A lot has happened in the U.S. over the last few months, so it seemed useful to do a report that includes the good, the bad and the ugly. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ 

Hey John,

A lot has happened in the U.S. over the last few months, so it seemed useful to do a report that includes the good, the bad and the ugly.

I'm sure you're worried about recent Supreme Court rulings, the presidential debate, and of course, the unavoidable signals that this will be the hottest and most destructive summer yet for our planet. I'll be honest — I'm worried too. But I'm not giving up hope.

In a moment I'll explain why, but first, I want to hear from you how you think things are going: Can you take 30 seconds to give the Biden campaign a grade from A to F? Our team is trying to gauge how supporters and activists are feeling at the moment.

Okay, so here's my take on this month in U.S. politics:

First of all, the bad: one of the more progressive members of Congress, Jamaal Bowman, lost his race in the Democratic primary to a challenger who had $20 million in funding from a pro-Bibi Netanyahu group that took issue with Bowman’s stance on the Gaza conflict. Bowman was also an early sponsor of the Green New Deal for Schools.

Another climate champion, Cori Bush, has her Democratic party primary in August with a similar amount of money being spent against her; she is running neck and neck in the polls.

Also, I’m sure many of you saw or heard about President Biden’s stilting and surprising debate performance, sending some into doubt about his fitness to convince voters over the next few months why he is the best backstop to protect our democracy.

Now, the ugly: the Supreme Court made yet another of four decisions over the last two years that have stopped federal agencies, especially, the Environmental Protection Agency, from regulating not just emissions, but really any kind of climate regulation.

The decisions are more significant than just climate, as they have the ability to discard almost all regulation by federal agencies. Previously, when a law was passed, the administrative agencies could create regulations based on the law. According to the new court decision, it’s possible that all regulations not specifically listed in legislation could be thrown out.

The federal courts added insult to injury by ruling that the Biden-Harris administration needs to continue to issue gas export permits. Our climate movement successfully pressured Biden to put these permits on pause to study the climate impacts they have. And now, because of Trump-appointed judges, our climate movement wins are being struck down.

And most recently, the Supreme Court ruled also that Donald Trump, or any president, is largely immune from prosecution for actions they took as President.

Overall, it’s a pretty bleak situation, but I refuse to lose hope because there are some bright spots. Here’s the good:

Over the next few months, 350 Action will be working hard to do its part to try to protect Rep. Bush’s seat. 350 Action will also be doing work for the November election as well, with its biggest investment in the key swing state of Wisconsin to help flip the House and keep the state blue for the presidential election. 350 Action will be helping its supporters travel to work in key states, as well as make lots of phone calls to remind voters to continue to support our climate and justice champions.

Our allies across the climate movement are running Summer of Heat actions in New York City to highlight the stifling temperatures and to demand banks, agencies, and institutions to divest from fossil fuels. All kinds of groups, from youth to elders, from the Gulf to Appalachia, have been participating and really upping the pressure.

The Biden-Harris administration is seeing the weather forecasts, just like us, and paying attention to our allies’ activism and responding! They just recently announced a new $1B in investment to make communities more resilient to climate change and the hazards that are more prevalent and severe with it, like heat and hurricanes.

We are, also, working with folks from the Ugandan diaspora and many other organizations to bring activists in from local groups during the week of July 22nd as part of an EACOP and fossil fuel frontline fighters week of action to further put pressure on banks who’ve been profiting off the climate crisis.

There is a lot of hard stuff happening in the middle of a consequential election season that will ultimately decide who gets to appoint more Supreme Court justices. But no matter the setbacks, we will continue to organize and fight in solidarity with those around the globe going through difficult political and climate-related situations, too.

I hope this update proves a bit hopeful during these difficult times. There’s so much more good happening and you’ll hear more about it from the team.

Jeff Ordower
North America Director
350 Action