Woman confronts police at Barclay’s rally. Photo: Cody Yozapovic

Racism, Police Violence and Climate Justice

An unprecedented, broadly national and global protest against systemic police violence, in the face of a global pandemic, in the face of police aggression, is shaking the world. The streets are packed with people inflamed with moral courage saying no to the murder of African Americans in broad daylight, and, the systemic racism which is manifested in every aspect of American life. Please see 350Brooklyn’s statement of solidarity, with a number of useful resources here.

With the cry to Defund the Police Communities United for Police Reform brings the discourse to a new level by demanding that New York City reduce its exorbitant spending on an institution that fails in its mission, protecting New Yorkers. Budgets are moral statements about values and priorities. Every dollar spent on policing is a dollar not spent on affordable healthcare, housing, and education. Real safety requires clean air and water, green jobs, and clean energy infrastructure.

In several of our campaigns, as members of the Gowanus Neighborhood Coalition of Justice, the NY Renews coalition for the Climate and Community Protection Act and the campaign to pass the Renewable Rikers Act, we have sought to place our work at the intersection of climate and justice, but it is not enough. We will start our monthly meeting on Thursday with breakout groups to talk about what 350Brooklyn can do to fight white supremacy in our campaigns and our processes. This information will be used to help plan our July meeting, which will focus on Fighting Racism in the Climate Movement.

June Monthly Meeting

COVID and Climate: Two Crises, Two Perspectives

Thursday, June 11th 7:30pm

Join our monthly meeting for updates on campaigns, upcoming actions and to listen to two different perspectives on the relationship between Covid-19 and Climate Change. Climate journalist Yessenia Funes, senior staff writer at Earther@Gizmodo, will discuss how the coronavirus pandemic offers a rare opportunity to highlight all the social injustices that the climate movement has been rallying around for years, and Dr. Paul Roebber, Professor of Mathematical Science at University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, reveals the statistical parallels between the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic and that of climate change, despite their varied timelines, and what this can teach us about climate change.

Join

More Work Needed for the Plastic Bag Ban

New York’s hard-won ban on single-use plastic bags was supposed to start March 1 but a plastic bag company sued to block the law and the Cuomo Administration agreed to delay enforcement of the ban for 30 days, which they’ve now extended twice. NYers use a staggering 23 billion plastic bags a year, made from fracked gas and chemicals.

The NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC) needs to begin enforcing the state's bag ban law when the latest delay ends on June 15th and we need your help to convince them. Please sign this today.

Understandably, COVID-19 also delayed things even though there is no evidence that reusable bags are a source of infection. There is no health reason to use plastic bags. In fact, research shows that the virus actually survives longest on plastic — significantly longer than it lasts on both cardboard and metal.

Stop the Money Pipeline Update

Chase

Last month was Chase’s largest shareholder meeting of the year. The night before activists were able to beam 30-foot-high messages from people from around the country right across the street from Jamie Dimon’s Park Avenue home. At Chase the next day, there was one big surprise: 49.6% of shareholders voted in favor of a resolution that calls on the bank to produce a detailed report on how it intends to align its lending model with the Paris Agreement. You can read more about our take on that in see an Op-Ed by 350Portland’s Alec Connan here.

Liberty Mutual

A new report reveals that Liberty Mutual is one of the largest advertisers on Fox News, backing programs that spout disinformation about COVID-19 (with the same tactics they have long used to seed climate denial). And in this moment, many of these same programs are saying that systemic racism isn’t real and cheering on violence against protesters. Now, more than ever, please sign on to demand that Liberty Mutual stop advertising on Fox News.