Putting Out the Planetary Fire

Environmental groups and Alaskan tribes sued the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency for unlawfully repealing the endangerment finding and motor vehicle emissions standards. The EPA’s 2009 endangerment finding is the scientific determination that greenhouse gas pollution harms public health and welfare.. The rollback ignores established science and removes critical safeguards at a time when farmers need them the most. Every season, farmers are navigating more uncertainty – excessive rain, lack of rain, excessive heat, and everything in between. Wes Gillingham of Wild Roots Farm and NOFA-NY talks ot Mark Dunlea of Hudson Mohawk Magazine.

NYPIRG is conducting a statewide bus tour to highlight the energy waste of AI data centers, which require a tremendous amount of energy, zapping electricity from the public grid. These energy hogs could lead to rising air pollution, industrial use of local clean water, and skyrocketing utility bills. Legislation calling for a moratorium on such data centers has been introduced. A data center is being proposed for the old Kenwood Convent / Doan Stuart school site in the South End of Albany. Eric Woods of Albany talks with Mark Dunlea for Hudson Mohawk Magazine.

The EcoAction Committee of the Green Party of the United States held its annual Earth Day to May Day webinar on Monday April 13. Speakers were Jill Stein, the recent Green Presidential candidate, and Michael Johnson, Democracy Campaign Manager for Third Act. The event highlights the interconnection of issues such as climate change, economic inequality, war, racial injustice, immigrant rights, and democracy. We hear from Jill Stein, who focuses on the current war with Iran and its impact on energy, food, and nuclear weapons. and the need for a Green New Deal.

Climate activists were back at the State Capitol on April 21, with 19 being arrested after they compared Governor Hochul to Donald Trump due to her efforts to gut the CLCPA, the state’s climate law. We hear from Pete Sikora of NY Communities for Change; Eleanor from Germany; Cornell Professor Bob Howarth; and, Santosh Nandabalan from NYCC.

On Monday, May 11, Beyond Plastics is organizing a lobby day and rally at the Capitol to support the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act (PRRIA). National Organizing Director Alexis Goldsmith talks with Mark Dunlea for Hudson Mohawk Magazine. PRRIA applies Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) to packaging, requiring manufacturers and distributors to manage the waste from the products they package EANY. Its goals include:Reducing packaging waste by 30% over 12 years for producers with $5M revenue; Improving recyclability and recycling infrastructure; and Banning 13 toxic chemicals commonly used in single-use plastic packaging, such as PFAS, lead, mercury, phthalates, and bisphenols

On Tuesday, May 5, Climate Defiance organized a last-minute protest against Governor Hochul’s push to gut the climate law. While the Chair of the Assembly Ways and Means Committee says that a budget deal has been struck, no official details have yet been released. It is understood that lawmakers have agreed to push back by several years the deadline to issue regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to relax the rules related to methane emissions. Hochul’s energy agenda has become very similar to Trump’s pro-fossil fuel push. The group initially blocked the entrance in front of Hochul’s 2nd-floor office and held a teach-in. Later, a group moved to block the second-floor elevator, which finally got the state police to arrest them and charge them with misdemeanors. We hear from Aviv Kresch of Climate Defiance, Assemblymember Claire Valdez, Pete Sikora of NY Communities for Change, Michael Greenberg of Climate Defiance, Jonathan Westin of the Climate Organizing Hub, Assembly candidate Lydia Green, Eric Weltman of Food and Water Watch, and Topher Dean. By Mark Dunlea for Hudson Mohawk Magazine.

While Governor Hochul on May 7 announced that there was a deal on the budget, legislative leaders disagreed, saying only that they were close. Still, some details have emerged about the status of the Governor’s apparently successful push to weaken the requirements of the state’s climate law (CLCPA). Stephen Edel, Executive Director of NY Renews, talks with Mark Dunlea for Hudson Mohawk Magazine.