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** Albany Advocacy Day: Pass the NY HEAT Act
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Yesterday, on one of the coldest days of the year, New York State ran out of funding for HEAP, a program that assists people struggling to pay their energy bills. One way to ensure this won't happen again is to pass the NY HEAT Act. Join us ([link removed]) on Tuesday, February 4th for our first Albany Advocacy Day of the year, which will focus on passing the New York Home Energy Affordable Transition ([link removed]) (NY HEAT) Act. We will be taking a bus up to Albany and scheduling meetings with key state legislators to make sure we get this bill over the finish line. It passed the Senate last year, and we now have more than 70 sponsors in the Assembly, so we are close. Watch this video ([link removed]) to learn more about our Advocacy Days, and then come help us convince a few more legislators as well as Governor Kathy Hochul to support the NY HEAT Act! RSVP
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** February 2025 Membership Meeting:
Celebrate Black History Month!
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Join us on Saturday, February 08, 2025 ([link removed]) , from 10:00 a.m. to 1 p.m. ([link removed]) for our monthly membership meeting to celebrate Black History Month and discuss environmental justice challenges and how you can help us address them. You don’t have to be a WE ACT member to attend (though it only costs $25 per year – learn more here ([link removed]) ), just an interest in helping is preserve and protect our community. RSVP ([link removed])
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** Earth Day 5K Fun Run: Support WE ACT!
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Come celebrate Earth Day, help raise funds for WE ACT, and run or walk for a healthier, greener community at our annual Earth Day 5K fundraiser. We will be holding the fun run at Randall’s Island on Saturday, April 19th. You can run or walk, and enter as an individual or as a team. The event is open to everyone, including all ages and abilities. Early bird tickets are now on sale for $25! To take advantage of this special offer, register today ([link removed]) using the promo code “earlybird” when prompted. RSVP ([link removed])
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** Learn About Indoor Air Pollution
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Briana Carbajal and Annie Carforo will be on a panel discussing indoor air pollution as part of Montefiore’s Social Medicine Rounds speaking series. The series is designed to connect their staff, faculty, trainees, and community members to leaders who discuss the medical, economic and psychosocial issues impacting the health and wellness of our Bronx community. You can attend virtually on Tuesday, January 28th at 4:30 PM by registering here ([link removed]) .
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**
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The new administration in Washington has released an unprecedented series of executive orders ([link removed]) , and rescinded many of the existing ones
([link removed]) – including the environmental justice executive orders issued by Presidents Clinton and Biden
([link removed]) . One executive order in particular
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Peggy Shepard was featured in a USA Today ([link removed]) article on the attacks on environmental justice in the executive orders. Two quotes that stood out:
“It really shows there is a war on equity and a real fundamental misunderstanding of the concept of environmental justice,” said Peggy Shepard, executive director and co-founder of WE ACT for Environmental Justice, a national advocacy group based in New York City. “It ensures communities of color will feel the effects on their well-being.”
“They’re claiming that these environmental justice initiatives are illegal and discriminatory when these programs are actually there to reverse the discrimination that’s been occurring for decades,” Shepard said.
Peggy was also interviewed by E&E News ([link removed]) on the new administration’s elimination of the existing environmental justice executive orders: “It's turning the clock back on decades of work,” said Peggy Shepard, co-founder and executive director of WE ACT for Environmental Justice, based in New York. “They're working to eliminate policies and programs that support equity, support environmental and climate justice, and that's just going to harm the health and well-being of so many people in these disadvantaged communities.” This article also appeared in Scientific America ([link removed]) .
Leslie Fields was quoted in another E&E News ([link removed]) article on the new administration's executive orders: “These actions also place vulnerable communities in even greater danger from pollution and the dire, real-time consequences of the climate crisis,” Leslie Fields, chief federal officer at WE ACT for Environmental Justice, said in a statement. “In the face of these assaults, we will not stop pursuing justice.”
In the face of these assaults, the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication ([link removed]) shared a summary of an article published last year that shows how Americans overwhelmingly support climate justice. Manuel Salgado and Annika Larson were among the authors.
Peggy was also one of the climate experts profiled by Atmos ([link removed]) offering advice on how to move forward under the new administration. Her comments included:
“Just as we did before, we will continue to resist on all fronts. We will work with our allies to track and defend every rule and regulation they attempt to roll back. We will aggressively pursue state legislation and help others do the same. And we will work together to publicly—and, whenever possible, legally—hold the next administration accountable for the damage it does to our environment and our communities.
“Those of us in the environmental justice movement understand the joy of resistance. We can and will be part of the solution. We’ve dug in and are prepared to give them the fight of their lives. We won’t go back!”
Finally, Harlem World ([link removed]) provided some coverage of our One Harlem coalition and the demands it has made of Columbia University.
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EarthShare
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