Stimulus checks, the need is great
Stimulus checks are now arriving in bank accounts, but the $600 will not be enough to sustain many who will be receiving them. Additionally, millions of people won't get checks at all, including those who are undocumented, incarcerated, and don't have social security numbers or bank accounts.
A repeat effort is happening to redistribute this round of stimulus checks from those that have their needs met to those who don’t. People are coming together to donate some or all of their checks. For those of us who are lucky enough to be financially stable and securely housed, this is a step towards ensuring that we all have enough to make it through this collective crisis.
It's important to share these resources and start the conversation about donating your stimulus check NOW while it's fresh in people's accounts (or before they receive them).
COVID Relief Aid for Undocumented Folks
A coalition to provide emergency and preventative financial relief to undocumented individuals that are at financial risk.
https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/covid-19-relief-aid-for-undocumented-folks
South King County and Eastside Mutual Aid
South King County and Eastside Mutual aid supports 250-350 essential item deliveries and direct cash assistance for utilities, medical emergencies, and rent. To do this they need to crowdfund $10,000 per month and then shoppers contribute $10,000 per month, for a total of $20,000.
Venmo: @MutualAidSKCE
CashApp: $MutualAidSKCE
PayPal: [email protected]
Patreon (for recurring donations): patreon.com/skcemutualaid
For Venmo and Cashapp, add a note "gift" or "for SKCE groceries".
Covid19 Mutual Aid - Seattle
We are regular folks in Seattle and King County who have been active in various organizing campaigns, mutual aid work, and more importantly, in community with each other. This is a result of love for the community. We are a collective of volunteers, not a non-profit. That means no overhead, every dollar is going towards groceries, supplies, and direct support.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/hax9er-covid19-survival-fund-for-the-people
PSE Community Empowerment Series
Taking our power back: Puget Sound Energy, fossil fuels, and creating a clean and healthy energy future
Puget Sound Energy (PSE), the state’s largest energy utility, provides fossil gas and electric services to almost two million homes in Washington, spends more on lobbying and campaign contributions annually than Amazon, plays a large role in pro-fossil fuel ad campaigns, and over the next couple of years could determine whether the state succeeds in transitioning to clean energy. With PSE wielding so much influence and power, we invite you to join us for this Community Empowerment Series that will provide knowledge, tools, and ways to take action for a cleaner, healthier, and less expensive energy future for Washington.
Calendar for the Series:
**All events are Thursday at 6pm**
February 4th - Financial Flaws
February 11th - Undermining WA Climate Progress
February 18th - Indigenous Sovereignty and Pipeline Politics
February 25th - Solutions for a Healthy, Clean Future
Series Registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwufuCsrzorEtQmuue-0tVv_kNGiiw3Oa24
http://bit.ly/series-pse
Please submit any questions to: [email protected]
Event Descriptions:
Feb 4th - Financial Flaws:
Washington’s utility customers deserve affordable, reliable, carbon free services. Join us as we reveal how PSE’s financial model prevents them from ever being a reliable climate partner. We will look at PSE’s financial incentives as a for-profit monopoly, including reasons they continue to build fossil fuel infrastructure that actively harms ratepayers. We will also examine PSE’s excessive spending on political action and the financial and health risks they freely impose on Washingtonians. If we don’t see through their farce now ratepayers will pay the price for PSE’s climate wrecking while shareholders profit. Facebook event here.
Feb 11th - Undermining WA Climate Progress:
Washington state has made some great strides toward addressing the climate crisis, with more on the horizon, yet many of Puget Sound Energy's actions and decisions like building new fossil fuel infrastructure, blocking local attempts to ban gas hookups in new construction, and lobbying for more lenient penalties for noncompliance with the Clean Energy Transformation Act, stand in direct opposition to that progress. Join us to learn more, including ways to take action! Facebook event here.
Feb 18th - Indigenous Sovereignty and Pipeline Politics:
Fossil fuels are just the latest ways that settler colonialism and capitalism have harmed Coast Salish lands, waters and people. Join us to learn about the leadership the Puyallup Tribe is taking in protecting our shared waters by challenging Puget Sound Energy’s Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant. Along the way, you can learn about the history and sovereignty of Coast Salish lands and how the Tacoma struggle is connected to activism that First Nations have engaged in to protect their land from extraction and pipeline damage up north. We’ll strategize about how to honor the treaties in imagining healthy environmental futures. Join us! Facebook event here.
Feb 25th - Solutions for a Healthy, Clean Future:
Tired of having to fight every proposal that fossil fuel companies like Puget Sound Energy pursue to lock us into reliance on dirty energy? Then come learn more about strategies for a healthy, clean energy future for Washington state! We’re changing the rules of the game and advocating for steps that stop fossil fuel projects from getting built in the first place and that guarantee that clean energy is a basic human right for all. Join us! Facebook event here.
**Recordings of the events, resources, and ways to take action will be in a follow-up email sent out to all registrants**
350 Eastside General Meeting – Wednesday, February 17th @ 7:00pm
Special guests:
Duck Long Soldier, Oglala Lakota Environmentalist & Water Protector will join us and share an Indigenous philosophy about the protection of Water, Air, Earth and Spirit. We'll also be joined by Chelalakem Pamela Bond, Fish, Wildlife, and Environment Director of the Snohomish Tribe of Indians, and Founder of People of the Confluence, an Indigenous led, non-profit organization dedicated to providing educational and cultural opportunities that will empower Indigenous youth to protect the Water, Air, Earth and Spirit of the Skykomish and Snohomish watersheds.
Zoom registration link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZArc-2tpjgjHdyp92OaG4IqYAdBPObr51bO
fb event: https://fb.me/e/14TWl7zE7
PCA (People for Climate Action) upcoming webinars
People for Climate Action is excited to announce two free 90 minute webinars that should help cities move effectively on climate change. City officials and the general public are welcome to attend.
CITIES CLIMATE ACTION SUMMIT IV: TACKLING THE BIGGEST GHG IMPACTS, 9:30 am, Saturday, February 20th
Together, Existing Buildings and the Transportation sector account for 70 to 90 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in our cities. Learn how to reduce GHG emissions in both sectors at this event.
The People for Climate Action coalition is pleased to host expert speakers in these two sectors. Chris Benedict, a leading NYC architect, will share her experience in transforming an occupied apartment complex into an energy efficient and all-electric facility. Dr. Alexandre Milovanoff, a University of Toronto researcher, will explain how his research shows that much more than electric vehicles will be necessary to adequately cut GHG emissions in the transportation sector. Q & A will follow.
Register for Summit IV here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_lQCgFVwET2OZqTYSvOI3mw
CITIES CLIMATE ACTION SUMMIT V: SETTING EFFECTIVE PRIORITIES, PLUS TWO CASE STUDIES, 9:30 am, Saturday, February 27th.
How should a city go about setting climate action priorities? How are two leading edge cites showing us the way? Learn the answers in this event.
Based upon their research of city actions across North America, the People for Climate Action coalition will outline their answer to the first question. Then, guest speakers from New York City and Berkeley CA will share leading-edge actions that their cities have recently implemented. Q & A will follow.
Register for Summit V here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_SOZ9-pRHSYWiuOP_Zy4ETQ
We hope you can attend one or both webinars. If not, recordings will be available on our website within two weeks of each webinar.
For information about PCA, see our website: peopleforclimateaction.org
Follow WA Climate Assembly: WA Climate Assembly meetings recordings and schedule: https://www.waclimateassembly.org/assembly-details
The Fight Against Line 3
In December 2020, the energy company Enbridge began construction on a massive pipeline project that is set to carry 915,000 barrels of oil per day from the Alberta tar sands to Superior, Wisconsin.
The pipeline will cross through Anishinaabe land, violating treaty rights and putting drinking water, fish, and wild rice at risk. Enbridge’s safety track record is abysmal. The company is responsible for the 2010 Kalamazoo River disaster, the biggest inland oil spill in U.S. history.
The Anishinaabe people and Minnesota climate activists have been resisting this pipeline for 7 years through the courts as well as in person. They have been risking arrest and worse, putting their bodies on the line to protect their future, and ours. With Joe Biden in the White House, we now have an opportunity to push this issue.
That’s why The YEARS Project and The Stop the Money Pipeline Coalition are excited to share the video https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=493455678303196
