In This Newsletter:

A Plea to All Valley Democrats

Devastating Droughts and Heatwaves Must Be the Wakeup

Memorial for Atomic Bomb Victims

Our Insect Loss

The Market Has Failed: Mass Public Housing Needed

Politics 101

Covid Surging Again

Clean Shared Mobility Network

Get Your Signs!

Precinct Captains

Fellowship Program

Democratic Party Website and HQ

A Plea to All Valley Democrats

I know that many of you are grieving, angry and overwhelmed by recent events and the horrible legacy of the Trump administration, but as Nancy Pelosi said, we need to “Organize, don’t Agonize!” We are offering you opportunities to get involved, make a difference and feel  empowered. Spending time with like-minded volunteers strengthens our resolve and is fun and rewarding.

Our focus is on the November Midterm Elections, and everything—equality, reproductive rights, gun control, social justice, our environment and democracy itself—depends on getting out the vote.

We are looking for volunteers to register voters and be precinct leaders. Precinct leaders are the backbone of the Fresno County Democratic Party’s grassroots efforts.

Precinct leaders represent the Democratic Party in their respective precincts and contact their neighbors to do the following:

• Identify Democratic supporters

• Share information about elected officials, candidates and ballot measures

• Encourage people to share their concerns and ideas

• Remind them to vote

Precinct leaders ideally attempt to make three contacts (during August, September, October) with as many voters as possible in their precinct. These contacts can be made in person or by phone. This requires only a few hours each month until the election. But this small effort, multiplied by precinct leaders throughout the county, could have huge returns on Election Day.

To learn more, sign up here to attend a precinct leader training (July 31 or Aug. 2).

Voter registration is easy to do and will be a key to our success in the November Midterm Election.

• Locations and times will vary depending on your interest and availability.

• We can assign you to a location or event or you can suggest one yourself.

• You can work alone, with a friend or we can pair you up with another volunteer.

• We will provide training, registration forms, clipboards, pens, and tables and chairs, if needed.

After you sign up, we will contact you to coordinate locations and times that work for you.

Sign up here to be contacted for voter registration.

We look forward to working with you. Please join us!

—Myra Coble, Organizer, Fresno County Democratic Party, 559-495-0606

Devastating Droughts and Heat
Waves Must Be the Wakeup

Right now, the world seems to be just becoming aware that the mass death phase of global warming has finally begun. Over the past few years, unprecedented heat waves have killed swaths of people in Europe, India and North America, as drought and crop failures outpace any improvements in agricultural productivity.

This will only get worse in the decades to come, as we are only now feeling the effects of the pollution we added to the atmosphere decades ago. The check for much greater harm our species is currently doing will not come due for years yet. There is nothing we can do to stop it; we can now only reduce the pain of the blow that comes after that.

Yet despite all this evidence, only 2% of Americans list climate change as their No. 1 political priority. That is a terrifying statistic. Without solving the climate catastrophe, any other priority is rendered moot as our society will not live to meet it.

We do not get a second chance on a system as big as the earth, and each year we delay pushes the potential salvation back a century.

Renewable technology is improving by leaps and bounds, but our cultural mindset is not matching that. Our politics is fatally conservative. We need to concentrate not only on increasing the prevalence of non-carbon energy generation but also on actively destroying and replacing the old sources.

It is true that we cannot maintain even our current level of comfort and convenience. We have waited too long. A near complete replacement of fossil fuel electricity generation with nuclear and hydro back in the 1950s to the 1990s would have bought us 50 more years to ease the transition to full electrification, but it is too late now.

The only options we have are sharp shocks. So if anything is going to survive, we will have to sacrifice or be made to sacrifice.

We cannot eat beef whenever we want.

We cannot take for granted that we can fly on an airplane for a vacation.

We cannot have the convenience of cheap products shipped to us quickly when that entire system relies on poisoning us in order to function.

We cannot cool our homes down to 70 degrees in the summer when our electricity comes from burning fuels.

We cannot preserve jobs in drilling and refining, and we cannot build more polluting power plants to avoid blackouts.

We cannot continue doing this and expect to survive.

We have to stop.

Memorial for Atomic Bomb Victims
 

 

Our Insect Loss

The monarch butterfly has just been declared an endangered species. Just a few decades ago, migrations of these beautiful creatures could sometimes darken the sky in California’s high places. I saw it myself, seemingly endless streams, and knew that they were already vastly reduced from a hundred years ago.

We now live in a time when bug splatters against the windshield are a surprising reminder that it used to happen every drive. The buzz of bees is a surprise, rather than just a simple reminder that you are outside. 

North America is suffering a devastating loss of insects, a loss that threatens to destroy the land’s ability to sustain us. Pesticide use and destruction of native plants are the primary drivers of this new era of silent springs.

Insects are the bottom layer of the entire terrestrial food chain, and when their numbers drop, every single creature above them is threatened.

If our country is to survive with a living land to hand our children when they are grown, we have to change things and we have to change them fast. We need to completely end the use of pesticides on non-essential plants and vastly reduce their use in our food production. We need to replant native species that animals feed on, ripping out the invasive breeds we introduced because we liked how they look.

For more information, visit www.cnps.org/gardening.

The Market Has Failed:
Mass Public Housing Needed

Across the United States, in every level of regulatory environment, the pace of housing construction has not met our growing population. Decades of concern for preserving property values of homeowners who rely on that value as their primary equity and the continuous demonizing of public housing projects have created this crisis.

Arrivals at homeless shelters are surging, with waitlists doubling or tripling in recent months. Rent has increased at the fastest rate since 1986, while pay has not nearly kept up. 

What construction there is has been concentrated on sprawl and individual living severed from commerce. Los Angeles County zones 76% of its residential land for single-family housing, while the already cramped San Francisco Bay Area has an unconscionable 85%.

When people suffer from a lack of essentials, it is the duty of the government to provide. Our nation is suffering from a lack of housing, so our governments must construct that.

Politics 101 Returns

For the third summer in a row, “Politics 101” is offered every Wednesday in July. The next session will be July 27, from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. via Zoom.

Discussion topics include voting, elections, elected representatives, how to run for office and the Fresno region political power structure. There will be special guest speakers. 

Zoom registration link-

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUsce2srjojH90EMDVSrcRskSDDji8PLaeS

Covid Surging Again

Another variant has hit our shores, and we are rapidly climbing up the slopes of another surge. Remember all the good habits you have learned, and keep an eye on the statistics each week to adjust your care accordingly.

www.co.fresno.ca.us/departments/public-health/covid-19

Precinct Captains!

Want to help us win in 2022? Be a precinct captain! Become a part of our team! To join us, e-mail [email protected] or sign-up for the next Precinct Leaders training session at:
https://www.mobilize.us/fresnocountydemocraticparty/event/478835/

Fellowship Program!

We are helping to create the next generation of Democrats in the Central Valley. Are you a student interested in getting involved and learning more about the political world? You would be ideal for our fellowship program! For more information, e-mail [email protected].

Democratic Party Website and HQ

Visit Your Democratic Headquarters! Our office is open, and we can’t wait to see you again! Help us register people to vote or change to vote by mail. Pass out candidate or issue literature and pick up candidate swag! Sign up to help us around the office!

News and events will alway arise faster than this newsletter can come out. That is why the Fresno County Democratic Party website is the best place to get regular updates on upcoming events in the area, as well as information on ways to get involved. There is also information on scheduled meetings of the many Democratic clubs in Fresno County, so you can find one that most suits you and your interests

https://fresnocountydemocrats.org/

The Democratic Party HQ (1033 U St.) is open 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Monday–Friday. Call 559-495-0606 or e-mail [email protected] for information or to volunteer.

Support your local Democratic Party by donation via ActBlue or by mailing a check to Fresno County Democratic Party, P.O. Box 5795, Fresno, CA 93755.

Our newsletter is prepared by Francis Horan.

Democratic Party Headquarters: 1033 U Street, Fresno, CA 93721

[email protected]
559-495-0606

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