350Brooklyn General Meeting
Updates on Our Action in the Era of COVID-19
Repurpose and Renew Rikers
For decades, Rikers Island Prison has been renowned for brutal violence, corruption and overcrowding. After years of campaigning, the City Council voted to finally close Rikers by 2026.
But today Rikers is a COVID-19 hotspot. Already, one inmate has died after getting the illness, and 231 inmates and 223 staff have tested positive.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, City Action was working with a coalition of social, environmental, and criminal justice organizations to push for the Renewable Rikers Act to close the prison and repurpose the island for sustainable uses, including a solar farm and a modern wastewater treatment plant.
Please attend our April 9 350Brooklyn Zoom Meeting, when guests from Just Leadership USA and the Independent Commission on NYC’s Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform will discuss what we can do to help our fellow New Yorkers now at Rikers and how we can support the Renewable Rikers Act.
Together, we can turn this terrible prison into a beacon of hope. Please join us!
Join
Thursday, 9 April 7:30 pm
Make the 50th Earth Day Massive
We may be social distancing this Earth Day, but we’ll still be acting. There will be a 72-hour Livestream and virtual events, speaches and even marches. This year, you can stay on your couch and still be involved, but we need you to SHARE, SHARE and SHARE MORE.
Sign up for more information about NYC Earth Day here and national info can be found here.
Here are a few of the places to join in the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day:
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Sunday, April 19, 2020 4 pm – 10 pm EDT
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Share stories and photos in the lead-up to Earth Week
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We can all be a part of the globally-connected community of people who want a better future!
Whither Williams
With most all eyes on the COVID-19 crisis, National Grid held three days of virtual hearings to make its case about moving fracked gas through Brooklyn.
Thank you to everyone who joined one of these meetings! All your powerful comments are being sent to the Public Service Commission.
There’s one more thing you can do.
Please submit your comments to push the PSC to support renewables, instead of fossil fuel infrastructure.
Much Needed Good News
In New York State, a Win for Our Planet…
The headline says it best: New York legislature bans expanded polystyrene foam products statewide.
The ban will go into effect in January of 2022 and covers most food products and packing material. That’s a big statewide win for the health of our planet!
…But Bolder Action is Needed
While in the $2 trillion dollars CARES Act there was not one penny for green jobs, the State Emergency COVID focused budget committed $3 billion dollars for the “Restore Mother Nature Bond Act”. The crisis budget is not enough for hospitals, nor does it provide the billions needed for the nation’s most progressive climate law passed last year after several years of work, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA).
The legislature approved the $3 billion plan as part of the FY 2021 budget, and the Restore Mother Nature Bond Act goes to the voters in November.
Dirty Dealings: Read All About It!
Keystone Kaos
Legal challenges and a lack of permits haven’t stopped TC Energy from getting funding from Chase and others to restart construction of the KeystoneXL Pipeline. Read more here.
Environmental Degradation Agency
Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency is doing anything but protecting the environment. Now they have suspended regulations and enforcement actions for the duration of the COVID crisis. Read more here.
A Final Thought
“The political outcome of the epidemic, will, like all political outcomes, be decided by struggle, by battles over interpretation, by pointing out what causes problems and what solves them. And we need to get that analysis out in the world any way we can.”
—Mike Davis
