At a transit rider organizing training one dreary Saturday morning in Pittsburgh, I listened to transit riders speak on how advocates can be an ally for the disabled community.

The BUILD GREEN Act, recently re-introduced in Congress by Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Robert Garcia, would authorize the US Department of Transportation to distribute $500 billion over ten years to electrify existing transportation and build new electric transportation infrastructure.

On May 15th the Railroad Workers United hosted a public webinar about their campaign for public rail ownership, which is currently ramping up.

Over the week of Earth Day union educators, youth, and the climate movement organized and participated in actions calling for green, healthy investment and for President Biden to declare a national Climate Emergency.

On June 20 Third Act Union will present an on-line conversation with Jeremy Brecher on “Labor and the Climate Crisis Today.”

Two thousand student workers at the University of California Santa Cruz stopped work May 20 in the first of a series of compounding strikes protesting the university’s response to pro-Palestinian protests. The university in turn has filed charges with the California Public Employment Relations Board accusing the union of violating the no-strike clause of its contract and is asking for an injunction to block the strike.

We proudly stand with the brave students and workers who are facing repression, violence, retaliation, and arrest on their campuses for protesting the complicity of the U.S. and their universities in a genocide.

The world just made the largest ever recorded leap in the amount of carbon dioxide in its atmosphere. The global average concentration of carbon dioxide in March this year was 4.7 parts per million higher than it was in March last year. 

In May, the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council passed a key resolution to KEEP THE LAW (SB1137) that prohibits toxic oil drilling within 3,200 feet of homes, schools, day care centers, parks, healthcare facilities and businesses in California.

HB433, recently signed into law by Florida governor Ron DeSantis, prohibits any municipality in the state from passing heat protections for workers.

We proudly stand with the brave students and workers who are facing repression, violence, retaliation, and arrest on their campuses for protesting the complicity of the U.S. and their universities in a genocide. With nearly 35,000 Palestinians reportedly murdered since October 7, and no end in sight, ceasefire is a moral and existential imperative. 

Last month, I presented research from the LNS Young Worker Listening Project (YWLP) at the annual conference of the Southern Sociological Society. The presentation, titled “Laboring through the Storm: Young workers, climate change, and the pursuit of meaningful work,” explored how the climate crisis is shaping the meaning of work for young workers.

On May 7 at noon eastern time the youth voter organization Next Gen America will hold an on-line Climate Workshop for young people who are looking for a well-paying job that’s good for the environment. Attendees can expect

20,000 young people will work this summer and fall to care for their communities and tackle the climate crisis through the American Climate Corps. The Climate Corp has been a key campaign issue for the Green New Deal and groups like the youth Sunrise Movement.

April 15-May 30th continues to be packed with actions around the country connecting the concerns of workers and the environment by linking up Earth Day to May Day.