdU</div> — NDN Collective (@NDN Collective)<a href="https://twitter.com/ndncollective/statuses/1329136271717851136">1605725755.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Broadly, Biden is <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/20/new-no-corporate-cabinet-campaign-pushes-biden-pick-people-who-will-advance-public" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">facing</a> pressure from progressives — and <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/25/new-poll-shows-68-americans-want-senators-block-any-corporate-biden-nominees" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">public opinion</a> — to stock the next administration, including his Cabinet, with people committed to serving in the public interest rather than corporate insiders. Earlier this month, the Sunrise Movement and Justice Democrats launched a campaign that includes Cabinet suggestions; Haaland is among them.</p><p>"A visionary secretary of the interior has enormous latitude to crack down on giveaways to fossil fuel corporations, like permits to drill for oil on public lands and in public waters. With a progressive leader at the helm, we can make real progress," the groups explain on the campaign website.</p><p>"As the first Native American to hold this position, Rep. Deb Haaland would usher in a new era of Indigenous authority over stolen land," they added. "She is a fierce ally of our movement who has fought for renewable energy job creation in the House as vice chair of the House Natural Resources Committee and chair of the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands."</p>
<div id="5b957" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="519eba91a8fc7d7ef319cba86cf1960f"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1331383407255969792" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">The Secretary of the Interior oversees the management and conservation of federal lands.
Who better to head the de… https://t.co/f1IJwNd1Bt</div> — Sunrise Movement 🌅 (@Sunrise Movement 🌅)<a href="https://twitter.com/sunrisemvmt/statuses/1331383407255969792">1606261514.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Haaland <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/biden-transition-updates/2020/11/23/937756927/rep-haaland-cabinet-pick-would-mean-a-lot-to-indian-country" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">discussed</a> the potential nomination on NPR this week, telling Rachel Martin, "First of all, it would mean a lot to Indian Country."</p><p>"When Sharice [Davids] and I got sworn in, everybody was so happy," said the congresswoman. "It means a lot to a group of people who have been here since time immemorial to know that they're truly being represented. I think it would really change the way people see our federal government."</p><p>"Being able to listen," Haaland added, "being able to move issues forward, bringing people to the table — I think that would make a huge difference."</p><p>From Arizona to Wisconsin, reporters have highlighted in the messy aftermath of Election Day that Native voters were key contributors to Biden's victory over President Donald Trump, who has yet to formally concede even though the transition process is already underway.</p>
<div id="cedbb" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="fd66c0f753f0ad581dcb839602f0738c"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1329876320470360068" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">NEW from me for @CBSNews: Native American turnout in Arizona surged this year. Biden won Arizona by nearly 12,000 v… https://t.co/sMmk2La1nw</div> — Grace Segers (@Grace Segers)<a href="https://twitter.com/Grace_Segers/statuses/1329876320470360068">1605902197.0</a></blockquote></div>
<div id="e082d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8f5d07fe514d9d2156acd08cd74909c3"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1330489726516793348" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">When we talk about the rural vote, remember that it is incredibly diverse, and that Democrats can and must recogniz… https://t.co/TNDWMHgT0L</div> — John Nichols (@John Nichols)<a href="https://twitter.com/NicholsUprising/statuses/1330489726516793348">1606048444.0</a></blockquote></div><p>After election-callers and major news networks named Biden the winner, Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez <a href="https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/the-native-vote-turned-out-so-today-it-s-celebration-F77qX2eKZ0mGV-SJhcxz9g" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">released</a> a statement noting the significance of the Native vote.</p><p>"The First Americans of this country, including a large majority of Navajo voters, had a major impact in the outcome of the presidential election in several swing states — that needs to be recognized and acknowledged by all," he said. "Both campaigns fought hard for Native American votes, particularly Navajo votes, and that's truly a reflection of the growing influence and power of tribal nations across the country."</p><p>Nez, who met with Biden and Harris to discuss tribal policy, added that "the Navajo Nation now looks forward to working together with the Biden-Harris administration to put that plan into action."</p><p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/25/biden-urged-honor-indigenous-sovereignty-and-immediately-halt-fossil-fuel-pipelines" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>. </em></p>
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Returning the ‘Three Sisters’ – Corn, Beans and Squash – to Native American Farms Nourishes People, Land and Cultures
8h
Food
Marilyn Angel Wynn / Getty Images
By Christina Gish Hill
Historians know that turkey and corn were part of the first Thanksgiving, when Wampanoag peoples shared a harvest meal with the pilgrims of Plymouth plantation in Massachusetts. And traditional Native American farming practices tell us that squash and beans likely were part of that 1621 dinner too.
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For centuries before Europeans reached North America, many Native Americans grew these foods together in one plot, along with the less familiar sunflower. They called the plants sisters to reflect how they thrived when they were cultivated together.
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Today
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/04/native-americans-stories-california" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">three-quarters of Native Americans live off of reservations</a>, mainly in urban areas. And nationwide, many Native American communities <a href="https://civileats.com/2019/07/24/indigenous-food-security-is-dependent-on-food-sovereignty/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">lack access to healthy food</a>. As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=yCZ-SMUAAAAJ&hl=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">scholar of Indigenous studies</a> focusing on Native relationships with the land, I began to wonder why Native farming practices had declined and what benefits could emerge from bringing them back.
</p>
<p>To answer these questions, I am working with <a href="https://www.agron.iastate.edu/people/marshall-mcdaniel" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">agronomist Marshall McDaniel</a>, <a href="https://www.hort.iastate.edu/directory/ajay-nair/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">horticulturalist Ajay Nair</a>, <a href="https://www.globe.iastate.edu/staff/donna-winham/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">nutritionist Donna Winham</a> and Native gardening projects in Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Our research project, "Reuniting the Three Sisters," explores what it means to be a responsible caretaker of the land from the perspective of peoples who have been balancing agricultural production with sustainability for hundreds of years.</p>
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Abundant Harvests
<p>Historically, Native people throughout the Americas bred indigenous plant varieties specific to the growing conditions of their homelands. They selected seeds for many different traits, such as <a href="https://emergencemagazine.org/story/corn-tastes-better/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">flavor, texture and color</a>.</p><p>Native growers knew that planting corn, beans, squash and sunflowers together produced mutual benefits. Corn stalks created a trellis for beans to climb, and beans' twining vines secured the corn in high winds. They also certainly observed that corn and bean plants growing together tended to be healthier than when raised separately. Today we know the reason: Bacteria living on bean plant roots pull nitrogen – an essential plant nutrient – from the air and <a href="http://www.tilthalliance.org/learn/resources-1/almanac/october/octobermngg" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">convert it to a form that both beans and corn can use</a>.</p><p>Squash plants contributed by shading the ground with their broad leaves, preventing weeds from growing and retaining water in the soil. Heritage squash varieties also had spines that discouraged deer and raccoons from visiting the garden for a snack. And sunflowers planted around the edges of the garden created a natural fence, protecting other plants from wind and animals and attracting pollinators.</p><p>Interplanting these agricultural sisters produced bountiful harvests that sustained large Native communities and <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/eam.2015.0016" target="_blank">spurred fruitful trade economies</a>. The first Europeans who reached the Americas were shocked at the abundant food crops they found. My research is exploring how, 200 years ago, Native American agriculturalists around the Great Lakes and along the Missouri and Red rivers fed fur traders with their diverse vegetable products.</p><div id="b473d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="02bce33cbe23b74661e1a9279fef31bc"><blockquote class="instagram-media"
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Displaced From the Land
<p>As Euro-Americans settled permanently on the most fertile North American lands and acquired seeds that Native growers had carefully bred, they imposed policies that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr/87.2.550" target="_blank">made Native farming practices impossible</a>. In 1830 President Andrew Jackson signed the <a href="https://guides.loc.gov/indian-removal-act" target="_blank">Indian Removal Act</a>, which made it official U.S. policy to force Native peoples from their home locations, pushing them onto subpar lands.</p><p>On reservations, U.S. government officials discouraged Native women from cultivating anything larger than small garden plots and pressured Native men to practice Euro-American style monoculture. Allotment policies assigned small plots to nuclear families, further limiting Native Americans' access to land and preventing them from using communal farming practices.</p><p>Native children were forced to attend boarding schools, where they had no opportunity to <a href="https://doi.org/10.5749/jamerindieduc.57.1.0145" target="_blank">learn Native agriculture techniques or preservation and preparation of Indigenous foods</a>. Instead they were forced to eat Western foods, turning their palates away from their traditional preferences. Taken together, these policies <a href="https://kansaspress.ku.edu/978-0-7006-0802-7.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">almost entirely eradicated three sisters agriculture</a> from Native communities in the Midwest by the 1930s.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDgyNzYyMi9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NzM2MjkwOX0.kTWQ0TwFFU0ZF3yKNzQn9zq_ouX0TpVY2oZUE-XvPbM/img.png?width=980" id="a58aa" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4d5f239c5d47ebaf3157af1fe8bb54ba" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Native American tribes in the Great Lakes region pre-European settlement. Milwaukee Public Museum / CC BY-ND
Reviving Native Agriculture
<p>Today Native people all over the U.S. are working diligently to <a href="https://www.oupress.com/books/15107980/indigenous-food-sovereignty-in-the-united-sta" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reclaim Indigenous varieties of corn, beans, squash, sunflowers and other crops</a>. This effort is important for many reasons.</p><p>Improving Native people's access to healthy, culturally appropriate foods will help lower rates of <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/aian-diabetes/index.html" target="_blank">diabetes</a> and <a href="https://www.apa.org/pi/oema/resources/ethnicity-health/native-american/obesity" target="_blank">obesity</a>, which affect Native Americans at disproportionately high rates. Sharing traditional knowledge about agriculture is a way for elders to pass cultural information along to younger generations. Indigenous growing techniques also protect the lands that Native nations now inhabit, and can potentially benefit the wider ecosystems around them.</p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="82270cf0c87ca398f9818159ccc7e015"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IooHPLjXi2g?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>But Native communities often lack access to resources such as farming equipment, soil testing, fertilizer and pest prevention techniques. This is what inspired Iowa State University's Three Sisters Gardening Project. We work collaboratively with Native farmers at <a href="https://gardenwarriorsgoodseeds.com/2015/01/19/tsyunhehkw-oneida-nation-wisconsin/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Tsyunhehkw</a>, a community agriculture program, and the <a href="https://www.wisconsinlife.org/story/the-lands-we-share-laura-manthe-the-oneida-white-corn-growers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ohelaku Corn Growers Co-Op</a> on the Oneida reservation in Wisconsin; the <a href="http://72.15.165.18/index.php/en/nebraska-indian-community-college/about-nicc-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nebraska Indian College</a>, which serves the Omaha and Santee Sioux in Nebraska; and <a href="https://dreamofwildhealth.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Dream of Wild Health</a>, a nonprofit organization that works to reconnect the Native American community in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, with traditional Native plants and their culinary, medicinal and spiritual uses.</p><p>We are growing three sisters research plots at ISU's Horticulture Farm and in each of these communities. Our project also runs workshops on topics of interests to Native gardeners, encourages local soil health testing and grows rare seeds to <a href="https://doi.org/10.17953/aicrj.41.3.hill" target="_blank">rematriate them</a>, or return them to their home communities.<br></p><p>The monocropping industrial agricultural systems that produce much of the U.S. food supply <a href="https://theconversation.com/us-agriculture-needs-a-21st-century-new-deal-112757" target="_blank">harms the environment, rural communities and human health and safety in many ways</a>. By growing corn, beans and squash in research plots, we are helping to quantify how intercropping <a href="https://doi.org/10.14237/ebl.7.1.2016.721" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">benefits both plants and soil</a>.</p><p>By documenting <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/19320248.2016.1227750" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">limited nutritional offerings at reservation grocery stores</a>, we are demonstrating the need for Indigenous gardens in Native communities. By interviewing Native growers and elders knowledgeable about foodways, we are illuminating how healing Indigenous gardening practices can be for Native communities and people – their bodies, minds and spirits.</p><p>Our Native collaborators are benefiting from the project through rematriation of rare seeds grown in ISU plots, workshops on topics they select and the new relationships they are building with Native gardeners across the Midwest. As researchers, we are learning about what it means to work collaboratively and to conduct research that respects protocols our Native collaborators value, such as treating seeds, plants and soil in a culturally appropriate manner. By listening with humility, we are working to build a network where we can all learn from one another.</p><p><em>Christina Gish Hill is an associate professor of Anthropology at Iowa State University.</em></p><p><em>Disclosure statement: Christina Gish Hill receives funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs.</em></p><p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/returning-the-three-sisters-corn-beans-and-squash-to-native-american-farms-nourishes-people-land-and-cultures-149230/" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>. </em><br></p>
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Climate Coalition Pressures Biden to Reject 'Corporate Shill' Ernest Moniz as Energy Chief
25 November
Politics
Former U.S. Sec. of Energy Ernest Moniz listens during the National Clean Energy Summit 9.0 on October 13, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Isaac Brekken / Getty Images for National Clean Energy Summit
By Jake Johnson
Amid reports that oil industry-friendly former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz remains under consideration to return to his old post in the incoming Biden administration, a diverse coalition of environmental groups is mobilizing for an "all-out push" to keep Moniz away from the White House and demand a cabinet willing to boldly confront the corporations responsible for the climate emergency.
<p>On Tuesday night, climate campaigners <a href="https://twitter.com/greenpeaceusa/status/1331405987425685506" target="_blank">projected</a> onto the primary Department of Energy building messages urging President-elect Joe Biden to say "yes to a sustainable future" and no to Moniz, who currently serves on the board of the polluting utility giant Southern Company.</p>
<p>Following the demonstration, the coalition on Wednesday morning debuted <a href="https://nomoniz.org/" target="_blank">NoMoniz.org</a>, a website that warns the policies of Obama's former energy secretary "might be good for his friends in the coal, oil, and gas industries, but they're a death sentence for us and our planet."</p><p>"It's unacceptable that Ernest Moniz is being considered for a role in the Biden administration — his policies, his financial ties to fossil fuel companies, his contempt for youth climate activists, and his overall unwillingness to do what it takes to protect our future should disqualify him immediately," reads the site, which was launched by Oil Change U.S., Greenpeace USA, Sunrise Movement, the Climate Justice Alliance, Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth U.S., and dozens of other groups.</p>
<div id="a6564" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d27a41c6b56d432ce974b11d22bbe6e6"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1331587846411603968" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">It is absolutely imperative that @JoeBiden keep @ErnestMoniz out of his cabinet, and any of his protégée like Liz S… https://t.co/7x2WN6nxgs</div> — Evan Weber 🌅🔥 (@Evan Weber 🌅🔥)<a href="https://twitter.com/evanlweber/statuses/1331587846411603968">1606310256.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Previously an <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/159357/ernie-moniz-biden-energy-gives-climate-nightmares" target="_blank">adviser to major companies</a> such as BP and General Electric, Moniz's tenure as head of Obama's energy department as well as his public statements since leaving office make clear that he is opposed to the kind of sweeping climate action that environmentalists and scientists say is necessary to avert planetary catastrophe.</p><p>Speaking to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce last year, Moniz endorsed what he <a href="https://www.axios.com/ernest-moniz-green-real-deal-climate-change-policy-4090206b-3f36-4747-9b3c-2655e15402d5.html" target="_blank">dubbed</a> a "Green Real Deal" that would welcome a "broad coalition" of supporters — including the fossil fuel industry. In an interview months earlier, Moniz — a proponent of <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/05/30/gas-loser-and-its-time-move-report-debunks-big-oil-myth-natural-gas-can-help-fight" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">natural gas</a> as a bridge to a clean energy future — <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/nov/23/joe-biden-fight-climate-crisis-ernest-moniz" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">denounced</a> what he described as "often completely unrealistic proposals for the pace at which we can decarbonize."</p><p>"With his deep ties to the fossil fuel industry and promotion of false solutions like carbon capture and sequestration, Ernest Moniz is not a forward-thinking choice for the cabinet," Anthony Rogers-Wright, policy coordinator for the Climate Justice Alliance, said in a statement Wednesday. "The Department of Energy must be led by someone open to concrete ideas for a fossil-free future, not continued dominance by a corrupt, heavily-subsidized industry whose existence hinges on maintaining an antiquated all-of-the-above strategy."</p><p>Janet Redman, climate campaign director at Greenpeace USA, warned that Moniz's fossil fuel connections "spell danger for the nation's efforts to mitigate the climate crisis" as atmospheric carbon dioxide <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/23/no-time-lose-climate-action-atmospheric-co2-continued-rise-2020-despite-covid-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">continues to rise</a> in 2020 despite widespread coronavirus lockdowns.</p><p>"We need a true climate leader who understands that we must phase out fossil fuels, not a corporate shill with 'all of the above energy' policies who wants to prop up fracked gas and pipelines," said Redman. "The American people have given Joe Biden a mandate to take bold action in service of climate justice, public health, economic prosperity, and racial equity. Moniz would only be holding him back."</p><p>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/25/planet-stake-climate-coalition-pressures-biden-reject-corporate-shill-ernest-moniz" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>. </p>
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How To Talk To People About the Climate Crisis When Scary Facts Are Not Enough
25 November
Insights + Opinion
Climate change can evoke intense feelings, but a conversational approach can help. Reed Kaestner / Getty Images
Anger, anxiety, overwhelm … climate change can evoke intense feelings.
<p>"It's easy to feel dwarfed in the context of such a global systemic issue," says psychologist Renée Lertzman.<br/></p><p>She says that when people experience these feelings, they often shut down and push information away. So to encourage climate action, she advises not bombarding people with frightening facts.</p>
<iframe style="border: none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/16550327/height/45/theme/standard/thumbnail/yes/direction/backward/" height="45" width="100%" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe>
<p>"When we lead with information, we are actually unwittingly walking right into a situation that is set up to undermine our efforts," she says.<br></p><p>She says if you want to engage people on the topic, take a compassionate approach. Ask people what they know and want to learn. Then have a conversation.</p><p>This conversational approach may seem at odds with the urgency of the issue, but Lertzman says it can get results faster.</p><p>"When we take a compassion-based approach, we are actively disarming defenses so that people are actually more willing and able to respond and engage quicker," she says. "And we don't have time right now to mess around, and so I do actually come to this topic with a sense of urgency… We do not have time to not take this approach."</p><p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/11/why-frightening-facts-dont-always-move-people-to-action-on-climate-change/" target="_blank">Yale Climate Connections</a>.</em></p>
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