On the day after the elections, 50,000 people joined a four-hour on-line event to plan how to respond. Sponsored by more than 200 organizations, the call heard from leaders of dozens of progressive groups, including the presidents of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the National Education Association (NEA), as well as members of Congress. More than 100 communities were organized on the spot. 

By LNS Network Organizer Oren Kadosh

Nevada is “ground zero” for U.S. lithium extraction. Last month, LNS helped organize workers and activists on a tour through Nevada to observe proposed lithium mining sites and hear from Tribal, Indigenous, and frontline community members who are fighting back against the accelerating pace of mining that is threatening to turn critical ecosystems and sacred lands into profit-making sacrifice zones.

According to a roundup in Inside Climate News, at least five of six climate change ballot measures were passed in the recent elections.

The World Meteorological Organization reported that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is accumulating faster than at any time in human history, with concentrations rising more than 10% in just two decades. It hit record levels in 2023 — 51% greater than before the Industrial Revolution, when people began to burn large amounts of coal, oil and fossil gas.

The state of Massachusetts has announced grants to 13 Regional Transit Authorities to provide year-round, fare free public transportation services.

By LNS Co-Director Liz Ratzloff

I recently attended the Climate Underground conference hosted by chef Alice Waters and former Vice President Al Gore at his farm in Carthage, Tennessee. The Climate Reality Project’s conference convened farmers, scientists, chefs, non-profit staff, and others to talk about how regenerative farming practices can decrease emissions in the agricultural sector and help create more resilient farms that can better withstand the severe storms brought about by global warming.

We as a nation awoke to the confirmation that Donald Trump will be serving a second term as president. For those of us who strive for climate justice and worker empowerment, this reality is an incredible setback. Trump’s approach to the environment, which the Republican Party as a whole has adopted, would roll back regulations, expand oil and gas production and curtail the federal government’s regulatory powers.

LNS is proud to introduce our new Communications Director, Virginia Rodino. Virginia’s professional career has focused on communications strategy for labor, non-profit, and activist organizations.

Workers organize to protect themselves from inadequate pay, overwork, insecurity, and threats to their health and safety. And now there is another threat to workers’ wellbeing: climate change. And workers are organizing to fight it.

Back-to-back hurricanes Helene and Milton have devastated much of Appalachia and the South. In a statement following Hurricane Helene, the Labor Network for Sustainability called it “A Wake-up Call for Social Justice.” It said these tragedies of death and destruction “are not natural.”

A recent article in the workplace safety newsletter Confined Space analyzes recent deaths at Impact Plastics to show why workers are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The author is Jordan Barab, who was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor from 2009 to 2017 and previously worked for AFSCME and the AFL-CIO.

The Labor Network for Sustainability is pleased to announce the publication of The Green New Deal from Below: How Ordinary People Are Building a Just and Climate-safe Economy by LNS Co-Founder Jeremy Brecher.

On election day, in addition to selecting their choice for President of the United States, California voters will decide whether or not to fund climate projects. Measure 4 is a $10 billion bond to spend on clean drinking water, protections from floods, droughts and extreme heat, ocean protections, parks, and clean energy projects, among other initiatives. It prioritizes low-income communities and those living on the frontlines of climate change impacts.

Heat can be deadly for workers whether they are working outdoors or indoors. According to National Council for Safety and Health, COSH, “​​Extreme heat causes as many as 2,000 worker fatalities in the U.S. each year, and up to 170,000 workers are injured in heat stress-related accidents annually.”

The “2024 State of the Climate Report” just issued by a team of climate scientists finds that “We are on the brink of an irreversible climate disaster.” This is “a global emergency” in which “much of the very fabric of life on Earth is imperiled.”