Climate Strikes
The Coronavirus Depression and the Emergency Green New Deal
This is the fourth in a series of commentaries proposing an Emergency Green New Deal. Mass unemployment, misery, and impoverishment require emergency response not only to the medical pandemic but to the economic catastrophe that is accompanying it. “The Coronavirus Depression and the Emergency Green New Deal” explores a program tailored to the realities of the economic emergency.
In Memory of Chaz Wheelock
We dedicate this issue of Making a Living on a Living Planet to Charles “Chaz” Tsyaktati Wheelock, one of the co-founders of the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN).
Fight for the Rights of Essential Workers
Whether they are healthcare workers, bus drivers, janitors, factory workers, or firefighters, people who are declared “essential workers” and are therefore required to go to work in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic face many of the same threats.
The Virus Speaks
When I look at the so-called “world order” of the human race, I lick my chops. In the good old days, my ancestors used to be able to conduct pandemics around the world without interference. And it looks like the good old days are coming back!
70+ Labor, Civil Rights, and Transit Organizations Call on Congress to Provide Emergency Assistance to Public Transit Workers in the Next Stimulus
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contacts: Olivia Alperstein, Institute for Policy Studies [email protected] Judy Asman, Labor Network for Sustainability [email protected] WASHINGTON, D.C. (APRIL 23, 2020) —The Labor Network for Sustainability and Institute for...
Labor in the Climate Strikes
When young people around the world began their Climate Strikes, organized workers began joining in, contributing to the September 20, 2019 tally of more than seven million participants worldwide. Many unions were poised to help make the 2020 Earth Week climate strikes still bigger—when the coronavirus pandemic intervened. But trade unionists and other climate protectors are saving Earth Week by taking it on-line.
Science and Crisis
by Carly Ebben Eaton | Apr 16, 2020 There are a ton of parallels between the leadup to the current crisis and the non-response to the climate crisis. Recently, I learned that the fastest a vaccine has ever been developed is 4 years (for mumps). The average time to...
Earth Day to May Day: A Historic Experiment in Virtual Protest
The first Earth Day in 1970 had very significant support from the United Automobile Workers and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which included money, staff time, printing, and other related resources. Denis Hayes, organizer of the first Earth Day told Labor Network for Sustainability President Joe Uehlein that the first Earth Day would not have happened without labor support. Some of the larger Earth Day planning retreats/meetings were held at the UAW’s Black Lake training center in upstate Michigan.
“Make the Damn Masks!”
t was hardly surprising when a group of trade unions sent a letter to President Donald Trump asking him to provide ventilators and other personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers and all other workers put at risk by exposure to coronavirus.
“I Talk to Workers Every Day — They’re Afraid They’re Going to Die”
On March 26, the Labor Network for Sustainability convened a videoconference in which leaders of the environmental, climate, and climate justice movements heard directly from leaders of seven unions about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their members and what they are doing about it.