February 2021

Working toward a future where people and planet are valued, and our government represents all of us.

Introducing the New Co-chairs of PA’s Green Party  by Co-chairs Beth Scroggin and Tina Olson

Happy New Year, everyone! We are delighted to have been elected as co-chairs of the Green Party of Pennsylvania (GPPA, www.gpofpa.org) and hope to build our party in strength and numbers. Now, more than ever, we need to elect Green Party candidates and advocate for Green values at every available opportunity. As the new co-chairs of GPPA, we would like to introduce ourselves to those who don’t already know us.

I, Beth Scroggin, have been working with the GPPA since 2016, when I founded the Chester County Green Party. In 2017, I was elected as a national delegate to the Green Party of the United States (GPUS, www.gp.org) as well as to the GPPA Steering Committee as a member at large The following year, I was elected to serve as GPPA secretary, which I have done for the last three years. Since 2016, I have worked on Green candidates’ campaigns and have represented my local Green Party at demonstrations opposing war and promoting the care of our planet. I have worked as a math teacher at a public junior-senior high school for the last 14 years, and I care a great deal about educating children, as well as ensuring that all employees are represented and advocated for by a strong union. On a daily basis, I try to represent the Green Party and embody its values here in Chester County, where I live with my boyfriend, Jason and my 11-year-old daughter, Lilith.

I, Tina Olson, came into the GPPA this past summer like many others fed up with the lack of representation of progressive politics from the Democratic Party. As a former registered Independent voter, I volunteered and canvassed for Democrats for over a decade. After the disturbing nomination of Joe Biden, I proudly re-registered for the Green Party. As a life-long activist, I’ve helped organize various campaigns, petitions, and protests. I also organized family-friendly music festivals while advocating for early literacy and promoting young artists. My first presidential vote went to Ralph Nader and after two decades, I’m excited to fully realize the necessity of building up candidates outside of the failing two-party system. I can safely say that in the months since I became an active member, I have been incredibly inspired by the people I have met and hope to continue to build the GPPA as a strong political body. This includes building a local chapter in the Lehigh Valley (Northampton and Lehigh counties). At home, in Hellertown, I am the mother of four amazing people: Darius, 22, Holden,18, Oliver, 16, and Violet,13. (Continue Reading Here)

GPPA News Highlights   

  edited by Chris Robinson 

Green Party Supports Treaty to Ban Nuclear Weapons

On January 22, the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will go into effect after ratification by 53 nations and with the support of 599 peace organizations, including the Green Party (GPUS, www.gp.org). The Treaty will make it illegal for any nation to develop, test, manufacture, transfer, possess, stockpile, use or threaten to use nuclear weapons. It will also prohibit any nation from allowing nuclear weapons to be stationed on its territory. . . .

Green Party’s Peace Action Committee (GPAX) on July 6, 2020, endorsed the Green Party World Peace Platform, which says, in part, “The Green Party calls for the abolition of nuclear weapons through legislative and diplomatic means. Until that goal can be accomplished, our government must adopt a no-first-strike policy and no-preemptive strike policy. Our government must abide by all nuclear arms control treaties that limit proliferation, improve safeguards, and reduce sizes of nuclear arsenals leading to elimination, such as the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) . . . . Our government must honor its commitments to end the research, testing and stockpiling of all nuclear weapons of any size; and dismantle all nuclear warheads from their missiles.”

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Green Party Elects 2021 Leaders County Delegates to the Green Party of Pennsylvania (GPPA) met virtually on January 10 to conduct party business, including the election of a new Steering Committee for 2021. Here are the results of the election:

• Co-chair Beth Scroggin (Chester)
• Co-chair Tina Olson (Lehigh Valley);
• Secretary Kelly Kuzemchak (Allegheny);
• Member at Large Noel Antonio Rivera (Berks);
• Member at Large Tre Schumacher (Philadelphia); and
• Member at Large Jay Walker (Allegheny).

[Tim Runkle’s term in office as GPPA Treasurer does not expire until the end of 2021.] Please welcome our new GPPA Steering Committee!

Don't Burn Tracy Ridge in Allegheny National Forest by Noah Alter.

There is potentially a very harmful outcome waiting to happen in a well-known hiking area and recreational retreat known as Tracy Ridge. Tracy Ridge is located just south of the New York/ Pennsylvania state border in the beautiful Allegheny National Forest (ANF). According to the U.S. Forest Service, there is a proposed plan to have a “prescribed burn” at Tracy Ridge. Their proposed plan is to burn the current ecosystem there. They say this will help promote the regeneration of the oak tree population. This proposal by the U.S. Forest Service has attracted a lot of negative attention, particularly among environmental organizations and the Green Party of Pennsylvania (GPPA) (show all)

Team Updates   

GreenWave Team by Garret Wassermann

Our 2021 campaign season has kicked-off! We’re calling on Greens statewide to consider a run for municipal office this year. The Green Wave team is ready to help you organize your campaign and win! We’ll be doing training and skills-sharing meetings on the 1st Thursday each month, and a follow-up organizing call on the 3rd Thursday each month. Potential and declared candidates are invited, as well as organizers interested in working on a campaign. Please check https://www.gpofpa.org/calendar for upcoming Green Wave events and RSVP on the website to let us know you’re coming!

To join the Green Wave Team and get invited to future organizing calls, please visit HERE to receive call info or email for more information!

Communications Team by Chris Robinson

Part of changing society is changing the narrative. In moving society away from corporate control, we must tell a new story about working people, our struggle to survive, and the ways in which the Green Party can make change happen. The Communication Team is ready to tell your story -- your Green county story, your Green candidate story, your Green member story. We use social media, the GREEN STAR monthly, news releases, and emails. To join our team, please volunteer at https://www.gpofpa.org/, or to join online, sign up HERE.

National Green News   

  edited by David Ochmanowicz

Green Party of Nassau County presents program on LGBTQIA+ issues

The Green Party of Nassau County held a presentation on LGBTQIA+ issues. Our presenter, Cynthya BrianKate, has direct life experience in what it's like to be a Transgender woman (and what it's like to be a Transgender woman Green in the current GP environments), Intersex (biologically between male and female), a Chimera (people born with a composite body as result of siblings merging in the womb), and what it's like to be on both the Bisexual and Asexual spectrums/spectra. She has been an educator, advocate and activist on gender and sexuality diversity for over 20 years. (show all)

$600 and No Medicare-For-All Vote?

Click here and Tell Congress, Trump and Biden: "Don't 'Scrooge' us on Medicare-For-All and COVID Relief!” (show all)

Wisconsin Greens blast decision for no charges in Jacob Blake shooting

The Wisconsin Green Party denounces the decision of the Kenosha District Attorney to not file charges against the police officer who shot Jacob Blake 7 times in the back, a shameful continuation of a long history of police impunity for violence against Black, indigenous, and people of color in Wisconsin and the U.S. Please read our statement here, and share it on Facebook, Twitter, and your other networks. (show all)

How Progressive Democrats Almost Re-elected Trump by Howie Hawkins

By giving unconditional support to Joe Biden, progressive Democrats almost got Trump re-elected. Trump came within as few as 21,462 votes in Arizona, Georgia, and Wisconsin of winning the Electoral College. If those votes had gone to Trump instead of Biden, the Electoral College vote would have been tied 269-269. The election would have then gone to the House of Representatives under the Constitution’s 12th Amendment for a one-state, one-vote decision where Republicans have the majority in 26 state delegations of the incoming House. (show all)

Global Green News   

  edited by Hal Brown

Global Greens Call for Action on the Fifth Anniversary of Paris Agreement

On the edge of disaster, the fifth Anniversary of the Paris Agreement, Global Greens call for action not celebration

December 12 will be celebrated by the United Nations and the COP26 co-hosts, the Governments of France and the UK, as the fifth birthday of the historic Paris Agreement. Yet there is little to celebrate. The world is still on track for three degrees of warming. 2020 has been a year of unprecedented climate events – from forest fires in Siberia and the Western US, warming and melting Arctic, intense hurricanes driven by warmer ocean temperatures, collapsing ice shelves, retreating glaciers, droughts, and devastating floods. The signals could not be clearer. (show all)

Global Greens Solidarity With Colombia

The Green Alliance Party of Colombia, has been working with the Global Greens to build international support and solidarity regarding the critical situation in Colombia. Since the signing of the Havana peace agreements with the former guerrilla group FARC, around 1,000 people have been killed. This number includes social leaders, human rights defenders and environmental activists. The national government party has been openly against the peace process and the delay in implementing the agreements have caused a new wave of violence we thought will never come back to our country. (show all)

BC Greens Call to End Logging of Old Growth by Joshua Allan

British Columbia, Canada, is known worldwide for its breath-taking wildlife and its unique coastal rainforests. These forests feature some of the world’s oldest and largest trees, ageing up to 2,000 years and reaching around 3.5 metres in diameter. These types of trees, referred to as “old-growth”, are unique to British Columbia, as well as parts of the Northwestern U.S. The BC Greens have been the only true voices in the BC Legislative Assembly fighting for the protection of old-growth, a position which the majority of British Columbians stand behind.(show all)

Ecological Party of Uganda Campaigns for 2021 Election by Joshua Allan

As election time approaches in the small, central-African nation of Uganda, civil unrest and displeasure with the status quo has created uncertainty as to who will be the one to take office in 2021. Like many other political entities in the country, the Ecological Party of Uganda (EPU) understands that this is a chance to strike while the iron is hot . . . . EPU also referred to as Ecoparty or the Uganda Greens are preparing to field candidates . . . . This election will be the first for EPU President, Charles Bbaale Lwanga. (show all)

GPPA Coming Events   

  edited by Chris Robinson

Green Party events are in GREEN. Other Movement events are in RED.

Through March, 2021
Murrysville 12 for 12 Challenge
Walk, bike or run for 12 miles in 12 weeks in Murrysville Parks or on the Westmoreland Heritage Trail. Register here
https://runsignup.com/Race/PA/Murrysville/Murrysville12for12Challenge

February 1, 8 pm
Green Party of Lehigh Valley Virtual Meeting
More information from: [email protected]
https://www.gpofpa.org/lehigh_valley

February 2
World Wetlands Day
https://www.worldwetlandsday.org/

February 2, 6:30 pm
Green Party of Allegheny County Virtual General Assembly
Zoom contact and more information from: [email protected]

https://www.facebook.com/events/3454963464618418

February 12 through February 15
24th Annual Great Backyard Bird Count
More information from: https://www.audubon.org/conservation/about-great-backyard-bird-count

February 15, 7:00 pm
Green Party of Montgomery County Virtual Meeting
More information from: [email protected]

February 23, 7:30 pm
Green Party of Philadelphia (GPOP) Virtual Meeting
Election of GPOP City Committee.
More information from: [email protected]
https://www.facebook.com/events/260828881889737/

February 27th, 10AM
Green Party of Berks County Meeting
More information from: [email protected]

February 27
International Polar Bear Day
More information from: https://polarbearsinternational.org/get-involved/international-polar-bear-day/

March 2, 6:30 pm
Green Party of Allegheny County Virtual General Assembly More information from: [email protected]
https://www.facebook.com/events/3454963464618418

GPPA Meeting Dates for 2021:

2021 Meetings will be held the second Sundays of: January, March, June, September, November. If March is in-person, it will be in Harrisburg. All State Web Conferences will be 12:00 Noon to 4:00 p.m.

• Sunday, March 14
• Sunday, June 13
• Sunday, September 12
• Sunday, November 14

Web Conferences are online - RSVP to get connection information.  The locations for in-person conferences are to be determined.  In-person conferences can be hosted by counties, county groups or regions. These events are fundraisers.  When hosted locally, the host group receives back half of the revenue after expenses.  To apply for hosting, submit your info to our Application for Local Hosting of GPPA State Meetings or GPPA-Sponsored Events.  We strive for geographic diversity in reviewing applications, however, all submissions are considered.

Green Party of Pennsylvania Communications Team & Media Committee 

Issue Credits:

EDITORS: Chris Robinson, Hal Brown, & Dave Ochmanowicz  
CONTRIBUTORS: Joshua Allan, Noah Alter, Howie Hawkins, Tina Olson, Chris Robinson, Beth Scroggin, Garret Wasserman
LAYOUT: Tina Olson
GRAPHIC ARTS: Kevin Richardson 

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The Green Star is an official publication of the Green Party of Pennsylvania Communications Team * 2021