|
EARN friends,
We know that the smoke-saturated skies this month have put the climate emergency top of mind for many of you, as it has for many of us at EARN HQ. Earlier this month, a confluence of extreme temperatures and prolonged droughts sparked wildfires in Canada, and covered the eastern seaboard in a thick blanket of hazardous smoke. With experts at NOAA and the Scripps Institution on Oceanography logging the 4th largest year-over-year increase in atmospheric carbon on record (+3.0 parts per million from May 2021 to May 2022), more extreme weather events like this are all but inevitable. These are some of the daily reminders of what is at stake if we do not rapidly reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.
Even as experts continue to sound the alarm, the well from which hopes springs is eternal. Like many of you throughout the network, we are thinking of how to leverage historic federal spending bills in a way that decarbonizes our economy while promoting justice and equity. This month, we heard from staff at the Department of Labor, Good Jobs Initiative about place-based strategies for building worker power, improving job quality, (re)building the public sector, and advancing racial, gender, and climate justice. Moreover, our partners and allies are busy at work, showcasing the good, union-job-creating potential of investments in manufacturing, transportation, and environmental restoration, while outlining strategies to maximize the benefits of public funds in our most disadvantaged communities. Inclusive economic prosperity and a habitable planet are not a zero-sum choice. We look forward to further collaboration on these initiatives, so that we may meet the urgency of the moment.
Solidarity forever,
Daniel Perez
State Economic Analyst
|
